771. Hong Gao liang/Red Sorghum (1987)

Running Time: 91 minutes
Directed By: Zhang Yimou
Written By: Jianyu Chen, Wei Zhu, from the books Red Sorghum and Sorghum Wine by Yan Mo
Main Cast: Gong Li, Jiang Wen, Ji Chunhua, Teng Rujun

RED CHINA

Now you KNOW I'm putting in overtime, as their hasn't been a post made past midnight in a long time. It used to be the norm, but recently my eyelids start getting pretty heavy around eleven-ish and thus, I usually only have energy for watching the movie. Anyway, I'm looking to finish up the current season on Tuesday, which means I need to knock these final four out. Let's get on to "Red Sorghum", shall we?

The film is set in the late 20s/early 30s, in China and is told, via narration, by the grandchild of the main characters. Speaking of the main characters, the film starts out with a younger version of the narrator's grandma (Li) being escorted, via sedan, to be married to a rich distillery owner, who is also a leper. Along the way, one of the sedan carriers tries to strike up conversation with the woman, but to no avail. Along the way, the sedan passes through a field of sorghum and eventually makes it to the destination. Three days after her wedding, custom dictates that the woman return home to visit her father. When she does, the two quarrel and she leaves. However, while she's away visiting, her husband - the distillery owner - is murdered. Many believe that it is the sedan carrier, who we know via the narration is the narrator's grandfather, may have had something to do with the leper's death. With her husband now dead, the woman allows herself to be "taken" by the sedan carrier, but following their rendezvous, the woman returns to the distillery, where she tells her workers that she'll pick up the reigns of the operation and keep the business running. They shut down for three days, in order to get prepared and then re-open. The sedan carrier continues to come around, but the woman, at first, wants nothing to do with him, considering he's a lush. Later, the story takes a turn, when the invading Japanese are introduced.

Wow, what a HUGE disappointment! After watching "Raise the Red Lantern", I was really looking forward to seeing this, only to have my high hopes dashed not far into the movie. I'm not sure how one film can have such a great story, filled with revenge, betrayal, heartbreak, intrigue and drama ("Raise the Red Lantern") and another can be filled with such a pointless story, that seemingly goes nowhere and is quite boring, even at only ninety minutes ("Red Sorghum"). I haven't witnessed a director embrace both sides of the spectrum this drastically in quite sometime. Anyway, this was just not good. I wanted to like it, but I don't think my hopes were so high that it impacted my enjoyment. The entire film is LITERALLY, girl gets married, girl's husband dies, girl owns a distillery, girl has affair with sedan carrier, they have a kid, the Japanese invade, the end. That's it! Granted, there were times near the end when I was fighting to keep my eyelids raised, but had the film been the slightest bit interesting to me, I wouldn't have had to do that. I'm not used to staying up quite this late, but even if I'd been 100% refreshed, I just know I wouldn't have been able to settle into this one. It just wasn't that good and a huge disappointment considering how much I loved "Raise the Red Lantern". On another note though, how beautiful is Gong Li? I really need to seek out and watch more of her catalog, as she is breath taking and not a bad actress to boot.

RATING: 2.5/10  Allow me to keep it short tonight as my desk literally sits right next to my bed and I can't resist it calling my name any longer. This was the pits and I was hoping Zhang Yimou would turn into a new director to keep an eye on. Oh well...

MOVIES WATCHED: 798
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 203

February 10, 2014  12:34am

828. Da Hong Deng long Gao gao Gua/Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

Running Time: 124 minutes
Directed By: Yimou Zhang
Written By: Ni Zhen, from novel by Su Tong
Main Cast: Gong Li, He Caifei, Cao Cuifen, Jin Shuyuan, Lin Kong

CHINA HITS A HOME RUN, FINALLY!

I can't tell you how much I was dreading this movie and is it any wonder, after sitting through "A Brighter Summer Day", "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Blue Kite"? Well, I'm happy to report that my dread was unwarranted, as I actually really loved this movie.

The film starts by giving us a lot of information - all the information we need to get started - in just a short amount of time. We meet Songlian (Gong Li), a nineteen-year-old student, who's father has just died and who's stepmother can no longer afford to pay her tuition. Songlian decides to take her stepmother's advice and get married and chooses a rich man, for whom she will be his latest concubine. She travels to her new Master's palace, following the marriage and we discover that Songlian is to be the fourth mistress to the Master. As the new mistress, she is treated like royalty, being chosen each night as the mistress whom Master will spend the night with and thus, receiving foot massages and brightly colored, lit red lanterns outside her door & around her room. After a day as the new mistress, Songlian is taken to meet the other three mistresses, whom refer to her as "Fourth Sister". The first mistress has few words, but is respectful to the new sister. The second mistress is almost too nice, offering advice and kind words for her new sister and the third mistress feigns an illness, perhaps out of jealousy for hew new sister. As time goes by, Songlian learns that backstabbing is the norm around the palace and people whom she thought were on her side, may not be.

SPOILER ALERT!

Seriously, why couldn't THIS have been the film that ran for four hours?! I totally would've been down for even more of this and if I had to make one complaint it would be the ending. I know I shouldn't have expected a happy ending, but I really wanted one to emerge, somehow, some way. The mood and atmosphere are so bleak and dreary, however, that a happy ending here may have felt really artificial. Although, a faux happy ending, may have totally worked. By that, I mean just killing Songlian, because that's what she really wanted. Having her just go mad and wander around the palace for, seemingly, the rest of her days was a bit of a letdown, but I guess I can swallow that ending. Anyway, the film is pretty close to flawless, with some outstanding visuals that will surely leave your eyes thanking you for feeding them such beauty. The plot is totally there too and I was beginning to wonder if Chinese filmmakers even knew what an intriguing plot was. It was a breath of fresh air to see a Chinese film that didn't harp on the governmental oppression or the impact of historical changes on society and rather, just fed us a great film that I personally really feasted on. It was one that I gave a fair chance to, thank God, during a time when I had just watched a bunch of Chinese films that did absolutely nothing for me. It proves that you should NEVER short change a movie and always give a film a fair shake at winning you over.

The film comes highly recommended by me, as you watch these four women show the personalities of their characters. I've said a million times that I love films that could double as stage plays and this could totally be reenacted on the stage and I wonder if it has ever been? I'm seriously looking forward to "Red Sorghum" now, which I'll probably watch before the season is over.

RATING: 9/10  Man, I'm getting to be a real picky son of a bitch aren't I? I just can't seem to bring myself to give out a '10' lately.

MOVIES WATCHED: 772
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 229

November 30, 2013  3:33pm