Curse of the Golden Flower

curiousa2z

Be patient till the last.
Don't get me wrong.
Director Zhang Yimou is aiming for lavish visual, kinetic and emotional overload, and in that he succeeds.

And I loved the sensual feast. The vastness of golden chrysanthemums as far as the eye can see, the gorgeously-arrayed- in- gold - Emperial Family, the stunningly beautiful women.

I wish I could say it was as great as Hero, but it isn't.
The the characters were weaker, and you spent so much time caught up in the inticracies of who's betrayed whom that the viewer doesn't get a chance to really want to root for any particular one of the characters, except perhaps the middle son, Jai.
A fault of the writing, IMHO.

Still, the brilliant Chow Yun-Fat as Emperor is perfectly calculating, cold and remote, an ambitious Captain who clawed his way up through the ranks to become Emperor, commiting acts of such cruelty and duplicity they resonate with repercussions twenty five years later.
One can understand the emotional starvation that leads the Empress (played by the exquisite Gong Li) , to her actions.

The most expensive Chinese production to date, if this sort of spectacle is your cup of tea, it's worth watching for the experience.
Think of a vast and sumptuous Greek tragedy in Tang Dynasty costumes.
 

Alex Buchet

New Member
The plot was crap. Hero was way better. The gold/chrysanthamum color themes was the only interesting part, but even the progressive/thematic colors in Hero were better.
 

starguard

Unluckiest Charm in the Box
I have Curse of the Golden Flower on DVD, and for some reason I have yet to make it past the first 5 minutes without becoming bored out of my mind and switching it to something else. (no killings, no rapes, no fires or multiple body slashings..nothing) :hmmm:

I say we should all get together and make our own movie, one called, The Gangbang of Laker Girl ;)
 

curiousa2z

Be patient till the last.
oh, there's plenty of gory slashing stuff: black-robed assassins with nasty hooky-knives ambushing people; plus a slow poisoning; many deaths by arrows,; several decapitations; a sword in the back; and a horrible beaten-literally-to-a-pulp end for a member of the Royal Family (hafta watch it to find out who).
There's also the small matter of 10,000 soldiers coming to a bloody end but I dont wanta spoil it for ya.

Starguard you gave up too soon!
 

curiousa2z

Be patient till the last.
I wonder why you are negged into the red?
 

jack

The Legendary Troll Kingdom
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