La città proibita

I just got back from watching the 8.30 pm show at Vivo City Gold Class and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the movie was.

I guess it could have been the bad press with the movie but I was really very impressed with Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat. They are true virtuosos, masters of their fields. Very impressed with the both of them.

Even that Jay Chou wasn't that bad although, although to be honest, he is just too green and inexperienced. He was miscast as the 2nd Prince because of his lack of good looks, but I can see that he tried his best.

But Gong Li, who acted opposite Jay as his mother was superb. Her convulsions (because of a long time illness no spoilers) were realistic.

Her varied range of emotions were a joy to watch. I didn't feel she was acting; you don't see the wheels moving. Chow Yun Fat's Mandarin wasn't that bad too. Not at all. He exudes the strength and power of the ruthless Emperor.

The only person whom I thought over acted was the actor, Ye Liu, who played the Crown Prince. I was not used to his acting. Now with him, you could see him acting.

The action scenes were not a lot since this is more of a political intrigue film BUT the two major action scenes were very impressive.

One happened at a small villa amidst the mountains.

The other is the one at the end which occurred at the Imperial Palace.

The only gripe I have with this film is the set decoration. It is quite garish.

The colors on the pillar walls were like these tie dye t-shirts which Rupert of Survivor wore. Really odd.

The costumes were not too bad. Even with my Chinese background, it was all alien to me.

I am not sure it's authentic but I will give the costumers the benefit of the doubt. They must have done they research to stand by the deep cleavage of the actresses.

Now I know where all the money went to. Though the set decoration can be a bit rainbow-brite for me, it certainly was opulent.

Go watch this film. It is a must see.

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 .

Me and my girlfriend watched this in Guangzhou, China. It isn't exactly a feel-good movie..

It's hard to describe what this film does, without spoiling the movie. And that structure is it's strength. Suffice to say, this is a very strongly woven movie, a movie where direction and production are the stars.

And that is also "Curse of the golden flower"'s weakness. This is, after all, a movie. Moviegoers are used to seeing the full spectrum of a movie; varied scenery and ambiance, multiple stories, realistic characters, a realistic society portrait, and so on. Certainly, this movie has strong characters, but like the imperial court setting, they are puppets. They never change their directions, they are forced to play the drama. Most of the action happens on the same 3-4 scenes, with the same characters. Like an opera; stereotypic, but intensely dramatic and glorious.

That said, this movie had an effect on me, and as mentioned, it is very well crafted. Without a doubt, it shows Yimou Zhang's skills in his profession, and I do recommend it. But don't expect a "movie" in the classical sense, expect Greek tragedy or opera-style drama.

Despite the millions of chrysanthemum flowers, ten thousand soldiers and three prominent male cast (Chow Yun Fatt, Jay Chou and Liu Ye), one thing will capture your attention. Make that two.

Gong Li and her titillating assets have almost overshadowed everything else in the movie. While it may not be historically accurate for 10th Century Tang Dynasty palace females to dress so scantily, director Zhang Yimou obviously wants to make a stylistic statement right from the opening scene.

His play with colours was apparent from Hero. Curse of the Golden Flowers presents a kaleidoscope in its grandeur palace setting and elaborate costumes. The final fighting scene lead by Prince Jai (Jay Chou playing Jay?) the prince with golden armored warriors trampling over chrysanthemum is nothing short of impressive.

Jay Chou had a difficult time playing Prince Jai, which required more complexity than a cool rider in Initial D. While emotional scenes with Gong Li drew some laughter from the audience, his final scene was noteworthy and articulation has improved.

Kudos goes to Chow Yun Fatt and Gong Li. Chow has improved on his accent tremendously (which was very strange in Crouching Tiger) and portrayed the Emperor with magnitude and hysterical outrage. Look out for the scene as the usually mild mannered Chow punishes his son with both rising temper and hair.

While the film obviously banks on Gong Li's bosoms, they shouldn't distract audience from her exceptional acting. It may be over-the-top at times, but she shows that nobody else can play this vengeful and solitary empress better than her. At this moment, she is the queen of the Chinese cinema.

The story of betrayal, illicit affairs, chilled relations and dysfunctional families may be run on the mill and overdone. Drawing parallels with The Banquet by Zhang Ziyi is inevitable. Both are about an obsessed empress who craves for a relationship with the prince (Interestingly, both well-known for playing gay roles) and demands for more power from the emperor.

Curse of the Golden Flower is not just soap drama but a period epic to impress with colours, opulence and sheer indulgence.

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First of all, this is a commercial movie of period drama with some sort of martial arts in it. If you're looking for anything deeper, then it's not for you although the movie is loosely based on a masterpiece of play in China.

That being said, I think it's actually a nice movie.

Story: B The story line is nothing amazing but flows well although not devoid of a few confusions or loopholes. For the people who're not familiar with all the power struggle, backstabbing stories of Chinese royal families, some relationships and emotions may seem a bit too much. And it did actually get a bit overheated at certain point possibly for theatrical tensions. But overall, it made sense to me. My major complaint is that he could have cut out some of the side stories while allowing the major line to a fuller development.

Acting: B+ This movie focuses on Gong Li and she's a good actress. So, yes, she did a great job even though I wish it could have been toned down a bit. Chow Yun-fat is also good but his role is not as rich as hers. Liu Ye (crown prince) is adequate for his role and the character also has a limited range. Jay Zhou (the second son)is not quite up to par with the others (after all, he's not a professional actor). But he got better in the end.

Visuals: A- Actually, I wanted to give it a B+ but I awarded it a higher mark for being so daring. It does have tons of colors and shades in it. Most of time, they actually work out cool, at least for me. But I totally understand if someone finds it way over-the-top. I actually like the fact that ZYM used bright colors, only if he had used fewer kinds of them. Those fighting scenes didn't quite catch my attention not because they're no good. Actually they're proper and effective. But since I've seem so many martial arts movies, they did not bring any surprises to me

Overall, it's an entertaining movie with an understandable story and believable characters.