NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) -- Hollywood's censors think Ang Lee's new movie "Lust, Caution" has too much lust, and they're cautioning moviegoers by branding it with an NC-17 rating.


Distributor Focus Features said it won't edit the Oscar-winning filmmaker's follow-up to "Brokeback Mountain" or try to appeal the rating -- which says that no one 17 and under will be admitted -- creating potential distribution problems for its awards-season contender.

"Lust" follows a young Chinese woman in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II who becomes the center of a plot to seduce and kill a married enemy collaborator. The trailer for the subtitled Chinese-language film shows lead actors Tony Leung and Tang Wei in various states of writhing passion.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America's ratings board cited the film's graphic sexuality for its decision. A source said too many of the film's sex scenes violated the ratings board's unwritten rules (like the number of allowable pelvic thrusts, for example) to make an appeal possible.

Sources who have seen the film said it contains at least three scenes -- one a long montage -- featuring multiple acts of aggressive sexual activity in different positions. There's no full-frontal male nudity (the source of some NC-17 rulings when shown in sex scenes), but male-on-female oral sex, non-S&M restraints and several nontraditional sexual positions are depicted, conveying the aggression and emotional conflict between the main characters.

When asked if anyone was shown, say, upside down, one viewer said, "It depends on where you're standing. They're very flexible."

Focus Features CEO James Schamus, who co-wrote the screenplay, said he is accepting the rating "without protest. When we screened the final cut of this film, we knew we weren't going to change a frame," he said. "Every moment up on that screen works and is an integral part of the emotional arc of the characters. The MPAA has screened the film now and made its decision, and we're comfortable with that."

Schamus didn't disclose how long the company was aware that "Lust" might receive an NC-17 but noted that Lee has final cut.

"Ang is the filmmaker, and he brought this adaptation to life," Schamus said. "He knows exactly what he wants to realize and achieve in filming any given sequences, and he made the final decisions on how to stage, frame, shoot and edit them, much in the same way he did with 'Crouching Tiger' or 'Brokeback.' "

Focus' move could face challenges as the film readies for its September 28 release. Some newspapers and TV outlets won't carry ads for NC-17 films, which has led non-MPAA-member distributors like ThinkFilm to release some features unrated.

As a subsidiary of MPAA member Universal Pictures, Focus must release its films with a rating. In many cases, especially with specialty divisions, distributors will pressure filmmakers to appeal or make necessary cuts to attain an R rating. There have been a few notable exceptions, including Fox Searchlight's drama "The Dreamers" and Sony Pictures Classics' thriller "Young Adam," which made $2.5 million and $770,000, respectively, in 2004.

It's unclear if the rating will deter Oscar voters, some of whom expressed distaste with the gay sex scenes in "Brokeback," which won Lee best director honors but lost the best picture race. John Schlesinger's X-rated 1969 gay hustler drama "Midnight Cowboy" won the best picture Oscar, and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 erotic drama "Last Tango in Paris" -- rated X -- earned the director and his star Marlon Brando nominations.

Universal's 1990 drama "Henry & June," which chronicled French writer Anais Nin's erotic relationship with American scribe Henry Miller and his wife, June, was the first film to be released with an NC-17 after years of debate over the X rating's box office stigma. The studio released the 2005 NC-17 documentary "Inside Deep Throat" and allowed its specialty division October Films to release Trey Parker's 1998 NC-17 porn spoof "Orgazmo."

"Lust" premieres in the next few weeks at the Venice and Toronto fests before opening in New York, followed by an October 5 release in select cities.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

Another one to add to my list...

thanks Lil.

__________________

If Lee has chosen to narrow his audience, what's the fuss?

__________________
Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

There are some of us movie viewers that prefer the NC-17/Unrated versions of films. Actually, I like films that are willing to tell a story well for the sake of telling the story. It seems more often the foreign films understand this better than Hollywood.

__________________

Some of the funniest reading I've done in a while. Who says Americans are immature about sex?

__________________
Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

Sometimes one of the NC-17 flix will go on cable TV. Usually they're so badly chopped up I can't watch them. This one too could end up showing hairspray ads during the time that would have been sex scenes.

__________________
I like; a) taint brushing: b) a good cigar: c) our juices together; d) champagne: e) protein squirts; f)more of these; g)much more of these; h) Damn, slide that thing into me. Deep!
Adage: 2 things are certain in life; Death & Taxes. Therefore; God & Beelzebub had a meeting to fix the problem. A mighty storm prevailed for ages until finally they ended the storm with the agreement: From now on Anyone whom chooses doesn't have to die. "Everyone wins said Beelzebub. You get an eternally grateful bunch of worshippers praying forever for lower taxes as I goad & prod them forever with higher & higher taxation."

Or if his audience has chosen to narrow their minds, is more like it...

I, for one of his fans, welcome this film and its erotic scenes wholeheartedly. In far too many films Asian people are shown as these stereotypically chaste beings who only have sex within the shadows behind doors or some psuedo-poetic shit like that. Both of the leads are sexy people, to deny that verity is denying reality and the power of a good, adult story.

I was going to go see it anyway, but the trailer didn't make me feel like it had anything to do with sex. Guess I wuz WRONG!

__________________
Latrevo ta megala stithi!

"When men worship me because of my breasts, I feel that I am an embodiment of the goddess that has become...a part of our collective human soul." — Chloe Vevrier

IrezumiKiss' "Erotique Nonstop" — original, libertine, dirty drawings for your pleasure:
FINALLY updated! 5/6/08
More 5/6/08

Irezumi Kiss' Library.com Page - a comprehensive listing of my bibliophilic erotic inspirations & other readin's whut I digs

“Lust, Caution” has won the Golden Lion for best film. I was delighted to learn that Mr. Lee will dedicate his prize to Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director who died in July. A class act!

__________________
Eudaimonia