KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * *
Verdict: Visually it lives up to Zhang's previous work, but lacks heart and emotion
From Yimou Zhang, the director of House of Flying Daggers and Hero, comes another visually stunning tale about love, power, loyalty and revenge during the late 10th century Tang Dynasty in China.
Curse of the Golden Flower takes opulence to a whole new level. Visually the film is overwhelming and quite extraordinary. It is set mostly within the walls of the Imperial Palace, where every room, hallway and courtyard has excess as a theme. The private chambers and hallways are dripping in a rainbow of colours which would make any hippie proud, and the interiors are adorned with furniture, textures and decorations which are as graceful and elegant as the characters that inhabit them.
The costumes, which have earned costume designer Yee Chung Man an Oscar nomination, are exquisite. The detail and richness is remarkable, as is the amount of cleavage, and it can be hard to take your eyes off either.
The only problem is that no matter how spectacular this film might look, the visual extravagance can't hide the fact that it is heartless, filled with cold and unlikeable characters who rob it of the emotional core it desperately needs.
Gong Li and Yimou Zhang began working together in 1987 when they launched their careers with the critically acclaimed Red Sorghum. Gong Li was the natural choice for the regal role of the ailing and manipulative matriarch and Empress who had an illicit affair with her stepson Crown Prince Wan.
So too was legendary actor Yun-Fat Chow as Emperor who returns to the palace to celebrate the Chong Yang Festival with his family. It is hardly a joyous reunion, as each family member has their own agenda, and a bitter battle for love, loyalty and the role of ruler takes place on the eve of the festival.
Zhang hardly takes us outside the walls of the palace but when he does the film soars; when black-clad assassins fly through a mountainous valley after their horse-riding victim the film comes alive. Yimou employs computer-generated effects within his main battle scene creating the exhausting energy of a Lord of the Rings battle, and while this serves the film's brutal nature, it's regrettable that Curse of the Golden Flower lacks the grace, athleticism and romanticism of Zhang's previous more engaging works.
Cast: Yun-Fat Chow, Li Gong, Jay Chou, Ye Liu
Director: Yimou Zhang
Running time: 114 mins
Rating: M, medium level violence
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts and Rialto
