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.

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Eat Drink Man Woman

Dir: Ang Lee, 1994, China (8.6*)

Terrific Ang Lee film, the best movie ever about or with cooking. A traditional Taiwanese cook spend all day Sundays cooking a family dinner for his three daughters, who grudingly stick with this family tradition, while discussing their problems and dreams. The attention cook Sihung Lung gives to each dish is only topped by the cinematography - you can practially smell and taste the food. This film helped put Lee (Crouching Tiger, Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain) on the map worldwide. Great cinematography, expert filmmaking, touching without sentimentality.

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Ang Lee, Yuen Woo-Ping, 2000, China (10*)

Best Foreign Film (AA, BAA)

A poetic and mythical masterpiece from China, an epic about a stolen sword. Chow Yung-Fat is perfect as the martial arts master who has the sword stolen, and dimunitive Ziyi Zhang (the world's most popular actress) is the likely suspect, only she remains an elusive quarry.

Many magical cinematic moments and acrobatic martial arts make this a visual treat, as master Taiwanese director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility, Brokeback Mountain, Eat Drink Man Woman) got directorial help for the martial arts from action director Yuen Woo-Ping. Classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma provided a beautiful soundtrack score, which won an Oscar®. 5 Oscars® overall, second only to Gladiator's 6 that year.

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