Oh, Criticker, my sweet criticker - you, who know me so well. Gong Li, thick chinese symbolism, red lanterns and small family drama that turns uglier every ten minutes - beautiful. Almost everything in this film you can predict within a ten mile radius, but when something surprises you - it comes at you tenfold - and this is the key to this film. Small steps all the way - but once you are there, everything is broken down to pieces and it's your job to put them back together again. Fantastic..

An entertaining if depressing story of whores. I fell asleep some time in the first half, but what I saw of the second half kept me quite awake and focused on the film. Really wish I would have made an effort to stay awake.

Consistenly, Li Gong does angry/spiteful/"flippin' crazy" like no other Chinese actress. Raise the Red Lantern is a good example of this. Good film, minus the painful pacing.

Visually stunning. Delicious beauty. Shakespearean in its content. Unfortunately, just not my cup of tea when it comes to movies.

The end bit is overkill but man oh man was I loving everything else. Li Gong is near perfection and the narrative is always exploring interesting areas, especially in the earlier sections. I could go on and on about how highly I consider the cinematography.

A good movie, though quite heavy (well, compared to what I usually watch!). The costumes are beautiful.

448

Its pacing is as slow as its impact is strong. Truly memorable story and imagery.

The only way to describe this film is hauntingly beautiful. This rather socially oppressive era of China is recreated in stunning atmospheric detail. There are times when you feel that if you look hard enough you'll see all the ghosts of the past concubines in the background. There's an entire surreal feel to the cinematography that's difficult to explain. The only minor flaws is that the writing makes things a little too obvious when this film begs for subtlety.

It was pretty good. A little slow to start with. But it got nice and dark, and I liked the ending a lot.

If you haven't seen Yimou Zhang's earlier dramas, you have really missed out. This is one of my favorites, full of depth and resonance. A fantastic film.

An extraordinary film that lulls you in with its slow burning narrative and stunning color photography. The ghostly lanterns and desolate landscape create an increasingly eerie mood where the past horrors never seem too far away. It eventually builds to a harrowing climax and becomes a powerful and moving tale of people being stretched thin between the forces of an oppressive society and their own internal desperation to belong.

This psychological female drama set in the 1920s provides a restless (but subtle) look on old traditions and, with an interesting connection between characters and their lives with cinematography/soundtrack -- these two elements set different moods from season to season --, Yimou achieves a moving result. But, as narrative goes, I felt some unnecessary urgency in the last 30 minutes -- and that "oh she lost it living in this antiquate world" finale just reveals the weakness of the book.

#454

Catty mean bitchez

First half is a bit dull, but they're just setting up the pieces. It then unleashes intriguing surprises, though grittier than I expected.

#11#, liked, Gong Li, (dir Zhang Yimou), oldies(2) }*{ #90s(e)#, reviews, story

This is a well done film with good acting and subtle plot that was a little to slow paced for my taste.

A damning allegory for authoritarian/patriarchal society wrapped neatly in a sensuous tale of jealousy and betrayal. It begins as a seemingly formal drama and slowly gives way to something much more intense (and almost frightening towards the end). Zhao Fei's bold, striking use of color not only heightens the mood but also contributes greatly to the film's thematic and narrative conceits. A truly magnificent film.

A visually intriguing and delicately slow-paced movie. For me it's about society's potentially corruptive force on human nature, rewarding the competetive and ruthless, turning the oppressed into oppressors. It can easily serve as a parable on political as well as existential matters.

Stunning. Both the visual impact and the soundscape were amazing. I loved this film. Gong Li is fantastic. Absolutely my favorite Zhang Yimou film.