Raise the Red Lantern

(Da hong deng long gao gao gua, Zhang Yimou, China/Hong-Kong/Taiwan 1991, 124 min., 35mm, Mandarin w/subtitles)

Period Dramas. A young, poor college student (Gong Li) is forced to marry the wealthy lord of a manor, and finds herself embroiled in bitter competition for the privileges that come with the lord’s favor. The name of director Zhang Yimou is today synonymous with contemporary Chinese action spectacle (The Great Wall, Hero, House of Flying Daggers), but he started his career with a series of critically acclaimed and politically subversive dramas that have established him as the leading voice of the so-called Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers. In this film, his already developed acute visual sense constructs a tense environment through controlled use of color, claustrophobic sets, and 1920s period costumes.