Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Two exams done, ONE more to go!

I've been interested in portrayal of Asian culture in Hollywood movies, since it's very common of us to find the culture included in Asian movies. It's fascinating to see how Asian culture is viewed from the point of view of these intelligent Hollywood movie workers, which represent the whole American community.
Memoirs of a Geisha is an example of some well-known portrayal of Asian culture depicted in Hollywood movies, other than The Joy Luck Club and The Last Emperor...not until...

...I noticed that another movie produced by Fox Searchlight which featured Asian culture, was going to be released this year. You can see the trailer below.


Basically, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells about two best friends who were paired with a laotong (footbinding). The two girls were each kept in isolation, but somehow they managed to communicate with each other, shared each other's feelings using nu shu (a secret code language that only women could understand). Together, they underwent through a lot of obstacles and controversies in life what best friends would normally encounter.

I read the book, although not capturing much details, but seeing how the trailer looked like, I think it's going to be good movie. The only question here is, I didn't see any modern setting featured in the book. I was a bit surprised by the fact that the trailer starts with a glimpse of modern (I think the city is) Shanghai. Then it switches back to the past where we see the characters again, totally the same people (Li Bing Bing and Jun Ji-Hyun as the laotong pair), which convinces me if the characters seen in the modern setting might be the reincarnation of the characters in the past, or maybe the characters seen in the past are actually immortal? (Cos Jun Ji-Hyun's character seems to say "Sisters for 10,000 years"

Well, I put my trust on Wayne Wang - who also directed The Joy Luck Club - for making this movie awesome and as impressive as The Last Emperor and Memoirs of a Geisha (or maybe better!).

Can't wait for the movie to be released!