A couple comments about the new DVD release of Raise the Red Lantern

This is perhaps the best movie in the Gong Li or Zhang Yimou cannons – and that is saying quite a bit. Its release on DVD has been long overdue. Unfortunately, the new release was from a scratchy old print and the subtitles read like awkward instructions on a Chinese food product (i.e. “cook until goodly warm”). I don’t remember these same issues on the old VHS release (though that VHS version was not letterboxed). I bring this up because I’d recommended the film in a previous post about Memoirs of a Geisha. The recommendation still stands – the film’s greatness is still apparent – but there has not been a release of this film on video or DVD that has done it justice.