Flowers of Shanghai
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Movie Reviews of Flowers of Shanghai
Movie Review: "Flowers of Shanghai" - a visually stunning masterpiece.
Summary: 5 Stars
(NB this is a review of the film itself not of the DVD) Filmed in Shanghainese and partly in Cantonese, Hou Xiao Xian's "Flowers of Shanghai" is an achingly beautiful account of the intimate and, at turns, often tragic world of a flower house, or brothel, in turn of the century Shanghai. Based on a famous nineteenth century Chinese novel (unfortunately not translated into English to my knowledge), it examines the lives of several of the flower girls and their rich clients and examines the cruelty, deceit, hypocrisy as well as the hopes and aspirations of this intimate and highly formal world. In a society where arranged marriage was the norm, the flower houses were often the only place where young men could experiment with romantic love and, contrary to what many people in the West may think, they were not places where the women were simply the victims of male sexual exploitation. Indeed, the women exert a tremendous amount of power and influence over the men and it is often difficult to know just who is exploiting whom. Many male clients were torn between the desire of genuinely finding true love and the fear that their flower girl was just using them to buy herself out, whilst the flower girls feared that they couldn't rely on their male clients - whose declarations of lasting love and support were often only ephemeral and meaningless. Some hoped to marry their rich clients without loving them, some hoped that their rich clients did love them, whilst others simply tried to quietly put away enough money to buy themselves out or support their families. At the end of the film, one's sympathies lie with both the men and the women in equal measure, as one comes to realise that they are all victims of the same stifled and repressive system, where manners and formality reigns and true feelings remain unexpressed. Hou Xiao Xian's film makes use of long static shots (his trademark) and formal fade outs and, together with the wonderfully haunting soundtrack, it is a wonderful, hypnotic, work of art. The whole film creates an illusion of a static and unchanging world, untouched by the events that are going on outside, where the male clients come to escape from the realities of their existence, to smoke opium, socialise, play drinking games and visit their flower girls. The whole film is like a dream, but it is a heart-rending dream in which the women are imprisoned and from which they, one day, wish to escape. Each frame is exquisitely beautiful and the whole effect of this film is to draw you in into this illusory world where time seems to stand still. One gets the feeling that Hou Xiao Xian's visual style and use of camerawork has matured somewhat from his earlier films, as here it is more assured and confident and he has produced a poignant and beautiful work of art. Certainly one of the best films I have seen in recent years, I would recommend this film to anyone who loves film or who simply wants to have an insight into this fascinating and complex culture.Movie Review: Hookers and hookahs.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, somebody may have finally beaten Carl Dreyer's record (e.g., *Gertrud*) for fewest cuts in a feature film. I'd be surprised if there's much more than 20 cuts in Hou Hsiao-Hsien's *Flowers of Shanghai*. I know this film is Chinese, but it's almost the cinematic equivalent of a Japanese tea ceremony: infinitely perfect, and not caring if it requires an infinity to attain perfection. Paucity of edits aside, the camera is still extremely busy in the movie: if a student of film wants to learn about CAMERA MOVEMENT, this is the place to come. The camera gently, slowly encircles any given scene, allowing us plenty to look at and consider, whether it's the objects in a room or the expression on a peripheral character's face. But the movement is never so dreamy as to neglect to include what's of dramatic interest. Or put it another way: each frame exists in its own universe, charged with its own meaning. Needless to say, the Occidental viewer had better come to grips with this Oriental perspective tout suite, or he'll find himself bored to death. It's nothing less than a different language of cinematic narrative. What the hell's it about, anyway? Incredibly beautiful prostitutes ("flowers") and their wealthy clients in 1880's Shanghai. All of the scenes occur in several high-end brothels, and only certain rooms therein. Much time is taken showing us a Chinese drinking game oddly similar to our rock-paper-scissors, and even more time is expended in the filling, lighting, and smoking of opium pipes and tobacco hookahs. The plot loosely follows the amorous career of a wealthy gentleman (Tony Leung, very expressive). We learn that the courtesans he's involved with are as tetchy as any Southern belle, and hold out hope for marriage. The girls' dreams of security are what create the prime tension in the movie: who will achieve success, who will fail? In the meantime, changes are nibbling in the corners of this insulated world of languid ease and lovemaking: that roving camera can't help but pick up the modern Victorian knick-knacks that decorate the rooms. The tall European clocks in the corners are counting down an end to the static quietism in *Flowers of Shanghai*: the viewer is dimly aware that the Shanghai brothels will soon be made obsolete by an encroaching Western modernism. The movie is a daguerreotype of a way of life on the brink of extinction. It's also a masterpiece of its kind. Recommended for adventurous viewers with a certain amount of stamina, however. [The DVD by Winstar doesn't look all that good. Lots of bleeding color and even LINES across the picture. A movie as formally beautiful as this deserves considerably better treatment. Criterion, I'm talking to you.]Movie Review: One of the most gorgeous films of the 90s
Summary: 5 Stars
The delicate, exquisitely constructed interiors of the late nineteenth century Shanghai brothels - the flower houses - create a serene, idyllic escape for its venerated patrons. Here, in the euphemistic propriety of privileged society, madams, called 'aunts', arrange sexual liaisons for their flower girls through appointed bookings. The Flowers of Shanghai opens to a shot of these wealthy and powerful men, accompanied by their flower girls at a dining table. Within the insular walls of the flower houses, these men create a stifling, dystopic world that revolves around their arrogance and vanity: they amuse themselves with incomprehensible drinking games, idly gossip about the affairs of other patrons, leisurely smoke opium, and indulge in the paid services of women. But these flower girls are far from the fragile, exotic creatures evocative of their names. Pearl (Karina Lau), the senior member of the Gongyang Enclave flower girls, provides helpful guidance to the younger, immature flower girls. Emerald (Michelle Reis), a popular flower girl from the Shangren Enclave, is a willful, determined woman who relies on her intelligence and influence on men to buy her freedom. A fading flower girl, Crimson (Michiko Hada), is burdened with the responsibility of supporting her family. Facing the prospective end of a long-term relationship with her exclusive client, Master Wang (Tony Leung), she accepts the inevitable with dignity and perseverance. When Master Wang decides to marry a younger flower girl, Jasmin (Vicky Wei), to punish Crimson for her rumored infidelity, it is Wang who suffers from their separation. Jade (Shuan Fang), an idealistic woman who believes her patron's empty declarations of love, attempts to ensnare him in a suicide pact, which, in an unexpected turn of events, proves to be a life-altering event.
Hou Hsiao-hsien crafts a visually hypnotic and intricately fascinating portrait of love, power, and servitude in The Flowers of Shanghai. By confining the scenes to interior shots of the Shanghai flower houses, Hou portrays the created, artificial world - the unsustainable illusion - of the flower house patrons. In essence, the flower houses are an idealized reflection of the patrons' own ambivalent feelings between love and passion, obligation and generosity, commitment and fidelity. Inevitably, their hermetic environment of lavished wealth and drug-induced escapism cannot prevent the objects of their affection - the emotionally resilient flower girls - from escaping their tenacious, suffocating grasp.
Movie Review: Profane illumination in a Shanghai brothel
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm utterly baffled by the critics who weren't at least partially moved by this absorbing, at once sensual and cerebral film. It presents a question utterly foreign to consumers of Hollywood fare, but also totally fascinating: what are the limits of exchange? On the surface of the movie, the answer is: there are no limits. But as the film progresses, the director has an opportunity to slowly unfold, layer by layer, the implications of this statement. Occurring as it does in a time when the British are introducing the pleasures of "free trade" to China (the story takes place in 1888, after the two Opium wars; it's significant that the British are also financing these courtesan houses), it holds up this question like a multifaceted jewel to light, exploring in great detail the possibilities of enslavement and freedom that universal prostitution unleashes. It turns the men into both objects of consumption and absolute masters; it turns the women into calculating bookkeepers and artists of emotional cruelty, to themselves as well as each other and the men. All this performed in a highly stylized, exquisite rhythm of ritualized activities (the drinking game, the served meal, the opium pipe, the bookkeeping) where the characters oscillate between sensual abandon and frigid contemplation.
I can see why Eileen Chang liked this story enough to translate it from the original Wu dialect to Mandarin. As the reigning queen of the Chinese short story, "Flowers of Shanghai" contains all the elements that so preoccupied her about the disappearance (or obsolescence) of imperial culture and the struggle of women and men to make a home in modern disenchantment. The movie pairs well with Wong Kar Wai's "In the Mood for Love," "2046" and Ang Lee's recent "Lust / Caution" (all of which were directly or indirectly based on Eileen Chang's works).
Movie Review: Impressionistic & lovely - feels like an opium haze...
Summary: 5 Stars
The films that I've seen by Hou Hsiao-hsien have all been "difficult" in the sense that their rewards were not there on the surface level. They employ exceptionally long shots, are in a foreign language, have little overt action, and the dialogue tends to be more about day to day concerns than about plot advancement. Nonetheless, I continue to be driven to see his films, since upon reflection or subsequent viewings I feel that I didn't just see an average film, but that I was transported into another world (I realize this is a huge cliche, but I can think of no other director that evokes this feeling so well.)Flowers of Shanghai probably isn't Hou's best film, (I'd have to say "The Puppetmaster" would qualify there) but perhaps it is his prettiest. The film is set exclusively in a turn of the century Taiwanese brothel. The narrative set before us is sketchy (mostly it has to deal with prostitutes dueling over the same rich client) but the detail of the environment is unsurpassed. We see the characters as they gossip about each other, discuss their finances, and talk about the needs of the courtesans. No scenes take place outside of the brothel, so by the end of the film, we feel we have more of an understanding of the brothel's function in that society.
The acting is great, though you'd be hard pressed to pick the professional actors from the non-actors. Hou's style is consistent with most of his work in that we get extremely long shots. In this film, Hou pans almost constantly, always finding something else to look at in the shot. The costuming and art direction are so good that you forget that they have been fabricated to make a film. Basically, everything feels authentic here. By focusing on a small faction of a society, Hou manages to get everything right. The film is a small wonder, and is highly recommended.