Although I wouldn't go as far as the previous reviewer who ranked "Valley of Flowers" as low as "1", I too was very disappointed in a film that had so much going for it: great locations, beautiful cinematography and sound, and an obvious creative vision.
It's the latter that should have been reined in. What starts out as an epic fable (the mystery girl and the bandit) turns into a metaphysical morality tale (throw in the "Yeti" character) and then morphs into a sci-fi fantasy (let's leap ahead a few hundred years and cross Asia from India to Japan in the process). We are so invested in the first story -- the fable -- that the sudden leaps of genre leave us feeling cheated, as no credible emotional resolution for the characters is in sight. Somebody (you'd think the film's backers) would have said something to the writer/director in the development phase.
Apparently, no one was paying attention. With so much going for it, I left the screening at the IFFA in LA feeling so much talent and resources had been squandered. I haven't seen any other work from this director, but I hope that next time around he's able to sustain a story with an emotional arc without resorting to narrative acrobatics.
It's the latter that should have been reined in. What starts out as an epic fable (the mystery girl and the bandit) turns into a metaphysical morality tale (throw in the "Yeti" character) and then morphs into a sci-fi fantasy (let's leap ahead a few hundred years and cross Asia from India to Japan in the process). We are so invested in the first story -- the fable -- that the sudden leaps of genre leave us feeling cheated, as no credible emotional resolution for the characters is in sight. Somebody (you'd think the film's backers) would have said something to the writer/director in the development phase.
Apparently, no one was paying attention. With so much going for it, I left the screening at the IFFA in LA feeling so much talent and resources had been squandered. I haven't seen any other work from this director, but I hope that next time around he's able to sustain a story with an emotional arc without resorting to narrative acrobatics.