Caught CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER tonight with my sister. I totally enjoyed it. Heavy on tragedy and drama and almost humorless (I hafta say, tho, that the eldest son's sourpuss attitude does inject some snicker potential =), the royal family intrigue against the backdrop of the military coup in the front yard gives it a very Greek tragic flavor.Royal scheming unfolds on the eve of the Chrysanthemum Festival in the Forbidden City of China. The Emperor has returned to the palace for the festival to find his Empress suffering from a worsening illness and increasing impudence, his oldest son completely disinterested in the power that is his birthright, his middle son a mature and nearly peerless warrior, and his youngest apparently idolizing both of his seniors.
The Emperor and Empress, joined in a politically strategic marriage 20-some years ago, are now more than tired of one another. They play a dangerous game for control of the throne, and their sons, confidantes, servants, generals, and soldiers are all pieces to be exploited and even sacrificed. However, somewhere along the way, their aim changes from that of securing power to inflicting the greater pain on the other. What has the Imperial doctor added to the Empress's medicine? Who secretly reports on the Emperor to his wife? Which servant has stolen the eldest son's heart from his stepmother? And why does the Empress spend her days sewing so many chrysanthemums?
The spectacle, pomp, and ceremony of the film take a few minutes to get used to. It's spread on the thickest at the opening, introducing you to some repeated palace rituals that quickly become familiar to the audience.
Given the eye candy-heavy trailers, I was concerned about over-the-top visuals upstaging the excellent cast and actual storytelling. As my sister put it, "Here's Yimou (the director)... I know, you might have *heard* that the emperor had hundreds of courtesans, but y'know what? I hear he had *thousands!* And I'm going to *show* them all to you!"
Heh.
Also, you might think that the imperial guard was one thousand strong of the greatest warriors in the land, all ready to give their lives for their emperor. But you know what? The Forbidden City is big enough for at least fifty thousand, so wouldn't the emperor have that many? You can't prove that he didn't! And hey, I've got the budget to show them all to you! Each complete with a suit of armor, bow and arrow, lance, or hook-and-boomering sickle! Heck, I can *make* them for you, see? I just need to shoot or model, like, three different ones, then spread them out randomly with some computing power, and hey-presto! Just like McNuggets! You think you're seeing an army of thousands of different soldiers!
Heh heh.
It turns out that I don't see the massive scale as a negative in these battle sequences. I *am* often disappointed and annoyed with battle scenes that are about throwing huge numbers of soldiers at each other with only chaos driving the action, but I hafta say, the melees and army-vs-army scenarios all "read" very well. Some shots *are* designed for inspiring awe, while others demonstrate some clever and/or frightful strategizing on the part of one side or the other. The final battle in the Forbidden City demonstrates a kind of killing machine tactic the likes of which I haven't seen since CALIGULA. Pretty impressive.
So, I'm saying that while a lot of the film does seem to be about quantity—and rather garish and loud quantity at that—it takes turns on screen with a decent share of quality, provided by the excellent cast, tragic-dramatic turns, and satisfying action sequences. Compared to director Yimou's recent imports, I'd say FLOWER falls between HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, closer to HERO, with more pageantry and less action.
Kinda F'd up that his excellent earlier films—JU DOU, TO LIVE, even HAPPY TIMES—don't even exist when it comes to marketing his work in the states.
For a different short take on the film from CesareB, click here.
Keep on keepin on~
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