Review of "Lust, Caution"

The reviews of “Lust, Caution” have been a mixed one. Many blamed the reviewers who have given the movie poor rating been lacking knowledge of Chinese culture or war time history.

While knowledge of the historical background certainly can be a factor, a bigger problem is this movie has been inaccurately promoted by its distributor Focus Features. They are promoting it as an “espionage thriller” and as result, almost all the movie web sites following when in fact, this movie is neither a spy nor a thriller film. It is a drama of human emotion. Any one expecting an action filled movie with a beautiful spy because they think this is an “erotic espionage thriller “ as proclaimed on Focus Feature’s web site will surly be disappointed and bored. If action filled shoot out movie is what you are looking for, you probably should not bother to see this film. The same can be said if you are looking for a shoot it out war movie.

If you like fairly tale happy ending or, at very least, “justice” triumph at the end, this movie may not be right for you either. Real life unfortunately is full of tragedies. War is tragedy. People died in war. The base frame work of story was the real failed assassination attempts on the head of secrete police and top collaborator by Shanghai socialite Zheng Ping Ru in 1939. She was only 22 when she was executed. People also got emotional scars in war. In some way, author Eileen Chang’s own marriage to another high ranking collaborator is a tragedy too. The stigma of been a “collaborator’s wife” persists even after her death. The complex emotion of lead character Wang Chia Chi towards Mr. Yee probably reflects author’s own emotion and experience. The mood of the film is therefore “melancholy”. A word Ang Lee likes to use often.

Understanding of Chinese war history is not essential. One can easily substitute Shanghai with Paris or Warsaw; Chinese with French or Polish and Japanese with Nazi and made the same movie. Knowing Eileen Chang’s background however, helps to understand Wang Chia Chi and Mr. Yee. If you find the notion of a “good girl” fall for a collaborator repulsive, stay away.

If none of those factors deter you, you probably will like this movie as it certainly is far above average film these days. If you like human drama film, this one is for you. If you like great acting with subtle body language and facial expression, you should not miss this one.