Review - Curse of the Golden Flower
Writer(s):
Wang Bin
Director(s):
Yimou Zhang
Actor(s):
Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Liu Ye, Chen Jin, Ni Dahong, Li Man, Qin Junjie
Synopsis:
China, Later Tang Dynasty, 10th Century.
On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival, golden flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The EMPEROR (Chow Yun Fat) returns unexpectedly with his second son, PRINCE JAI (Jay Chou). His pretext is to celebrate the holiday with his family, but given the chilled relations between the Emperor and the ailing EMPRESS (Gong Li), this seems disingenuous.
For many years, the Empress and CROWN PRINCE WAN (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison. Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret love CHAN (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor’s daughter.
Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows worried over the Empress’s health and her obsession with golden chrysanthemums. Could she be headed down an ominous path?
The Emperor harbors equally clandestine plans; the IMPERIAL DOCTOR (NI DAHONG) is the only one privy to his machinations. When the Emperor senses a looming threat, he relocates the doctor’s family from the Palace to a remote area.
While they are en route, mysterious assassins attack them. Chan and her mother, JIANG SHI (Chen Jin) are forced back to the palace. Their return sets off a tumultuous sequence of dark surprises.
Amid the glamour and grandeur of the festival, ugly secrets are revealed. As the Imperial Family continues its elaborate charade in a palatial setting, thousands of golden armored warriors charge the palace. Who is behind this brutal rebellion? Where do Prince Jai’s loyalties lie? Between love and desire, is there a final winner?
Against a moonlit night, thousands of chrysanthemum blossoms are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace.
Reason for wanting to see it:
I was originally planning on seeing Alpha Dog this week but a friend wants to catch this movie. I was taking a break from Asian flicks but since he wants to go I’ll go check this out. Plus I’m planning on watching 3 or 4 movies next week while I’m traveling for work. It looks pretty much like something along the lines of Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon. While I often find this type of movie beautiful to look at I’m not a big fan of the high wire martial arts that are usually shown.
Website:
http://www.sonyclassics.com/curseofthegoldenflower/
Trailer:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/curseofthegoldenflower/
Rating: - 
For about the last 4 or 5 months I’ve been avoiding most Asian movies. Its not that I don’t enjoy them its more just that I went on a big Asian movie binge for a while and needed a break. I believe that the last Asian movie I saw was Fearless. I usually like most Asian movies that are released over here in North America. So I hope everyone takes this review who reads this review remembers that I had no intention on actually seeing this movie up until I was talked into it by one of my friends.
First off, this movie is incredibly beautiful and that in itself makes it worth seeing. This is such a colorful movie everything is shown in bright vibrant colors. Even the armor of all the soldiers is beautifully filmed.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect for story and action. I guess I would say I expected something along the lines of Hero or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. This is not the same type of movie. Yes it an epic and yes it contains wired martial arts in it. What it isn’t is though is a martial arts epic. This is the story of the downfall of a family. It is a drama that has some martial arts scenes.
The acting is good, it is beautiful to look at and it has an interesting story. Unfortunately something about it just didn’t sit right with me. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I expected more fighting or if it was just too long. For now I’m going to give it a medium rating and I’ll rent it coming up once it is released on DVD and I’ll see if my review goes up.
I’ll recommend it moderately because of the look and the fact that it is a fairly decent drama.
Grymm the pleasant said
June 23 2007 @ 11:46 pm
After I saw this with you, what made things click a bit more was when I IMDB’ed it, and saw that your writing credits don’t match it. Instead, it was adapted by Zhang Yimou from a play. That clarified things, as it felt like a play for the most part… with the ninjas being figures like ninjas in Kabuki (Stage hands who happen to suddenly be part of the action) and the like. I am guessing that it stayed closer to its roots than many movies, as it feels similar to Branaugh’s Hamlet. That might make things a bit clearer for you.
John said
June 23 2007 @ 11:46 pm
You know what, that totally makes sense. This movie really did have the feeling of a play. The more I think about this movie the more I think that I went in with the wrong expectations and it hurt how I saw it. When it comes out on DVD I’m going to pick it up again. I figure my rating for it will go up then actually.