Ang Lees slow-burning erotic espionage drama Lust, Caution was the surprise Golden Lion winner at the 64th Venice Film Festival, where the Chinese-language period piece split critics. Lee was considered an outsider, especially having scored the Lido Lion just two years ago with Brokeback Mountain.
The 2 and half hour drama is set in 1940s Japanese-held Shanghai. The tale concerns a young Chinese resistance spy who becomes sexually and emotionally entangled with the man she is supposed to kill.
The movie represents an uphill marketing challenge, compared with Broekback Mountain for Focus Features.
Lust, Caution also scored an award for its ace cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto.
I had just gotten one, so I didnt expect it, out of common sense, said Lee, accepting the statuette. This is a wilder, more tender Lion: one that frightens me, like the movie I have made, he continued.
Lee dedicated the award to the late filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom he visited while preparing Lust, Caution.
The U.S.-Chinese co-production, which was slapped with NC-17 rating due to steamy sex in the final reel, will bow in the U.S. September 28 in limited release.
There were speculations that jury prexy Zhang Jimou pushed hard for his Taiwan-born colleague. While Zhang said at the post-ceremony press conference that the verdict from the all-director jury was unanimous, it came after lengthy deliberations.
Brad Pitt received the actor honors for his role as Jesse James in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Zhang praised Pitts performance as an important departure from his customary Hollywood roles. Casey Affleck, Pitts co-star in the epic about the legendary outlaw, had been rumored to be the favorite.
Brian De Palma took the Silver Lion for Redacted, a fictional documentary inspired by the true rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by drunk American soldiers.
The choice caught festival goers by surprise because, while it is a strong anti-war film, it was largely considered less dramatically compelling than Paul Haggis In The Valley of Elah, which left festival empty-handed.
Hopefully, if this picture gets seen, people will be back out on the streets (protesting the war) like they were in the 60s, said De Palma at the post-awards conference.
Todd Haynes experimental Bob Dylan biopic Im Not There tied for the Special Jury Prize with Gallic entry The Secret of the Grain, a depiction of Maghrebi emigre life in France by Tunisian-born helmer Abdellatif Kechiche. Secret of the Grain had been the frontrunner in fest critics polls.
Both pictures were given the jury nod after an emergency Biennale board meeting was called to change the rules to make that possible.
That was the only way out: they (the jurors) were fighting like cats and dogs over these two films, Venice artistic director Marco Mueller told Daily Variety.
Cate Blanchett took actress for her highly publicized role as one of six Dylan impersonations in Im Not There.
The Marcello Mastroianni acting prize for emerging young performer went to first-timer Hafsia Herzis powerful performance as Latifa, an outspoken teen, in The Secret of the Grain.
The screenplay nod went to longtime Ken Loach collaborator Paul Laverty for Loachs indictment of immigrant labor exploitation in Its a Free World.
The main jury also bestowed a Special Lion for overall body of work to Nikita Mikhalkov, whose Chechnya-set courtroom drama 12 unspooled late in the festival. Politically charged, 12 is based on Sidney Lumets classic 12 Angry Men.
The Horizons jury, headed by Gregg Araki, chose Estonian entry Autumn Ball, a humorous depiction of alienation by first-timer Veiki Ounpuu.
The Horizons documentary nod went to Chinas Jia Zhangke for Useless, an anti-consumerist depiction of the fashion and garment industries in his country. Zhangke, an arthouse darling, won last years Golden Lion with Still Life
A jury headed by Bill Mechanic gave the $100,000 Lion of the Future prize to La Zona, Mexican first-timer Rodrigo Plas account of vigilante justice in a gated community amid the Mexico City slums.
The Europa Cinemas Venice Days Award, which provides distribution incentives in the European Union, went to young Polish helmer Andrzej Jakimowskis Tricks, about a boy trying to trick fate.
The Most Distant Course, by Taiwans Lin Jingjie, in which the lives of three lost souls intersect in Taipei, won the Critics Week prize.
Best short film went to U.K. actor Paddy Considine for his 16-minute Dog Altogether, starring Peter Mullan.
The closing ceremony also saw Bernardo Bertolucci on stage to receive a special honorary Lion, handed to him by Jonathan Demme and Abbas Kiarostami.
The Winners Are
COMPETITION
GOLDEN LION
Lust, Caution, Ang Lee (Hong Kong-U.S.-China)
SILVER LION
Redacted, Brian De Palma (U.S.)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (tie)
The Secret of the Grain, Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
Im Not There, Todd Haynes (U.S.)
ACTOR
Brad Pitt, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (U.S.)
ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Im Not There (U.S.)
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI PRIZE FOR YOUNG PERFORMER
Hafsia Herzi The Secret of the Grain, (France)
SCREENPLAY
Paul Laverty, Its a Free World (U.K.-Italy-Germany-Spain)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Rodrigo Prieto Lust, Caution (Hong-Kong-U.S.-China)
SPECIAL LION
Nikita Mikhalkov
OTHER JURIES
LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS LION OF THE FUTURE
La Zona, Rodrigo Pla (Spain/Mexico)
VENICE HORIZONS
Autumn Ball, Veiko Ounpuu (Estonia)
VENICE HORIZONS DOCUMENTARY
Useless, Jia Zhangke (U.S.)
VENICE HORIZONS SPECIAL MENTION
Death In The Land of Encantos, Lav Diaz (Philippines)
LABEL EUROPA CINEMAS — VENICE DAYS 2007 PRIZE
Tricks, Andrzej Jakimowski (Poland)
CRITICS WEEK PRIZE
The Most Distant Course, Lin Jingjie (Taiwan)
SHORT LION
Dog Altogether Paddy Considine (U.K.)
SHORT SPECIAL MENTION
Stone People, Leonid Rybakov (Russia)
UIP PRIZE FOR EUROPEAN SHORT
Alumbriamento, Eduardo Chapero-Jackson (Spain)
FIPRESCI (INTL. CRITICS ASSN) COMPETITION PRIZE
The Secret of the Grain, Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
FIPRESCI HORIZONS AND CRITICS WEEK PRIZE
Man From Plains, Jonathan Demme (U.S.
