Curse of the Golden Flower
Good but not without its problems - Eoghan Bolger
Curse of the Golden flower is a Chinese, Action/Drama historical film starring Chou-yun-Fat. It begins with the return of the Emperor of China, it soon becomes apparent that he is a ruthless, power hungry, frustrated and jealous man. His first target is his wife, whom he poisons, he is intent on eliminating all of those who have betrayed him. The empress is infatuated with her stepson which has led to outrage in the family. The emperor's wife begins to take measures to take her revenge.
An otherwise well thought out plot is partially ruined by sloppy storytelling. Often the film is tedious, slow paced and drawn out, the empresses poisoning in particular. Drama is always welcome in a film however it must be handled correctly for it to work effectively. The acting is strong and the action sequences while infrequent and not without there faults are for the most part worth watching. Curse of the Golden flower features excellent costumes and well organised scenery to create a historically accurate atmosphere. The background music and stunts are also worthy of a compliment. The movie fails to surpass its rival Hong-Kong films such as Emperor and the assassin, hero and house of flying Daggers. The subtitles were easy to follow and the film was well translated. Flawed genius, if problems concerning the story were fixed this would be perfect, still far better than some of the recent historical epics efforts . An art film in the strictest sense of the world.
Review published on the 14 April 2007 19:34
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