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January 29, 2006
Flowers of Shanghai, DVD, 1/22/06
Has anyone else seen this?
I read a review of this in the Village Voice years ago, so I finally decided to rent it. It's all long scenes with few edits. I'm pretty sure the shortest scene lasts 4 minutes. It takes place entirely indoors and, if I'm not mistaken, it's all source lighting.
In the first scene, the men are gambling and telling stories about some prostitutes in a brothel in 1930s China. At first, the women say nothing. The host tells a story about a prostitute named Crimson who beats up another because her only client has gone to see her. Then, the host mentions that the prostitute and her client have been together a long time. By Tony Leung's and his companion's expressions, we finally figure out that this story is about them. They say nothing and then leave the room as the party continues while one of the "flowers" defends Crimson's actions. This goes on for another 3 or 4 minutes before we see where they have gone. Our star finally says two words about 12 minutes into the movie. He finally converses with his concumbine about 5 minutes after that.
The movie continues in this style. The camera stays mostly rooted in the middle of rooms and sometimes pans left or right. There are no over-the-shoulder shots so we can see people's expressions as they talk. Sometimes, candles or opium pipes obscure the actors' faces. Some of the most important action takes place inbetween scenes.
Yet, it all works. The slow narrative gives the film its deliberate pacing and its concern with Confucian moral appearances. This might be the director to adapt a great version of "The Age of Innocence" because the art direction looks almost anthropological in detail. We spend so much time watching people live without reference to the outside world that the whole enterprise seems hermetically sealed. It feels like a hothouse that no one really escapes. It's beautiful, slow, drugged and doomed.
Posted by deaconmf at January 29, 2006 04:51 PM
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