hyped garbage

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Zhang Yimou's Academy Award-nominated "Da hong deng long gao gao gua" ("Raise the Red Lantern" in English) is one of the many movies that sets up why China is like it is today. In this case, the focus is the plight of a woman in the Warlord Era. Songlian (Gong Li) is forced to become a concubine for a wealthy man. She is his fourth mistress. Each mistress lives in her own compound, and the lantern of his chosen mistress for the night gets lit. Tension is bound to arise, especially since not every mistress gets equal treatment.The movie is a look at the master's superficial world, and the pseudo-luxury that the mistresses enjoy. The rooms themselves may be colorful, but the compound itself is just as dismal as the mistresses' lives. The unusual blend of colors and music creates a movie like few others. You don't have to know all about China's history to understand what a fine piece of work this is. I recommend it.

This is a very brief review of "Red Sorghum" (1987), "Ju Dou" (1990), "Raise the Red Lantern" (1991), "The Story of Qiu Ju" (1992) and "To Live" (1994), five films by Zhang Yimou. Each film stars actress Gong Li, each works as a companion-piece to the other, and each deals almost exclusively with the oppression of women within early 20th century China.Zhang's debut, "Red Sorghum" stars Gong Li as Young Nine, a peasant who is sold to a wealthy leper. Things only get worse for Nine, who must fend off a series of rapists, mean men and the Japanese Army itself, all the while running a successful winery. Throughout the film, Zhang uses boxes, deep reds and tight squares to amplify Nine's sexist surroundings. Indeed, the film opens with Nine literally forced into a box, a social reality which she spends the film attempting to break free of or even transform. For Zhang, China wasn't "disrupted" by the Japanese invasion, it was hell long before. Like most of Zhang's films during this period, "Sorghum" sketches the cultural and socioeconomic conditions which spurred China, with hopeful arms, toward Maoism.Zhang's next film, "Ju Dou", covers similar material. Here Gong Li plays Ju Dou, a woman sold to a violent oaf ("When I buy an animal I treat it as I wish!") who owns a fabric dying establishment. After her husband is crippled, Ju Dou forges a relationship with Yang Jinshan, a relative. When Ju Dou and Jinshan have a child together, the kid grows up into a mean brute. Like "Sorghum", "Ju Duo" is a tragedy obsessed with rich reds, boxes and patriarchal violence. Whilst its plot superficially echoes Zhang's own adulterous, then-scandalous affair with Gong Li, Zhang seems more interested in the way Ju Dou and Jinshan hide their illicit affair from other villagers. For Zhang, the duo's tacit submission to social mores merely validates the notion that their love is scandalous and so merely validates the symbolic power of the crippled patriarch, a power which Ju Dou's son must – as per his mother's very own actions – thereby respect and avenge.The arbitrary nature of power, and how this power is always "symbolic" and always unconsciously maintained (via ritual, personal belief and shared delusions), is itself the obsession of Zhang's "Raise the Red Lantern". Here Gong Li again plays a woman sold to a wealthy man. This man has several other wives, all of whom begin to violently fight one another in an attempt to win the patriarch's adoration. "Is it the fate of women to become concubines?" a character asks, pointing to the film's deft critique of feudal relations. Zhang's first masterpiece, "Lantern" is again obsessed with reds, boxes and sequestered women, though here Zhang replaces the voluptuous colours, camera work and widescreen Cinemascopes of his previous films with something more restrained. Because of this, Zhang's conveying of claustrophobia and oppression, of mind and spirit pushed to madness, feels all the more powerful.Next came Zhang's "The Story of Qiu Ju". A near masterpiece, it stars Gong Li as Qui Ju, a peasant farmer who embarks on a quest to avenge her husband, who's had his crotch kicked in by a village leader. More emasculated by this attack than her own husband, Qui Ju's quest takes her all across China, dealing with a Chinese bureaucracy which seems quite helpful, polite and even rational. And yet still this bureaucracy does not please Qiu Ju. It thinks in terms of commodities, monetary recompense and punishment, whilst Qiu Ju (like Zhang Yimou himself, whose previous films were banned, without explanation, by Chinese authorities) seems more interested in acquiring a "shuafa", a simple explanation and apology. By the film's end, both the "primitive justice" of rural China and the "civilized justice" of modern China are simultaneously mocked, praised and shown to be thoroughly incompatible. Zhang's first "neo-realist" film, "Qiu Ju" was shot with hidden cameras, amateur actors, and so is filled with subtle observations, cruel ironies and beautiful sketches of peasant life.One of Zhang's finest films, "To Live" followed. It stars Gong Li as Jiazhen, the wife of a wealthy man (Ge You) who is addicted to gambling. When this gambling results in the family losing its mansions, riches and status, Jiazhen and her husband are forced onto the streets. Ironically, this set-back saves the family; the Cultural Revolution arrives, and with China's shift to nascent communism, all wealthy land owners are demonised, attacked and killed.Unlike most films which tackle life under Mao's Great Leap Forward, "To Live" carefully juggles the good and bad of what was essentially a nation shirking off feudalism, monarchs, uniting and then trying, clumsily, to cook up some form of egalitarian society. This quest results in all manners of contradictions and socio-political paradoxes: community, solidarity and a simple life save our heroes, but their world is one of paranoia, danger, and in which everyone and everything is accused of being "reactionary". The film ends with Jiazhen's daughter dying, a death which is the result of both unchecked consumption (a doctor dies gobbling food) and communist "reorganisation" (all competent doctors have been killed/jailed for being counter-revolutionary). This jab at communism got the film banned in China (further highlighting the insecurity of the regime). Ironically, Maoism saw massive positive health care reformations, and saw an improvement in mortality rates which at times surpassed even then contemporary Britain and parts of America (life expectancy doubled from 32 years in the 1940s to 65 years in the 1970s). But such things don't concern Zhang. Spanning decades, "To Live" is mostly a broad account of life, love, loss and growth (the personal and political), all unfolding upon a canvas that is devastatingly cruel. Significantly, the film's title is both adjectival and a command; this is "what life is", but one must nevertheless "always push on". Gong Li and Ge You in particular are excellent.8.5/10 - See "Black Narcissus".

Raise the Red Lantern is directed by the well known Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Zhang has created a piece of work that is rich with symbolism. His use of colour and differing camera angles capture the unspoken emotions and atmosphere constantly surrounding the narrative. Raise the Red Lantern reflects on Confucian attitudes and the welfare of women under this regime. Zhang uses cultural tradition to critique the past. While this tradition serves its purpose in the film it must be recognised as a conscious attempt by Zhang to self-orientalise. His use of hyper-real traditions further demonstrates his need to emphasise the exotic and make the film appealing to an international audience. Colour is used throughout the film to create atmosphere, depict emotions and symbolise power. Zhang has a history of using the colour red in his films. In Raise the Red Lantern I believe the colour red is used to symbolise power and also the lack of power. Each evening all the mistresses must line up outside their houses to await the master's choice of who he will spend the night with. The mistress who is chosen is presented with a glowing red lantern at her doorway and the approach to her house is lit by red lanterns. This display of red gives power to one over the many. With the honour associated with being chosen to lie with the master comes power of choice over the other mistresses and servants. The chosen mistress may choose what food is prepared for all, where she will eat it and can demand usually unobtainable services from servants and mistresses alike. In this instance the colour red is a symbol of power for the mistress. In the same instance this colour red can be interpreted as a lack of power for the mistress. The red lantern being presented to the mistress could also represent her powerlessness over choice. She has been chosen by the master to sleep with him; she has no say in this decision and must subject to his will. Yet another reading of this symbol is that of the western notion of a red light representing prostitution. A common symbol of prostitution in the west is having a red light over the doorway and lends to the name "red light district". This western understanding of the colour red may have been adopted by Zhang in this film to further its understanding and appeal to western audiences. For when you review the way in which the mistress is chosen, is used as a tool to gratify the man and then left at his discretion, it has many similarities to prostitution. Contrasting the bright colour red is the muted backdrop of subdued hues of Grey. This backdrop creates a sense of melancholy and impending despair. It also highlights the bright red of the lanterns, furthermore emphasising whoever has the lanterns importance and power over the rest. I believe that the lanterns themselves are also very symbolic in the film. The lanterns are the lifeblood of the female characters in the film. When the lanterns are lit the characters have hope and life, when they are out they live in despair. When Songlian is found to have tricked the master about being pregnant her lanterns are not only put out but also covered. This symbolises her hope being quashed, she is from then on ignored by the master, left to live in the muted background and fated to turn mad. Another example of the lantern symbolising hope and life is with Ya'ner . Ya'ner steals lanterns to try and emulate the hope and life that the mistresses enjoy. When Ya'ner is found out she is forced to kneel in the snow while her lanterns are burnt in front of her. This symbolises her hopes, dreams and life being destroyed. She dies after this episode. Raise the Red Lantern is also a critique of the not so distant Confucian society that dominated China for over a thousand years. Zhang focuses his portrayal of Confucian values on the power relationship between genders. Such examples are evident throughout the film. The husband in the film, only ever referred to in the film as "the master", is the patriarch and untouchable. The master has four wives/mistresses and has the power to call on any one of them to fulfil his needs. His mistresses have no choice in when or how they are chosen, they are treated as objects not as people. The fact that he is married to all four women and yet they are never referred to as his wives is an example of their lack of power and status. Zhang uses two characteristics common to Fifth generation film makers in his telling of Raise the Red Lantern. Both self-orientalising and hyper-real situations are evident throughout the film. Zhang purposely over exaggerates many of the cultural practices and the extent of their influence. He does this to draw attention and make the film more exotic and enthralling to an international audience. He focuses on the negative and brutal aspects of Confucian society to perpetuate the western belief that Chinese society is brutal and archaic. In his attempt to make the film more exotic he also creates hyper-real customs that he sells as authentic. Key depictions such as the use of the red lanterns, the use of the voodoo doll by the servant and the 'traditional' foot massage are examples of an imagined culture created for the benefit of the viewer. Raise the Red Lantern is a gripping, emotional and vivid critique of Confucian society. It makes use of extensive symbolism to enhance the narrative and further the viewers understanding of key themes. Zhang has focused on gender power relations, in particular the lack of power women were afforded in Confucian society. He has used traditional as well as hyper-real cultural practices to emphasise and highlight the moral miss-comings of Chinese culture and in effect has reinforced western views of cultural supremacy.

It's no secret that Zhang Yimou directs some of the beautiful movies in cinema history. His extensive and vivid use of colour is gorgeous. More than 10 years before he directed his modern-classics, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Raise the Red Lantern was there. The film has a simple storyline, a restricted location and a great cinematography. Oh, and it also employs beautiful use of colour. Sometimes I think Zhang Yimou is a product of an explosion in a colour factory. Raise the Red Lantern quite literally pits 4 women against each other and the film observes enviness, jealousy, hatred, anger, love & sorrow. Also, to some extend, Totalitarianism. Every woman wants to be the top mistress in front of the master and wants the red lanterns hung in front of their house. The 4th Mistress quickly catches the eye of her personal maid, Ya'ver, the 3rd Mistress & the 2nd Mistress. One thing leads to another and the 3rd Mistress ends up dead, the maid ends up dead, and the 4th Mistress goes insane, causing The Master to marry once more. Enter 5th Mistress, but thank goodness the film ends there, because another 2 hours would've been hectic. Not that I would've minded it, but enough is enough! I think the appropriate title should've been Personality Clash or This is how Women silently kill each other, or something like that.The pacing of the film is good. The slow and smooth camera movements did the trick. Red Lantern also employs repetition and I think it was a good move. It kept reminding us of what we're watching and what the film's story is all about. Unlike Hero or House of Flying Daggers which were clearly story-driven, this film was more character-and-music driven. The heavy metal? background music was awesome and I think it perfectly matches the mood and characteristics of the film and the women, respectively. From the performances, Gong-Li had the upper-hand, while He Caifi was just a rung below, but both were amazing in their characters. They both, out of all, portrayed the frustration, the anger, the hidden hatred, and then a sudden affection for each other, almost perfectly. The film was entirely on their shoulders and both handled the weight flawlessly!My ending note will be: Not just a great film. A landmark film! It has characters which are divided in two: Either you end up hating them, or loving them. A quite-powerful film that demands a repeat!