Review: Red Heroine

Can words even describe the event I seen tonight? A sold out Silent Movie Theatre, with a rare live band accompanying a film? Not just ANY film...the only known surviving Kung Fu movie from 1920s China.

A few bands have done this (notably with Sunrise) and I've had mixed feelings on the idea. There are 3 ways to score a silent: with random live music (a loop, a pop song, etc), with proper organ/piano accompaniment, or a full live score composed specifically for the film but featuring more then JUST the piano or organ. A lot of people think the first two are the way to go (be modern or be traditional). However it takes some major skill and time to pull off the third. And one band has: The Devil Music Ensemble. The boys from Boston have been scoring films for about 10 years now, with "Red Heroine" being their latest masterpiece. And masterpiece it is!

I have no clue how to describe the set up they had going (and as a musician myself I know that's shameful) but 3 men sat at some cluttered grouping of instruments, and made this amazing score. One guy sat and played the drums and various guitars and stringed instruments, another sat in the middle doing mostly string and piano (I think) styled instruments, and the the final one focused on the drums and tinkly things that make a film fun. Here's another vid of them in action; though you really can't see them in it:

As for the film itself it's a hell of a thing! China basically got film when we did, but did not begin making their own pictures until about 1916. During the 20s Kung Fu movies were like Tom Mix westerns to the US...WILDLY popular. So popular that they were played until the film wore out. However by the 1930s for political reasons I am not going to even pretend to know about, Kung Fu movies fell out of fashion. For starters the religious themes made the Commies uncomfortable, as surely did the rebelling and revenge themes.

Those two factors combined together mean that ALL BUT A FEW of these Kung Fu movies are lost. "Red Heroine" is episode 6 of a 13 part serial, the only part to survive. In it you find the very common to this day Kung Fu themes: the wise sage, the revenge for a dead relative, KUNG FU, and bad Engrish. VERY bad Engrish.

One of the coolest parts was the fact that (at least this particular episode) contained a FEMALE heroine. Apparently this was common in Kung Fu movies at the time, as it was seen as a 'fantasy' and thus not objectionable (a woman kicking ass? Haha!) Even if meant in a not so flattering fashion its still kick ass. Seriously this woman gets her revenge and out vamps Angelina Jolie while doing it! Combine that with the fact that she was basically mimicking Mary Pickford before her call to revenge and it makes it all the more interesting. Can you imagine Mary Pickford getting her revenge with Kung Fu? No I haven't been drinking...But yes that sums up this film.

One Complaint

While I applaud the boys for scoring rare silents and showcasing them in such a cool way (seriously it was standing room only by the time the film started) I have one complaint. The common misconceptions about Silents are: they're boring, they're at a funny speed, and they're in poor quality. This film is actually in decent enough quality...EXCEPT the title cards.

Much like Ozu's films the original language is shown alongside English, which in this case is already on the titles and are not subtitles added in by modern hand. When Ozu did it the titles were easy to read, and the English was flawless. Someone had surely put time and thought into that.

"Red Heroine" is another story. The print they obtained had it so either the entire film (I couldn't tell) or just the title cards was slightly off center so especially in the case of the English subtitles you'd miss entire sentences. If the actual picture was off center it wasn't noticeable...but the title cards were MADDENING.

To add insult to injury the English is Engrish...HORRIBLE translations that 50% of the time come out as gibberish. The other 50% of the time they still come out in bad English...only you can gleam what they meant from it. I could single handedly go back through and put the Engrish into English...why cant they? Or someone else for that matter? Why cant new title cards be made? Honestly given how rare this film is, and how hard it is to score a film, why is THIS overlooked?

Why I'm so adamant on this topic is the fact that with the title cards in such poor condition it takes away from the spectacular job the boys were doing to BEGIN WITH. Here they got a whole modern audience in to view a Silent film...a HARD thing to do. They have a decent enough film (sure cheap sets but the acting was good), in decent enough condition, and they have SPECTACULAR music and a great gimmick (the music live) to bring people in. So WHY kill all that with crap title cards? Seriously why?

DVD and Tour

The guys were selling DVDs at the live show, yet their website does not list the Red Heroine yet. Look for it soon (I'll keep you posted). In the meantime some of the other films they've scored (including Nosferatu and Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) are on sale. Click here to purchase.

They just began their "Red Heroine" tour 08 which will be wrapping around the West Coast before hitting the East Coast again. Click here for dates and ticket information. Also make a special note that some of their dates they'll be playing "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

Keep up the good work guys!