I'd like to say I'm impressed by the way director Ang Lee and his longtime collab James Schamus are taking the NC-17 rating given to their new picture Lust, Caution, but really, I expect no less from these guys. The The Hollywood Reporter's story on the rating non-brouhaha by Gregg Goldstein that's posted at CNN.com (without author attribution) is typically breathless concern-troll twaddle—the rating "creat[es] potential distribution problems"! "it's unclear if the rating will deter Oscar voters"! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!—leavened with some "ooh! titties and thrusts and bondage" speculation about just what's in those "too hot for censors" sex scenes.
In the midst of all this, Schamus, who aside from being Ang's producer and screenwriter is also the head of the picture's distributor, Focus Features, keeps his head, says they're not going to appeal the rating and have no intention of changing a frame. As I said, this is only what I expect of Schamus and Lee. Throughout their association, regardless of commercial ups and downs (remember that their Ride With The Devil did not even gross one million dollars in its theatrical release), they've stuck to their guns. Even their Hulk, for all the ways it didn't work, was not anybody's idea of a sellout. Goldstein's a former colleague and a good guy, and I understand that showbiz trade reporting requires a certain amount of fizz, but his writeup backfires, and makes Schamus and Lee look like the only adults in a roomful of horny droolers. Which may actually be the case...
It's kind of amusing that Ang Lee--director of "Sense and Sensibility"--is developing a reputation for edgy eroticism. Now if he can get Emma Thompson in one of these new movies, that'll be something . . .
Incidentally, I'll eagerly see any movie this guy puts out. And I--like, maybe, a few dozen others in the country--actually thought "Ride with the Devil" was a very cool film.
Posted by: Ray | August 29, 2007 at 12:23 AM