Okay, let's face it. Although this film is very lavishly photographed, and the set design is a treat for the eyes, 'Lust,Caution' (better known in Asia as 'Se,jie')is little more than a rehash (of sorts)of Paul Verhoeven's 'Black book' from last year (which in itself was a lift of the German film 'The White Rose',from several years ago). With all respects to Ang Lee,who bedazzled me with 'Brokeback Mountain','Eat,Drink,Man,Woman',and several other winning films of years past,has let me down a wee bit. The (obvious)plot concerns a group of student stage actors,staging patriotic plays,while plotting to assassinate a known political figure who sides with the Japanese, between 1938 until 1942. The group plans on using sex as bait to attract,then strike when he is not expecting it. 'Se,jie' as gotten some flack about the graphic,explicit sex scenes (which may or may not have been faked)during the seduction scenes. Although these scenes were somewhat important to the plot, somehow manages to pad out the film beyond it's two & a half hour,plus time block. Word is that Ang Lee had to cut a half hour for China (which has far more astringent censorship laws then Hong Kong). I'm guessing the cut version would have been a bit tighter than the current one. Still, it's not a total loss.