The Two Versions of Lust, Caution
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution might be the highest-profile Chinese film to be released internationally in years. Yet within China itself, the full version of the film is prohibited due to its explicit sexual content. Instead, Chinese audiences (both in cinemas and via the country's ubiquitous pirated DVD shops) saw the truncated version with all of the sex scenes edited out. This was the version I saw when a friend bought me the DVD two or so months ago.
I was impressed enough with the film to want to see it in its entirety, even after one of my friends here downplayed the significance of the sex scenes. She said she found them rather gratuitous, and added that she almost would have preferred the censored version. I still wanted to see for myself. Yesterday, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, I finally got my chance.
And....wow. The sex scenes really made a difference. My friend and I both agreed that without the sex, it would be difficult to understand the degree of emotional intensity between Wong Chia Chi and Mr. Yee, the collaborationist official she slept with in order to set him up to be killed. Indeed, the sex served as a synecdoche of their entire relationship. Yee applies his brutal interrogation tactics in the bedroom, while the subservient Wong, despite her burning hatred for him, still cannot avoid letting him worm into her heart.
It is my understanding that Lee did not intend his sex scenes to be purely erotic- and they weren't. Eroticism, of course, does not require nudity or explicit sex, and can be expressed in the subtlest gestures that would evade even the strictest Chinese censors. Rather, it is during these scenes when his two main characters are stripped bare of not only their clothes but also their facades, allowing them to act upon their basest instincts. Wong Chia Chi's entire existence is marked by caution- she must not reveal her real identity. Lust, as Lee presents it, is the yin to caution's yang, and it is during her trysts with Mr. Yee that she achieves a long-awaited release.
Although my overall impression of the film didn't change (I liked it both times), I felt relieved that I was able to watch it in its entirety. The censored parts, when included, simply illuminated the film's emotional relationships with a clearer light.
So why was the original version of the film banned, rather than restricted, in China? The historical content in Lust, Caution is entirely consistent with the government-mandated Chinese interpretation, and the film's fictional university students (one of whom criticized a foreign play as "bourgeois") could even be seen as nationalist heroes with a Marxist slant. Obviously, its sexual content renders the film unsuitable for children but does the government really expect the sight of Tony Leung's bottom or Wei Tang's breasts would somehow foment disharmony and instability among the nation's adults?
I write this not as a criticism of China per se, and American culture also has a tortured relationship with sex and nudity, at least in comparison with our more libertine European cousins. But I do think it is worth lamenting that an important film concerning their history cannot be shown in its entirety within China.
Volver
I caught Volver tonight, meaning I've finally seen all of the movies I want to see that are currently playing in movie theaters. Volver was vintage Almodovar: cinematographic wizardry, vivid color, sudden violence, and women in distress. Penelope Cruz is a revelation as Raimunda- working for a fellow Spaniard and speaking her native language allows her to put her considerable acting talent on display.
Quintessential Films of Each Decade
Do certain films capture the essence of a decade? Let's see:
1990s: Reality Bites: Ethan Hawke's grunge-rocking slacker could not have come from another era. The film touched upon some then-new concepts: a promiscuous heterosexual woman sweating an AIDS test and a gay friend too afraid to have a relationship for fear that his parents would find out. Plus the goddess Winona Ryder with her pixie cut and casually sexy couture. And Ben Stiller, who was pitching an idea for "reality TV", back before the days the genre really exited.
Let's start with this decade. Can anyone else think of a movie that best sums the 90s up? Remember, you can't pick a great movie that just happened to be made in the 90s, like "The Shawshank Redemption" or "Pulp Fiction". The movie has to be one that could only have been made then.
Borat
Everyone told me how funny Borat was going to be, and it was! I didn't see what the big fuss was about the frat boys, either. They were obviously pretty hammered and acting like idiots, but isn't that a pretty common endeavor for frat boys in general? The "slavery" comment I took to be a sloppy attempt at insulting women rather than an actual desire to see the reinstitution of slavery.
Borat's depiction of Americans seemed telling and not wholly negative: I was struck by how polite and accommodating they were, especially given the situations. The hostess of an Alabama dinner party showed Borat how to use a toilet after he innocently brings his feces back to the table, and a "humor coach" calmly and patiently tries to explain the bounds of acceptable joking to the outrageously insensitive foreigner.
On the other hand, there were the frat boys and the redneck rodeo guy in Virgina, revealing a less flattering side of America. I don't think, as some suggest, that Cohen was motivated to create Borat in order to tell the world how provincial Americans are. His act wore a bit thin in Britain and, remaining largely unknown in the US, wisely decided to tap the much larger market here.
Here are some reactions to the film:
Kevin Drum didn't care for it much, and most of his commenters liked it even less. Except the ones who stuffily say they won't see it, because they're unhappy with the exploitation aspect of the film. I thought us liberals were supposed to be the ones with the sense of humor!
Andrew Tobias (via Drum) publishes a note from "Vanilla Face", the Dallas hotel concierge who kicks Borat out of the hotel after the latter insults the former with ebonics-tinged obscenities. He felt tricked by the producers and doesn't like the attention. Uh, get over it!
Christopher Hitchens challenges the conventional wisdom that Borat is somehow a laugh at America's expense. The Hitch can't avoid a dig at his former soulmate liberals, even if the reference is highly tangential to his piece on the movie.
And finally, Salon provides a rundown of how each of the put-on civillians reacted to Borat once they realize they'd been had. Don't click if you haven't seen the movie yet but plan to.
I’d Rather Be Lucky Than Good
James Wolcott writes an entertaining paean to Julia Roberts, here. Or rather, a non-paean, as Wolcott's take on Roberts' acting ability isn't exactly flattering. Nor her appearance, for that matter.
Is Julia Roberts the luckiest actress alive? In her generation, there are far more beautiful actresses (think Jennifer Connelly) and far more talented ones (think Frances McDormand, though she's a bit older than Roberts), yet Roberts has risen above all of the others to become America's sweetheart.
Don't get me wrong- she isn't a bad actress, and she isn't necessarily unattractive. But one would think that after a career mired in mediocrity she'd have faded quietly into obscurity by now (a la Sandra Bullock, a much-better looking woman). I wonder what sort of Faustian bargain she struck.
And, referring to my title*, I recently watched Woody Allen's latest: Match Point. Here's the good news: Woody made a film without a nebbish, neurotic man blabbering in a high-pitched whine. Here's the bad news: it's boring and drags on. And Scarlett Johanssen is annoying. Scarlett is pretty hot and all but if I were Jonathan Rhys Meyers' character I would have been more than satisfied with the lanky, dishy brunette wife.
* "I'd rather be lucky than good" is the central theme of the movie, by the way
Sore Loser
Upon reading The Shipping News in 10th grade English class (called "Literature with a capital L" by my exultant teacher), I determined that Annie Proulx has unique a gift for writing pointless, dull stories. It's nice to know that she's also a sour bitch:
The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that,
having been nominated for eight Academy awards, it would get Best
Picture as it had at the funny, lively Independent Spirit awards the
day before. (If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip
the Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent
Spirit choices.) We should have known conservative heffalump academy
voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring
contemporary culture. Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the
Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron
gates or in deluxe rest-homes, out of touch not only with the shifting
larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but
also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films
are good. And rumour has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy
voters with DVD copies of Trash - excuse me - Crash a few weeks before
the ballot deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for
controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding
iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over
free silver. (emphasis added)
Meow! Now, I am no fan of Crash, and agree with her that Brokeback Mountain was a better film. But really, Annie. Neither film was all that great. There have been far worse travesties in Academy Award voting history, like Forrest Gump somehow rising above Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, and The Shawshank Redemption in 1995. As far as I know, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Redford, and Stephen King didn't publish sniffy sour-grapes pieces in internationally known newspapers.
So get over it! And stop writing such dreadful books, while you're at it.
More Oscar Chatter
OK, watched Brokeback Mountain last night so I can cross that off my list. What did I think?
- Wyoming certainly is beautiful
- Anne Hathaway is hot, even with her awful bleached blonde hair intended to give her a trashy, 70s suburban housewife look.
- Umm, that's it
It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't great. I didn't feel particularly moved by the story, and the acting isn't anything special. What I enjoyed most about Brokeback, alas, was its beautiful scenery. Ang Lee has the unique gift of capturing beauty in two very different lands, America and China (see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for evidence of the latter).
Hmm, so that's two down, three to go. So far, I'm not very impressed with the Academy's selections. We shall see if Munich or Good Night and Good Luck reaffirm my (already tentative) faith in their wisdom. I'll keep my eye open for Capote, too.
I see Ezra Klein and Daniel Drezner both endorse The 40-Year Old Virgin. Good choice! But Old School was still funnier.
I also recently saw Constant Gardener and neither Crash nor Brokeback can hold a candle to that movie. Syriana was good, too, even if I didn't really understand its plot. I'd also like to posit Havoc as a stealth candidate, considering that it was a much more interesting look at LA subcultures than Crash (and had the added bonus of Ms. Hathaway's loveliness on full display)
Anyone else have an Oscar favorite?
Crashed
So, the Oscars are coming up this weekend! I haven't done my homework this year. Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, and Brokeback Mountain sit unwatched in a stack on top of my DVD player. I haven't been able to find Capote- perhaps China's DVD pirates are biased against homosexual writers? Of the five films nominated for Best Picture, I've only seen one: Crash.
Crash is one of those films meant to leave viewers with the impression that they've witnessed something incredibly profound. Its subject is race relations in Los Angeles, a teeming melting pot of cultures and skin colors whom we learn cannot peacefully coexist. The film cleverly weaves together several disparate story lines involving seperate ethnic groups, building a palpable tension along the way. You knew something was going to happen, and in the end we are privy to a rather predictable climax that shows we're all human beings, blah blah blah.
Crash had a very artificial feeling to it, caused perhaps by the writers' lazy caricatures of different ethnic groups. Director Paul Haggis presents a Los Angeles on the brink of an internecine racial conflict. I have never lived in L.A., but as a frequent visitor I know from experience that Haggis' account is contrived and exaggerated.
Do read this article from National Review by Cathy Seipp, in which she challenges the notion that the city of Los Angeles is entirely composed of hermetically sealed ethnic ghettos whose residents cannot interact without flinging insults and accusations at each other.
Havoc
Just watched an interesting movie, Havoc. Anne Hathaway plays a bored, rich, suburban teenager from Pacific Palisades who is part of a hip-hop gang of other bored, rich, suburban teenagers. She and her gang embrace the urban milieu down to the last detail- smoking blunts, wearing wife-beaters, excessive ghetto speak, gaudy jewelry, and everything else you could think of.
So one day Allison (Hathaway) and her friends head into East L.A. looking for crack. They meet a few tattooed Mexican drug dealers who proceed to rip them off. When Allison's boyfriend Toby objects, he is ritualistically humiliated and beaten by the drug dealer's ringleader, Hector.
Despite the unpleasantness of the evening, Allison and her friend Emily are intrigued and head back to the ghetto to try and join Hector's gang. Predictably, their earnest efforts at acceptance go horrifically awry, and the girls retreat to the Palisades, chastened and forever changed.
Seems formulaic and banal, perhaps. But I actually found myself riveted by this film, particularly by Hathaway's peformance as Allison. Previously known for her Disney-made Princess Diaries films, Hathaway takes a radical departure from those roles here. See Anne's breasts! See Anne smoke crack! A lesser actress would have looked ridiculous in this context.
But Hathaway pulls it off- she presents a finely crafted layer of jaded teenage indifference then peeled to reveal a lonely and lost teenage girl. I found her performance quite credible- she's quite a talent. It takes a lot of guts for an actress to take a role that plays totally against type.
I suppose my interest in this film derives from personal experience- I went to high school with quite a few bored, rich, suburbanites. No one I know embraced the ghetto lifestyle to such an extent, but there was always a yearning for a more "real" life evident in many conversations I had with people back then. Of course, most everyone eventually realizes that a life filled with violence and poverty ain't all it's cracked up to be.
So check out Havoc- it's far better than most of the "white girls mix with poor colored folk" type films I've seen.