Category: Foreign

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

10 Promises to My Dog – A Sweet Japanese Movie That Has Mass Appeal

Ask ten people who have or had dogs as their companions and you may hear ten unique, at times breathtaking stories.  Without giving out any spoilers, “10 Promises to My Dog” is not one of those typical Hollywood films that involve a dog that saves the world.  There is no adventure of that sort.  Instead, it’s a story of a young 14 years old girl Akari, her parents, her childhood friend, and a dog named Socks.  A simple story that emphasizes on the little events in life that bond companions, difficult choices and sacrifices people make in the name of ‘family’ (and in this case, Socks included of course).  The story is then being fast forwarded to 10 years later when Akari grows older, reunited with her childhood friend, and something in life do change, some don’t.

Within this rather depressing storyline, the magic of the casting (again, Socks included) turns the entire mood of the movie around, like a fireplace in a cold winter night.  The 14 years old young and sweet actress Mayuko Fukuda (福田麻由子) is certainly one of my favorites.  Such a sweet personality and smile she has that matches so well with the puppy (a Golden Retriever?).  It is such a joy to watch the younger version of Akari.  The amazing thing is that the actress who plays the older Akari, Lena Tanaka (田中麗奈), is just as sweet.  If I am to pick one tiny detail to critic, I would say that while the casting of the 28 years old Lena Tanaka is still believable, having the 34 years old actor Ryo Kase to play the supposed to be 24 years old childhood friend of Akari is a bit far off.  My friend TK and I thought that Ryo Kase is selected because he is a professional guitar player in real life as demanded by the plot.  After some research at home, he is actually one of the actors who played in Clint Eastwood’s “Letter from Iwo Jima”.

Anyway, details.

Besides the dog and the girl (or girls counting the young and older ones), I also enjoy watching the acting of Akari’s father – so loving, so sincere.  I would suppose the ten promises Akari has made to the puppy are a good reminder to those who already have pets as their companions as well as those who consider keeping one.  There have been rather sad stories of owners abandoning their pets after realizing that there is a certain responsibility in keeping a companion.  And I personally think that some of these promises are good reminders on how we shall treat our own family and friends too.  If I could take home one theme, that would be the so-called obligations or sacrifices made however restrictive and confining at times don’t necessary make my world smaller but instead, make me a real person (as in not living in my own world I guess).

In the end of the movie when the theme song sang by BoA was played, Cynthia’s eyes were swollen with tears.  I asked when she has started crying and she told me that since the puppy appeared on the screen.  Oh dear, how can one cry for more than an hour in this 117 minutes movie?

Below is a movie trailer without subtitles.

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Action & Thriller Foreign Movie Reviews

Black Book – Great Plot Filmed with a Convincing Sense of Realism

Gosh, it was the first time I saw an actress sitting (gracefully) in front of a mirror dyeing her pubic hair blond and I wasn’t even shy watching it.  It was so artistically filmed.  If you enjoy watching an espionage type of movie packed with high entertainment value of suspense, thriller, and seduction, this Dutch and German production with a hint of Hebrew and English may thrill you.

The time line of the story is set towards the end of World War II.  It was the rising of the Dutch Resistance versus the Nazi stationed in Holland.  “Black Book” is the most expensive Dutch film ever made (doesn’t it sound familiar with the foreign films these days?) and I can certainly see where all the money has gone into.  Every single detail is being attended to.  I felt as though I was being transported back to year of 1944.  I could almost smell the scent of the antiquity.  Details that are beyond the surface, some are historical, some are just “making sense” (like the stinging after effect of the dyeing of … erm … pubic hair). 

There is much character development in this 145 minutes foreign film and the entire plot is very much entwined with human emotions (love and family) as well as human flaws (greed and betrayal).  It watched like reading a good thick wartime novel, except the element of war is perhaps not the focus of this movie.  Are all Nazis bad and all members of the Dutch Resistance heroes?  According to the film director Paul Verhoeven, a shade of greyness on moral ground is simply what real life is.  Too bad, I don’t know the languages and I found it hard at times to follow the subtitles while distracted by the scenes and the acting.

“Black Book” may have received a mixed review within the Dutch community but the International markets love it.  Perhaps we are in need of something fresh with an age old formula of the Holocaust; perhaps we are not Dutch enough to feel for the lack of moral black and white between the Nazis and the rest.  This film has been nominated and has won a few awards.  The real gem of the movie, I think, is the beautiful Dutch stage and film actress Carice van Houten.  The plot has provided her a wide spectrum of emotions and opportunity to shine.  You will get to love our heroine.  And her real life relationship with her co-star Sebastian Koch (for those who have seen the film, it’s Ludwig Müntze, the German SD Officer) explains the chemistry on the big screen.

Do bring along a friend or two to watch to show.  It will be fun pasting the pieces together after the show.

On a side note – especially when I opened this blog entry with such a hot scene – the director Paul Verhoeven has worked on (besides “RoboCop” and “Total Recall”) “Basic Instinct”, “Showgirls”, “Starship Troopers”, and “Hollow Man” – all of which have elements that bring out the beauty of the female sexuality in forms of art.  I would say I love them all (except “RoboCop”).

Gosh, I have watched so many movies over the years!

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Accuracy of Death, Sweet Rain, 死神の精度 – Whatever the Title is, It’s Takeshi Kaneshiro

OK.  I have to make this movie the final stop of my Asian Movie Marathon, take a break, and blog about something else.  This morning, I asked Cynthia who is not a big fan of Japanese movies, “Why pick this?”  Her answer was “Takeshi Kaneshiro” together with a isn’t-that-obvious look.

Isn’t that obvious that all the girls love Takeshi?  The sound of exhilaration from the female audience at those heart-melting moments makes me wonder if “Accuracy of Death” (literal translation) or “Sweet Rain” (alternative International title) is indeed a chick-flick (it’s probably not).

It’s not a tear jerking movie for sure.  “Accuracy of Death” is divided into 3 parts with each part tells a story of its own.  The “Death God” or better known as “Grim Reaper” in English talks to his targets (or contracts?) in human form and judges them for a week.  On the 8th day, he then makes a decision to “proceed” (i.e. death) or “suspend”.  What is special about this film is that by and large, the three sub-plots are unpredictable.  With such a high degree of unpredictability comes a price of a lack of anticipation of something dramatic.  At times, both Cynthia and I wondered where the story was heading.  It is also one of those movies that when the ending hits you, it really hits you and makes you go “ah-ha”.  Perhaps not as deep as I personally wish it to be.  But it is good for a change and have something challenges our minds a bit.

From my close to non-existing understanding of the Japanese language with lots of help from the online translator, the movie appears to be inspired by part 1, 2, and 6 of a 6-book series written by 伊坂幸太郎 between 2003 to 2005 – 「死神の精度」「死神と藤田」and「死神対老女」.  I wonder what happens to the rest of the stories.  Perhaps time for me to learn Japanese.

An unusual mystery Japanese movie uplifted by a good sense of humor.  All three sub-stories have different themes and since my favorite one is the first one, the rest of the stories seem to fall flat just a tiny bit.  After some research, I found the music video clip (featured below) sung by the main actress from the first story, 小西真奈美 (Manami Konishi), titled “Sunny Day”. 

Out of the four Asian films that I have recently watched – “Dance of a Dragon”, “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”, “Chocolate”, and “Accuracy of Death” – and if we could have time for only one movie, Cynthia would pick “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”.  I would probably pick “Chocolate”.  It is quite a rare moment that there are so many good Asian films showing at the same time.  And hence this crazy marathon.

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Action & Thriller Foreign Movie Reviews

Chocolate – That Thai Girl Can Fight!

Why is this Thai film so named as “Chocolate”?  I still have no clue.  Maybe I was too absorbed into the hot, explosive, fast paced, bone cracking, humanly impossible fighting sequence, I walked out of the theatre (at 1.30am) feeling shocked and awed unable to process anything like: Where or who is the chocolate?  And our Asian movie marathon continues.

“Chocolate” does put something new onto the table.  The most obvious of all is to have a young sweet heroine (“Jeeja” Yanin Vismistananda) as the main character fighting (and cracking) against gozillian men.  I personally welcome this aspect of femininity in a popular Thai action genre because it draws emotion and feeling and sympathy towards the heroine.  Besides, a heroine is allowed to cry when the plot calls for.  With a male main actor, the action is usually coupled with a dose of humor (like the Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan’s movies or the Thai actor Tony Jaa’s “Ong-Bak” and “Tom Yum Goong”).  With a female actress, it opens up doors of vulnerability that seldom seen in a genre dominated by men.

Collaboration with a Japanese counterpart in a Thai movie, I think, is pretty fresh (don’t you love the hot pair of Thai-Japanese couple?).  And it does expand the mode of combat to include the long Japanese sword as well.

“Chocolate” has devoted the first 30 minutes to develop the character of an autistic girl from conception to discovering this awesome fighting skill of hers.  The next 1 hour is packed with intensive fight scenes that made the audience screaming “ouch” all the way.

“Chocolate” does not have the old-fashioned scene repeat in different angles as the same pair of director choreographer did for “Ong-Bak” and “Tom Yum Goong”, which to me is good.  It is still what it is: a Thai action film that won’t satisfy your intellectual mind but will certainly get your adrenalin flowing.  I personally would love to see more of “Jeeja” in the future.  Perhaps a pair up between her and Tony Jaa.  Here is the trailer.

PS. I read from a Thai that in Thailand, it is darn hard to collect money from those who owe you.  They will have no problem relating to this film.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love) – More Than Just A Romance Drama

With close to a quarter of a billion population, you would have thought the filmmaker would pick a better looking Indonesian actor who is worthy of having four girls falling head over heels in love with and ends up marrying two.  Well, at least the filmmaker picks the right pair of drop dead gorgeous actresses for “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” – officially translated as “Signs of Love” and literally means “Verses of Love”.

I have such a high anticipation for “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” because an Indonesian film worthy of the International market is rare and I do have a certain affection towards Indonesia.  Besides, I thought Cynthia would love to watch a film in her mother tongue.  On top of that, I did take language lessons back in Indonesia donkey years ago so I am not 100% clueless on the dialogues like other foreign films.

Let’s put things in perspective here.  According to Cynthia, majority of the Indonesia productions are either in the genres of horror or slapstick comedy or teen comedy.  To take on a romance drama that explores such a wide range of topics even with a budget that well exceeds the average cost of an Indonesian film (I read it’s double) is an admirable effort.  I can certainly imagine that if I was an Indonesian, I too would feel proud watching this movie.  With a script of “Long Live Indonesia” in the foreign land of Egypt, who wouldn’t?

A few feel good factors and a few really good eye candies aside, “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” has attempted to shine a more balanced light on Islamic as a religion of patience and sincerity.  This 126 minutes film, I believe, is a timely answer to the 16 minutes controversial short film “Fitna” by Geert Wilders that portrays Islam as a religion of terrorism (shocking images, avoid if you have a weak stomach).  It is a balanced view because while the traditions are observed – such as the prayers, Islamic teaching, and how men and women should not touch each other unless they are related – it does tackle the social issues such as domestic violence, rape as well as the challenge of a polygamy marriage.

There are parts of the movie that move me a great deal.  It portrays the emotional aspect really well, certainly believable.  As someone who is a non-Indonesian, I found myself talking to Cynthia a lot during the show to seek clarification.  For instance, I did not know that during an Islamic wedding, the bride’s father holds the hand of the groom over the Quran with the bride sitting on the side and that signifies a transfer of “responsibility”.  I was quite shocked to see that as an equivalent to the Western “exchange of wedding vow”.  Also, because the dialogues have a mix of Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia and the characters who are supposed to be Arabians speak in Bahasa Indonesia, it could be quite confusing for those who does more than reading the subtitles.

An extremely slow moving movie (I think this one is even slower than “Dance of the Dragon”), what it lacks is the quality of production and a tighter and more realistic storyline.  However, for those who are into foreign movies that expose human emotions and are original – in the sense of an Indonesian student in Egypt and eventually marries a Muslim and a Christian – “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” may satisfy a different taste bud of yours.

On a lighter note, I don’t think any guy on earth would mind the headache of having Carissa Putri and Rianti Cartwright as wives.  I personally …

OK, I have watched the Fann Wong’s “Dance of the Dragon” follows by “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”.  Can you guess which one I am going to watch next?  It’s so obvious!

PS. For those who are interested to read more on Islam, check out my book review of “Islam By Karen Armstrong – A Short History”.

Categories
Foreign Movie Reviews

The Forbidden Kingdom – “Gate Of No Gate” Cracks Me Up Big Time

The Forbidden Kingdom

Just a couple of days ago, a friend of mine at work sent me an Outlook invite titled “Girlie Lunch” and she has extended the invite to a few other guys.  In the end, I was the only guy who turned up.  Last evening might as well be qualified as a “Girlie Dinner” as my guy friend couldn’t make it for dinner and joined us for movie later instead.  I must say not often I am privileged for such outings and it is rather interesting to observe the topics that girls like to talk about and things they do on a dining table.  The “Girlie Bonding” is somewhat as strong as the binding of the neutrons and protons in the semi-absence of men.  The phrase the table has turned has a whole new meaning to me.

The story of the Monkey King or better known as Sun Wukong (孫悟空) in Chinese is based on an epic literature Journey to the West (西遊記) that I have read a couple of times when I was young (100 chapters!).  Ever since it was published in the 1950s, the story has been told and retold, packaged and repackaged in a hundred million ways on TV and on big screens.  And now, we get to see the Monkey King once again in “The Forbidden Kingdom”.

From a purist viewpoint, “The Forbidden Kingdom” watched almost like a blasphemy to the legendary characters so well known to those who have a deep Chinese background.  At times I find it hard to watch how some characters are teamed up against one another.  Also, having a bunch of well respected Chinese actors grouped together speaking in not-too-fluent English with an acting delivery less than conviction, to me, is hard to watch too.  The action sequence though is pleasant to our senses certainly not as artistic and original as some of the other Chinese films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “House of Flying Daggers”, or “Hero”.

These aside, I can also understand why some (strangely all the girls in our group) found the movie entertaining – especially so with Jackie Chan’s hilarious performance.  The scripts can be humorous to both with Chinese background and the ones without.  Just like the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique in “Kill Bill” – a direct word-by-word translation so hilariously strange to the foreigner and yet so funnily ridiculous to the Chinese – “The Forbidden Kingdom” has tons of references that when directly translated, are pure madness.  My favorite is certainly the translated phrase of “Gate of No Gate” and some of those odd English dialogues like “you bitch!” meets with a “you orphan bitch!” reply.  A fellowship of a Westerner, a monk, a drunken scholar, and an orphan girl on a mission to return the magical staff to the Monkey King surely invokes some kind of resemblance to the “Lord of the Ring”.  Some may like the familiarity (and what’s up with the must-have cat fight scenes like “Charlie’s Angels” or “James Bond”?).

I was actually quite intrigued by the actress Liu Yifei who has quite an achievement prior to this film.  I was once tempted by her Japanese album back in 2006 (she has a Chinese album too) but I gave it a miss.  Also, in the same year, I resisted borrowing her highly recommended TV drama “The Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕侠侣)” from my buddy.  Perhaps I shall reconsider the offer.

Fortunately, the storyline is not too unbelievable (which ironically the traditional Cantonese movies usually are when it comes down to this genre).  You may probably have to read the subtitles to make out the strange English accents.  And if you are not too much of a purist, some of those absurd dialogues may stick onto your mind for days to come.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Sky Of Love (Koizora) – Starring Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣)

Sky of Love (Koizora)

I can’t help but to draw similarities between my favourite Japanese star YUI and the 19 years old model turned actress turned singer Yui Aragaki that go slightly deeper than just a name resemblance and a birthday that is only 3 months apart. Both starred in a rather sad movie (“Midnight Sun” for YUI), both look so pure and cute and innocent, sound so pure and cute and innocent, and both released a studio album after the show (I will review Yui Aragaki’s new album in my next post and YUI’s albums are “From Me to You” and “Can’t Buy Me Love”) with very similar vocal texture as well.  But as a true fan of YUI, what do I make of Yui Aragaki?

Music talent to be addressed in a separate post, Yui Aragaki does have acting talent for the romance drama genre.  It is hard not to fall in love with her on the screen (though I must say, Cynthia was more delighted by the main actor Haruma Miura instead … those sexy lips she said).  I had no idea what “Sky Of Love” was about.  I wasn’t even sure if it was a tear jerking movie at all.  All I knew was that the novel that the movie was based upon was once featured on paper late last year.  A cell-phone novel that took the Japanese market by storm.  I read that the cell-phone novel genre tends to have short sentences (hence a rather short and engaging plot development?) and chided by the old school novelists.  Initially, this cell-phone novel was hosted in one of the Japanese websites amongst many others.  I guess if the story is good, it doesn’t matter where it started.

In a few short and vague words, “Sky of Love” is about a young girl falling in love for the first time, vowed not to fall in love again, and found courage to love someone forever.  Cynthia criticize this particular genre as something that comes straight from a template; every Japanese or Korean tear jerking movie tells the same story.  I do agree that they are all there to basically jerk your tears.  But if you look at the typical Hollywood action thriller or romance or any type of mainstream movie, there are always three stages of the plot: the development, the conflict, and the resolution.  I learned that from the PC game “The Movies” (hey, geeks can be quite ‘knowledgeable’ by playing games too you know!).

Sometimes I ask myself, why do I love the Japanese or Korean or Thai horror movies if I don’t really scream that much?  Or why do I love the Japanese or Korean romance drama if I don’t really cry?  Anyway, Cynthia in her own words told me that she cried till she got a headache.  TK used the same amount of tissue paper as Cynthia for a totally different reason (running nose … ha ha ha).  I am not sure what TK’s friend makes out of the movie.  I may be bias.  I personally like this movie very much – both the storyline and the acting.  Predictable storyline most of the time, there are some rare moments that delight and surprise.

Related Blog Entry: Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣) – Sora (そら) – Girlie Voice, Good Song Choice, But Doubtful Vocal Skill.

Categories
Comedy Foreign Movie Reviews

Mr. Average (Comme tout le monde) – A Light Entertainment

Mr. Average

My body was definitely suffering from movie withdrawal syndrome and the good thing about not having any for a while is that every movie advertised looks good. In the morning, I texted my Movie Review Squad with the message of “documentary, French romance comedy, Japanese anime, or horror?”. And almost simultaneously, I received two text messages pointing at the direction of a French romance comedy. OK. I was not the only one who was itching for some good movies. “Mr. Average” it was then.

“Mr. Average” is not one of those French movies that after the ending hits you, you have to re-watch the entire movie again.  Nor it is the typical French romance drama that has lots of character development.  The rather plump looking main actor Khalid Maadour, who plays the role of Jalil, does look like any Tom, Dick, and Harry (he does look like the policeman who can listen to people’s mind in the TV series “Heroes” to me though). The main actress from Montreal, Quebec – Caroline Dhavernas – who plays the role of Claire is anything but. She is totally stunningly attractive and sweet looking (Cynthia agrees) that I can easily bypass how immorally wrong her role is at the beginning. Claire, a budding actress, is hired by a top marketing company to deceive Jalil who has the gift of predicting what the mass market wants through his own opinions. Claire even sleeps with Jalil on day one! Surprisingly, with such a sweet looking girl, condemning her decision was the last thing on my mind … the success of making likable characters in the movie eh?

There is nothing deep about the romance comedy “Mr. Average” though the scriptwriter is pretty imaginative. You will most likely walk out of the theatre feeling happy. The soundtrack is great though. I will certainly check out the CD.

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Foreign Movie Reviews Romance

Sugar And Spice – My Heart Bled A Hundred Times

Life is fragile. One moment you are up in the sky, hopping from cloud to cloud. Everything looks bright. You love the caress of the wind on your face. Another moment, everything you stand onto crumble into pieces. What you believe in, what you live for … and you ask yourself: Who am I? What am I? Are we the projection of what the people see and think about us? Are we the shadow of our past and who we are not? Or we are what we identify with? The curse of empathy. We humankind promotes love but yet we have conflicts everywhere, every single moment. At this very moment, millions are displaced in the war-torn eastern African nation of Somalia, the Saudi rape victim is sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison (what does human right means as a female in an Arab country?!), whales are being brutally killed as the source of protein … but no, how I feel now is nothing to do with civilizations that I have yet to encounter or yet another species we are driving to extinction. How I feel, what I feel is the very conflicts or hostility I experience somewhere not thousands of miles away. Then I ponder, is the ability of being able to empathize a curse? What if no one cares about how I feel, who I am, or what I am? Why do I care so much to people around me? I remember those FHM girls lined up in front of a car so that photographers could take a good picture with them, and the car. Someone shouted: which number, which number, how much? That was disrespectful, totally disgusting. We don’t spend time dressing up to work just to be emotionally abused. I don’t spend time dressing up to …

So, our identity can falter. Our will power can falter. And our body follows, feeling weak and all.

I am coughing today. My nose has been running mildly. It’s been one of those days when I don’t feel as though I am hopping from cloud to cloud. And through this process of crumble, through the serendipity of you are not alone, my good buddy – the name cannot be exposed for reason you will find later – met me up for lunch, and then dinner, and then a movie that I was dying to watch but no one seems interested.

I have no idea why The Straits Times rated the movie “Sugar and Spice” so bad. Then again, I have been consistently disagreeing with them. The acting is solid, especially hands down to Yuya Yagira, the award winner of Cannes in 2004. The scenery shots are beautiful. The presentation with the actors narrate throughout the movie is poetic. “Sugar and Spice” is about the passion of first love, and the passion of love. Being the king of “dumpee”, I can so totally relate to every single moment of the intensity of falling in love and to face the eventuality of … love is a journey, an experience, and feeling the pain at times make us feel alive. “Sugar and Spice” bears it all and it reminded me of what I have been through. Then I thought, perhaps the reviewers at The Straits Times just not having the opportunity to experience love at all. I asked my good buddy who has yet to experience love if the show is enjoyable. The answer is yes. I was surprised. And my good buddy was surprised at The Straits Times’s review too. Too bad, today is the last day “Sugar and Spice” being shown in Singapore.

I wish this blog entry is just another movie review but it is not. All this world needs or what we need is empathy, the ability to love someone or something (such as whales), and the ability to love oneself. And for God’s sake, stop hurting each other with the words we say, the things we do, the words we didn’t say, and the things we didn’t do.

Categories
Action & Thriller Foreign Movie Reviews

Lust, Caution – Nearly Met Expectation If Only The Story Made Sense

If only I had my way to tweak the story slightly – very slightly perhaps towards the end – it would have been more satisfying to watch. Having said that, I think Ang Lee has done the Chinese proud. I was brought up watching countless Hong Kong movie productions and since young, I have always been wondering when would be the day when Chinese makes a mark in the International movie scene. And now, we have the Academy Award-winning Taiwanese director bringing us an erotic espionage thriller, a movie that I have highly anticipated since I got the wind that it was in production. I was angry that it was released in Singapore with a NC16 rating. Cutting the sex scenes is just illegal. I will tell you why. “Lust, Caution” is centered upon the seduction of a high-ranking Kuomintang official by a young female agent. And in the context of espionage, having drinks and movies unfortunately is not the way to seduce someone. Sex is. Censoring the sex scenes strips away the magic within.

I am glad that the uncensored version releases in Singapore with a R21 rating thereafter. I am also shocked that those scenes passed the Singapore censorship board. It breathes hope to a more open Singapore. It’s about time you bet.

Let me be upfront about what is so wonderful about “Lust, Caution”. The setting is convincingly beautiful. The costume is beautiful. All of which gave me the feel of the old days in China and there it is in the movie, a tram! I can understand why those who have little background of the Chinese history in the World War II era may not be able to fully appreciate the movie as an understanding of the background is somewhat assumed. That may explain the less than enthusiastic feedback from the Western world. The pace of the movie is really slow – 158 minutes in total – but I am a patience man. I can accept the pace – though I feel that some parts can be fasten a bit – but I cannot understand why Ang Lee did not attempt to alter the story written by Eileen Chang just a little bit. After all, I believe that director has the artistic freedom to adopt the novel in the way he or she deems fit. Look at what Mel Gibson did to “The Passion”.

The storyline is the weakest link. The acting, however, is top notch. I have always been a fan of Tony Leung. He can act with just his pairs of eyes. It is true. What amazes me is that the less well known leading actress Tang Wei is able match up to Tony Leung’s performance. I am not surprised though. After all, she was selected from 10,000 candidates and Ang Lee has spent 8 solid months (3 of which prior to the actual filming) in training her. I enjoy every single moment of their acting. The sex scenes between the two of them are intense, artistically filmed, and look so real that … no wonder some of the reporters asked Ang Lee if it was real. I think I can relate to Ang Lee’s frustration. “Lust, Caution” is not about sex. Really not. It is the intense emotion between two people – one who lives a dreadful life of not trusting anyone around him executing agents in a daily basis and one who lives an acting life of toggling between completing the mission of assassination and not falling in love with that one man she needs to kill.

“Lust, Caution” – as far as speculation and the certain confirmation from the official as well as the surviving sister of the agent goes – is loosely based on true events. If only the story followed a bit closer with the true story, it would have been more satisfying. SPOILER WARNING: Click here to read the version from the official and the version from the sister in the context of the movie’s ending.

Ironically, “Lust, Caution” may not even make it to Oscar because the Taiwan authority does not think that the movie has sufficient representatives from Taiwan (only the director and the story-writer). Neither does Hong Kong accept “Lust, Caution” for the upcoming Film Awards due to similar reason. The movie is a collaboration between China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. How ironic that because “Lust, Caution” doesn’t represent one single sovereign, it cannot compete to be the best movie or foreign movie of the year. Very disappointing it is.