In addition to nothing, Otis and I also went to a matinee. We saw Curse of the Golden Flower, the latest offering from the Zhang Yimou, the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers, two of our favorite movies. This film was a good watch, but not quite as exquisite as the two prior films.
After an opening that is structurally reminiscent of the opening of Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, but with a totally different mood and sensibility, the film jumps right into Shakespearean-level drama. The first half plays like The Lion in Winter if Henry II had had ninjas*. The second half plays like Long Day's Journey into Night, with pitched battles between thousands of armored warriors thrown in between conversations. Seriously - the movie really concerns relationships, lost love, incest, jealousy, and family ties, but since the family is the imperial family of 10th century China, the stakes are high and things get a little messy.
The movie is visually beautiful: the colors are breathtaking, and the costume and set design are stunning. Zhang has also added a new ingredient to his usual visual splendor: boobies. This film ought to have been called House of the Golden Cleavage:
QED.
The film is ultimately unsatisfying, never really deciding if it is a sweeping epic or an intense drama, and ending with symbolism whose meaning wasn't quite clear. But it is sure is good-looking.
*Yes, I know ninjas are Japanese, but I don't know what else to call black-clad assassins who throw grappling hooks and attack silently in the night with martial arts and funky weapons.
2 comments:
This is at the top of my list,as the sound design of his films is always masterfully done--it may topple "The Fountain" as the best-sounding film of the year. And it looks like his color pallette has changed a bit with more variety.
WoW. Nice pix. Mobile phone?
But how was the martial arts action? Was there masterful smiting?
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