Main Cast: Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford, Byron Mann, Peter Donat
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 122 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The strong anti-China beliefs of actor and political activist Richard Gere were evident in this Hitchcockian thriller that sought to expose the civil and human rights abuses of that country's legal system. Gere stars as Jack Moore, counsel to a large media conglomerate seeking to open trade relations with China, thereby delivering American television shows by satellite to the largest untapped market in the world. After an evening out at a nightclub and fashion show, Jack goes home with a beautiful model (Jessey Meng), then wakes up the next morning to discover her dead body. To his horror, Jack is accused of murdering the girl, who is revealed to have been the daughter of a high-ranking general. Assigned a court-appointed lawyer, Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling), Jack discovers that the repressive Chinese court system does not grant bail, encourages quick guilty pleas and executions, and looks upon him with disfavor for his Western moral turpitude. Finally persuading Shen that he's innocent, Jack and his lawyer embark on an investigation impeded at every turn by Chinese authorities, eventually uncovering a plot to discredit Jack and his company's entry into China. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Robert Stanton - Ed Pratt; Tsai Chin - Chairman Xu; James Hong - Lin Shou; James Fox - Li Cheng; Ulrich Matschoss - Gerhardt Hoffman; Richard Venture - Ambassador Reed; Jessey Meng - Hong Ling
Credit
Virginia Randolph-Weaver - Art Director, Nadine Schiff - Associate Producer, Liu Baifang - Associate Producer, David Rubin - Casting, Martin Huberty - Co-producer, Lisa Lindstrom - Co-producer, Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, David McGiffert - First Assistant Director, John Hockridge - First Assistant Director, Jon Avnet - Director, Peter E. Berger - Editor, Gail Katz - Executive Producer, Wolfgang Petersen - Executive Producer, Thomas Newman - Composer (Music Score), Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Karl Walter Lindenlaub - Cinematographer, Jon Avnet - Producer, Jordan Kerner - Producer, Charles B. Mulvehill - Producer, Rosalie Swedlin - Producer, Peter Kelly - Set Designer, Patricia Klawonn - Set Designer, William Kemper Wright - Set Designer, Barbara Ann Spencer - Set Designer, James F. Truesdale - Set Designer, George R. Lee - Set Designer, Hugo Santiago - Set Designer, Digital Domain - Special Effects, Jeff Wexler - Sound/Sound Designer, Buddy Joe Hooker - Stunts Coordinator, Kevin Mack - Special Effects Supervisor, Robert King - Screenwriter, Robert "Bobby Z" Zajonc - Pilot
Red Corner is a drama film produced in 1997, directed by Jon Avnet and written by Robert King. It tells the story of a wealthy American businessman named Jack Moore (played by Richard Gere) working in China and attempting to put together a satellite communications deal as part of a joint venture with the Chinese government. Before the deal goes through, he is framed for the murder of a powerful Chinese general's daughter, and the satellite contract is awarded to Moore's competitor. Moore's court-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) initially does not believe his claims of innocence, but the pair gradually unearth further evidence that not only vindicates Moore, but also implicates powerful figures within the Chinese central government administration and exposes undeniable conspiracy and corruption.
Red Corner was shot in Los Angeles using elaborate sets and CGI rendering of 3,500 still shots and two minutes of footage from China. In order to establish the film's verisimility, Several Beijing actors were brought to the United States on visas for filming. The judicial and penitentiary scenes were recreated from descriptions given by attorneys and judges practicing in China and the video segment showing the execution of Chinese prisoners was an actual execution. The individuals providing the video and the descriptions to Avnet and his staff took on a significant risk by providing it.[2]
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews when it was released in the United States. The movie review aggregator website Rottentomatoes found that 33% of the film critics gave the movie positive reviews, while only 20% of top critics reviewed it positively.[3]
Cynthia Langston of Film Journal International responded to the film: "So unrealistic, so contrived and so blatantly "Hollywood" that Gere can't possibly imagine he's opening any eyes to the problem, or any doors to its solution, for that matter".[4] The Los Angeles Times described Red Corner as a "sluggish and uninteresting melodrama that is further hampered by the delusion that it is saying Something Significant. But its one-man-against-the-system story is hackneyed and the points it thinks it's making about the state of justice in China are hampered by an attitude that verges on the xenophobic."[5]Salon film critic Andrew O'Hehir noted "...more the movie's subtext swallows its story, until all that is left is Gere's superior virtue, intermixed with his superior virility -- both of which are greatly appreciated by the evidently underserviced Chinese female population..." O'Hehir also noted that the film reinforces the infamous Westernstereotypes of Asian female sexuality (as in those of The World of Suzie Wong) as well as the hoariest stereotyping.[6]
Rating
The film is rated "R" in the USA for violence and sexuality.[1] It is banned in the People's Republic of China for political reasons.[7] It is rated parental guidance category in Taiwan, Republic of China[8]. The Mujha Branch of the Taipei Public Library exhibited this film on 16 August 2008 in its activity to learn laws by watching films.[9] The film is also played in law schools throughout the United States to give law students an idea as to the differences between the U.S. legal system and the People's Republic of China's legal system.
