Great-looking movie

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2012)

Another great movie from Zhang Yimou, who seems to go from strength to strength as time goes on. THE FLOWERS OF WAR feels like it should be a true story, a kind of Chinese version of SCHINDLER'S LIST if you will, but despite the fictional nature of this production it proves to be a heartwarming and moving tale of courage and bravery in the face of oppression.
We're back in Nanking and the invasion of the Japanese in 1937. The film starts out on a strong footing as a traditional war movie, with some excellent action sequences taking place in the ruins of the bombed-out city. Yimou is able to capture the nature of modern warfare just as well as the more stylised and fantastic historical combat of, say, CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER. Soon, though, the film veers off on a tangent and instead introduces to a cast including a gang of prostitutes, a female choir and, most unlikely of all, an American mortician.
Christian Bale headlines the cast, and he's a revelation. I've got used to him being good, but not this good: it's one of the finest performances I've seen him give yet, and he displays a remarkable talent for comedy that was previously only seen in flashes of American PSYCHO. The rest of the cast equal him, and despite the lengthy running time the film never stalls or feels dull. Yimou tells an interesting, engaging tale and one that will keep you watching until the hard-hitting ending. I was caught up in it from the start, enjoyed the way it deliberately avoided cliché, and had a ball with it.