Snow Flower And The Secret Fan

Last week I had the opportunity to see a special private screening of Wayne Wang's latest film Snow Flower And The Secret Fan, with the director on hand for a Q&A session afterwards. It was an ambitious film that brought together a historical story of the friendship of two women from 18th century China and it was mirrored with a contemporary story of friendship between two women in modern day Shanghai. The film hasn't been released in Japan yet and the research I did on it showed that Wang hasn't gotten very good reviews on the film so far. It was interesting to learn that he faced censorship from China and the studio, so that he wasn't allowed ot show his own preferred cut. I thought the film had some very nice set pieces and great cinematography, it might have been a bit maudlin for me at times, but overall I enjoyed and feel that it doesn't deserve the harsh criticism I have seen. I got to chat with Wang a bit and let him know of my admiration for previous films and talk about my hometown Spokane, Washing where he filmed a nice little indie film based on a short story by Yiyun Li (named by The New Yorker as one of the best American writers under 40-from a collection that I am currently reading). This film was produced by my friend and the organizer of the this screening, Yukie Kito. It was a rare opportunity to see a film and hear the director's thoughts on the process.