Two Words, One Answer.
Ang Lee
 The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen (Directors' Cuts) $25.00 This scholarly treatise of director Ang Lee by Whitney Crothers Dilley is a thoroughly engaging, in-depth study of this iconic and enigmatic filmmaker. Logically organised and richly researched, The Cinema of Ang Lee shows great insight on the many influences which impacted Mr. Lee's directorial vision: born in Taiwan, to parents who escaped Mainland China following the 1949 Civil War, his cultural identity further diluted when he came to the U.S. at age 23 in his yearning to break free of parental control to pursue his artistic and cinematic dreams. Ms. Crothers Dilley astutely shows us that Ang Lee's directorial range cannot be confined to a single culture or genre, and while films such as Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, and Hulk appear to be thematically disparate, common threads course throughout his filmography. Globalisation / cultural identity, family ritual, intergenerational conflict, dialogue-free visual metaphors, cultural codes of behavior, and above all the inherent diaspora brought to bear stemming from his personal history bring a unique perspective to each of his films. Serious students of film as well as casual fans of Ang Lee's body of work will love this book. Take the time to go on a wonderful journey as each film is dissected in order to find, in Ang Lee's words, "'The Juice', the thing that moves people, the thing that is untranslatable by words".  The Ice Storm $9.98 A lot of people I know compare this film to `American Beauty', and I totally understand why. Both films explore suburban family life in a way that is honest and flawed and completely exploitive without ever appearing overdone or, well, exploitive. I completely adore both films, but while `American Beauty' excels in really capturing the insecurities and eventual demise of the middle-aged man, `The Ice Storm' takes a different route (albeit similar circumstances) in that it exposes the moral breakdown of the average family. Both films involve a family unit, complete with children, and both films expose a marriage on the rocks (complete with an affair) as well as childish rebellion and self discovery on both sides of the spectrum, but to be `The Ice Storm' works a little more in that it actually feels invested in every character. Outside of Spacey, `American Beauty' loses some footing. Ben and Elena Hood are seemingly happy parents with a daughter at home and a son off in school, but when their son Paul comes home for a visit they begin to visibly unravel. Both Paul and his sister Wendy are beginning to explore their own individuality, which as per usual involves some sort of distorted intimacy, and this coincides with their parents beginning to acknowledge their own inadequacies. Ben has been fooling around with Janey Carver, the mother of Mikey, Wendy's current flame. Elena is most likely privy to the affair, even if she refuses to admit it to herself, but what is even more pertinent is that the children here all know and understand far more than the parents want to believe. What is so beautiful (tragically so) about `The Ice Storm' is that it exposes the messes we parents make while we falsely believe that our children are too young to understand all that they are witnessing. Sigourney Weaver's character Janey is the perfect example of this very idea. Across the board the film is filled with stellar performances that really ignite on contact. Kevin Kline has rarely been better (and when you consider that he also starred in the uproarious `In & Out' this same year you really have to hand it to him) and Joan Allen is all sorts of stellar as Elena, giving her a true sense of uninformed (or should I say unacknowledged) dread. Tobey Maguire, Adam Hann-Byrd, Christina Ricci (OMG amazing here), Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes all astound in their roles (some great child acting here); but it is one name that resounds loudest and that is Sigourney Weaver. Her understanding of the unaccepted flaws of Janey is just marvelous. That final scene, after the party, alone in the house and then suddenly aware of the truth; it's just a heart-stopper. In the end I must say that `The Ice Storm' is one of the most sublimely done films on family tension I've ever seen, exposing the heart of human frailty without coming across as preachy, contrived or clichd. It is honest, dark and surprisingly inspired, and the final moments (where eyes are opened for the very first time) add a layer of hope that is much needed in the world we live in today. Bravo.  Lust, Caution (Widescreen Edition) $19.98 This film seems to receive high regard because of the famous director, Ang Lee, but at the same time many viewers report it hard to understand, even boring, puzzling. What's going on? Following up on Brokeback Mountain, which was for Americans, Lee made the one for his Chinese public. This is what we see - a young girl is recruited as a spy to seduce and bring down the head of the Chinese secret police collaborating with the Japanese occupiers. Alas she gradually falls in love with him and at the crucial moment, can't bear to see him killed. Without hesitation, he kills her instead. The story seems disturbing and unsatisfying, the characters do not seem to explain themselves, and the acting is wooden. So why would this lovely young girl fall in love with her target, who is a traitor to her country, whose sexual relationship with her starts with a brutal rape, and who is daily engaged in torturing and executing her comrades in the underground resistance? At the end, her saving Mr. Yee at the cost of betraying her friends and condemning them and herself is difficult to accept - is it just the gesture of a stupid girl who let her emotions get the best of her? This film cannot be understood without appreciating, as the director himself said in an interview, that it is culturally "very Chinese." (It's also in the Chinese language with subtitles so Westerners are certainly missing many subtle clues.) There are depths of historical and cultural backstory here which every Chinese knows but most Westerners will not. First is the traumatic occupation of China by Japan from 1938 to 1945, an occupation marked by horrific atrocities against civilians including systematic sexual violence towards Chinese women. In fact rape was the very definition of conquest. It is also important that Eileen Chang - who wrote the short story behind the movie - was herself married to a man who collaborated with the Japanese, which was not uncommon. Also there is an Asian theme that romantic love is associated with obsession and pain. (Have you ever seen one of those Japanese music videos in which "love" is invariably depicted as a reason for tears?) Finally, the classical Asian ideal of womanhood is to accept a secondary role and sacrifice herself if necessary for her husband, who is lord and master. All these themes are played out in the film. Much has been made of the NC17 sex scenes but these are a bit boring and not at all erotic. The lovers say nothing and show no real excitement nor do they ever smile. It all has quite a bit of symbology going on: the evil Yee as the occupier, the girl as China, even the start of their sex life as a rape which does not stand in the way of the girl accepting Yee as her lover. One of the intriguing moments is after the girl and her cell of resistance fighters are captured and Yee's second in command reveals that the security police had known about them all along. When Yee asks his underling why he was not told, the answer is that Yee himself was suspected by his colleagues of cooperating with her because of their relationship. If this tension had played a bigger role in the movie, there might have been more drama. But it's not really a spy thriller - it's about the the subtle relationship of the two protagonists. When at the end she refuses to allow Yee to be killed and sacrifices herself and her friends instead, it is a kind of spiritual triumph for her - she was true to her traditional cultural values. Thus her way of life is proved superior, even though she dies and Yee lives. This echos the cry earlier in the movie, "China will not fall!" Most of this will go right over the heads of you and me. For us, the best thing about the movie is the lovely photography of WWII Shanghai, the fashions and sophisticated upper class lifestyles depicted. For 100 years, Shanghai was a cosmopolitan, almost European city, which the producers reproduced meticulously. But the movie is made for a Chinese audience who will grasp its layers and historical context, even the association of sex with violence and romantic love with pain in Chinese and Japanese culture. Without all that baggage, the movie is just period eye candy with a depressing ending. So three stars. |
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