Lust, Caution

Dir: Ang Lee, China, 2007 (7.4*)

Another beautifully shot love story from Ang Lee (Eat Drink Man Woman, Crouching Tiger, Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility, Brokeback Mountain), this one taking place during World War II, in occupied Shanghai. Tony Leung (Hero, In the Mood for Love, 2046) is a Chinese collaborator, a government official for the Japanese occupation government. Wei Tang is a beautiful young student, whose acting troup at the university becomes political, and starts doing work for the resistance. Eventually their paths cross, and they become involved on two levels at once. This is a slowly unfolding erotic romance wrapped inside an espionage tale during a brutal period of Asian history. Beautiful cinematography, dark rich colors, it has the look of Vittorio Storaro who shot the best films of Bertolucci and Coppola. Received Golden Globe and BAFTA (British academy) nominations for Foreign Language Film.