Ang Lee's much-anticipated movie "Lust, Caution" is scheduled to hit mainland screens on October 26, about a month later than its North American release.

The mainland version will have seven minutes of cuts to the 156-minute full version, including some explicit sex scenes between Tang Wei and Tony Leung as well as violent scenes played by Chinese-American star Leehom Wang.

The film received the strictest United States rating of "NC-17," which bans viewers younger than 17.

"It's still hard to anticipate if the cuts will influence the art film's performance at the box office," said Wu Hehu, deputy director of Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's largest movie-house chain.

He said it hadn't been decided whether Lee and the cast will arrive in town to promote the film. According to Li Lan, manager of Yonghua Cinema, the movie's international success is a big impetus for domestic ticket sales.

"The film will not face much competition from big-budgeted commercial films in October," she said. "It will be a hit."

Set in 1940s Shanghai, the film is based on Eileen Chang's novel and centers on a group of revolutionary students bent on killing a powerful political figure who collaborates with invading Japanese forces during World War II.

It recently won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

(Shanghai Daily September 21, 2007)