Wonderful character development!

So much average

Great Film overall

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film weaves together two stories, one in modern China and one in Chinese antiquity. In each, two women raised together form strong friendships and pledge themselves to always support each other. As time passes these relationships are tested by tradition, marriage, love and loss.In Chinese antiquity, some women ("laotang", or "secret sisters") would communicate by writing on the folds of fans in an obscure language, nu shu (literally, "woman's writing"). In "Snow Flower" most of their missives are poems, Listen for the poetry: you won't understand the language (almost no one, including native Chinese, can) but the rhyme, meter and sounds of the poetry enhance the narrative.The older story also describes the binding of young girls' feet. This painful and crippling practice and other difficulties of life bind the women in these stories: mother to daughter, secret sister to secret sister, and friend to friend.Excellent acting, beautiful music, architectural cinematography of the first order and a pace that allows you to catch the many fine details of these stories make this film an exquisite experience. I already want to watch it again.

This is one of those bond between two characters movie done in a very generic manner to the point it just gets really boring easily. It tries to get that emotional pull from the audience but I just couldn't get into this one. The development and scenarios are just poorly done, maybe the novel this movie is based on is better or something. Cause this one felt like a cardboard box that just seemed to be trying too hard for something it just isn't when it comes to the overall experience. The story is about the bond between two sisters by match making that transcends time. The thing is the development is poorly done to the point I just couldn't get emotionally attached to the two main characters in this. It shows the outer bond and struggles but it seemed to only show the surface and nothing much underneath it all. Between the two sisters Bingbing Li's character Nina seemed like the main one and then comes Gianna Jun who's name is on the title of this movie. Her name is Snow Flower in this but she doesn't have much dialogue or show much range in her acting skills. Hugh Jackman is in this as well and he basically just makes few cameo appearance and seemed like he just was in this flick as a favor.4/10

In 1820s China, two young girls are committed to a tradition to be Sisters-for-Life. In modern day Shanghai, two teenage girls sign a contract to be Sisters-for-Life. This is a Chinese tradition known as Laotong. We would be more familiar with this as BFF, but a very, very intense BFF. This was, I believe, our first introduction to Laotong. We watch two stories unfold in the different time periods whereby the girls follow this tradition. To make things easier for us, each actress plays a character in both time periods. Gianna Jun plays Snowflower and Sophia, and Bingbing Li plays Nina and Lily. See?Nothing of a sexual nature is shown in this deep love between these Sisters-for-Life. The movie could have gone there, but didn't, and we do not know if Laotong encompasses this. There seemed to be a deep caring for good things to happen in the life of each sister. That seemed to be the overriding aspect to the relationship. And, when one sister sees things not going well for the other sister, that watchful sister is torn both physically and mentally. Told you this was a deep love, didn't I? The relationship doesn't change although each girl marries in the 1820s. The bond is still there and strong for Sophia and Lily in the present day although some wrinkles (read misunderstandings) appear. Some wrinkles also showed up in the 1820s with Snowflower and Nina; and the fan was used to communicate with each other. A bicycle accident starts all this and Sophia is laid up in a hospital. Sophia had been writing a book about Laotong with her characters Snowflower and Nina back in the 1820s. Lily visits Sophia and finds and reads the pages to the book and that is how we go back to the 1820s with Snowflower and Nina. This is extremely well done and the chemistry between the Sisters-for-Life in both time periods is excellent, intense and quite touching. There is a good mix of sub-titles and spoken English and the sub-titles are short and easy to read.Hugh Jackman is good, and was probably only included to get the X-Men crowd. But, seriously, his name was the only one most could identify with to get people into the theaters or rent the DVD. This is slow moving as you would expect, well acted by all and the cinematography was very good. And, since we do not know all the ramifications of Laotong we must accept the dialogues as presented. If you decide to see this movie, bring a couple boxes of Kleenix with you. They will be needed. Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes, Nina watches Snowflower and her husband thru loose boards in the floor,but you only see the husband's back, and it only lasts a few seconds. Nudity: No. Language: No.

The current scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch makes it all the more surprising that his wife produced Wayne Wang's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". But even so, it's still worth seeing. It tells the story of two friends in present-day Shanghai, and the connection that they have with two girls in 19th century China through a fan on which they wrote secret messages.Wang famously focused on Chinese-American families in "The Joy Luck Club", and took a bittersweet look at people's lives in "Smoke". This movie doesn't equal either of those, but I still recommend it. The development of Shanghai certainly reflects the changes in the lives of the girls (and the changes that China has undergone over the past 100 years). Not great, but worth seeing.