Sightlines · reception
How Flowers of Shanghai was received
1998 · Hou Hsiao-hsien · Flowers of Shanghai on Sightlines
The arc
In competition at Cannes '98 it left plenty of critics restless and went home empty-handed, dismissed by some as gorgeous wallpaper. A quarter-century of reappraisal — capped by a 4K restoration and a 2021 Criterion release — has made it a fixture in best-of-the-90s conversations and, for many, Hou's supreme achievement.
What’s debated
The eternal split: is its trance-like slowness the whole point or a test of endurance — with even devotees admitting you can't watch it tired, and defenders insisting drifting off is part of the experience.
Its footprint
Its amber oil-lamp glow is a permanent citation in 'most beautiful film ever shot' threads, and the languid opening long take of a drinking game gets passed around as a masterclass on its own.
Where it stands
A true canon climber: once a festival-circuit whisper, now a cinephile rite of passage — the Hou film Letterboxd users dare each other to finally sit down with.
Did you know? Tony Leung Chiu-wai speaks Cantonese throughout while the rest of the cast speaks Shanghainese — he couldn't master the dialect, so Hou simply made his character a Cantonese native.