I might sound biased but first of all I love all kind of love stories in cinema.
Valley of Flowers is a great love story -the one where magic plays a role.
And I have a passion for exceptional love stories and romances. Valley of Flowers makes you dream. Its a romanticism with layers of fear -fear of life, death, demon, rebirth...
It's set in very romantic Himalayas and moves onto very seductive Tokyo. Girls are gorgeous! Guys are cool and Game is dangerous -that of human vs demon.
All that unfolds in magnificent vistas -amazing locations. The film has great production value and specially the costume design is exquisite!
Extra bonus, it is inspired from Alexandra David Neel's book. Thus it is real treat for the fan of Alexandra's dark world of magic and mysteries of Tibet and Himalayas.
In Japanese part of the movie when film slides into modern world from early 19th century, there is also a wonderful scene with BARDO (Tibetan Book of The Dead) based euthanasia.
Its great concept: what do you do once you become immortal and you can not die -help others die.
It's not so often we see in cinema Asian interpretation of love. Valley of Flowers is to be watched with open mind. It is not an easy film, mind you.
Valley of Flowers is slow and I like slow movies -I cant bear Hollywood's fast cutting any longer.
The only problem with valley of Flowers is that it is loaded with too many great ideas and concepts -many don't succeed. Maybe it is an over-ambitious adventure from writer director Pan Nalin whose SAMSARA is my all time favorite film. SAMSARA is in my list of "10 movies to watch before you die."
Sorry, Valley of Flowers is not in that list but its a brilliant attempt towards unknown. Pan Nalin is a rising sun of the east -in just two feature films he has proved talent worth of five features. I agree, he is a filmmaker to watch out for.
For Valley of Flowers; If you live on popular cinema then avoid it. But if you are in mood to let your mind do gymnastic then I would say JUST GO FOR IT! It is a rare kind of movie. It has a magic and mystery -and lots of sensuality.
