WOMEN FROM THE LAKE OF SCENTED SOULS Movie Review

In a rural Chinese village, a tough-minded businesswoman runs a local sesame-oil factory that attracts the attention of Japanese investors. It seems that the secret ingredient in the oil—the local water, which carries with it much history as well as flavor—can't be reproduced elsewhere. She decides that the money such an investment will bring can be put to good use by buying a bride for her mentally deficient son, and might even make it easier for her to continue the affair she's carrying on behind her clueless, lazy husband's back. Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (the original title of which is the slightly less evocative Sesame Oil Woman) becomes more engaging and enjoyably twisted as it goes along, but be prepared: it might look more at home on the Lifetime Channel than on Bravo. Co-winner (with The Wedding Banquet) of the Berlin Film Festival's Grand Prize.

NEXT STOP … The Story of Qiu Ju, Ermo, Mildred Pierce

1994 105m/C CH Siqin Gaowa, Wu Yujuan, Lei Luosheng, Chen Baoguo; D: Xie Fei; W: Xie Fei; C: Bao Xianran; M: Wang Liping. VHS AVI