“Hey, honey, I’m going out to the movies.”

“Oh? What movie are you seeing?”

“Lust, Caution.”

“I haven’t heard of it.”

“Oh, it’s a Chinese movie. You wouldn’t be interested. But it’s directed by the guy who did Brokeback Mountain and The Hulk, as well as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

“Ah. Well, too bad I have to watch the kids. It sounds good.”

Little does she know, the reason that you’re really interested in this movie because it’s supposedly going to be the biggest NC-17-rated movie in quite a while, and, probably one of the few—if any—films like this that are going to be or have been nominated for an Oscar. It’s bringing the X-rating back to mainstream movies. Graphic sex: welcome. For the first time, we are excited about feeling like real adults when we go to the movies. And, screaming babies and punk-ass teenagers are not allowed!

NC-17 movies have always gotten the cold shoulder from Hollywood. Most movie theaters won’t even dare to play them. Often, if a movie ends up getting this detestable rating, it’s immediately appealed or sent back to the editing room. The sex scenes are abridged and any shots with pubic hair are cut. We’ll eventually see these movies the original way anyway once they get put on DVD in their “Unrated” format. But wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy films in their genuine glory on the big screen?

Hopefully, Lust, Caution, will start a revolution among filmmakers. No longer should we be shy to show or watch honest, realistic, graphic violence and/or sexuality. Even a couple exploitation flicks here and there would be pleasant. Think of how far you could shock audiences with an NC-17 version of the Saw franchise.

I think weaning the world to more NC-17 fare is a good reason alone to support Lust, Caution. As for the sex scenes, they are a few five minutes compared to the film’s 2 and a half hour running time. Aside from the sex scenes, it’s safe to say this is just your run-of-the-mill decent-but-long film. The old ladies behind me (who were very expressive throughout the movie about things like the women’s elegant clothes) I didn’t hear complain about the sex scenes. If they can handle it, you can too.

A picture that every web article on this movie has but I don’t recall being in the movie

The film is good, but perhaps disappointingly not as fascinating beyond it’s revolutionary quality as I had hoped it to be (Man, I hope I’m not alone in the world for NC-17 revolution). The setting was instantly very intriguing for me. It takes place in China during its WWII Japanese occupation. This is something in history I, an Asian studies major, personally would be very interested to learn more about. I had never seen a movie before involving this episode of Asian history. The plot: a traveling drama club putting on Chinese nationalist plays secretly attempts to assassinate one of the top dogs assisting Japan’s subjugation of China. The lead actress of the group, Wang Jiazhi (played beautifully by beautiful Wei Tang), is sent in to do the spying. Eventually, she becomes mistress to Mr. Yee (Tony Leung, the guy who played Leonardo DiCaprio in Infernal Affairs remade as The Departed), who is quite a rough and abusive lover (some prop-less S&M occurs).

Mr. Yee is one of those guys who is always surrounded by guards and is rarely touchable. He is also the man who seeks out the resistance forces and interrogates the captured members. Wang has to find out what he’s doing as well as lure him to a situation where he can be assassinated, even if it means sleeping with him. It’s quite similar to that German movie Black Book, which came out last year.

Mr. Yee is immediately suspicious of Wang, and early in the film he constantly investigates her every move behind her back. But, she’s such a damn good actress (her acting brought a tearful crowd to jump and shout for China’s immortality during a play), that Mr. Yee falls for it. When the sex scenes start churning up his ruthless character is revealed. But then, oddly enough, we start to find out that he’s falling in love.

Delightful, lovely Wang is, unfortunately, the main slight problem with the movie. She’s gorgeous, a great actress, apparently deep (we see her crying to a movie by herself in a theater at the beginning), and brave for what she does and puts up with. However, she’s quick to turn on her friends for reasons mostly unknown. It seems that a woman’s general desire for materialism ends up being the drive for her sudden antagonism (so it’s like Black Book mixed with The Devil Wears Prada), and well, you kind of just don’t want to be on her side anymore. I think there wasn’t enough camera time with her by herself and other people who weren’t the bad guys. The lack of neutral mentor and the lack of alone-time realization make for a lack of empathy toward her character.

But, for a Chinese historical-fiction lesson, a chance to see Tony Leung’s nuts, and a murder scene that I found to be ironically humorous, this movie is worth a Saturday afternoon, and maybe an Oscar nomination or two.