Thursday, May 20, 2010

Curse of the Golden Flower

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Curse of the Golden Flower Sale


THE ILL-FATED ROMANCE BETWEEN AN IMPERIAL BODYGUARD & A PRINCETAKES THE LOVERS ON A DANGEROUS JOURNEY WHERE ROYAL FAMILYSECRETS ARE REVEALED.

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Description




Curse of the Golden Flower, a fictionalized historical glimpse into the brutally complicated politics of Emperor Ping's (Chow Yun Fat) reign during the Tang Dynasty, shows the viewer just how far a megalomaniac must go to gain and retain power in medieval China. Lavish sets, massive ceremonial displays, and perversely fascinating battle scenes impress similarly to the special effects Americans have come to love and expect from Chinese action films like Zhang Yimou's previous House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. An intricate plot involving the Emperor's wife, Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and their three sons, Crown Prince Xiang, Prince Jie, and Prince Cheng, most closely follows the Empress's secret plan to force abdication upon her corrupt husband as revenge for his slowly poisoning her with Black Fungus tea. Opening on the eve of the Chysanthemum Festival, 928 A.D., the Empress obsessively embroiders gold chysanthemums to adorn her army's uniforms while hatching plans with Jai to overthrow the Crown Prince for control of the throne. Meanwhile, a side plot develops as the Emperor's ex-wife and mother to Crown Prince Yu reemerges as Yu's lover. By the time the Festival occurs, family members are pitted against each other in a King Lear-ian web of lies that can only result in demise. The most sophisticated narrative aspect of Curse of the Golden Flower is that as the royal family crumbles, the Emperor's death grip on China remains unwavering. Gorgeous scenes set in the palace and costume design displaying China's upper class decadence cannot fail to entertain. The paradox between good and evil, here, is highlighted by how the Emperor successfully rules despite, and because of, his utter cruelty. --Trinie Dalton


Curse of the Golden Flower Customer Review


This is a movie that begs for a spectacular high definition release but this Sony blu-ray falls a little bit short.
Certainly this is one of the most visually stunning films ever made. The colors in this film rival SPEED RACER (and this ain't a Speed Racer sort of movie)! The costumes are never short of dazzling and the set design is so ornate, detailed and opulant that it is difficult to describe. The story is the great stuff of an over the top soap opera and the action scenes are loud and exciting. Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li are superb and Jay Chou is a revelation as the dashing Prince Jai. This is a great film. The blu-ray transfer looks pretty good, but not as good as you might expect it to. The colors are vibrant and beautiful and fine detail is evident in the costumes and long shots but some scenes look a bit soft (perhaps this is a fault of the source print and not the transfer). The soundtrack offers several variations from a Mandarin PCM 5.1, Mandarin Dolby 5.1 and English dub in 5.1. All of it sounds pretty good but nothing really special. Subtitles can be turned on or off for any version. The extras are just ported over from the DVD release with the 3 minute premier being a bore and the short documentary being fairly interesting and informative. Sony didn't seem to go the extra mile for this release and that is a shame because director Zhang Yimou went the extra mile to make an extraordinary and higly entertaining picture.




★★★ Read More Reviews ★★★

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