The actors that have been chosen to portray this family are, suitably, cinematic royalty. Chow Yun-Fat, making his first Chinese film in over five years, is an imposing and imperious figure, delivering both the external gravitas and inner turmoil of the Emperor on screen. It's good to see him back. After a similar absence, and a full eleven years since her last collaboration with Zhang Yimou, it's also good to see Gong Li back. For Gong, the role of the Empress, a tragic victim, is one that she inhabits comfortably (if that's not a contradiction). As the film's central character, the Empress, in Gong's hands, evokes sympathy on one hand but, ultimately, her fight-back shows that she can turn the screw, just as well as the Emperor. The prince of Taiwanese pop music, Jay Chou, slots nicely into the role of Prince Jai, easily surpassing my expectations of him. Perhaps the casting of a new-comer (this is only his second role) was a masterstroke; the combination of his youthful confidence and his own insecurities as a singer who is trying to re-invent himself as an actor, parallels Prince Jai's physical strength and his conflicting loyalties. Lau Yip, Crown Prince Wan, continues to build upon his impressive body of work, evoking empathy depite his short-comings. A special mention should go to Li Man, who plays Wan's love interest and daughter to the Imperial Doctor, Chan. In a debut performance, she shines; delicately evoking the youthful naivety of a young woman in love yet, as the film progresses, complimenting the Empress' own tragedy with suitable intensity.The action sequences in 'THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER' are suitably grand, with only a single one-on-one sequence; a father-son bonding exercise between a seated Emperor (emphasising his superiority of station and power) and a youthfully athletic Prince Jai. Perhaps this choice has as much to do with the cast; 'HERO' and 'HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS' both had casts who were more than comfortable performing martial arts, whilst Chow Yun-Fat is the only cast member with a pedigree in action cinema. Never the less, Ching Sui-Tung's contributions are of the quality that you would expect and live up to the grand scale, dictated by their surroundings; ensemble affairs that culminate in a huge battle which, despite its exorbitance, is bloody impressive. Most impressive though, are the scenes involving the Emperor's ninja-like assassins, who swing and slice their way across the scene in a way the harks back to Ching's own, classic 'DUEL TO THE DEATH'. When all is said and done, perhaps because Zhang has gone "one louder" in every way, 'THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER' is an entertaining spectacle. A quite remarkable production, which dazzles the senses and ramps up its emotional intensity in a way that could leave you speechless or seething. Personally, I enjoyed seeing just what happens, when you turn your film up to eleven...DVD [ NTSC, Region 3 ] :
Being someone who was burned by EDKO's initial release of 'HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS', which was simply dreadful, I'm delighted to say that this disc is more akin to their fantastic release of 'HERO'; the 16:9 anamorphic presentation of the film shows off the lavish spectacle of the film in an amazing fashion. There are three audio tracks; Mandarin Dolby DTS ES and Surround EX, with a Cantonese Dolby Surround EX dub, thrown in as well. The subtitles are error free and nicely done, plus there's the usual Traditional and Simplified Chinese subs as well. The extra features deliver a reasonably interesting 'Making of', which is subtitled in English, with the usual Trailers, Photo Galleries and Cast / Crew Filmographies which, as a minor quibble, are only presented in Chinese.Reviewed by Daniel Thomas - As shown on KFC cinima.com (Edited for this blog)
