Director Zhang Yimou’s new martial-arts action flick, CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER set in the 10th century tells the story during the later Tang Dynasty.  The fact that the Tang was the most flamboyant of the Chinese dynasties suit the choice of Yimou, ex-cinematographer for the film’s director, known for his visual composition of colour in his films, particularly in JU-DOU and most recent HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS and HERO.  From the costumes (many royal outfits contain as many as four to six layers) to sets (often gold and red) to the lighting, Yimou’s new film is gorgeous to look at, though hampered at times by the CGI effects.  The scene of thousands and thousands of imperial guard fighting the equivalent number of rebels is difficult to take in, giving the film a feeling of an Asian Tolkien fantasy.

THE GOLDEN FLOWER is the chrysanthemum.  The climax of the film and the big revenge plot of the empress (played by Yimou’s ex-lover Gong Li who has not appeared in his films since SHANGHAI TRIAD in 1995) occur during the golden flower festival.  This is more of an excuse for Yimou to show-off his expertise of elaborate colours like the blood red soaked yellows.  But the story is centred on female protagonist, the Empress.  Yimou’s best films (RAISE THE RED LANTERN, THE STORY OF QUI JU, TO LIVE) have mostly contained a female protagonist.  She is slowly being poisoned by the wicked Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) who turns up unannounced with his second son, Price Jai (Jay Chou).  More nasties are afoot.  The Empress is having an elicit affair with her step-son, the Emperor’s first born, the Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye) who himself has fallen for the Imperial Doctor’s daughter (Li Man), who, unknown to him is his birth sister.  If all this sounds confusing, Yimou is a proven good storyteller and the story unfolds comprehensively.  The action scenes are well choreographed by Tony Ching (who has collaborated with Yimou before in HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and HERO) with Yimou eliciting more excitement through his and editor (Cheng Long) camera techniques.  The first duel, a test between the Emperor and his first son is the most impressive.  The music and sound work well to add to the atmosphere and unstable mood of the royal dysfunctional family.  Royal intrigue has not been this fascinating since Anthony Harvey’s THE LION IN WINTER.

Most of the action takes place during the hours of the rabbit, dragon, snake et al, though no explanation is offered to the audience as to the significance of these animals.  Yimou (who co-wrote the script) reveals plot twists a bit at a time.  Nothing is as it seems and evil is foremost in the background despite the beauty and splendor of the surroundings.  Like the Chinese adage goes: “Gold and jade on the outside; rot and decay on the inside. 

But the trouble with CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is that it falls apart during the very end.  It should have ended 15 minutes or so before the running time.  Instead of an effective, short and sharp ending, Yimou indulges in melodrama with an overlong sequence of a wailing Empress and elaborate dying scenes.  After Yimou returned from a year break to study Beijing Opera, his films became unnecessarily flowery and operatic.  My main complaint with his other 2 martial arts action epics HERO and HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS is the ridiculously choreographed climatic fight scenes, often filmed in slow motion, opera style thus taking away the suspense and action component.  Though this film contains exciting, well-executed fight scenes, the high drama is emphasized to no end.  Still, CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is the best of Yimou’s recent films since his SHANGHAI TRIAD in 1995.