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Curse of the Golden Flower February 13, 2007 |
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Working together for the eighth time, the first since 1995’s misfire “Shanghai Triad”, master director Zhang Yimou and muse Gong Li recreate the court of a Tang Dynasty Emperor and his highly dysfunctional family in high melodrama, as colorful and bloody as “Gone with the Wind”, but as shallow and hyper ridiculous as “All My Children”. It’s the early 10th Century, Emperor Ping (Chow Yun Fat) is a brutal dictator with a brilliant military mind, legions of powerful soldiers and ninjas to do his bidding at will, and a beautiful wife (Gong) that he’s slowly poisoning, for reasons no broader than that she’s currently having an affair with his first born son, who soon plans a coup against his father that will lead to mass deaths, and one awkward post-war family meeting. Zhang is comfortable in this genre, mixing big action scenes with intense melodrama, but after the likes of “Hero” and “House of the Flying Daggers”, this jumble of royal incestuous betrayal is too much, despite strong performances from Chow and Gong and beautifully colorful recreations of 10th Century Chinese garments. It’s an entertaining film, but for a more emotional, personal example of the director’s earlier, pre-“Hero” style, rent “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles” from ’05, just out on DVD, to experience Yimou the auteur, not Yimou the ringmaster.
by Adam Suraf |