I’ve been griping lately about movies, so I thought I’d mention one I heartily recommend: Zhang Yimou’s technicolor soap opera ‘Curse of the Golden Flower.’ It features poisoned tea, Gong Li’s heaving bosoms, incest, a sumptuous color palette, a villainous Chow Yun-Fat, an excess of bling, and ninjas. If these things do not make your eyes sparkle and your heart beat quicker, then, well, this movie is clearly not for you. Otherwise, watch and enjoy.
All of Zhang Yimou’s movies use color marvelously (‘Hero‘ was practically built around color palettes), and this movie does not disappoint. If you want to calibrate your TV’s yellow gradient, ‘Golden Flower’ is the movie for you. The sets are a riot of gold: gold hairclips, armor, crowns, pajamas, walls, doors, tables– you name it, it’ll set off a metal detector. And what’s not gold is silk or multi-color jade. Here’s a picture, courtesy of the http://outnow.ch site:
Gong Li Sets Off Metal Detectors All Over China
The plot revolves around an Imperial family reunion in the Forbidden Palace. Empress Gong Li feels rather ill every time she takes Emperor Chow Yun-Fat’s special tea, and starts putting two and two together. Meanwhile, their three sons start to re-evaluate the line of succession. And that’s not even going into the incest and ninjas. But the dishy, soap opera-y plot takes a backseat to the overwhelming awesomeness of the set design. Here’s another picture, and keep in mind the tiny size can’t do it justice.
They Just Don't Make Homes Like They Used To
Here’s the trailer, which shows the kung fu bits more than the juicy overacting, but is okay overall:
In short, this movie is a very diverting two hours, and well worth giving a spin.
