Ang Lee returns to Taiwan for the premiere of Lust, Caution

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

Ang Lee returns to Taiwan for the premiere of Lust, Caution

Taiwan-born director Ang Lee returned to Taiwan Sunday for the premier of his film Lust, Caution and to pick up a 300,000-US-dollar award from the Taiwan government.

On Monday afternoon, Ang Lee is scheduled to attend a book-signing ceremony for the book version of Lust, Caution for his fans at the Eslite bookstore in Taipei.

Lust, Caution was based on the eponymous novel by Ailing Chang. It is about a woman falling in love with a spy during the Sino-Japanese War in Shanghai in the 1940s. The film won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival on September 8.

On Monday evening, Ang Lee plans to attend the premier of Lust, Caution at a Taipei cinema.

On Tuesday, he and his production company are due to receive 10 million Taiwan dollars (300,000 US dollars) each from the Government Information Office (GIO).

As Ang Lee, now a US citizen, was born in Taiwan, the GIO hailed him as the "Glory of Taiwan" and wants Lust, Caution to represent Taiwan in the 2008 Oscar for best foreign language film.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/232064/Ang_Lee_returns_to_Taiwan_for_the_premiere_of_Lust_Caution

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

Ang Lee 'satisfied' new film is shown in entirety

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The China Post news staff

Popular film director Ang Lee will receive a US$300,000 award from the Government Information Office today for his prize-winning picture "Lust, Caution."

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Lee came to Taipei from Hong Kong Monday to receive the award and attend the premier of the film that won this year's Golden Lion award of the Venice International Film Festival.

Lee, born in Taiwan, attended the ceremony for the premier of "Lust, Caution" at the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei Hotel yesterday evening.

The premiere of the film, based on the short novel of the same title by popular writer Ailing Chang, took place at a movie house opposite the hotel.

It is about a woman falling in love with a spy in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during the Second World War.

Prior to the premiere, Lee and his stars in "Lust, actress Tang Wei and actor Lee-hom Wang, signed more than 700 copies of Ailing Chang's book at an Eslite Bookstore outlet in Taipei.

All fans lining up for the autograph were satisfied.

The GIO began to hail Ang Lee as the "glory of Taiwan" after he won an Oscar for his "Brokeback Mountain." It plans to have "Lust, Caution" represent Taiwan in next year's Oscar for the best foreign language film.

Lee said he was "very much satisfied" that "Lust, Caution" was shown in its entirety in Taipei.

The movie has several bold sex scenes featuring Tang and Tony Leung.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/headlines/2007/09/25/49225/Ang-Lee.htm

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

Ang Lee Brings "Lust, Caution" Home

2007-09-25 11:11:40 CRIENGLISH.com

A line-up of Taiwan entertainers on Monday showed up at the local premiere of the award-winning spy thriller "Lust, Caution," to welcome director Ang Lee.

Taiwan-born Ang Lee led cast members Tang Wei and musician-turned-actor Lee-Hom Wang in promoting the film.

Tony Leung, who played the leading role in "Lust, Caution," was in Beijing filming John Woo's "Battle of Red Cliff," and has sent congratulations to the premiere.

Among the attendees were Ang Lee's family, Taiwan talk-show hosts Barbie Hsu, her sister Dee Hsu, and Cai Kangyong.

About 1,500 fans jam-packed the film's premiere theater, hoping to catch the touted film as early as possible.

Ang Lee told reporters earlier that he had devoted so much in making "Lust, Caution" and that it was a special moment to see it coming to his hometown.

"Lust, Caution," which was awarded the Best Film at this year's Venice International Film Festival, premiered in Hong Kong two days earlier. It is slated to hit mainland theaters on October 26.

http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/25/1261@277540.htm

http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/25/1261@277540_1.htm

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

Taiwan applauds controversial film by local hero Lee

Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:15am BST

By Doug Young

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Moviegoers in director Ang Lee's native Taiwan gave a thumbs-up to his prize-winning "Lust, Caution", appearing unfazed by the controversy surrounding it or the steamy sex scenes.

The film, the surprise winner of this year's Golden Lion award at the Venice film festival, played to full houses on its Monday night premiere at several Taipei cinemas, which have given it an adult rating and are showing it uncut.

"Lust, Caution", a spy thriller set in World War Two Shanghai, got generally negative reviews at Venice and was panned by critics who said it was long and tedious.

"Awesome," one viewer described the 156-minute movie, which is punctuated by explicit and sometimes violent sex.

"There was a little bit too much sex in a few points, but overall it was okay," said another movie goer, Shen Yun-hsi. "I'm still thinking about it. A lot happened."

The film will open in China this week but only after Lee himself excised a lot of the on-screen sex and other scenes Beijing deemed inappropriate.

Lee, back home after a global tour, was especially nervous about the premiere of his film in Taiwan, due to the graphic sex, his brother told local media.

But the audience at one Taipei cinema, mostly in their 20s and 30s, gasped louder at a scene featuring a large diamond than at any of the sex scenes.

"I feel good when I come back to Taiwan. When I make a Chinese movie, I can examine my growth and have a new start again," Lee told a media briefing on Tuesday.

"Every time when I come back, I review the past and it gives me the feeling that I will have a brand new start and keep going forward," he added.

"Lust, Caution" was being screened at 107 venues in Taiwan, a record for an adult-rated film, according to one media report.

The movie was expected to gross T$3.5 million (55,000 pounds) initially, and eventually break the T$50 million record for a Lee film pulled in by his gay cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain", which won him an Oscar for best director.

Lee made a number of Chinese-language movies in his early career, but for the most part has made English-language movies since gaining international acclaim. One notable exception is his China-based martial arts movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

(Additional reporting by Baker Li)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUKSP20947120070925

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

Ang Lee donates prize money to promote Taiwan's film industry

Posted 3 hours ago by dpa news in Entertainment

Taiwan-born movie director Ang Lee on Tuesday donated the prize money he has received from Taiwan for his film Lust, Caution to develop Taiwan's film industry.

Lee, who was back in Taiwan for the premier of Lust, Caution on Monday, on Tuesday received the award from the Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Shieh Jhy-wey.

Shieh lauded Lee as "the glory of Taiwan" and issued 10 million Taiwan dollars (300,000 US dollars) each to Lee and to his production company.

Lee said he could not accept the award because it was Taiwan's subsidy that has helped him survive and succeed all these years. He donated the 20 million Taiwan dollars (600,000 US dollars) to help young Taiwan directors.

Lee said he regretted the decline of Taiwan's film industry.

"I have seen the rise and fall of Taiwan's film industry. I hope GIO can find ways to revive our film industry," he said at the award-presenting ceremony.

Lee, now a US citizen, was born in Taiwan. The GIO wants Lust, Caution to represent Taiwan in the 2008 Oscar competition for best foreign language film. dpa dc jh

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/232720/Ang_Lee_donates_prize_money_to_promote_Taiwan_s_film_industry

summertime · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923

BIG-TIME SPOILERS

Lust, Caution is great film but 'difficult for foreigners' - Feature

Posted : Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:44:01 GMT

Author : DPA

Taipei - Taiwan's government presented director Ang Lee with an award of 20 million Taiwan dollars (600,000 dollars) Tuesday after his movie Se, Jie (Lust, Caution,) won the coveted Golden Lion for best film at the 64th Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Lee, 52, had flown home to Taiwan for the premier of the movie on Monday.

While the film is a great tale of lust and espionage, many Taiwanese believe that without any inside knowledge of Chinese history, it would be difficult for foreigners to follow because the plot is too complex.

Hailing Lee as "the glory of Taiwan," the country now wants Lust, Caution to run for the best foreign-language Oscar in 2008.

But film critics and many Taiwanese, who have seen the film, say that while it is a great movie, the chances of winning the Oscar are slim because the plot is "too complex for foreigners."

"Lee did an excellent job of analyzing the minds of the two leading characters - Wong Chia-chi and Mr Yee. The filming and acting are both great, but the Chinese history is too hard for foreigners," film critic Wen Tian-hsiang told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

When Lust, Caution was shown at the Venice Film Festival, some foreign film critics found it boring and chided Lee for showing too much lust and throwing caution to the wind.

As he felt he had hardly any chance of winning the top prize, Lee had already left Venice when he was called back to pick up the coveted Golden Lion on September 8.

Although the film received the strictest rating in the United States and Hong Kong and Chinese censors cut seven minutes of nude scenes, it is being shown in its entirety in Taiwan.

"The sex scenes are the necessary part of the film, but not the focus," Lee told reporters in Venice, Hong Kong and Taipei.

Lust, Caution was adapted from Lust, Caution, a 20-page novella by Chinese writer Ailing Chang and focuses on a group of patriotic Shanghai university students plotting to assassinate Mr Yee, the intelligence chief in the Japanese-backed Chinese government during World War II, when China was occupied by Japan.

The students asked Wong Chia-chi, a fellow student, to seduce Yee in order to pave the way for the assassination. Wong became Yee's mistress but they fell in love with each other and it cost her life.

When Wong lured Yee to a jewellery shop to buy a ring, the students surrounded the shop to kill Yee, but Wong let him escape.

Yee ordered the arrest of all six "resistance students" including Wong and executed them.

Hong Kong star Tony Leung brought the character of Yee back to life by presenting a nervous and pervert Yee, who was married but needed someone to talk to by way of relaxation.

China's new actress Tang Wei played the role of Wong Chia-chi - a shy, but emotional and patriotic Shanghai girl who falls in love with Yee.

Though still not as famous as China's world-renowned Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, Tang, 27, succeeded in portraying Wong's complex inner world mostly through her eyes and was highly praised by Lee who has nurtured several world-famous actors including Zhang Ziyi.

"I did five auditions to search for the actress for Wong Chia-chi. When I saw Tang Wei, I told myself 'I have found her. She is Wong Chia-chi,'" Ang Lee told reporters in Taipei.

Contrary to press reports, while Lust, Caution's three sex scenes are long, detailed and sometimes violent, they are not pornographic.

There were several nude shots of Leung but no frontal ones. Tang Wei showed off more by walking quickly across a darkened room in the nude.

Lee said he decided to make the film because he was moved by Ailing Chang's novel Lust, Caution.

"This is her best novel and I am haunted by it. I want my film to serve as a bridge for young Chinese so that they can understand China's modern history, understand how millions of Chinese youth laid down their lives to save the country," he said.

Ang Lee is the most renowned of the current generation of Taiwan directors. After finishing college, he went to study film-making at New York University and later became a US citizen.

But he did not direct any film for six years after graduating from university and instead stayed at home to look after his children.

His luck changed in 1991, when his Pushing Hands won three awards at Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival.

Lee burst onto the world stage in 1993 when his gay film Wedding Banquet won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2001, his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won the Oscar for the best-foreign picture and his Brokeback Mountain, also a gay film, won Oscars for best director and best foreign language picture in 2006.

When asked about his next film at a news conference in Taipei, Lee said he was exhausted from spending the past year shooting the movie, and added: "I need to take a long rest to recuperate. As for the next film I have not begun to think about it yet. Usually I don't look for the idea, the idea comes to me," he said.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/113699.html