Proceed with CAUTION

Don't worry. You don't have to be above 16 to read this post. But you have to be above 16 to watch the movie, though. The movie in reference is none other than Ang Lee's latest landmark offering: LUST, CAUTION or (seductively) known as 色戒.

The review shall come later. Some random blah-blah first =P

Happy to book-out on friday. Continued my tuition with Ryan on Saturday, then went over to zhiwei's house for mahjong. Always win at the start then lose in the end. Bleah. I brought my cam so I thought, what the heck, just snap some random photo also sua.

That's me in my nike shoes. Szern in her slippers. Sk in his running shoes. Took the last bus home. I want to play badminton!! << this ="P">, Caution. Always seem to watch serious chinese flicks with him; notably 夜宴 (The Banquet), 墨攻 (Battle of Wits) and now 色戒. (All two-words, hor?) But it's good 'cos he studied chinese so we can have more in-depth discussions about them afterwards. I won't forget his interpretation of the ending of 夜宴. Makes sense and very deeep. Haha.

Anyway, here's the review for one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the year:

LUST, CAUTION 色戒

I give the movie W o o o o W (4.0/5)

I'm sure you would have heard about the whole hullabaloo of that 7-minutes missing from Singapore's version. And of course, The Straits Times, Life! movie-reviewer, Ong Sor Fern's hoo-ha about giving it a 5STAR rating if the 7min wasn't cut (fyi, she gave it a 3.5STAR rating instead). All I have to say is this: the Singapore-cut will please viewers that are 16 and 17-year old (and the distributors, of course) but irate the above-18 crowd.

But that aside, Ang Lee's war erotic film does live-up to expectations as an intriguing and well-crafted drama.

I don't want to bore you with plot-analysis. In a nutshell, Lust tells the story of a plan to assasinate a Chinese-traitor in a Japanese-occupated Shanghai. But the 'lust-bait' (actress Tang Wei) in-turn falls for the prey (the ever-magnificent Tony Leung) she seduces and the drama unfolds from there.

The narrative uses a flash-back to tell the story, thus it begins with a mahjong scene that has to be watched again to be fully-appreciated and understood. But from that opening sequence, we catch a glimpse of our Singapore-pride, actress Joan Chen (last seen in The Home-Song Stories with Qi Yuwu) who has a meaty role through-out the film. She's a class-act on her own.

But kudos to newcomer, Tang Wei. She's such a natural it's almost unbelievable that it's her first film-outing. Despite hearing that Wang Lee Hom was awkward at best, he did prove to be a credible contribution to the film.

Based on Chinese author Zhang Ai-Ling's short story of the same name, 色戒 is indeed a cinematically-beautiful film that deserves a second watching.

But caution, though. I don't know when was the last time I watched a movie without a happy-ending. Lust, Caution has a haunting and effectively-depressing ending that resonates long after the final scene fades out.

FINAL SAY: Nevertheless a stirring film that is both brilliantly acted and filmed. You can almost taste the China in this one =)

On to something happier. I got myself a new wallet from River Island.

There yer go. It's simple and brown. But I like simple stuff, so yep.

Alrite, need to go do CCNA liao -____-"

Take care, peeps!