‘Red Corner’ Actress Brings Out Best In Gere
Left to his own devices, Richard Gere can be as inert as a fireplace log. Put him next to an emotionally incendiary female lead - Jodie Foster in “Sommersby” or Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”- and voila! A fire burns.
Chinese actress Bai Ling turns up the heat in “Red Corner.” She’ll never be an American movie star, though her English is fine: She’s short and unglamorous, although intelligence and intensity bring beauty into her small face.
Good though Gere is in her company, she’s the best reason to see this thriller. The second best is the direction of Jon Avnet (“Fried Green Tomatoes”), who makes atmosphere more important than the pedestrian murder plot.
Gere plays Jack Moore, an American attorney specializing in Asian media deals. He’s canny enough to sell “decadent” American TV shows to Beijing broadcasters, telling them that oversexed and violent elements will show Chinese viewers how corrupt Western culture has become.
He celebrates the deal by attending a fashion show and going home with a model, who has been hired to pick him up and get him drunk. The rough hands of police wake him in the morning, snatching him up in a bloody nightshirt. The blood belongs to the model, whose throat has been cut.
Since she’s a powerful general’s daughter, the trial looks like a simple affair: Moore will plead guilty and, after suitably harsh punishment, be allowed to live. “Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist,” explains a police officer.
The first person Moore must win over is Shen Yuelin, his court-appointed attorney (Bai Ling). Once she believes him, she fights doggedly for his release, though avid defense of a convicted murderer would be a blow to her career.
Her investigation is the script’s excuse to develop a friendship between Moore and Shen, who have suppressed painful pasts. Three clues quickly prove Moore didn’t kill the model, and only two people could have benefited by framing him. The road to justice leads straight to the guilty.
What makes the journey enjoyable is the strangeness of the vast courtroom, with its bare, towering walls and hundreds of empty seats. (Press and public don’t attend.) A stern judge presides with abruptness that may be accidental or conspiratorial, while two “people’s assessors” look on almost mutely.
About a third of the film is in Chinese. This puts us in Jack’s shoes; we strain to follow the action, as he does, since we’re not sure whether his bacon’s being pulled out of the fire or shoved farther in.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Red Corner” Locations: Newport, Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Jon Avnet, starring Richard Gere, Bai Ling, Bradley Whitford, Byron Mann, Peter Donat Running time: 1:59 Rating: R