Rating: 
Summary: "Fate has brought them together."
Review: "Flowers of Shanghai" is set in the late 1880s; the story revolves around several Flower Houses--that's a pretty name for brothels. Flower Girls--with names such as Crimson, Emerald, Pearl, Jasmine, Jade, Crystal, and Golden Phoenix, inhabit these houses. Their names imply that they are like precious jewels, and it's true that their earning potential makes them valuable, but they are also beaten and quite replaceable. 'Aunties' buy girls when they are about 7 or 8 years old. The girls' feet are then bound, and the 'Aunties' train the Flower Girls for their 'duties' in the Flower Houses. Girls receive callers, but as the girls become more popular, they may only receive one caller exclusively. It is every Flower Girl's goal to have her freedom purchased by this one exclusive caller who will then make her a second wife.
Visually, "Flowers of Shanghai" is a stunning film. The sets are sumptuous, candles delicately light exquisitely beautiful rooms, and wind chimes gently move in the evening breeze. The great beauty in the rooms and houses inhabited by the Flower Girls is in contrast to the ugly reality of their lives. Most evenings, the girls sit around and watch wealthy men gamble and drink. The girls are kept like some sort of exotic pets--they're beautiful to look at, but fragile and expensive. They exist to watch their decadent masters' sport. The film is basically a sequence of beautiful tableaux, and in no sense is this a character-driven story. We actually know very little about the characters, and there is no story in any traditional sense. The film is a depiction of a system, and as such, it exceeds very well. However, since emphasis is not on individual characters, the film flows with a sort of beautiful detachment. "Flowers of Shanghai" is clearly not for all tastes. It is not a traditional film--it is however, a beautiful, artistic film, and those committed to watching it in its entirety will grasp the director, Hsiao-hsien Hou's design--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: "Flowers of Shanghai" - a visually stunning masterpiece.
Review: (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.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding film. Mediocre DVD
Review: After seeing this in the theatre it instantly went to the top of favorites for the year in which it was released & remained there for the duration of the year. I enjoy films that pay attention to detail. And while I did read a few reviews before seeing, I found the film's ability to encapsulate the mores & behaviour to be very convincing. Don't know anything about how much research the director put into the project beforehand, nor do I have any knowledge of the time/location to assess the film's accuracy. But the sheer attention to detail had me convinced. While the film is one of the 10 best of the 1990s, this DVD issue is a bit lacking. There are no extra features (except for an unexceptional trailer). More information on the director's research & reasons for portraying things in the way he did would have been very helpful (or a doc on the time to go along with the film). The reason why I knocked off another star was for the poor transfer........although the picture seems free of dirt & scratches, the color seems distorted from what I remember in the theater. Moreover, this version is framed/letterboxed, which shrinks the image down on widescreen tv's/dispays. As this film is very dependent on the cinematography, this really hinders the ability to enjoy it in its full glory.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding film. Mediocre DVD
Review: After seeing this in the theatre it instantly went to the top of favorites for the year in which it was released & remained there for the duration of the year. I enjoy films that pay attention to detail. And while I did read a few reviews before seeing, I found the film's ability to encapsulate the mores & behaviour to be very convincing. Don't know anything about how much research the director put into the project beforehand, nor do I have any knowledge of the time/location to assess the film's accuracy. But the sheer attention to detail had me convinced. While the film is one of the 10 best of the 1990s, this DVD issue is a bit lacking. There are no extra features (except for an unexceptional trailer). More information on the director's research & reasons for portraying things in the way he did would have been very helpful (or a doc on the time to go along with the film). The reason why I knocked off another star was for the poor transfer........although the picture seems free of dirt & scratches, the color seems distorted from what I remember in the theater. Moreover, this version is framed/letterboxed, which shrinks the image down on widescreen tv's/dispays. As this film is very dependent on the cinematography, this really hinders the ability to enjoy it in its full glory.
Rating:
Summary: Hothouse Flowers
Review: After the disappointing job Winstar did on "The Puppetmaster" DVD presentation (which I gather may have been due to the poor quality of the source print available to them), this comes as a very welcome relief - the presentation looks to be in the correct aspect ratio this time which is so important given the very careful framing and composition that is a trademark of this director. There is very little in the way of extras - for Hou Hsiao-Hsien's films that would be invaluable since they do tend to benefit from some background knowledge on the part of the viewer. As for the film, it's simply wonderful. Check out the opening scene and the amazing way the camera moves slowly and deliberately back and forth to take in different aspects of the action, picking up many nuances (who says Hou Hsiao-Hsien's films are boring to watch!) in behavior and body language. Sure you have to concentrate to get the most out of this film (just like you have to concentrate when watching e.g. Dreyer's "Gertrud") but the rewards are there for those that do. If you have an interest in the very best of world cinema outside of the usual multiplex fare, you just have to see this film. Now if Winstar or Criterion (or whoever) could pick up some of this director's earlier work (City Of Sadness, Summer at Grandpa's etc.) that would be great.
Rating:
Summary: Hothouse Flowers
Review: After the disappointing job Winstar did on "The Puppetmaster" DVD presentation (which I gather may have been due to the poor quality of the source print available to them), this comes as a very welcome relief - the presentation looks to be in the correct aspect ratio this time which is so important given the very careful framing and composition that is a trademark of this director. There is very little in the way of extras - for Hou Hsiao-Hsien's films that would be invaluable since they do tend to benefit from some background knowledge on the part of the viewer. As for the film, it's simply wonderful. Check out the opening scene and the amazing way the camera moves slowly and deliberately back and forth to take in different aspects of the action, picking up many nuances (who says Hou Hsiao-Hsien's films are boring to watch!) in behavior and body language. Sure you have to concentrate to get the most out of this film (just like you have to concentrate when watching e.g. Dreyer's "Gertrud") but the rewards are there for those that do. If you have an interest in the very best of world cinema outside of the usual multiplex fare, you just have to see this film. Now if Winstar or Criterion (or whoever) could pick up some of this director's earlier work (City Of Sadness, Summer at Grandpa's etc.) that would be great.
Rating:
Summary: Winstar = 1 star
Review: Film: 5 stars/ dvd transfer: 1 star
I would strongly urge anyone interested in purchasing this DVD to research if they can find another version rather than this version. Belive me, this film is worth it.
Winstar you've burned me yet again. I've bought 5 other titles from them, and all except one were total pieces of ..., transfer-wise. It's like they don't even care at all. Hou-Hsiao-hsien and Francios Truffault deserver better, and so do you.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful, but tedious
Review: Flowers of Shanghai chronicles the lives of three "flower girls" [a sort of high-class prostitute] in late ninteenth century China. The movie is beautiful to look at, but leaden, overcontrolled, and tediously precise and intricate. The stories of these women, and their male customers, are uninteresting and banal in the extreme. The characters are continually indulging in opium and hashish -- and after the first twenty minutes, I began to feel as if I had, too. My eyelids began to droop, my brain went numb, and it was all I could do to stay awake, to see if anything interesting eventually happened. I have an appreciation for beautiful, slow moving films [After Life, In The Mood For Love, Heart of Light -- to name a few]; but this one just made me want to jump up and down and scream "enough already!"
Rating:
Summary: A formal masterpiece
Review: Flowers of Shanghai is a fascinating film, beautiful film, capturing the life n a turn of the century Shanghai brothel. The film is told through key scenes, all of whih are exquisitely shot in low-light.
Some reviewers here complaining about the pacing, but they obviously miss the point. The slow shots, and scenes, help imerse you into what was a very different world than today's West or East, and by the time the film is done, you have been imersed in the language and environment of these characters, and understand the rules and structures they live under.
Yes, there is not one linear story, but in truth several, as each dialogue also talks about other characters, so in that sense, this movie feels like a novel of that time, in which a world is revealed within a diner scene.
The movie is not all style, and in fact, I find more like a dense layer cake, absorbing you into its experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow, Uneventful and Stilted - Like watching paint dry!
Review: I bought this DVD on the basis of the single review in Amazon and thought that I would do other prospective buyers a service so that you do not waste money as I did. So here's my review.... This is the most boring and stilted film it's been my misfortune to watch for some time (and believe me I see a lot of films). There is nothing to keep one's interest, neither sympathy nor interest for the characters nor the visual aspects of the film. That's not to say that I was expecting a high-octane thriller with car chases and explosions but even the most artful of "art house" films should still generate some degree of interest in the viewer. Having a story-line would help also. I couldn't discern one here. The entire film takes place in what looks like exactly the same set but to make it look like somewhere else they have moved some of the chairs around. After ten minutes you want to press "pause" and go to make coffee - you know that feeling, don't you - when a film fails to grip you and drag you into its world. Anyway, I tried to persevere and not give in to the boredom but after around an hour my girlfriend begged me, (actually "threatened" is a more appropriate word) to take it off so I "threw in the towel" at that point. Approximately nothing had happened by then anyway and there seemed to be little liklihood of any developments before the end of the film. Unfortunately this film tries to make it's main weakness (lack of anything happening) into an asset (Chinese inscrutibility, "Atmosphere") and fails miserably. Save your money and use it to buy some of the better Chinese films which are available, many of which are excellent such as "Raise the Red Lantern".
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