Xin Buliao Qing (C'est La Vie, Mon Cheri, 1994)I don't want to sound like I am immediately going for Cheri's jugular, but it was a very conventional love story. The idea of mopey boy falling for eccentric girl who changes him only to have tragedy take her away from him has been done a lot. So, in that regard Cheri isn't anything special. But, luckily it does manage to rise above its own genre conventions with the help of one actress and some music.
Any film that uses In The Mood by Glenn Miller Orchestra in its best scene should get a thumbs up from you, if not I fear you have no soul. That scene in particular highlights the airy quality that Cheri has. But, the music isn't just light, it's your guide to the emotions of the characters, where the story is going and the tone that the film will take. Even better than the music is the performance of Anita Yuen. I can see her falling too far into manic pixie dream girl for some, but that wasn't the case with me. I found her take on the fragile girl to be a breath of fresh air, usually actresses in such a role play their character with a pall over them. You know something bad is going to happen because the actress gives it away. Yuen didn't do that, she was full of energy and pushed that energy so far that I didn't see the ultimate end coming until her sickness was introduced.
Cheri is an enjoyable film, it isn't deep nor is it original or a film that will wow you. But, it is, sorry to sound redundant, enjoyable with the use of music and the performance of Yuen placing it above most mediocre love stories.
Vs.
Da Hong Deng Long Gao Gao Gua (Raise The Red Lantern, 1991)It's hard to adequately explain how effective Raise The Red Lantern is, because alliterating loneliness isn't easy. But, that's what I most took away from Lantern. It started with emotional loneliness in Songlian's conversation with her mother and slowly it turned from emotional loneliness into loneliness through antipathy. It is really hard to describe, but Lantern has an overbearing tone in it loneliness, it leaves you with such a strong feeling that this woman's life ended the moment she entered that mansion and now you are watching her fight to survive slowly leave her and waiting for the inevitable to come.
Based on the above, Lantern obviously isn't the cheeriest of movies. But, it does have some moments of dark comedy and it looks amazing. The set design is beautiful, yet restrained. I loved the stylistic choice to never actually film the Master or keep him in the frame, because the story isn't about him, it's about these women and the other people around them. Not focusing on the Master also keeps him in the role of cruel taskmaster, an emotionless being who doesn't understand, or care, how his prison set-up is affecting his mistresses. The camera work is also integral to the claustrophobic prison feeling of Lantern, we never see outside of the mansion, and when we do see through a door to the outside world it is a long shot that emphasizes how something so close is actually so far away. Then there are the overhead shots of the mansion that emphasize how small it is, and how little room the women have to move around in, but that is all they have.
Li Gong is of course amazing, she always has been, yet for some reason I feel people always forget about her when listing great actresses. She conveys emotion, but she also conveys perfectly the slow death the mansion is bringing to her, and in the end she portrays the end of her breakdown just as how I imagined it would play out. Most of all, Gong never takes her character to sympathetic territory, because while we do feel for her, we also can't sympathize with her because she isn't the best person in the world, she is mean, cruel and petty and Gong never lets us forget that. The rest of the wives are also great when on screen, especially Zhuoyan, who does such a great job of hiding her true nature and then when it's revealed she turns into the character you hate.
Verdict:I don't think it should come as any surprise, Cheri is a fun little film, but Lantern is a great film. It has depth, tremendous acting, feels authentic and original. I liked both films, but I loved Lantern and Lantern will move on.