The fireworks in the title of Chinese director He Ping's thwarted love story hardly refer to its story line: Save for brief, jarring moments of violence, this sweet tale courses softly, telling of an orphaned daughter (Ning Jing) who is forced to run the family firecracker business and the charismatic, itinerant painter (Wu Gang) with whom she falls in forbidden love. Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker's pyrotechnics are instead reserved for the visuals—a stark, desolate quarry, a swath of storm-churned Yellow River, a parade of monks bearing colored lanterns atop their shaved heads. Unfortunately, the dimensions of the small screen force the story to carry the images, which renders Red Firecracker rather less than explosive. B+
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