Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011): A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women. (5.6)
Director: Wayne Wang
Writers: Angela Workman (screenplay), Ronald Bass (screenplay), Lisa See (novel)
Stars: Bingbing Li, Gianna Jun and Vivian Wu
I haven't read Lisa See's novel this movie is based on, and I don't know if the contemporary parallels is from the novel or if it is unique to the movie. I liked the fact that the movie had those contemporary characters showing the cultural norms of today's China as well as the 19th century rituals. The cinematography is brilliant. The use of contrasting colors, the styles and costumes is well done. The acting in the "English" scenes by the contemporary characters is a bit stiff ... they could have used the mixed language of Mandarin/English (the business class do speak a mixed language switching back and forth mid-sentence between Mandarin and English in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, don't they?) to better illustrate the mix of cultures in today's westernized cities. I'm sure the book is better at getting to the root of what is meant by "laotong" sisters but I got the gist of it from the movie. My Rating: 7.5
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