Movie Review: Curse of the Golden Flower

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) 

Directed by Zhang Yimou 

Written by Zhang Yimou 

Starring Chow Yun Fat, Li Gong, Jay Chou 

Release Date December 21st, 2006 

Published January 3rd, 2007 

Director Yimou Zhang is an extraordinary talent whose work in the movies House of Flying Daggers and Hero is a wondrous combination of poetry, romance and awesome visual splendor. Zhang's attention to period detail and fluid, langorous camerawork create a visual tapestry unmatched by any of the greatest directors working today.

His talent for visual splendor is certainly on display in his latest film Curse of the Golden Flower. Unfortunately, in recreating China's Tang Dynasty circa 928 A.D, Zhang neglected his storytelling in favor of the most lustrous visuals he has yet brought to the screen. Curse of the Golden Flower is a feast for the eyes but in story terms, your average soap opera has less drippy, high falutin' melodrama.

Emporer Ping (Chow Yun Fat) has been plotting to eliminate his unfaithful wife, Empress Phoenix (Li Gong), for months; since he found out that she was having an affair with his oldest son Prince Cheng (Qin Jungjie). Prince Cheng who happens to be carrying on an affair with the daughter of the Emporer's medicine man who happens to be in charge of the Empress's daily medicine which is being spiked by the emporer with a poison that will slowly drive the empress insane.

Meanwhile the middle son of the clan Prince Jai has returned to the kingdom. He is to replace his weak willed older brother as the next in line for the throne but before he learns of the honor, he discovers his father is trying to kill his mother and decides to join the coup she has been planning for months. Oh, I mentioned Prince Jai's older brother, actually Prince Cheng is only his half brother, hence the affair Prince Cheng had with the empress wasn't really incest, though that incest ship hasn't sailed just yet, but I will leave that one for you to discover on your own.

Indeed, the plot of Curse of the Golden Flower does read like your average New York gossip column or bad episode of Melrose Place. And unfortunately the actors play the material to that same pitched melodramatic level. Gong Li, beautiful as ever as the empress, vamps like she graduated from the Joan Collins school of drama. The usually reliable Chow Yun Fat delivers a couple of badass moments but for the most part is stiffer than John Forsythe's corpse. (Is John Forsythe dead? Just checking)

Director Zhang Yimou adapted the screenplay from a popular Chinese stage play Yu Cao and retains some of the same broad theatrical beats in the direction of his actors who tend to belt each emotion to the back of the room as if in a large playhouse as opposed to a movie set with mics and sound techs. Still, Yimou's visual signatures are in place and that goes along way to making Curse of the Golden Flower passably entertaining.

All of the appeal of Curse of the Golden Flower comes from the visual wonders created by Zhang Yimou and his team including cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao and production designer Tingxiao Huo both of whom worked on Yimou's ostentatiously beautiful House of Flying Daggers. Because of the extraordinary work of these artists, Curse of the Golden Flower could be presented as a work of art, were it brought forth as a silent film without subtitles.

The eye popping production with it's massive ornate sets, and costumes that would put any Milan fashion show to shame, became the most expensive film in the history of China's movie industry, well over 100 million dollars American. The film is already profitable in the country and around the rest of the globe though it's American release has been something of a non-starter.

Curse of the Golden Flower is without a doubt a visual masterpiece, something that Hollywood studios likely feel won't appeal to American audiences. They might want to try selling the outlandish melodrama of the story. Why, I could see a marketing campaign that could turn ancient China into an old school wisteria lane, that sure seems to be what director Zhang Yimou was going for.

With it's opulant sets and breathtaking costumes,Curse of the Golden Flower is truly a feast for the eyes. The great visuals make the film that much more disappointing. Where his Hero and House of Flying Daggers were poetic, romantic and mostly silent, but also visually stunning, it is shocking to watch director Zhang Yimou deliver a film so tone deaf in its drama.

As a visual work of art, Curse of the Golden Flower is awesome eye candy. As a movie it's an irritating caricature of haughty night time soap opera melodrama.

Movie Review The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet (2011) 

Directed by Michel Gondry

Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, Christoph Waltz

Release Date January 14th, 2011

Published Janurary 13th, 2011

Seth Rogen does not exactly cut the figure of a superhero. Luckily, that is kind of the point of this reboot of the old school masked hero “The Green Hornet;” he's not the real hero. Though he wears a mask and rolls around Los Angeles in a seriously pimped out superhero car, “The Green Hornet'' is a make believe hero while his martial artist, super-mechanic pal Kato is the real hero; beating down bad guys with a superhuman fighting sense while the Hornet grabs the glory on the front page.

Faux heroism is played for terrific laughs in the at times uneven but overall entertaining “The Green Hornet 3D.”

Seth Rogen stars in “The Green Hornet” as Britt Reid, a 30 something child of privilege who uses his father's wealth as an excuse to remain a teenager for life. Then, suddenly his father (Tom Wilkinson) is dead and Britt has an empire to run. Dad was the founder and editor of the last family owned newspaper in Los Angeles, The Sentinel and though Britt has never even read a newspaper, it's now his to run.

Meanwhile, Britt meets the man who has made his coffee for the past decade. Kato (Jay Chou) was his father's mechanic and coffee hound, he invented a latte machine, and now he works for Britt. Together, Britt and Kato share a disdain for the late Mr. Reid and a bitch session turns into a night of vandalism and then accidental crime fighting. The night is a life changing moment for both Reid and Kato as after saving a couple from some gang members they get a taste for the rush of the hero biz.

The twist in this hero story however is that instead of being good guys, Britt and Kato will be good guys who pose as bad guys in order to get to the bad guys. Using the editorial power of The Sentinel, Britt creates the persona of “The Green Hornet '' as the ultimate big bad in Los Angeles. Naturally, the current big bad, Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), is none too happy with some nobody usurping his front page headlines. Chudnofsky has spent the past decade shedding blood and selling drugs to get where he is and he's not about to cede the bad guy spotlight.

That's the table setting of “The Green Hornet,” the meal as prepared by director Michel Gondry is a tweaking of the superhero formula that is both true to the classic adventure hero stories and a sly send up of the same in the casting of comic actor Rogan as the pseudo-hero. Rogen, with writing partner Evan Goldberg, wrote the screenplay for “The Green Hornet” and plays wickedly on his lack of hero traits. Some of the biggest laughs in The Green Hornet come cleverly at the star's expense

and as Rogan and Gondry cleverly twist the hero they give new life to the role of sidekick. Jay Chou's Kato is a rather ingenious invention as he bounces well off of Rogan while being a total badass fighter. Chou is a walking special effect and with Gondry’s artful eye for demonstrating his talent, Chou breaks the mold of not just the sidekick but of Asian American movie stars in Hollywood features. 

Badder than Jackie Chan and more fun than Jet Li, Chou may be a martial artist but he's not so serious about it that he can't bust out a chorus of Coolio's “Gangster's Paradise” prior to whipping out some nunchucks and breaking bad guys faces and limbs. Interesting to note, Chou is a pop star in Asia and has a killer closing rap over the credits. Trust me when I say the song is no mere novelty and even fans who don't speak the language will be hard pressed not to nod along to this groove. 

”The Green Hornet '' is not without issues. Christoph Waltz works hard not to be the same colorful villain he was in his Oscar winning role in “Inglorious Bastards and winds up coming off a little flat for the effort. The final action scene set inside the walls of the newspaper as the bad guys chase the good guys, car and all, through the cubicle lined floors of the newspaper goes on a little too long and doesn't pay off strongly enough. 

That said the good more than outweighs the bad in “The Green Hornet.” Seth Rogen's sense of humor is smartly played against a familiar superhero story turned ever so slightly on its ear. Audiences will have to really like Rogan for much of the movie to work but fans of the “Knocked Up” star will be rewarded with a unique evolution of Rogan's clumsy, good hearted galoot character.