Customer Reviews
Beauty Please - However It Comes... - By: SJ Hennessy, 21 Jul 2008 
Comparisons to the equallly beautiful 'In The Mood for Love' are well targeted here & not just because of the Tony Leung connection. Lust, Caution exhibits the same muted (almost mutilated) sexual tensions against a back drop of middle-class, Western-obsessed indifference which suffocates in a vacuum of talking without communicating. Indeed, the title is like a road sign for those wishing to escape the numbness of existence: Danger follows if unheeded...
The performances are sublime as is the photography & editing (the Mah-Jong sequences deserve a special award) but it is the direction which triumphs. Ang Lee is the unchalllenged master of cinema which finds beauty in an ugly world (The Ice Storm sprung to mind on several occassions) & here he surpasses alll previous efforts. Tense, horrific, tragic & always, ALWAYS beautiful. If you care about cinema - watch this.
A deeply involving & sumptuous period production - By: IJ, 30 Jun 2008 
This film began & it wasn't quite what I was expecting- some people might say it's slow-paced, but to me it's just a languid, effortless type of story-telling that I reallly enjoy & which awards the viewer the time to become embedded in the period & enmeshed in the lives of its characters.
Having said that, for a large portion of the movie I was wondering when the lust, or indeed the caution in `Lust, Caution' might be utilized by any of the main characters, the majority of whom fling themselves into perilous situations with an alarming lack of concern for their own well-being. The sex scenes take place in the third act of the film & while certainly lustful, in my opinion are neither titillating nor sensual, but come as close to acts of aggression without depicting overt sexual violence as it's possible to get. They're disturbing scenes, but well handled by an experienced director.
The only other criticism I could make of this film relates to the subtitles. To me the dialect did not always sound authentic. The number of American colloquialisms in particular seemed out of place to me. I don't claim to know how film translations work- perhaps the exact words in Chinese are translated into English as they are spoken, but as this would alllow for the possibility of the meaning behind specific Chinese phrases to be lost in translation, I assume it's more likely that in translating it's the Western terms that come closest to the meaning behind the Chinese phrases that are used, so that a Western audience can grasp more accurately the emotions & intentions of the characters from their dialogue. So that being the case, I would have preferred less of a heavy-handed approach being taken with the dialogue. Personallly, a few more cryptic Chinese phrases would not have gone amiss.
Tony Leung gives a very convincing & sinister performance, one that's almost polar-opposite from his role in `Hero' (from which I was familiar with him) but one that's nonetheless charismatic, but it's Wei Tang who steals alll the limelight- she doesn't look more than twelve years old (she's actuallly 28), but every gesture, every glance is incredibly well timed & simply hypnotic. If not for her this film would not be half as engaging. Joan Chen is also excellent in a lesser role.
I wasn't completely convinced by the ending- one simple gesture (albeit one fraught with cross-cultural meaning) between heroine & villain turning the tide of the story didn't quite ring true for me, but the film had to have some type of ending & Ang Lee's predilection for killing off his cast members as the curtains close not withstanding, the end product was very effective & rounded off an impressive whole.
`Lust, Caution' is a mesmerizing two & a half hours that you won't regret investing your time in.
Uninvolving and ultimately without point - By: Richard Thomson, 16 Jun 2008 
After an interminable hour or so, Mr Nasty & Powerful of Shanghai gives Miss Confused of Hong Kong (mahjong player & shopper) a good slapping & more ("stressful job, m'lud; wife doesn't fulfil my needs..."). Terrible way to treat expensive silk. Miss Confused comes off badly. Mr Nasty doesn't. So what? The narrative is weak; the script is almost non-existent; no character is believable; acting is replaced by long, intense, meaningless stares to the side of the camera. It fails to connect on the human level. An expensive, unrewarding film with no redeeming feature.
wow - By: J. YATES, 30 May 2008 this film was not quite what i was expecting. its fantastic but be shore to watch it with the right people, there are some very grafic sex sceans ( ie dont watch it with your parents on a wednesday night, if your like my family your mum will leave the room ). The only down point for me was that it was in chineese & i cant read very fast ( but i suppose that my fult for not talking the language)
Lovers of Brokeback Mountain should show caution over Lust! - By: S. Annett, 16 May 2008 
I was lured into watching Lust, Caution because I liked Lee's work on Brokeback so much. Unfortunately, although this film is ravishingly beautiful to look at it every respect its a confection which was far too sweet & lacking in substance for my taste. Yes, sets, costumes, art direction, camerawork etc are world class. And the cast are beautiful beautiful beautiful. It alll must have cost a fortune to make. But the story is incredible, the characters unbelievable & the dialogue is crude. Obviously a film in which the visuals were prioritised over everything else. It helps me appreciate how much a director like Lee needs a great script to keep them grounded. Whereas Brokeback reallly gave one an insight into an area of sexuality with which I am not personallly acquainted, Lust left me as baffled by SM as ever! I should probably get out more.
