Ang Lee's

Lust, Caution (Widescreen, R-Rated 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.

Ride with the Devil
$12.98
In my opinion, this is an excellent movie. I'm an amateur history buff and, from what I have read about the pre-civil war era in Missouri and Kansas, this movie is as close to the way it probably was as I can imagine.

Ride With the Devil (1999) [VHS]
$9.98
In my opinion, this is an excellent movie. I'm an amateur history buff and, from what I have read about the pre-civil war era in Missouri and Kansas, this movie is as close to the way it probably was as I can imagine.

Taking Woodstock
$29.98
You know when we saw taking Woodstock I had expected something I guess different that what was brought to the screen.What I had expected to see was the concert acts rehashed throughout the movie,what I got was something even better a movie that brought a good feeling and made me really feel good when I left the Movie Theater.Everything in the movie just fit in so well,from the towns people who hated the rush into their town but found that all those kids were genuine and caring,to a dreamer who was in fact gay and found his own being throughout the movie.I felt this movie was sort of like many other movies in the past like Goonies and nanny Mcfee that were never really given there push when they came out,but make everyone feel good every time you see them.Taking Woodstock should have enjoyed so much more critical acclaim but if you saw the movie you know it did not need that to take away from the movie something good inside yourself,and always carry with you that maybe we cant always judge people by their outright appearence but should take from them what they have inside of themselves...i wish the company would have did the blu ray with the regular version disc like disney does,but well see which one I buy.Incidently just to see the brownie seen in the movie is worth the whole trip,if you dont know what i mean by that buy the movie..
Scott denny