Red Corner (1997)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Jon Avnet

Writer (WGA):

Robert King (written by)

Release Date:

31 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Severity for those who resist.

Plot:

An American attorney on business in China, ends up wrongfully on trial for murder and his only key to innocence is a female defense lawyer from the country.

Plot Keywords:

China | Murder | Law | Frame Up | Pipa

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Jack Moore
Ling Bai	...	Shen Yuelin
Bradley Whitford	...	Bob Ghery
Byron Mann	...	Lin Dan
Peter Donat	...	David McAndrews
Robert Stanton	...	Ed Pratt
Tsai Chin	...	Chairman Xu
James Hong	...	Lin Shou
Tzi Ma	...	Li Cheng
Ulrich Matschoss	...	Gerhardt Hoffman
Richard Venture	...	Ambassador Reed
Jessey Meng	...	Hong Ling
Roger Yuan	...	Huan Minglu
Chi Yu Li	...	General Hong
Henry O	...	Procurator General Yang

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Mexico:B | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Park Plaza Hotel - 607 S. Park View Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Avnet/Kerner Productions

Trivia:

In order to heighten the film's reality, director Jon Avnet, actress Ling Bai, and co-producer Martin Huberty traveled to Beijing for a week of "guerilla" shooting (without the knowledge or permission of the Chinese government!) to capture the first-ever 35mm film of the city to appear in a Hollywood film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the very beginning of the film, the little girl looks up at the sky and blocks out the sun with her hand. But it is totally obvious that she is blocking out nothing, for there is no shadow of her hand across her eyes.

Quotes:

Shen Yuelin: If you plead not guilty, you will be sentenced to death. And, unlike in your country, Mr. Moore, sentences are carried out within a week. You will be shot, and the cost of the bullet will be billed to your family.

Movie Connections:

References "Star Trek" (1966)

White Light

Rambling drama about a US salesman arrested for a murder he did not commit, Red Corner has actual footage of Beijing convincingly mixed with the main shooting which gives the impression that the movie was actually made in China - and presumably with the approval of the Chinese authorities. Unfortunately, this is not really true, and the main Chinese lead - Ling Bai, whose name means 'white light' or 'white spirit' - was at Tiananmen in 1989 and emigrated to the US shortly thereafter. I've met students who lived in China at the time who absolutely refuse to discuss the situation back home; that Ling Bai does is testimony to her 'white spirit', and she really does steal the show from Gere here, in a kind of reverse Casablanca 'hill of beans' role. Whether the depiction of conditions in the Chinese judicial system is accurate or not, the movie does succeed in making the viewer understand that there are two views to almost anything, and that in China, as anywhere, power corrupts. Stacking the deck against consular officials is a nice touch, for these people are truly the cowards and turncoats the movie makes them out to be. The plot swerves from the inexplicable to the Orwellian to a love story (which does, it is true, sort of come out of nowhere), but the final scene on the tarmac does much to salvage that. Maybe Gere wanted to make the Chinese look bad, but they certainly don't need his help. Based on an incident that happened not in China but in Italy, Red Corner is viewable without ever coming close to being a great film. Its one claim to greatness is Ling Bai - she's absolutely fabulous.