Review of The Flowers of War (2011) by James-Masaki R — 26 Aug 2012

Zhang Yimou films have always been stylistically beautiful, but with "The Flowers Of War", he gets down to the ugliness of war during the Nanking massacre. Based on a novel about an American mortician who accidentally becomes a savior at a Christian church, by harboring some young Christian girls and a group of Red-Light district prostitutes, Christian Bale is good as usual as the drunkard, but Ni Ni is a standout in a breakthrough performance.

But what went wrong? Even with the 2.5 hour runtime, there was a lot of stuff that seemed to drag, and there was stuff that seemed to be skipped over unnecessarily. Especially at the end, which was very rushed.

I would've wanted to see what happened to the girls at the party, and their outcome, or even a bit more on the wounded soldier. As a TV miniseries, this would have worked. But as a film, there were both too much, and too little at the same time.

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