The Red Lanterns is a bar that also works as a brothel. Several prostitutes work there: Eleni is a Romanian emigrant who arrived to Greece, but was left by her lover and thus now has to earn her money in the brothel. She is in a relationship with Petros from Alexandria, but keeps her profession a secret. When finds out that she is a prostitute during a party, he slaps her, but they eventually make up... Anna finally admits to Captain Nicholas that she secretly had a son with him, but he dies in a ship wreck at sea... Mary has sex with young lad Angelos and starts a relationship with him. He proposes her, but she laughs at him... Marina threatens to kill herself if her pimp leaves her, but he does... A new law is in force which forbids prostitution, so the bar is closed and the women decide to find new jobs.
A good depiction of prostitution in contemporary Greece, "The Red Lanterns" delivers five stories of uneven quality, though the director Vasilis Georgiadis does a good job in keeping the interest of viewers all until the end. One of the best stories involves Mary: as a young lad, Angelos, enters the brothel (implied to lose his virginity), she looks at him and jokingly says: "Did you ask your mom?" What follows is the "forbidden" relationship outside the prostitution frame, and it is written with enough spice and skill to stand out. Sadly, the other stories fare less, sometimes even playing out like a melodrama (the ultimate fate of Anna's lover, a Captain), whereas the subplot involving a cleaning lady who plans to build a shack with her homeless man could have been cut. Actress Tzeni Karezi is very good as Eleni, especially when she tells her pimp that she has been doing this job so long that she is numb, and her story is on pair with Mary, leading to a satisfactory conclusion. "The Red Lanterns" leads an elegant story with enough skill to deserve a recommendation, but it is held down by a too conventional style which makes it look rather standard and routine by today's standard, as one wishes it had something more to offer than the "spicy" theme and quality performances.
Grade:++
No comments:
Post a Comment