Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 122
Fresh: 81 | Rotten: 41
Melodrama, swordplay, and CG armies -- fans of martial arts epic will get what they bargain for, though the baroque art direction can be both mesmerizing and exhaustively excessive.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 14
Melodrama, swordplay, and CG armies -- fans of martial arts epic will get what they bargain for, though the baroque art direction can be both mesmerizing and exhaustively excessive.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 50,477
Movie Info
A dying love between two powerful people leads to deceit, infidelity, and conspiracy in this epic-scale historical drama from director Zhang Yimou. During the latter days of the Tang dynasty, the Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) returns home from the war with his son Prince Jai (Jay Chou) in tow. However, the monarch gets a chilly reception from the Empress (Gong Li); though she's eager to see her son, her marriage has become deeply acrimonious, and she's taken a lover, Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her
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Cast
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Yun-Fat Chow
Emperor Ping -
Li Gong
Empress Phoenix -
Jay Chou
Prince Jay -
Ye Liu
Crown Prince Wan -
Chen Jin
Mrs. Jang (Imperial Doc... -
Ni Dahong
Imperial Physician Jian... -
Li Man
Jang Chan -
Qin Junjie
Prince Yu -
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All Critics (136) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (41) | DVD (15)
To put a point to it, the lavish period costumes, operatic mise-en-scène and ceremonial grandeur of Curse of the Golden Flower clashes fatally with the nuanced nastiness of modern marital discord.
Top CriticFor all the swordplay and martial-arts fisticuffs, Curse is its most delirious as a lavish argument for the soap opera's roots in Greek tragedy.
This spectacularly decorated movie offers the enjoyment of watching Zhang chronicle the lives of one very nutty family. It also allows Zhang to load every inch of the screen with images so full that you half expect them to collapse under their own weight.
Curse is straightforward and solemn, lacking not for spectacle but for humor and a humanizing touch.
Make no mistake, all is epic, violent, bloody madness once the director hits his stride, and fans of Zhang's work will not want to miss Curse of the Golden Flower. But brush strokes are amiss here.
Lavish, grim, magnificent; a robust successor to Zhang's recent martial arts epics, characterised by similarly baroque spectacle and tragedy.
Zhang Yimou serves up a sumptuous sensory feast with spectacular set pieces and--crucially--the story, characters, and connection to back it up.
Zhang's beauty is one of furious defiance
Um épico que não apenas se encaixa no clima mítico e fantástico do gênero wuxia pian como ainda traz toques claramente shakespeareanos em sua trama repleta de traições e lutas sangrentas por um trono real (ou, neste caso, imperial).
Mucho brillo y color y poca sustancia dramática en esta tragedia épica que emula tanto a Shakespeare como a Kurosawa. Vale la pena sólo por su aspecto visual y, sobre todo, por la siempre intensa Gong Li.
Spectacular production designs and giant CGI battles can't really disguise a soap opera plot and often hammy acting.
Curse of the Golden Flower is, as usual, ravishing to look at, but it seems to be put together solely so that Zhang can assemble hundreds of people in stately rows.
Possibly the first mainstream Chinese representation of the massacre at Tiannamen Square.
Curse of the Golden Flower is a tragedy in the classic sense which is as devastating as it is entertaining.
Gorgeous to look at and every bit as ornate as The House of the Flying Daggers. However, the dense and complex plot is a muddle and works best when dealing with the central relationships and matters of the heart.
Beautifully designed, visually stunning epic with impressive battle sequences, although the soap-tastic plot takes a while to really get going.
It is an overwrought melodrama set on a background of impressive beauty.This is a beautiful film, but the characters are weak and disappointing from Zhang.
The film may not hold up to Hero or Flying Daggers, but it contains enough of those film's stunning visual tricks to make it well worth checking out this holiday season.
Every stone, every piece of fabric, every pushed-up bosom is fetishized to ludicrous extremes. Zhang apparently wants to dazzle the eyes with the visuals, but Curse is one of the gaudiest looking movies ever made.
Perhaps Zhang Yimou will one day return to the sort of picture that established his reputation in the first place. Otherwise, can a Rush Hour sequel be too far off?
Like its women, the movie from the perspective of the viewer is ravishingly beautiful but frustratingly remote.
The eye-catching splendor dresses up a bland soap opera that Shakespeare mastered centuries ago.
This is one spectacular historical potboiler, Shakespeare and soap opera in about equal measure.
Curse of the Golden Flower is dramatic and exotic, a feast for the eyes with themes that are as hypnotic as the film's physical look.
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Movie: ID: 420147807 Title: Curse of the Golden Flower Release Date: 2006-12-21 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Der Fluch der goldenen Blume (DE)
- Curse Of The Golden Flower (UK)
I think where this story lost it was the overall pacing and story. The first hour had some small nice fight scenes and then lots and lots of talk. And the ending was quite bloody. However I feel as though what happened here was there may have been some back story that was cut. And that's never good. Other takes and scenes were quite long. Too long, really.
Still, it gets 3 stars for color alone. Another star because I like Yun-Fat Chow and Li Gong. And keep in mind, if you are in dire need for a visual LSD party for your eyes.... WATCH THIS!!