Curse Of The Golden Flower

Curse of the Golden Flower

Amazon.com

Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized historical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Pings (Chow Yun Fat) reign during the Tang Dynasty, shows the viewer just how far a megalomaniac must go to gain and retain power in medieval China. Lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes impress similarly to the special effects Americans have come to love and expect from Chinese action films like Zhang Yimous previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperors wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prince Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empresss secret plan to force abdication upon her corrupt husband as revenge for his slowly poisoning her with Black Fungus tea. Opening on the eve of the Chysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., the Empress obsessively embroiders gold chysanthemums to adorn her armys uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow the Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side plot develops as the Emperors ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yus lover. By the time the Festival occurs, family members are pitted against each other in a King Lear-ian web of lies that can only result in demise. The most sophisticated narrative aspect of Curse of the Golden Flower is that as the royal family crumbles, the Emperors death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying Chinas upper class decadence cannot fail to entertain. The paradox between good and evil, here, is highlighted by how the Emperor successfully rules despite, and because of, his utter cruelty. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description

The ill-fated romance between an imperial bodyguard & a prince takes the lovers on a dangerous journey where royal family secrets are revealed. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Jin Chen Yun Fat Chow Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R
Rate Points :4.0
Binding :DVD
Brand :Sony
Label :Sony Pictures
Manufacturer :Sony Pictures
MPN :COLD16726D
ProductGroup :DVD
Studio :Sony Pictures
Publisher :Sony Pictures
UPC :043396167261
EAN :0043396167261
Price :$14.94USD
Lowest Price :$4.65USD
Customer ReviewsA golden triumph...
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :1
Truly one of the most beautiful films of 2006, Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia is a truly magnificent film indeed, with an inner beauty that transcends its glorious set pieces and costume design. With tragic performances by the entire cast, not to mention the central beating heart that is Gong Li, as well as a heartbreaking story that includes deception, betrayal and murder, this Chinese epic is definitely a film you do not want to miss.

Taking place during Chinas Tang dynasty, the film focuses on Empress Phoenix and her struggle with her husband, Emperor Ping. Having bore him two sons, and raised his eldest from a previous marriage, it appears as if Emperor Ping has no further use for his wife and so he has her slowly poisoned with a black fungi that will gradually render her insane. Once Phoenix uncovers her husbands dastardly plot she sets her own plan in motion to dethrone him and place the kingdom in the hands of her son, Prince Jai. The Empresss relationship with the Emperors son Crown Prince Wan may jeopardize her plans, as he turns on his stepmother in order to protect his father.

But there is a twist, for the festival in honor of the Emperors late wife may be in vain after all.

The film also delves into the politics revolving around the Emperors rule and the cruelty for which he safeguards his power. His relationship with his own children is placed on edge as he forces them to cower to his every command. The film fleshes out very well how the reign of his man was aided by his own ruthlessness and also exposes the lasting affects that it has on those acquainted with him.

So, the film received an Oscar nomination for its costume design, but failed to garner any other major awards traction, which is sad because the film is astonishing from really every angle. The set design and cinematography is flawless and should have also been rewarded with nominations, but more importantly, the film itself really should have been short listed alongside Pans Labyrinth and The Lives of Others as one of the best foreign language films of the year.

And then there is the brilliant performance given by Gong Li. Now I know that this year was a really tough one for the Best Actress category, and I cant really complain because the Academy did nominate five very deserving leading ladies, but in my humble opinion Gong Li was better than them all. As Empress Phoenix, Li truly had the toughest performance to sell for she had to make her characters every tick and quiver seem authentic and believable, especially as her poisoned condition worsened. She also had to incorporate those ticks into her emotional response to her surroundings without allowing them to take over completely and she did so marvelously. But her performance is so much more than just a slew of technical accomplishments, her performance is a very grounded emotional journey of a woman betrayed and scorned and determined to take what she is owed.

Chow Yun-Fat is also brilliant as the evil Emperor Ping, delivering a very commanding performance, and Jay Chou and Ye Liu also deliver nicely as the couples two eldest children.

A story of love and loss and despair, Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia is a film that is sure to astonish you visually and touch your emotionally. Sure, the films initial plot is not as original as I would have liked it to be (at least not when you consider most Asian cinema today) but the actors and the director (a marvelous Yimou Zhang) elevate the material and create a must see spectacle that is designed to take your breath away.

Visually Stunning
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
While the plot regarding a Chinese dynasty family and their struggle amongst themselves against a tyrant of a father may remind you of a soap opera, this film has some of the most stunning imagery Ive seen in a long time.

Id recommend this to anyone who enjoys period films, great cinematography, and family drama.

Much that glitters, little thats gold
Rating Point :2 Helpful Point :0
Curse of the Golden Flower is a step up in budget from Zhang Yimous Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but its a step back in terms of drama: much that glitters, little thats gold. Set in a palace where everything is a spectacular and highly regimented ritual done on an epic scale, whether it is servants dressing by the hundreds or preparing food and medicine, it focuses on the kind of royal family who make the Plantageneats in The Lion in Winter look like the Waltons. Hes poisoning her, shes planning a coup against him and the Crown Prince has gone from an affair with his stepmom to one with his half-sister... Yet for all the poisoning and plotting the problem is that its rather dull. It never descends into outright boredom, but it doesnt particularly engage for most of the first two thirds.

As usual with Yimou, the moral of the tale is ambiguous: on one level it could be dont go against the natural order, no matter how unfair it seems (father knows best, even if he is poisoning mum), on another it could be know your place no matter how inexplicably cruel you may find the ruling regime. Or it could just be a good old-fashioned tragedy with unhappy endings all round. On a more dramatically successful film maybe the ambiguity wouldnt be so niggling, but with such huge resources thrown at it to such little effect, you feel that it should all add up to SOMETHING.

True, a lot of money has been visibly lavished on the film, but it rarely feels wisely spent. That the corridors of the palace look like theyve been designed by a Bombay stallholder with unlimited funds, more garish than opulent, make many of the interiors look more a monument to bad taste than a glittering faade to hide the corruption within. The wonderfully conceived use of colour and design of Hero and House of Flying Daggers here gives way to visual overkill. Forget the golden flower, this definitely suffers from the curse of too much CGi in the final battle as the addition of an increasingly unfeasible number of perfectly synchronized digital extras completely swamp the human element the scene needs to succeed. When the CGi golden army attacks the palace it doesnt really impress as much as it should - the CGi is good enough, but its also too controlled and uniform, lacking the feeling of spontaneity you get with real extras. Maybe its just that the look is so overexposed that digital extras seem too much of a cheat to impress the way that going to all the trouble of using the real thing did. After all, when so much is done in the computer, what physical human effort is left to admire?

Nor does the individual fight choreography impress as much as in Yimous previous films. There is even some surprisingly clumsy editing of mismatched shots in the smaller scenes that make you wonder whether Yimou wants to draw attention to them or simply doesnt care enough to finesse them. Perhaps its telling that the films most visually effective moment is the massive co-ordinated cleanup operation after the battle as the bodies are dragged away and the palace is quickly restored to normality and that only the films final scene has the kind of real emotional power that the rest of the film could have done with.

It seems oddly significant that despite the epic scale, only 8 of the cast are credited while the crew, designers, costumers and computer technicians are billed at great length: people really dont seem to be the films priority. Thats sadly reflected in some of the performances. Perhaps its because the once prolific Chow Yun Fat has worked so little this century that its genuinely surprising to see how much hes visibly aged as the Emperor. While this is used to some effect, we rarely see why he does what he does, which tends to render him more of a shallow villain when the circumstances really merit. Its certainly hard to see him as the wronged party when his revenge is so ruthless and calculated. But sadly most of the performances are decidedly one-note while the cast wait for their big scenes, with only the female cast making much impression (the film is good on the submissive role women were forced to accept). Yet as good as Jin Chen is as the Emperors wronged first wife, its Gong Li who really impresses, and how. As the Empress trying to hold onto her sanity long enough to depose her husband before his poisoned medicine turns her into a living ghost shes remarkably powerful without ever overstating: its the small details rather than the grand gestures that really count with her. Unfortunately as her stepson and lover, Ye Liu overacts the sensitive angst almost enough to make Nicholas Tse look subtle, yet somehow in their scenes together Gong Li still manages to keep them from sliding away into pure melodrama. Sadly, her efforts are never quite enough to make up for the films shortcomings.

Curse of the Golden Flower Review
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
This movie is a HUGE epic movie. It takes place in an early Chinese dynasty. It is amazing what plotting goes on in the family. And truly, I had to watch it more than once to get clear exactly what the family connections were. It is so beautifully made, unbelievable. Drama and intrigue, lots of action. Great movie, one you need to be able to sit down and concentrate to watch. Its well worth the purchase price, and a great addition to your DVD library.

Lots of glamour and lost meaning
Rating Point :2 Helpful Point :0
I do not thing the deep movie Raise the red lanterns" should be compared to this purely show-off movie.
While the viewing experience, the effects and designs are absolutely wonderfull, at times they are unreal and sometimes absolutely weird.
You should note some of the worst blunders:
The palace columes are glowing neon blues, reds, and greens.
The female dresses are strange combination of kimono and 1800s Ludvik the 16th court dresses complete with corsets which hardly contain the womens upper body parts.
The Emperes has a love affair for 3 years with her step son and expect it to be secret.... yeah right with the hundreds of servants milling around everywhere, and walls consisting of nothing more then transparent fabric.
Epereror comes back from the front line of battle but I still wonder who was he battling with.
........
There is no WHY behind the actions either.
For no reason at all the Emperor decides to drive her mad with poison mushroms. Why drive her mad, why not kill her? He has known about the love affair so why now 3 years later.
And to top it off, the first Emperes is not dead, so that makes the new Emperes a courtesan only.....
And the wast 40 000 army summoned to defend the emperor, com-on how could they arrive in the city unnoticed and in less then half a day.... on foot?

You will not learn anything about the life in the forbiden city, there is no kung-fu fights, no behind the senes love story. This movie is purely show off. Great costumes, unreal but great. Elaborate decorations, and hey ohhh so much gold one wonders they were able to stand straight at all, instead of crawling on the floor under the weight.
But that is the point, if you want to watch it DO NOT THINK AT ALL.

I give it 1 for decorations and 2 for the pretty faces

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