Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Doing It

random juvenile thought of the afternoon

Having watched Lust, Caution again I am absolutely certain that Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Tang Wei were actually, well, you know...


Either that or they're both even better actors than I ever imagined. Felt an uncharacteristic and sudden twitch of peeping tom guilt for staring at them in flagrante delicto when they both suddenly turned to the camera, dripping with sweat. But... still couldn't look away. Great movie. Why haven't you seen it yet?
*

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had the same thought, you know.
And I'll be honest, I was a little jealous of both of them.

And you're right, it's an excellent film. Morbidly underrated. It did OK with Australian (and evidently, Venetian) critics. What happened in the US?

Anonymous said...

I agree, Nathaniel. This film was stunning, with stellar acting, and Tony Leung and Tang Wei deserved much more recognition than they received. At least Tang Wei got some well-deserved newcomer award attention - what an extraordinary debut for her.

Sid said...

I agree. They actually were.

J.D. said...

Even though I don't think I loved it as much as everybody else apparently (it had me up until the last 15 minutes), it's a very excellent film, that's for sure. And Tang Wei is SO FREAKING GOOD.

Blew. me. away.

SusanP said...

It is a beautiful and emotionally harrowing film.

As for whether or not they are actually... I have no idea.

But if they are I think their acting is in a way more impressive -- because that means they are in the midst of a physical act and yet stay in character within the context of the lights and cameras, etc...

Anonymous said...

I'm almost tempted to call *this* Ang Lee's masterpiece. But I won't. You can't when you have Brokeback in your filmography, no matter how stellar your follow-up is. It is, though, his most perfectly constructed film for sure, right down to the way it bisects itself exactly halfway through its running time, just like the comma that splits its enigmatic title. Why oh why oh why was this not the huge (ok, so if not commercial) critical hit it deserved to be? It couldn't have been all the sex, could it? It's just sex!

One thought: Ang Lee follows up Brokeback with this beauty. Paul Haggis follows up Crash with In the Valley of Elah. Therein distinguishes a truly world-class filmmaker from a merely interesting one.

Anonymous said...

...And I'm still upset that this pair were denied their due Oscar nominations (same goes for the actors in that other erotic duet of the year). I mean, the Academy once recognised the greatness of Fernanda Montengro and Catalina Sandina Moreno in their little-seen roles - why not this time for Tang Wei (at least)?

NATHANIEL R said...

well she's Asian... and they've never noticed Asian leads. sad but true

gabrieloak said...

Tang Wei should have been the foreign actress to get the Oscar this year.

Has there been any follow up to her being banned from Chinese media?