In a long and impassioned essay, Asia Weekly’s top editor takes critics on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to task for failing to understand what pan-Chinese director Ang Lee accomplished with his 2007 blockbuster “Lust, Caution.” Translated by ESWN:
Never has any movie drew such extreme responses from the opposite sides of the political and cultural spectra as “Lust, Caution” did. This movie was labeled a “pornographic” and “dirty” movie by tabloid magazines and movies, but it is actually a movie that bore the burden of history and sentiments. This movie subverted the long-standing historical narratives that were promulgated by the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. It went beyond the boundaries of “sexual love” that the audience were seeing before, and it also went beyond the framework of the original story written by Eileen Chang. Such was the brilliant radiance of “Lust, Caution”. [Full Text]
Original in Chinese posted on Qiu’s blog.
[Image: “Lust, Caution” promotional poster, via iFensi.com]
