Ang?Lee's much-anticipated movie "Lust, Caution" is
scheduled to hit mainland screens on October 26, about a month
later than its North American release.
The mainland version will have seven minutes of cuts to the
156-minute full version, including some explicit sex scenes between
Tang Wei and Tony Leung as well as violent scenes played by
Chinese-American star Leehom Wang.
The film received the strictest United States rating of "NC-17,"
which bans viewers younger than 17.
"It's still hard to anticipate if the cuts will influence the
art film's performance at the box office," said Wu Hehu, deputy
director of Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's largest
movie-house chain.
He said it hadn't been decided whether Lee and the cast will
arrive in town to promote the film. According to Li Lan, manager of
Yonghua Cinema, the movie's international success is a big impetus
for domestic ticket sales.
"The film will not face much competition from big-budgeted
commercial films in October," she said. "It will be a hit."
Set in 1940s Shanghai, the film is based on Eileen Chang's novel
and centers on a group of revolutionary students bent on killing a
powerful political figure who collaborates with invading Japanese
forces during World War II.
It recently won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film
Festival.
(Shanghai Daily September 21, 2007)