LUST, CAUTION

LUST, CAUTION IS FEARLESSLY BOTH After directing one of the most groundbreaking films to date (Brokeback Mountain), Ang Lee has done it again. This is a breathtakingly brilliant film about everything: politics, betrayal, spies, love, adultery, romance, torrid sex, and struggle. As the Japanese move in and occupy China, many renegade forces form to fight the war on a smaller scale. A naive college girl Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) gets caught up with a group to produce politically forward, patriotic China plays with her classmates. Little does she know that she will use her acting skills in efforts to bring down the powerful Japanese "informant" Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). She enters the world of espionage, starting with a harmless game of maj jong with Mrs. Lee (Joan Chen) and her friends. To get access to his world, she and her fellow actors turned activists take on new character. She becomes Chia Chi, young and coy, but seductive and has to play a sneaky game of cat and mouse with Mr. Yee, forcing him to fall in love with her, against his own desire, and she in turn, also must choose to complete her mission or follow her desires. This is a bold and graphic movie where scenes of war and sex cross back and forth between each other. Sometimes there is love in their love making and sometimes there is hate and aggression. This is a story of war and the choices we make under duress and the consequences those choices bring. This was an intense and mesmerizing movie from the acting to the plot. Thank you Ang Lee for introducing us to worlds we would have never found on our own.

BIG PICK: Beautifully shot, well acted and a compelling story. Exquisite!