Now, just because the title of the site says Japanator doesn't mean that we can't also cover things from China and Korea. One of my professors constantly reminds us that the history of China, Japan, and Korea, are all interlinked, and it's best to study the history of all three in order to have a full understanding of history in East Asia. So, with that note, I present to you Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, an epic film on par with his past films Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The film takes place late in the Tang dynasty, with the Crysanthemum Festival fast approaching. The Emperor and his second son return from the war front to the Empress and their other two sons. All is not well in the royal household, though, as treachery and romance are plotted throughout the film. Wonderful summary, eh? Hit the jump to see why this movie great.

This film is filled with opulence. Pure, unadultered opulence. Everywhere you look, bright, vibrant colors are on screen. There are a myriad of objects made with gold, silver, and other precious substances. It's appropriate, though, since the film takes place almost entirely within the Imperial Palace. The palace itself is of mammoth proportions, and it seems incredibly easy to get lost in there. Everyone has a dozen servants attending them at most every moment, with hundreds more just running around shouting XXX and the time. Looking at the scenery, it's hard to explain without photos (all of these are courtesy of IMDB). You can see how insane it is, and it's no wonder, either. This is China's most expensive film to date, at $45 million USD. The fight scenes, notable from Hero and House of Flying Daggers, are irratically placed. There are two short fights during the first half of the movie, and then the last quarter of the film is a series of epic battles. Even though there's more story than fighting (absolutely nothing wrong with it, just wasn't expecting it), the fights are quality chambra action. What I enjoyed was that it wasn't entirely filled with people jumping and flying all over the place, but rather filled with extremely skilled swordfighting. Some martial arts combat is placed into the film, but sadly there just wasn't that much of it. Also, during the epic battle scenes, it's simply jaw dropping. After a while, though, I felt like I was watching someone play Dynasty Warriors. Nonetheless, I enjoyed every minute of these fights, as they are well coreographed and very well done. So, now that I've gotten over the visual orgasm portion of the movie, how is everything else? Well, the film is adapted from a 1930's play, and makes no claims to be historically acurate in terms of what went on during the time, or what it was like culturally. Just want to make sure of that, because I've seen some people bitch about it not being historically accurate. The story plays out fairly well, with twists that aren't unexpected, and featuring excellent acting from everyone, especially Chow Yun-Fat and Li Gong. Li Gong, once again, has her hair messed up in almost every other scene, as I remember her she's been in other films. Everything about this film is grandiose, from the music to the scenery to the whole story. There isn't much more I can say than "this film is beautiful" without sounding like a broken record. There are a couple of technical glitches with lighting when it comes to the big battle scenes, and that was my only real problem with it all. This is a film that you really need to check out while it is still in theatres nearby. Have any of you readers gotten to see the movie? What are your thoughts?