Curse of the Golden Flower [Blu-ray]

Curse of the Golden Flower [Blu-ray]
by Zhang Yimou

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Liu Ye, Ni Dahong
Director: Zhang Yimou
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Chinese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-29
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures

Movie Reviews of Curse of the Golden Flower [Blu-ray]

Movie Review: A little disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars

Chow Yun Fat is amazing. We usually see him as the outwardly tranquil, but troubled good guy. Here he plays a scheming, ruthless, sadistic emperor to perfection. I'm not sure why people would call this a martial arts movie. The focus is on the intrigue and the drama. The plot is convoluted. Seeing the movie multiple times would probably help. Zhang use of color and spectacle is impressive.

The problem with the movie is the battle scenes. They are too fantastic. All the palace intrigue works. It is a little over the top, but it is like Shakespeare: bigger-than-life people screw up their lives in bigger than life ways. The fight scenes just didn't do it for me. Too many fights are just too gravity defying. Another problem is that everybody knows martial arts in the movie. The final battle seem too grand. On the plus side, it is cool how they removed all traces of a very bloody battle for the festival the next day. One of the main themes of the movie is how the emperor holds the country together while his family is disintegrating. I have a another minor qualm: there is a lot of cleavage. At one point there were thousands of women dressed in low cut dresses in a court room. My friend from China told me that no Chinese woman would dress in such revealing clothing. The Chinese press took the director to task for the costumes.

The movie worked on several levels; however, it never really pulled me in. In some ways it was too over the top. It was too dramatic. I would probably watch it again. I checked it out from the libary. I'll probably watch it on TV sometime to see if it grows on me.

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Summary of Curse of the Golden Flower [Blu-ray]

From the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers comes the martial arts epic masterpiece whose savage beauty and exquisite elegance has mesmerized and captivated audiences around the world. Set in the lavish and breathtakingly colorful world hidden from the eyes of mere mortals behind the walls of the Forbidden City, a tale of a royal family divided against itself builds to a mythic climax as lines are crossed, trust is betrayed, and family blood is spilled in the quest for redemption and revenge. Starring Chow Yun Fat of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the embattled Emperor and Gong Li of Memoirs of a Geisha as his poisoned Empress, Curse of the Golden Flower grants you entry into a dazzling and spectacular world of betrayal, vengeance and passion that will change the way you think of martial arts forever.

Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized historical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Ping's (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 Yimou's previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperor's wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prince Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empress's 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 army's uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow the Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side plot develops as the Emperor's ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yu's 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 Emperor's death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying China's 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

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