Yesterday I watched Curse of the Golden Flower and was really surprised. I thought it wasn't going to be as good as other titles like Hero and House of Flying Daggers but it was actually better.You could think of it as a Chinese version of Macbeth, with all the darkness and betrayals in it. Basically, the Empress is slowly being poisoned by her husband, who is using a special black mushroom that sends a person crazy after a couple of months in her medicine for anemia. However, the Empress is hatching a plan to try and get the Emperor to stand down from his post. Obviously, there's a lot more going on than that, but most of the story revolves around this strand. There's a great bit towards the end with a massive battle that's just as spectacular as the final scenes of Hero. The settings are amazing as well. The palace they live in is a wonderful blend of colours with everything laced in gold and decorated magnificently. The costumes are great too, you just have to look at the Empress's dresses to see that (they're beautiful. Really stunning).
How on earth did this film get pretty much panned by the critics? It has much more emphasis on story rather than action, everything is explained well, and when the action does kick in the ninjas are spectacular. Plus it has a really shocking end. I hope some of these film critics re-evaluate their stance because out of all the Chinese martial art films I've seen, this one's probably the best (well, Hero does come a close second...)
6 comments:
i never listen to the critics. i have heard them say films are crap when they are actually really good and vice versa!
The critics are only one person, and they tend to follow the others anyway so its not really a valid opinion is it!
Tina x
The end battle was just about the best battle scene I've yet to see in a movie.
I don't ever listen to critics, especially when It's a movie in a different language. They always seem to give those bad reviews ~boggle~ at least I can't think of one that they gave a decent review on lately.
I couldn't agree more!
I think the cinematography in this film was some of the best I've ever seen. Brilliantly set and shot. The battle scene was just spectacular.
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I really like that movie too. Not only because I like the actors (The prince in the movie was from my country), but also the message that it conveys.
It doesn't have any kind of propaganda, like Hero does (big time). The message is simply 'many things look beautiful on the outside are actually rotten on the inside', just like so many things in the world. In the movie, the palace and everything you could see was magnificent. But the family was just really really messed up.
I guess people outside the culture might not get the message right away. I've heard people say the movie was nothing except for the astonishing palace. But I like the movie because what it conveys actually applies to so many things in the world, doesn't matter in what culture.
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Really? It's better? I must watch it soon. I absolutely love Hero.It's one of my fave movies.
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