Ang Lee is probably one of the biggest directors around right now.  He has done such great films as Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and a horrible film called The Hulk starring Eric Bana.  It is definitely safe to say that Lee covers a very wide variety of subjects.  This time around, he has made a film closer to his home and in his language.  The film does not have any big American stars, but just in case you are wandering, Lust, Caution stars Wei Tang, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Joan Chen (who stars as Mrs. Yee and she has been in a few American films). 

A group of drama students, who consider themselves part of the resistance, set out to take down a man who goes by the name of Mr. Yee.  They feel that this man is a traitor to the country of China because he works with the Japanese in trying to create peace.  They go under cover, as spies, and try to take this man down. He is a very heavily guarded person and their main way in is by a woman who goes by the name Mak Tai Tai, AKA Wang Jaizhi (played by Wei Tang).  She basically has to fake like she is falling in love with him to gain information from him.  Their cover is blown early on and many years pass. 

The film picks up about three years later in Shanghai, where Mr. Yee is now living.  At this point, the Japanese have invaded and taken over China.  Wang Jaizhi is living in Shanghai and the resistance group find her and asks for her help again.  She goes under cover again, playing this fake person Mak Tai Tai, to try and get Mr. Yee murdered.  

The Review: One thing you might be asking yourself is why the film is rated NC-17.  The reason being is for the extremely graphic sex scenes.  When I announced the film on-air, I called it an Asian porn.  I heard from some people that the sex scenes weren’t that graphic, but they definitely were.  I don’t want to get into too much detail, but body parts are shown and it looks extremely realistic.  There were definitely three really good sex scenes though.   I actually can’t figure out if the sex was real or fake.  During some of the angles, it actually looks pretty convincing. 

Overall, I thought the film mainly suffered from its length and how slowly it moved at times.  I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was pretty much the exactly the same length as Lust, Caution and the films felt completely different.  The Jesse James flick felt like it went by in like thirty minutes, while Lust, Caution felt like it lasted for over three hours. 

Even though Lust, Caution was a little slow and long, it still had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of the scenes.  The audience knows that Mak Tai Tai is only seducing Mr. Yee so that their resistance group can kill him, but Mr. Yee does know this.  She has to have sex with him to prove that she actually is in love with him.  The funny part about the sex stuff was that Mak Tai Tai was a virgin before she started to go undercover as a spy.  Therefore, she had to be “trained” by a guy in the resistance.  Those scenes were really awkward, yet very entertaining. 

Lee definitely did a great job with the directing and kept my interest.  Like I said though, the length and slowness got to me at some points.  I must have been twisting and turning the entire film.  I do feel that the film has a great story but could have been executed a little better. 

The Verdict: It is definitely the perfect rental.  There is no need to run out to the theatres to see it.  It is better to watch in the comfort of your own home so you can pause it and get up when you need to.