Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Shanghai, the 1880s, four elegant brothels (flower houses): each has an auntie (the madam), a courtesan in her prime, older servants, and maturing girls in training (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Written By: T'ien-wen Chu, Eileen Chang
Starring: Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Carina Lau, Jack Kao, Michelle Reis, Michiko Hada, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Josephine A. Blankstein, Yang Xie, Rebecca Pan, Vicky Wei, Ming Hsu, Shuan Fang
Genre: Drama
AKA: Hai shang hua
Country: Taiwan
Where to Stream
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Flowers of Shanghai belongs to 27 collections
1. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 167 stars)
2. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)
3. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2014 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Jehan - 27 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)
6. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)
7. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
8. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)
10. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2020 revision) (public: djross - 14 stars)
11. Harvard University's Suggested Film Viewing List: Narrative Films (collaborative: moderated by dardan - 12 stars)
12. Cahiers du Cinema: Best Film (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 10 stars)
13. Prostitution (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 7 stars)
14. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2007 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 4 stars)
15. The Auteurs World Cup (collaborative - 4 stars)
16. 19th century period film (collaborative: moderated by djross - 4 stars)
17. Slant Magazine's 100 Best Movies of the 1990s (collaborative: moderated by edsu - 3 stars)
18. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
19. China (collaborative: moderated by djross - 2 stars)
20. Cannes 1998 Official Selection (collaborative: moderated by djross - 1 star)
21. Sight and Sound 2002 (Single Vote) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 1 star)
22. A Year of Essential Cinema (collaborative: moderated by Ibetolis1 - 1 star)
23. Essential Films of Greater China (collaborative: moderated by PerryStroika - 1 star)
24. gork movies to get (public: gork - 1 star)
25. Cinematheque Ontario - Best 40 Of The Nineties (public: Thegoodboy - 1 star)
26. Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival's 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films (public: Dr.N0 - 1 star)
27. 90lar (public: Ozancan)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Dec 07, 2022 | SHOCKULAR | 51 12th |
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This was the second Hsiao-Hsien Hou I saw in one day and I continued to be bored. This one was marginally more interesting than the other one I watched on the day, and it's undoubtedly beautiful, with an effective, understated score, but it's just so, so slow. I don't mind slow pacing, and I don't mind silence for effect in movies (I've generally enjoyed most Bela Tarr to some extent, for instance), but this was just tedious for me.
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| Nov 10, 2022 |  |
P u l p | 82 91st |
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#2900 Slow and melancholic, calm yet it rages like a storm within your heart, and the camera moves like a calming music on opium.
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| Aug 06, 2021 |  |
metis | 70 45th |
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7?
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| May 29, 2020 |  |
paulofilmo | 71 69th |
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has a kind of still stuperous opioid texture, held by the warmth of lamps and drone of Hanno (like Yumeji's ThemeXLa Monte Young). nocturnal. like a void between stars. not great.
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| Nov 22, 2016 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 73 36th |
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Slow paced, but much more energetic than I remember other Hou films, largely because it's quite talky, which would be a huge plus for me, if it weren't mostly empty patter. The whole thing is so bathed in languid glamour and detachment that it's hard to imagine any of these people having real human worries of survival, which along with the minimal characterizations undercuts the film's themes.
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| Sep 21, 2016 |  |
dardan | 71 74th |
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Could have been a masterpiece, if Hou took the opportunity in the first few minutes, in which he drives a mild contrast between masters and servants based on respectively boundedness to and detachment from, as would later turn out, artificial pleasure opium--and the prostitution it is parralled with--provides, to cultivate the idea that freedom is the extent to which one can abstract from experience. Instead, we get a boring, poorly paced tale, taking contrived inspiration from The Conversation.
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| Apr 20, 2016 |  |
wetwillies | 90 80th |
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Viewed April 19, 2016.
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| Jul 05, 2014 |  |
lisa- | 2 11th |
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for a while, i've managed to see a lot of good films because i've seen more of directors i love, and for new filmmakers i've carefully checked descriptions and kumpel comments to see if they would fit my taste. here, i've gone back to the TSPDT directors list, picked one of the highest ranked directors i hadn't seen, and took the highest PSI available without looking at any other information. i'm only telling you all this to explain why i've ended up watching such unbelievably tedious dreck.
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| Dec 02, 2011 | theyshoot11 | 64 28th |
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#719
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| Feb 12, 2010 |  |
Cinema_Asia | 85 92nd |
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This drama moves at a slow pace as you hear and see business transactions concerning high class prostitutes and their sponsors. There's gossip, intrigue, and some drama but it's all just a voyeuristic view into their lives with little narrative structure or plot. Hou goes for atmospheric immersion here so despite the non conventional story telling the acting, costumes, and set is exquisite which makes you believe you are right there in the room smoking opium and listening along.
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| Jan 15, 2010 | theyshoot10 | 64 28th |
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713
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| Dec 19, 2008 | theyshoot08 | 66 32nd |
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681
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| Mar 02, 2008 | theyshoot07 | 71 53rd |
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# 583
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| Feb 07, 2007 |  |
MartinTeller | 76 58th |
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Interesting claustrophobic feel. The whole thing takes place in about 4 or 5 cramped rooms, I don't think there's a single shot outdoors. The pace is exceptionally leisurely, with the camera drifting in a yellow opium haze from character to character. As far as I can recall, there were no cuts at all during any scene. Doesn't blow me away, but Hou rarely does.
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| Average Percentile 63.52% from 235 Ratings |  |