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.
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.