Hollywood is always looking for high concept movies that can become franchises, dependent more on the premise or the character than the talent involved. In that same spirit, Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow started his own franchise. His kung fu comedy Shaolin Soccer was a huge success in 2001, but he resisted any direct sequels. Instead, he joined with Japanese producer Chihiro Kameyama to make a spin off: Shaolin Girl.

Reminiscent of the original, the titular character is trained in Shaolin-style kung fu and wants to share that training with others. (One minor change: instead of soccer, she plays lacrosse.) The lone warrior must learn to become a team player. The film was released in Japan in April and is still playing after seven weeks. Mark Schilling of The Japan Times was not impressed, though: "This sort of thing plays well in Japan, especially with the TV-watching masses who are Kameyama's main target, but the rest of the world has so far remained indifferent."

Now Shaolin Girl has been released in Singapore and the buzz is not good. Stefan S. at A Nutshell Review suggested that a cameo by Chow might have rescued the picture, "but alas, knowing that it would stink, he rightfully kept his distance. And so should you." Blogger/movie reviewer r3gular at The World Through Me was just as blunt: "It's draggy, long-winded and some scenes were almost painful to continue watching."

I'm disappointed. The trailer looked promising. And the world needs more Shaolin girls.

Making a film with one child actor can be challenging; imagine making a film set in a boarding kindergarten in post-revolutionary China, with a cast full of four-and-five year olds. That's the task director Zhang Yuan took on in bringing to life his film Little Red Flowers, which is showing in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance. The film opens with not-quite-four-year-old Quiang being dragged, literally, to a boarding kindergarten, where he is unceremoniously deposited by the man who is delivering him there. Quiang has a hard time adjusting to the strict and regimented routine of the kindergarten. The head teacher, Miss Li, and her assistants, give little red crepe paper flowers to the children who do especially well at conforming to the school's routine by learning to dress and undress themselves, obey their teachers, and poop every morning on demand.

At the heart of the film is the young actor who plays Quiang, who is so adorable and expressive the audience falls in love with him from his first moments on screen. The film has funny moments, but also heartbreaking ones as Quiang struggles (and repeatedy fails) to fit in and earn the coveted flowers. Quiang is a non-conformist in a world where conformity is highly prized, and the militaristic oppression of the kindergarten seems to crush his tiny soul. Everything in the children's lives is strictly regulated, from the precise way in which they must raise a hand to ask for more soup or rice, to the way they are expected to use the bathroom en masse, squatting in a line over a gutter-toilet, to the way their bottoms are washed, one-by-one, every night before bed. When Quiang tries to express his personality, he is called a "freak" by the other children, most of whom refuse to even play with him.