<Lust, Caution> won Golden Lion Award

[Sreyda]

Thanks Marie and Info ~ I never even knew there were controversies like that because they are professional actors, not ........ I would never imagine Tony to do something like that anyways. Reminds me of what happened with L'Amour. The actress had body doubles, but the director, for publicity, let everyone believe that she did the really explicit scenes for real. Ruined her reputation for awhile.
_________________

a flash of lightning
in darkness catching in your hand
a paper candle
~Basho

[linda]

Wow that is great news! Congratulations to Tony, Ang Lee and everyone involved in Lust, Caution

[summertime]

UPDATED: September-13-2007 NO.38 SEP.20, 2007

Throwing Caution to the Wind

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's latest movie Lust, Caution wins him another Golden Lion but it's too hot for Chinese audiences

By CHEN WEN

What do Ang Lee and King Midas of Greek mythology have in common? Everything they touch, turns to gold. But the Hollywood director is no myth. He's here, he's now and he's once again firmly in the spotlight.
Adding to the best director Oscar gold of Brokeback Mountain, best foreign director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Golden Lion award for Brokeback Mountain, Lee again took the coveted Golden Lion at this year's Venice Film Festival on September 8, with his latest production Lust, Caution.

The sizzling spy thriller is getting a slew of attention, most of it directed at the NC-17 age restriction slapped on the movie in the United States.

Taiwan-born Lee told media at a press roundtable on September 11, "One of the best things about the award is probably that I don't have to explain to the public that it [the movie] is art, but not pornography," no stranger to controversy after his ground breaking work on the gay themed Brokeback Mountain.

Lee also explained the name of the movie. He said that the word "lust" did not simply refer to sexual desire, but contained all kinds of temptations and desires, and "caution" indicted an alertness against them.

His words were also a response to the film's NC-17 rating. The Motion Picture Association of America uses this rating to indicate that the movie cannot be viewed by anyone aged 17 and under, even if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Based on the 28-page short story by revered Chinese author Eileen Chang, Lust, Caution is set in the 1940s Shanghai during World War II, where a group of patriotic students plot to assassinate the then intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese Government.

The film stars Asian cinema icon Tony Leung, who plays the intelligence chief Mr. Yee and screen newcomer Tang Wei, who plays the Chinese student Wong Chia Chi that seduces Yee to set up the assassination.

To depict Wong Chia Chi's delicate and complex emotional intrigue with Mr. Yee and the poignant love and fierce hostility between the two conflicting characters, Lee uses explicit sex scenes.

Despite the mixed responses from critics, Lee insisted that the erotic scenes were necessary for the movie.

"They first hate and then love each other, a love that in turn generates hatred," said Lee. "If the scenes were less direct, the audience would fail to get it," Lee said as quoted by Taiwan's United Daily News.

He also said during an interview at the Toronto Film Festival that in the sex scenes, the lead characters in the movie were stripped down to the ultimate body language and the "ultimate performance."

After the pre-screening of Lust, Caution in New York on September 11, Lee told media he was not expecting the Golden Lion, as he had won it so recently. He admitted, however, that the award will be a great boost to the market potential of the movie. But he also pointed out that it would be difficult for Lust, Caution to generate high box office in the United States, partly because of cultural interpretations and Chinese dialogue used. Some U.S. reports also consider the NC-17 rating an impediment to the movie's box office performance in the country.

Public screening of Lust, Caution in North America will begin on September 28, while in New York City it will be shown at only one cinema, the Lincoln Plaza, according to Lee, which means box office takings will be severely reduced.

But the director is confident that this film will be well received by the Mandarin-speaking community, including the Chinese mainland.

The film is due to open across China on October 26. And for the director to make it to the mainland, it was necessary to cut the sexually and often violent scenes, to sanitize it for Chinese audiences.

Lee cut the film himself to protect its integrity and the final version has been approved by Chinese authorities. According to him, the most "exciting part" of the movie, about 6 minutes, has been cut to make the film watchable for everyone in China. This squashed other media reports stating that the Chinese mainland version will be 30 minutes shorter than the one screened abroad.

Currently, there is no film rating system in China, as with the age restrictions given to movies in the United States. To overcome this, Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television censor movies accordingly.

Lee told Beijing Review that he understood censorship was necessary to protect minors, but he thought that a film rating system would be better for China.

"I wish this film will give a positive push to this issue [creating a film rating system in China]," Lee said, adding, he really had hoped that Chinese audiences would be able to watch the movie in its entirety.

Tang Wei shares her director's sentiments, "Because only when it is complete, can it express the whole spirit of the movie."

Though she received much flack for the sex scenes she played in the movie, Tang said her parents, both artists, have been supportive toward her performance in Lust, Caution.

The screen newcomer counts herself fortunate to have been chosen to star in her first feature film by someone as famous as Lee.

Luck may be a reasonable explanation for Tang's successful debut, but for Lee, Tang is "one of the very few [we tested]" that looks like someone from that time period [the 1940s]. "She reminded me of my Chinese-lauguage and history teachers [in my youth]," said Lee, who was born in the early 1950s.

Lee said recreating scenes from World War II Shanghai was a big challenge during the production of the film and training the cast was even tougher. He admitted to exhaustion at the end of the project.

The hard work has paid off. But it's not the end of the award road for Lust, Caution. For the man with the golden touch and his erotic espionage encounters there is talk that the movie is destined to make a mark at next year's Oscars.

(Reporting from New York)



http://www.bjreview.com/quotes/txt/2007-09/13/content_75996.htm

[Info]

At Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards held on 8 Dec, <Lust, Caution> won the following awards:

Best Picture
Best Director - Ang Lee
Best Actor - Tony Leung
Best New Performer - Tang Wei
Best Screenplay Adaptation
Best Make Up and Costume Design
Best Original Film Score
Formoz Filmmaker Award

And Tony won his 13th Best Actor Award!!!

Joan Chen won the Best Actress Award for <The Home Song Stories>.

The full winning list is available at: http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/gh_main/gh/gh-e-5.aspx

[Info]

Congratulations!

<Lust, Caution> won the Best Foreign Film at the 12th Satellite Awards organised by International Press Academy.

http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards2007.shtml