Raise The Red Lantern

Zhang Yimou’s Raise The Red Lantern is simply one of the most elegantly staged, perfectly lit and beautifully photographed films ever made. Every scene is meticulously framed and composed, with every single frame worthy of being hung in a picture gallery. But it is more than just a series of pretty pictures. Every image tells its own story, expressing mood, character and detail through the costumes, the set designs, the colours and the lighting. Even though the film, once past the introduction, doesn’t leave the enclosed confines of a single household, even the heat, rain and snow of the passing seasons each impress their own character onto the turbulent machinations and events that go on there.