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Curse of the Golden Flower

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

December. 21,2006
|
7
|
R
| Fantasy Drama Action

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

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Reviews

Smartorhypo
2006/12/21

Highly Overrated But Still Good

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Glimmerubro
2006/12/22

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

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Hattie
2006/12/23

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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Roxie
2006/12/24

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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uriel_gutierrez_tapia
2006/12/25

I must admit that this movie is one of the worst disappointments in my life. I saw it by recommendation, and from the comments they made me, I thought it would be a masterpiece: A visually perfect film with a great plot focused on family drama and mistrust. What was my opinion when I finished seeing it ?: Yes, it has family drama, but the softer one. A plot that we have seen over and over again in best- sellers or epic films and while good visually, is not a masterpiece in this regard. Everything is overloaded: the colors, the elements of the changing rooms, the decorations. Everything is arranged so that you do not get to appreciate everything and feel overwhelmed with it. The movie is not meant for you to enjoy a good story, it's made for you to say "oh, look at those great scenarios, how awesome" and nothing more. It is not a deep movie and it lacks everything to be considered a "masterpiece". The plot and its coherence and any interest we might have in it were sacrificed for what could be considered a "greater good" but ended up being a "major evil." This leads to the fact that even the characters are not interesting, they are flat and boring and the actors hardly make an effort to interpret them and that, at the end of instances, it seems that they realized that they made a mistake with the plot and tried to remedy it. The resulting was a whole sequence of meaningless dialogues and cringe situations that give way to an equally disappointing and insipid end. Summary of everything said: They wanted to make a film visually perfect and failed. There was no effort in dealing with the plot or the characters and the director seemed more willing to teach scenarios and costumes than a good movie with all that it entails.

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SnoopyStyle
2006/12/26

The Emperor (Chow Yun-fat) returns with his second son, the Empress's first son, Prince Jai (Jay Chou) after a northern campaign. The Empress (Gong Li) has been having an affair with her stepson Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), the emperor's first son. She's planning to overthrow the Emperor but he's been slowly poisoning her. It's palace full of intrigue as the youngest Prince Yu arrives.The brightly-colored grand sets and costumes set this off. Although it can be a distraction. Some of the action is great. The final battle is a massive color explosion. The melodrama is over the top. Everything is over the top. None of the characters are appealing. It's hard to care about any of them. This is interesting to look at but not that compelling to watch.

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Leofwine_draca
2006/12/27

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is a sumptuous and beautiful film – a real treat for the senses. Every shot has been painstakingly put together, and the colour palette on display here is like nothing you've ever seen before. The scenery is almost overpowering in its luxury. Now usually, I'd follow this description up by saying something like 'unfortunately, there's no plot to go with it' – but not in this case. CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is a Shakespearian tragedy told anew and a film Kurosawa himself would have been proud of.At its heart, this is a family drama. Corruption, secrets and lies always seem to be present at the highest households in the country, and it's no exception here. A web of blackmail, adultery, incest, poison and murder unfolds in a completely spellbinding way and it's an added bonus that the cast can do the story so much justice. Gong Li is fantastic as the centrepiece of the film, the doomed empress trying to get herself out of an impossible situation; the three actors playing the sons are all brilliant in their own way, and Chow Yun-Fat makes for a hissable yet understandable villain.Of course, there's the martial arts too. While I would have preferred for more realism, there's no denying the artistry of the fights here. Watching shadowy assassins flying through the air or an army of golden warriors battling it out with their silver enemies is breathtaking and tremendously entertaining. This is a film that starts off slowly before ending on a real high – a modern masterpiece at that. I hated HERO and really liked HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS – but CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is the best yet!

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ma-cortes
2006/12/28

10th Century , during China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest . 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 . The control of emperor over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself . For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison and unspeakable secrets are hidden within the Forbidden City. 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. 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, the emperor relocates the medic'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. At the night, thousands of soldiers are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace in a spectacular final battle .This luxurious epic film was marvelously filmed with impressive production design , colorful cinematography and breathtaking scenes . The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with dark surprises , thrills , fierce combats and groundbreaking battles . Amid the glamour and grandeur of the scenarios is developed a familiar intrigue in Shakespeare's King Lear style , including betrayal , incest , crime and exploring the dark side of Chinese empire . Impressive and rousing fights with thousands of golden armored warriors reenacted by lots of extras . Overwhelming attack on the fortress where is relocated the doctor's family , being subsequently copied in ¨Kung Fu Panda¨ . Wonderfully photographed especially when against a moonlit night, thousands of chrysanthemum blossoms are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace. The motion picture was glamorously directed by Yimou Zhang who often works with the actress Li Gong and as well as most of his films , it begins with the title displayed in Chinese calligraphy style. Zhang forms part of China's Fifth Generation of filmmakers, who began making films after the Cultural Revolution , others from this group include Chen Kaige and Jinzhan Zhang . He is an expert on Chinese epics such as ¨Shanghai Triad¨ , ¨Hero¨ ,¨House of Flying Daggers¨ , ¨The flowers of war¨ and of course the Oscarized and successful ¨Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon¨ . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .

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