Monday, May 28, 2007

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Gong Li has an awesome rack. In fact it is so amazing that it's completely distracting in every scene it appears. The girl who plays Chan the serving girl also has an awesome rack but Gong Li's is like a Chinese National Treasure. She is also an amazing actress. I first saw her in Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine. Her work in The Emperor and the Assassin was top notch. Unfortunately she was in Miami Vice and that Hannibal Rising movie. I do want to see her in 2046 but that's because I want to see 2046.

Chow Yun-Fat is also in the movie and it's great to see him acting and being as awesome as he can be.

Curse of the Golden Flower is not as thrilling as Hero or House of Flying Daggers but it is visually staggering. After an hour I started to wonder if the colors were actually on the screen or if my skullcap tincture was freaking me out. I found myself wondering how they create those colors and layers of texture. It was pretty cool.

As for the story there's an Emperor and a crazy Empress and the blah, blah, blah plot, three sons, intrigue, Gong Li's rack, golden flowers, crazy talk, crazy talk, battles, tears, sumptuous colors, blah, blah, blah plot, battles, tears, everyone dies. The end. What'd you expect? It's Chinese high epic melodrama.

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