Movie Month: Raise The Red Lantern

[batboy126]

Yimou Zhang generally writes and directs either perfect, simple stories, like Long Road Home and Not One Less; or action films like House Of Flying Daggers and Curse Of The Golden Flower. Raise The Red Lantern is a bit different. It takes place in pre-revolutionary China. A young woman (Li Gong) is pressured by her family to leave school and marry a rich man, accepting the position of fourth wife. She tries to adapt to the unfamiliar rituals and get along with the other 3 wives, but soon finds the household to be a confusing web of conflict and one-upmanship. She ends up being drawn into the competition, with tragic results. It's an absorbing story, and beautiful to watch.
Opening scene:

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