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Information
- A.k.a.
- Raise the Red Lantern
- Year
- 1991
- Runtime
- 125 min.
- Director
- Yimou Zhang
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rating *
- 8.1
- Votes *
- 19,454
- Checks
- 4,761
- Favs
- 681
- Dislikes
- 23
- Favs/checks
- 14.3% (1:7)
- Favs/dislikes
- 30:1
Top comments
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vt.md
This movie is a rare visual treat. Extremely vibrant and colorful. Gong Li is flawless. An intriguing and interesting analysis on the fate of women and traditional customs in the early 1900s in China. Women are basically trapped, physically and psychologically, in the 4-walls of their husbands. They obey their husbands like the way servants would to their masters. A man holds absolute power. He does whatever he pleases and can marry as many concubine as he sees fit. He treats his concubines like toys - cherishes them when they're still new and shiny but after a while he'd toss them away as they get old or don't offer anything new. It's a sad peek into the monotonous life of the concubines. Not only they're trapped, they're pushed into a cat and mouse game between the wives to get the master's attention. They'd do whatever it needs to get favor of the husband, namely giving him a son. It's a mad society. No matter how educated a woman is, it's ridiculously hard to get out of the rat race. Excellent movie. 13 years 1 month ago -
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Siskoid
Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern is as good as the hype would have it, the story of a young woman forced, after the death of her father at the turn of the 20th Century, to get married to a rich lord and become his fourth wife. Cue masterful "court" intrigue as the four women vie for his attentions and the coveted red lanterns, which come to with his sexual favors and a host of other perks, according to oppressive and eccentric family traditions. Interestingly, we never quite see his face, and he is never given a close-up, which might lend credence to the theory that the film works as an allegory for Communist China - each woman representing a facet of society and he the "faceless state" - but I don't know enough about the Chinese socio-political landscape of China (in 1991) to make that call. All I can say is that Raise the Red Lantern is gorgeous, emotional, powerful, and perfectly posed, somehow a visual feast despite its restricted location. 7 years 2 months ago
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In 21 official lists
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This movie ranks #14 in BIFF's Asian Cinema 100
BIFF's Asian Cinema 100
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This movie ranks #22 in Tom Vick's Asian Cinema: A Field Guide
Tom Vick's Asian Cinema:…
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This movie ranks #26 in iCheckMovies's 1990s Top 100
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This movie ranks #32 in Empire's The 100 Best Films of World Cinema
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This movie ranks #45 in IMDb's Romance Top 50
IMDb's Romance Top 50
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This movie ranks #47 in IMDb's 1990s Top 50
IMDb's 1990s Top 50
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This movie ranks #54 in Golden Horse's 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films
Golden Horse's 100 Great…
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This movie ranks #86 in ASC's 100 Milestone Films in Cinematography of the 20th Century
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This movie ranks #135 in Emma Beare's 501 Must-See Movies
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This movie ranks #171 in iCheckMovies's Most Favorited
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This movie ranks #188 in Academy Award - Best International Feature Film Nominees
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This movie ranks #215 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
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This movie ranks #298 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
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This movie ranks #431 in Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey
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This movie ranks #466 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
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This movie ranks #486 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
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This movie ranks #548 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
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This movie ranks #697 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
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This movie ranks #755 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
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This movie ranks #825 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
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This movie ranks #925 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
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925