The Curse of the Golden Flower

Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia
Candy-coated Ran meets Flying Daggers

A royal family struggles, in Shakespearean style, to gain power and control in their opulent but restrictive court lives. The second wife of the emperor is sleeping with her stepson, the eldest of the three male heirs to the thrown. Her own two sons struggle to gain their mother's love and father's attention. The empress is also suffering from some medical ailments and suspects someone might be poisoning her. Alliances and secret plots are hatched to take control of the throne during the festival of the chrysanthemums. Individual fights of strength, ninja-style assassinations, and large-scale army battles are scattered throughout to keep the plot dangerous.

Yimou Zhang (Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad, Hero) fills the frame with luscious fabrics, pastel-colored carved columns and hallways, and acres and acres of impeccably groomed servants. The production costs could be the GNP for a small developing country. As in most of his films, this detail and decadence is best viewed on the largest screen possible. The battles can be intense at times but the cartoonish style of flying, black-robed assassins, gold soldiers, and the vibrant red blood of combat make the violence seem more theatrical than real; something Mel Gibson would never feel comfortable doing. Sometimes the brutality is grotesque even without the visual gore. One scene where Emperor Ping beats one son with a belt, a belt that makes the WWF belt look like trinket, is overdone. The stuffed plot and melodramatic acting can seem annoying and predictable but the action and family secrets keep the audience engaged through some of the slower moments. Li Gong (Red Sorghum, Miami Vice) is young enough to be a second wife but old enough to be sexy while felling threatened by younger women. She gives a good performance as a dangerous yet fiercely protective mother, a sort of cross between Lady Macbeth and Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Chow Yun-Fat is almost unrecognizable as the emperor who, we find, has used rather ruthless tactics to gain the throne and will do most anything to keep it. Don't let the grey beard and wide girth lure you to think his character is ready to be usurped. All three boys have distcint personalities that are exploited and sometimes underestimated by their parents in their attempts to manipulate family dynamics. Zhang may have hoped to produce an epic but the end product is simply a fun matinee film with a HUGE budget. So go have a fun time and take in the visual splendor. Just don't expect to carry the story with you beyond the time it takes you to toss your popcorn bucket.

Yimou Zhang and Li Gong were at the screening I attended at Alice Tully Hall. She was surprisingly tall and buxom which could be one reason she stands out so dramatically as an Asian actress. They thanked Sony Pictures classics for their support of the film. Li Gong had not worked with Zhang since Shanghai Triad. Not much substance to their film introduction but it was a nice red-carpet event.