Curse Of The Golden Flower - My Thoughts

Just watched Curse Of The Golden Flower... Well what can I say, the sets and costumes were truly made of "gold", practically everyone and everything were nicely color coordinated BUT I admit that I don't like the movie that much...

Why? Actually I don't really know why just that at some places where I am supposed to be terrified or touched I just had the urge to laugh instead. Its not that the acting was bad, on the contrary it was really good for the most parts (Chow Yun-Fatt and Gong Li were truly amazing). But the movie just feels emotionally empty. Most of the time I was admiring the actors' clothes and the lovely scenery instead of being focused on what the actors were actually saying.

But still ... although the sets and costumes look gorgeous, I kept thinking that the palace looks more like some swanky Vegas casino hotel since everything was so bright and shiny, honestly I did not know that the Tang dynasty had spotlights haha. And not forgetting the "unbelievably" buxomy palace maids. Whew... how can any guy (even eunuchs!) work in a place like that without going a little ... :-P In other words, I think in trying to create a gorgeous and elaborate palace setting, the director seemed to have forgotten that a touch of realism would have helped a lot.

And the storyline... the familial breakdown and the violence that ensued could have made for a impactful and absorbing story .. if only it was handled a little better. I felt that more scenes should be given to explaining what the main characters were feeling and how the events happened instead of focusing so much on the scenes of the palace staff getting ready for the day etc... although these scenes were interesting too in their own way... seeing how efficient the palace staff were really puts me to shame ;-)

All in all, I feel that the movie is worth watching for 3 things: the costumes, the sets and Chow Yun-Fatt's and Gong Li's superb acting.

Tags: Curse Of The Golden Flower, Chinese Movie, Zhang Yi-Mou, Chow Yun-Fatt, Gong Li, Jay Chou.