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November 27, 2009
Friday Flickers: Raise the Red Lantern
Until meeting Gong Li in China, I never posed for a photo with any of the stars with whom I worked. She is, quite simply, the greatest movie actress of our time.
Raise the Red Lantern (1991), places all of Gong Li's considerable talents on display in this powerful tale set in 1920's China.
Gong Li plays Songlian, a nineteen-year old girl whose family has fallen on hard times. She agrees to an arranged marriage with a rich, older man. Thus, the innocent Songlian enters a household as #4 Concubine.
The opulent castle into which she moves is a petri dish of bitter jealousies and Machiavellian rivalries as the wives maneuver for the attention and affection of their husband and master.
The narrative feels almost biblical as the wives align for position and power with and against one another. The alliances are liquid as enemies become friends and friends become enemies. In the end, the all-powerful husband matters far less than the desperate relationships forged by the women.
The film is gorgeous, every composition carefully framed. The colors are chilly and crisp, jelly bean hues set against the muted grays of the massive castle. Director Zhang Yimou is a master of scale. Like the best of silent directors, he understands how to convey worlds of emotion by placing his characters against vast spaces and overpowering architecture.
Too many modern film writers and directors rely on exposition when silence and geography are far more eloquent.
Gong Li's performance is unerring in portraying the stages through which Songlian moves: from reluctant and baffled young bride, to a devious plotter in the dysfunctional household.
Some critics view the film as a metaphor for the ravages of Communist rule, but the great director Zhang Yimou has denied this. The film was banned in China for quite a while so obviously the authorities teased meanings from the movie that displeased them. Allegory or not—and I'm not so sure about this—Raise the Red Lantern is a fine film that affords a view of a foreign culture that feels strangely close to home.
In this brief clip, Gong Li as Songlian watches Third Mistress, played by He Caifei, a former opera singer, vent her feelings through song, thereby allowing Songlian a glimpse into her own isolation.
If you decide to purchase the DVD, make sure to get the 2007 MGM remastered version. Previous releases are of such poor quality that the images look like mud.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and peaceful Shabbat.
Seraphic Secret has always maintained that the global warming/climate movement is a form of mass hysteria, an academic delusion—we rely on common sense—invented in order to minimize the true danger of transnational Islamist terrorism. Climategate should prove the undoing of this fanatic secular religion.
H/T Son-in-Law #1.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at November 27, 2009 09:46 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Any idea why she did not get an Oscar nom for this and a few other amazing films she did? What a shame.
Posted by: Bill at November 27, 2009 11:46 AM
Bill:
No idea. The ways of the Academy are far beyond my puny mind.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 27, 2009 01:46 PM
I am so very sorry to hear of your sons passing, so young, I wish you well.
Posted by: David M at November 27, 2009 06:30 PM
Some years ago I was driving across Nevada and being a military history buff, wanted to stop at the now sleepy Wendover airport. Wendover is a small Nevada town right on the Utah border, and unless you knew its history, most would be inclined to drive right past it.
However, during WW2 it was the base where heavy bomber crews trained before going overseas. There is lots of desert and few people, making it ideal.
The crew of the Enola Gay stopped here before going on to Tinian.
When I arrived, I was surprised to find a movie set. Having never been to a movie set, I was surprised to find it - boring. Just a lot of tents and trailers - and a security guard who had a fit when he saw that I had a camera. Exactly what I could compromise remains a mystery to me.
I was just surveying this scene by the fence when a well dressed man in a coat and tie - definitely out of place at the Wendover Airport - stood next to me and we had a conversation.
"Don't you think novie directors today rely too much on special effects and not enough on good writing?", I asked.
The man, obviously a studio exec, laughed and had to agree with me.
They happened to be filming ConAir with Nick Cage. I did learn that a lot of directors like this area - Independence Day had a lot of scenes here, too...
On Global Warming, er, "Global Warming", I am reading an interesting book that refutes the premise. Entitled Unstoppable Every 1500 Years Global Warming, by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery...
Seems to me the easiest way to refute this is to mention Greenland - around 975 when the Vikings settled there, it was - well, Green, with good farming. Within a few 100 years, it froze and the settlements disappeared.
I do think that the adherents to this belief treat it as a religion. You have original sin (man), and absolution - paying Al Gore to plant a tree while you fly in your Gulfstream, content that you are doing your part.
Plus it gives one a sinister motive for more odious taxes and government control. The cynic in me would say that it is simply a vehicle for more government intrusion.
Posted by: Bill Brandt at November 28, 2009 12:53 AM