Raise the Red Lantern

But not this one. What is so interesting about four women who make each other miserable because of their "master"? To like a story, most people need at least one character to whom they can relate. In this movie, no character is likeable. So, I did not care about any of them. Add to this, that the story does not make sense. For example, the fourth mistress arrives there with the face of a woman who thinks to herself "I hate all this. I am here only because I am poor and my stepmother forced me to". Yet, just one day later she is jealous that the master sleeps with his other wives! Overlong and nonsensical.

The biggest problem with Raise the Red Lantern is what happens to Songlian in the end. There's so much tension, interplay that builds up and there's the very frightening raising of the ot lanterns, so when the Freudian epilogue along with the new introduction is posed as if history endlessly repeats (which it certainly did not) it comes off as unconvincing. Taoist? Stoic? Nihilist? I'm not sure what Chinese women would make of this movie really, except as cinematic candy. And it sure shines on that level. The film is just totally beautiful and Yang Zhimou has a sublime way with lines and light. Still, this is a film trying to be about women directed by a man. It doesn't quite work.

This film is much better than Hollywood schlock. It couldn't have been made in the US. Gong Li is a remarkable actress, able to give so much more emotionally than the typical Hollywood actress (like Meg Ryan) that it shocks you that a woman in film can have this kind of complexity. For those of you turned off by the idea of renting a foreign film, take a chance on this one. Chinese cinema has turned out several masterpieces in the last decade that deserve your attention. This is one of them. Something like this makes you realize that a movie doesn't have to have elaborate sets, dinosaurs, Adam Sandler, spacecraft or apemen to be a movie. Films like this should be a beacon to indie filmmakers everywhere.

This is an exquisite film in every detail. Beauty is in every frame. Were it not so well made, I would describe it as a slow-moving domestic drama: Jane Austen with claws. I couldn't quite accept Gong Li as a Chinese woman of the 1920s. She looked a little too tall, well fed, and healthy: a modern look that showed through the gorgeous costumes and scenery.

Zonglian is a woman forced to drop out of college and marry a wealthy older lord when her father dies. But she is merely a fourth wife who must live in a house, as does her three "sisters". The man chooses one of four wives each night, and red lanterns are lit above the respective wife's house. This causes the wives to resent each other and compete for his attentions, and even Zonglian's maidservant plots against her. After Zonglian gets herself disgraced by making the false claim that she had been impregnated by the lord, she forms a sort of friendship with the formerly jealous third wife, who admits having an affair with the family doctor. But things get even worse when Zonglian is tricked into admitting the secret. China was never a happy place under Communism, but it certainly wasn't much better before it either.

Great scenery...and visual appeal, but the problem for me was that the story became too irrational. The 2nd wife was getting what she wanted within the confines of the current situation - once the 4th wife arrived... She blew it completely by having the 3rd wife outed which led to the 3rd wife's demise. It seemed illogical to me. No woman in that situation would do something so stupid. She would have guarded the secret and used it as a weapon. These women were first shown to be masters of manipulation and then their actions were idiotic. I didn't buy it. Okay - I did buy it for a dollar...but, I didn't buy the story at all. It wasn't believable.

Zhang Yimou's representative work, Venice Silver Lion Award. (1) extremely formal and symbolic, deep atresia of deep curtilage courtyard, light a lamp blowing lamp, hammer foot order; (2) Criticizing the traditional feudal system, male supremacy, intrigue and mutual calculation; (3) Strong colors, from red lanterns to eerie black lanterns, from dark green brick walls to white snow; (4) Beijing opera lyrics and ethereal music; (5) the end of the pull away and fold, there is no spring, only fate and madness.

Good film even to the uncultured kind. You'll be attracted to Raise the Red Lantern like a moth to a light. Not only because the movie looks beautiful and the story is exotic and beautiful too, but because it's unbelievably entertaining. This film has more backstabbing than any episode of Survivor, and the struggle for power and prestige is completely understandable. The pace is like an evening at a nice restaurant instead of a fast food joint or a diner. You'll be amazed how any person can enjoy this movie. Give it a try.