Review of Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) by Sébastien P — 11 May 2009

At first, you will be struck by the lavishness of the decors and the elaborate "choregraphy" of the palace servants. Then it will be the truly exquisite costumes and armors throughout that will impress you. The lighting and colors are also quite wondrous. Visually, it's all quite stunning sometimes to the point of distraction. But those are secondary considerations. The story was delightfully complex yet understandable and for most of the first 2/3 of the movie revolves around palace intrigue and family secrets. The emperor and empress were wonderful in their roles. Gong Li in particular is amazing at conveying emotion without saying a word. Unfortunately, as it went on, I realized that two of the sons weren't up to the acting quality of their "parents". They were both somewhat lacking in terms of emoting and charisma and it undermined all the drama going on.

Besides the opulent and magnificent production values, this was obviously filmed by a great director at the peak of its form with its carefully constructed yet original cinematography. There are moments of quiet beauty and epic battles with moments I had never seen anywhere before. Actually throughout the last act, my mouth often stood agape at the sheer coolness of it all. I wish I had seen this movie on a big screen or at least high-definition because this grand spectacle deserves it. Why do I not rate this higher? Because I wish it had more emotional resonance (like Hero or House of Flying Daggers both from the same director) and a few better actors would have helped a lot. In finishing, without spoiling anything, one should admire the courage and intelligence of the chinese director at indirectly denouncing the current chinese regime.