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Movie Overview
Cast
• Tony Leung
• Tang Wei
• Joan Chen
Director
• Ang Lee
MPAA Rating
NC-17 - for some explicit sexuality
Lust, Caution (2007)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 73% Fresh
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3/4
"[Lust, Caution] gets around to honouring its pretensions towards truthfulness in a climax that exposes the sham of Blackbook."  Film Freak Central  Bill Chambers

4/5
" While some will feel his previous works better illustrate his gift of film, Lust, Caution creates an unmatched statement of cinematic wisdom all its own."  PopMatters  Bill Gibron

"An uncompromising and incredibly seductive piece of filmmaking that is too long but has so many good elements going for it that it is hard to really care that on certain points the director seems to have thrown caution to the wind."  european-films.net  Boyd van Hoeij

3/5
"If you're going to play with taboo, you better be ready to break the thing."  Filmcritic.com  Chris Cabin

"The primary question in Lust, Caution (Se, jie) is: "What is real?" The answers, nebulous and harsh, are suffused with cigarette smoke and punctuated by clacking mahjong tiles."  PopMatters  Cynthia Fuchs

C+
"Chugs along at such a slow speed it nearly put me to sleep despite its graphic sex scenes... ."  Ozus' World Movie Reviews  Dennis Schwartz

"Setting and wardrobe are relatively simple but immaculate. Less complication would have benefited the film, but perhaps the (female) heart is unknowable."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  Donald J. Levit

2.5/4
"Ang Lee seems to want to butt-**** Paul Verhoeven's Black Book, slightly amending that film's sketchy sexual politics but flattening its stirring socio-cultural purview, ending up similarly half-cocked."  Slant Magazine  Ed Gonzalez

C+
"Strangely inert and passionless, with a running time that is far too long for a movie so devoid of compelling emotion."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

B
"Beautiful but remote...But fascinated or bored, you won't be able to deny the level of craftsmanship it displays."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

3/5
"A compelling espionage thriller that reveals the untold dangers and depths of role-playing and raw sexuality."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

3.5/4
"Aided by the nuanced, forceful performances of his two leads, [Ang Lee] has made Lust, Caution something to be seen and savored."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

3/4
"Ang Lee has gone back to his roots and the results are undeniably intriguing."  Palo Alto Weekly  Jeanne Aufmuth

7/10
"I'm quite certain Lee got the mood he wanted for the movie ... but I'm not certain Wong/Mrs. Mak is someone we can easily feel fascination or an affinity for."  Window to the Movies  Jeffrey Chen

66/100
"There's no doubt while watching Ang Lee's Lust, Caution that you're in the hands of a supreme filmmaker."  MovieMartyr.com  Jeremy Heilman

A
"unfurls at the same pace as a doomed lotus blossom. And just as beautifully with the year's most sensuous cinematography"  Old School Reviews  John A. Nesbit

"One exquisite film."  Planet Sick-Boy  Jon Popick

4/5
"Well crafted and painful to watch. Worth paying Matinee price if you can shake the discomfort off."  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

2.5/5
"Lee has outsexed Paul Verhoeven. (Who would have imagined that Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone's f--- of the century could look so tame?)"  Film-Forward.com  Kent Turner

4/4
"A meditative, melancholy account of wartime espionage."  Mark Reviews Movies  Mark Dujsik

"What is graphic and raw and adult and disturbing are the roiling, dangerous emotions underlying the hot, sweaty, etc sex..."  Flick Filosopher  MaryAnn Johanson

3.5/4
"Ang Lee has shown that sometimes art has to be bold. Because he presents the sexuality as graphically as he does, Lust, Caution becomes much richer and more meaningful than it would have been otherwise."  Aisle Seat  Mike McGranaghan

2/5
"It feels like what "Black Book" would have been like had it been completely leached of all that pesky tension and excitement."  eFilmCritic.com  Peter Sobczynski

C
"A downer with no redeeming entertainment value outside of its hot sex scenes."  Laramie Movie Scope  Robert Roten

B-
"Lee lingers on grace notes of unspoken signals and unfulfilled desire..."  Seattle Post-Intelligencer  Sean Axmaker

3/4
"Gorgeously crafted with virtuosic patience."  Charlotte Weekly  Sean O'Connell

"The sex scenes -- intense, affecting and emotionally raw -- are the best thing about this frustratingly limp movie."  Salon.com  Stephanie Zacharek

7/10
"Sadomasochistic and suspenseful, this erotic Chinese historical drama rightfully earns its NC-17 rating for 'explicit sexuality.'"  www.susangranger.com  Susan Granger

5/10
"The sex scenes, and the love story that sparks them, simply don't work, and that's not a minor problem."  Antagony & Ecstasy  Tim Brayton

"Click here to see review"  Wolf Entertainment Guide  William Wolf
OFCS Rating: 73% Fresh
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