Directed by:
Hsiao-Hsien HouScreenplay:
Tien-Wen ChuCinematography:
Mark LeeCast:
Tony Chiu-wai Leung, Carina Lau, Jack Kao, Michiko Hada, Michelle Reis, Josephine A. Blankstein, Annie Yi, Rebecca Pan, Yang Xie, Hui-ni Hsu (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
An intoxicating, time-bending experience bathed in the golden glow of oil lamps and wreathed in an opium haze, this gorgeous period reverie by Hou Hsiao-hsien traces the romantic intrigue, jealousies, and tensions swirling around four late-nineteenth-century Shanghai “flower houses,” where the courtesans live confined to a gilded cage, ensconced in opulent splendor but forced to work to buy back their freedom. Among the regular clients is the taciturn Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose relationship with his longtime mistress (Michiko Hada) is roiled by a perceived act of betrayal. Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, Flowers of Shanghai evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen, even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Tony Chiu-wai Leung
Hong Kong
Best movies:
Red Cliff: Part II (2009)
Red Cliff (2008)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Carina Lau
China
Best movies:
She Shoots Straight (1990)
Forbidden City Cop (1996)
Armour of God (1986)
Jack Kao
Taiwan
Best movies:
Goodbye South Goodbye (1996)
Unbeatable (2013)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Michiko Hada
Japan
Best movies:
The Triumphant Return of General Rouge (2009)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Infection (2004)
Michelle Reis
Portugal
Best movies:
The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk (1993)
Fallen Angels (1995)
A Kid from Tibet (1992)
Josephine A. Blankstein
Best movies:
Yi Yi (2000)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Annie Yi
Taiwan
Best movies:
Goodbye South Goodbye (1996)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
8½ Women (1999)
Rebecca Pan
Best movies:
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Days of Being Wild (1990)
Yang Xie
Best movies:
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Hui-ni Hsu
Best movies:
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Millennium Mambo (2001)
Pauline Bo-Lin Chan
China
Best movies:
From Beijing with Love (1994)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Millennium Mambo (2001)
Ming Hsu
Taiwan
Best movies:
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)