Raise the Red Lantern
“With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from…”
- - Red Lantern Oath from Green Lantern.
Oops,
wrong one! I mistake the comic to the film I’m reviewing.
In the year of 1920s, a
woman named Songlian has been forced to become the fourth mistress for her
husband aka Master at a temple. The temple raised their red lanterns upon the
fourth mistress, as her servants came. Each Mistress gets their privilege when
the red lantern it lit at their part of the temple. She meets the first
mistress named Yuru (the bitter, oldest one), and then the second mistress
named Zhouyun (the sweet one), and barely the third mistress named Meishan (the
singer). The next day, Songlian discover a locked room that Zhouyun revealed to
be the Death Room. Songlian meet Feipu (son of Yuru) as he’s playing a flute. Songlian
thought her servant, Yan’er stole her flute, but reveal upon searching has
found a Voodoo doll of Songlian (that was secretly made by Zhouyun). Turns out
Feipu has Songlian’s flute (which was her father’s), but he burned it. Songlian
starts to “lose” trust in Zhouyun to the point Souglian slip Zhouyun’s ear
while cutting her hair. Songlian became pregnant, as the red lanterns lit day
and night all through winter, until she revealed she’s faking it to the point
that the husband get furious. Souglian reveal Yan’er hidden lit red lantern as
they were burnt to ashes. Songlian will soon lose everyone and her sanity.
Songlian spends the majority of film stoic and cries
few times. It’s partly understandable that she’s not passionate to be with a
man mainly for the money at the cost of freedom, free will, and possibly her sleep
with the lanterns on at night. You barely see the husband as he’s
unidentifiable, unless he caught an unfocused glimpse at a distance of him. This
is an unidentifiable character “mostly” done right as much as Onceler (Lorax,
not the recent CGI crap), The Keys (ET), and the Hunters (Bambi). Although we
do see some glimpse, it can lose the mystery of the husband, but it’s not as
bad as Dr. Claw (live-action Inspector Gadget) and the humans in Alpha &
Omega films.
I don’t get into these melodrama films, mainly
because they’re mostly the same with a whiny woman doing the same dating
story(ies) range from having or losing a man, and she goes wee-hee happy in the
end with rushed conflict, as seen in all Madea films, Mama Mia, and many bad
chick flick. What set this film slightly different is the suffering onto the
characters, and they’re in real pain and suffering from abuse or isolation, but
that’s minor. Any other chick flick would have the main woman wouldn’t have
such physical or emotional conflict, thus we wouldn’t relate to them as
directors and/or writer would treat them like babies or Stepford Wives (which
emotionally wise, they’re about close).
The temple is nice, and the lighting’s nice, but it
gets grating as it’s the only location we’re in, which is the point for the
wives. This film is incredibly slow, repetitive, and it does get interesting
around the hour mark. If I was in Songlian’s massaged feet, I would go insane
from the slow times in this prison. As this is a film I wouldn’t revisit for awhile.
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