Curse of the Golden Flower
or Chinese Title "Man cheng jin dai huang jin"
Curse of the Golden Flower is an extremely beautiful film. Watch it on an HDTV home theatre if at all possible.
I was actually amazed when I went to rent this at Blockbuster... (yes sorry I went to the corporate giant to rent this, I know I should be at a small independently run video store, right? Well we know what happened to them back in the early 90s)
...and a whole section of DVDs for The Video Curse of the Golden Flower or the Chinese title "Man cheng jin dai huang jin" (excuse my pretention) were all rented!
Imagine. Its a subtitled film from China and not only was it popular enough for a whole shelf of DVDs, but they were all rented. Wow, how things have changed here in the states. And the tables seem to be turning with foreign cinema prevailing these days. Luckily, I grabbed my copy from the counter as someone had just returned a copy.
I have to say I enjoyed the film and it was decent. However, it was indeed odd and maybe a little bit difficult to follow.
I am placing it in the movies with nothing to say section, because behind all the wonderous sets and costumes, I really am not sure if the film had a strong message. (Other than maybe Chow Yun Fat is old now. He really did look quite aged.) Well and the movie also has the message that family dynasties and empires have corruption and stuff- but we knew that.
The movie takes place during China's Tang dynasty with the plot centering around a ruling family's hidden secrets and lies. Relationship drama and violence unfolds as a result of these secrets. The plot is fairly simple overall and I wont go into more detail as to not reveal spoilers.
Anyway, back to the costumes and sets. They were both quite ornate and gorgeous. The cinematography in this film is quite amazing. There was one particularly beautiful hallway that could have been a museum piece (and maybe it is?) Anyway the first shot that showed the hall left me thinking -"wow what an amazing hall. I bet they are going to shoot the hell out of this hallway." Sure enough people walked back and forth and up and down the gorgeous hallway the entire movie. Gotta get our money's worth out of this hall.
The Chinese actress Li Gong is really stunning and did a great job. Like Chow Yun Fat, she has been in quite a few Hollywood flicks "Miami Vice," "Hannibal Rising" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." She has quite a commanding presence and did a great job here. A very believable performance.
I have seen a few of Zhang Yimou's movies at this point and this one was my least favorite. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, it just wasn't as amazing to me as "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero." "House of Flying Daggers" (2004) and "Hero" (2002), the earlier two films, are two of my all time favorite foreign movies which are more epic than "Curse of the Golden Flower," and have more intense and riveting story lines. So if you haven't seen any of Zhang Yimou's work, I recommend checking out those earlier films first. Still "Curse of the Golden Flower" is worth a viewing, just make sure you are watching it in HD or you will be definitely miss some of the cinematic glory here.
Grading
Story: B-
Acting: A
Visuals: A
Originality/Innovation: B
Enjoyability: B
DVD Extras: ? (sorry I fell asleep and didn't watch them)
Overall: B
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