Linear and episodic, it is too stage bound to rise to the full potential of the cinema. It also provides a secluded setting where men could experience an emotional life, with all its uncertainties, beyond the rigid confines of China's marital system. Many of these women supported parents and siblings out of their wages. The opiated splendor of the settings will certainly be much more vivid on the big screen than on the second-generation video tape on which I had to watch the film in advance of its Milwaukee premiere. But what matters most here is the at-ease realism of the acting, the pungent dialogue that smacks of authenticity.
Flowers of Shanghai has a pace and vision distinct from most contemporary films.
Its subtleties need to be sorted out carefully, and probably can't be fully digested in one viewing. Flowers of Shanghai will be screened at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31 at the UWM Union Theatre as part of its Taiwanese Film Festival.