Seven minutes is not a long time. But for the latest blockbuster
from auteur Taiwan director Ang Lee, seven minutes makes a world of
difference.
That's the time "trimmed" from the original version of Lee's
Lust, Caution, which was released on the mainland last week.
The film had its world premiere in late September without the cuts,
the version that Hong Kong audiences also got to see.
Those seven minutes, deemed too racy for mainland audiences by
the censors, has seen mainlanders, especially from Guangzhou,
flocking to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) to
see what the fuss over the unedited version is all about.
The most important reason for mainlanders rushing to Hong Kong
is the missing sex scenes, says Qiu Qing, of South China Cinema
Line in Guangzhou.
"I planned to go to Hong Kong to see the movie last month," said
20-year-old Luo Tingting of Guangzhou. "I will probably go later to
buy a DVD, but I know a lot of my friends have already gone to Hong
Kong to watch the unedited version."
Cinemas in Hong Kong have reported a significant number of
mainlanders at every show since the film's September opening.
"I would say about 25 to 30 percent of our audience has been
from the mainland," said a services assistant at AMC Pacific Place
in Hong Kong. "We know they are from the mainland because we have
to check IDs."
"About half the audience seems to be from the mainland during
the week and that goes up to 70 to 80 percent on weekends," said
Ada Chan, cinema supervisor at Palace IFC cinema in Central.
"Normally our films run for two to three weeks. But this movie
has been doing very well, so it's likely the distributor will want
us to screen it for another three weeks or so."
The large number of mainlanders visiting Hong Kong to watch the
movie is not surprising, says Woody Tsung, head of Hong Kong and
Kowloon Motion Picture Industry Association.
But that doesn't mean the mainland censor's decision is
harsh.
"The mainland doesn't have a film classification system like we
do in the SAR. Films screened on the mainland can be seen by people
of any age group. I have seen Lust, Caution and believe the
scenes cut from the film would not have been suitable for young
viewers," Tsung said.
Hong Kong cinemas, however, are running special announcements,
warning cinema-goers against trying to record the film. They are
searching the bags of everybody to ensure nobody records it
illegally.
But, Guangzhou Zhujiang Cinema Line manager Xie Shimang said,
the trend of mainlanders making a beeline for Hong Kong cinemas to
watch the "full" film has had "little impact on our box
office".
Qiu said: "I know a lot of people have gone to Hong Kong to
watch the film. But we have still had large audiences here."
Though neither Qiu nor Xie could give the exact number of people
crossing the border into Hong Kong to see the film, both estimated
they could be in the tens of thousands.
(China Daily November 10, 2007)