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Curse of the Golden Flower | 
 enlarge | Director: Yimou Zhang
Actors: Yun-fat Chow, Li Gong, Jay Chou, Ye Liu, Dahong Ni
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $3.61
You Save: $11.33 (76%)
New (52) Used (58) from $3.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 3673
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Chinese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 114
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: COLD16726D
UPC: 043396167261
EAN: 0043396167261
ASIN: B000MRA592
Theatrical Release Date: January 12, 2007
Release Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: DISC IS IN GOOD SHAPE. MAY HAVE MINOR SCRATCHES, WRITING ON THE DISC/CASE. FORMER RENTAL. ALL ART WORK. ORIGINAL CASE. WILL SHIP NEXT BUSINESS DAY. 100 % SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.
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Product Description
The ill-fated romance between an imperial bodyguard & a prince takes the lovers on a dangerous journey where royal family secrets are revealed. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Jin Chen Yun Fat Chow Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 122 more reviews...
 Much that glitters, little that's gold December 15, 2008
Curse of the Golden Flower is a step up in budget from Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but it's a step back in terms of drama: much that glitters, little that's gold. Set in a palace where everything is a spectacular and highly regimented ritual done on an epic scale, whether it is servants dressing by the hundreds or preparing food and medicine, it focuses on the kind of royal family who make the Plantageneats in The Lion in Winter look like the Waltons. He's poisoning her, she's planning a coup against him and the Crown Prince has gone from an affair with his stepmom to one with his half-sister... Yet for all the poisoning and plotting the problem is that it's rather dull. It never descends into outright boredom, but it doesn't particularly engage for most of the first two thirds.
As usual with Yimou, the moral of the tale is ambiguous: on one level it could be don't go against the natural order, no matter how unfair it seems (father knows best, even if he is poisoning mum), on another it could be know your place no matter how inexplicably cruel you may find the ruling regime. Or it could just be a good old-fashioned tragedy with unhappy endings all round. On a more dramatically successful film maybe the ambiguity wouldn't be so niggling, but with such huge resources thrown at it to such little effect, you feel that it should all add up to SOMETHING.
True, a lot of money has been visibly lavished on the film, but it rarely feels wisely spent. That the corridors of the palace look like they've been designed by a Bombay stallholder with unlimited funds, more garish than opulent, make many of the interiors look more a monument to bad taste than a glittering facade to hide the corruption within. The wonderfully conceived use of colour and design of Hero and House of Flying Daggers here gives way to visual overkill. Forget the golden flower, this definitely suffers from the curse of too much CGi in the final battle as the addition of an increasingly unfeasible number of perfectly synchronized digital extras completely swamp the human element the scene needs to succeed. When the CGi golden army attacks the palace it doesn't really impress as much as it should - the CGi is good enough, but it's also too controlled and uniform, lacking the feeling of spontaneity you get with real extras. Maybe it's just that the look is so overexposed that digital extras seem too much of a cheat to impress the way that going to all the trouble of using the real thing did. After all, when so much is done in the computer, what physical human effort is left to admire?
Nor does the individual fight choreography impress as much as in Yimou's previous films. There is even some surprisingly clumsy editing of mismatched shots in the `smaller' scenes that make you wonder whether Yimou wants to draw attention to them or simply doesn't care enough to finesse them. Perhaps it's telling that the film's most visually effective moment is the massive co-ordinated cleanup operation after the battle as the bodies are dragged away and the palace is quickly restored to normality and that only the film's final scene has the kind of real emotional power that the rest of the film could have done with.
It seems oddly significant that despite the epic scale, only 8 of the cast are credited while the crew, designers, costumers and computer technicians are billed at great length: people really don't seem to be the film's priority. That's sadly reflected in some of the performances. Perhaps it's because the once prolific Chow Yun Fat has worked so little this century that it's genuinely surprising to see how much he's visibly aged as the Emperor. While this is used to some effect, we rarely see why he does what he does, which tends to render him more of a shallow villain when the circumstances really merit. It's certainly hard to see him as the wronged party when his revenge is so ruthless and calculated. But sadly most of the performances are decidedly one-note while the cast wait for their big scenes, with only the female cast making much impression (the film is good on the submissive role women were forced to accept). Yet as good as Jin Chen is as the Emperor's wronged first wife, it's Gong Li who really impresses, and how. As the Empress trying to hold onto her sanity long enough to depose her husband before his poisoned medicine turns her into a living ghost she's remarkably powerful without ever overstating: it's the small details rather than the grand gestures that really count with her. Unfortunately as her stepson and lover, Ye Liu overacts the sensitive angst almost enough to make Nicholas Tse look subtle, yet somehow in their scenes together Gong Li still manages to keep them from sliding away into pure melodrama. Sadly, her efforts are never quite enough to make up for the film's shortcomings.
A golden triumph... September 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Truly one of the most beautiful films of 2006, `Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia' is a truly magnificent film indeed, with an inner beauty that transcends its glorious set pieces and costume design. With tragic performances by the entire cast, not to mention the central beating heart that is Gong Li, as well as a heartbreaking story that includes deception, betrayal and murder, this Chinese epic is definitely a film you do not want to miss.
Taking place during China's Tang dynasty, the film focuses on Empress Phoenix and her struggle with her husband, Emperor Ping. Having bore him two sons, and raised his eldest from a previous marriage, it appears as if Emperor Ping has no further use for his wife and so he has her slowly poisoned with a black fungi that will gradually render her insane. Once Phoenix uncovers her husbands dastardly plot she sets her own plan in motion to dethrone him and place the kingdom in the hands of her son, Prince Jai. The Empress's relationship with the Emperor's son Crown Prince Wan may jeopardize her plans, as he turns on his stepmother in order to protect his father.
But there is a twist, for the festival in honor of the Emperor's late wife may be in vain after all.
The film also delves into the politics revolving around the Emperor's rule and the cruelty for which he safeguards his power. His relationship with his own children is placed on edge as he forces them to cower to his every command. The film fleshes out very well how the reign of his man was aided by his own ruthlessness and also exposes the lasting affects that it has on those acquainted with him.
So, the film received an Oscar nomination for its costume design, but failed to garner any other major awards traction, which is sad because the film is astonishing from really every angle. The set design and cinematography is flawless and should have also been rewarded with nominations, but more importantly, the film itself really should have been short listed alongside `Pan's Labyrinth' and `The Lives of Others' as one of the best foreign language films of the year.
And then there is the brilliant performance given by Gong Li. Now I know that this year was a really tough one for the Best Actress category, and I can't really complain because the Academy did nominate five very deserving leading ladies, but in my humble opinion Gong Li was better than them all. As Empress Phoenix, Li truly had the toughest performance to sell for she had to make her characters every tick and quiver seem authentic and believable, especially as her poisoned condition worsened. She also had to incorporate those ticks into her emotional response to her surroundings without allowing them to take over completely and she did so marvelously. But her performance is so much more than just a slew of technical accomplishments, her performance is a very grounded emotional journey of a woman betrayed and scorned and determined to take what she is owed.
Chow Yun-Fat is also brilliant as the evil Emperor Ping, delivering a very commanding performance, and Jay Chou and Ye Liu also deliver nicely as the couple's two eldest children.
A story of love and loss and despair, `Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia' is a film that is sure to astonish you visually and touch your emotionally. Sure, the films initial plot is not as original as I would have liked it to be (at least not when you consider most Asian cinema today) but the actors and the director (a marvelous Yimou Zhang) elevate the material and create a must see spectacle that is designed to take your breath away.
 Incest from Historical Perspective August 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A Beijing-2008 opening/closing ceremonies look bleak comparing with epic actions this work presents, and 300 (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD], computer-assembled digitally-mastered blood-thirsty action is a children tale-look either.
This is intriguing complex drama of historical family affairs not to miss for knowing nothing of Chinese history especially.
A lauriat for the senses August 14, 2008
Curse of The Golden Flower, despite a few flaws, deserves a place in your DVD collection for its visual style alone. The story is a tad soap opera-ish, with royal family members squabbling over the Imperial throne, shifting alliances and motives. The first part starts slowly but picks up when the Empress decides to not keep her motives a secret. For the action fans, there are some truly exhilarating ninja scenes and a huge battle sequence. Although some CGI work are obvious, the art direction is unmatched. Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, along with the other actors portray their roles with restrained intensity, so effective that even though you'll know what's going to happen, (especially the relation of the 1st son and the daughter of the doctor), which is a flaw of scripting, you still feel the full brunt of the emotion. Still, it's a keeper.
Colors are amazing August 8, 2008
Great Colors, Beautiful picture quality. All-in-All a decent film.
Worth having in your collection if you are a drama/kung-fu junky.
Not as much fighting as i wanted, but the drama did keep me guessing till the end.
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