Gong Li’s Raise the Red Lantern is back in theaters, and still devastating
Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern returns in a director-supervised 4K restoration. Film Forum opened it November 6; Film Movement lists more North American dates through early 2027.
If you know Gong Li only from later Hollywood credits, start with her face in the first minutes of Raise the Red Lantern. Zhang Yimou opens on Songlian, a 19-year-old who has just lost her father and her university seat. She agrees to become the fourth wife of a wealthy man she barely sees. Gong does not beg for sympathy. She holds still while the decision lands, then carries that stillness into a household where power is a nightly lottery. Red lanterns light outside the courtyard of whichever wife the master chooses, and privilege follows those lamps while the other women wait in the cold.
That performance is still the reason to go. Songlian arrives thinking she can stay above the wives’ games. Gong lets the calculation show in small shifts, then lets the cruelty take root when survival demands it. He Saifei, Cao Cuifen, and Jin Shuyuan complete the household as rivals and survivors, but the camera keeps returning to Gong. The 1920s compound, the color, and Zhao Fei’s cinematography are famous for a reason. You feel the damage through her face before anyone explains the rules.
The new 4K restoration puts that work back on a proper screen. Udine Far East Film Festival led the project for its 26th edition, using the original image and sound negatives under Zhang’s supervision, with a 1991 Venice print as color reference. L’Immagine Ritrovata finished the restoration in Hong Kong and Bologna in 2024. Film Movement Classics is releasing it in North America for the film’s 35th anniversary. The picture earned Zhang a Silver Lion at Venice in 1991 and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. It remains one of the key Gong–Zhang collaborations from China’s Fifth Generation wave.
Where to see it: Film Forum in New York opened the restoration on Friday, November 6, at 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue. The run continues through Thursday, November 19. Tickets are $18 general and $12 for members, in person only. Showtimes are on filmforum.org.
Film Movement’s theatrical calendar, checked November 8, already lists more engagements next week: Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington on Nov. 12; Austin Film Society, the Brattle in Cambridge, Laemmle Royal and Glendale, American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz 3, and Santa Barbara’s Riviera on Nov. 13; then AFI Silver in Silver Spring and Salt Lake Film Society on Nov. 15. Later November and December dates reach Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver, and more, with TIFF Lightbox in Toronto listed for January 3, 2027. For the full city list and booking links, use Film Movement’s theatrical page or redlantern.film.
