How sad is this?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The Emperor (Chow Yun-fat) returns with his second son, the Empress's first son, Prince Jai (Jay Chou) after a northern campaign. The Empress (Gong Li) has been having an affair with her stepson Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), the emperor's first son. She's planning to overthrow the Emperor but he's been slowly poisoning her. It's palace full of intrigue as the youngest Prince Yu arrives.The brightly-colored grand sets and costumes set this off. Although it can be a distraction. Some of the action is great. The final battle is a massive color explosion. The melodrama is over the top. Everything is over the top. None of the characters are appealing. It's hard to care about any of them. This is interesting to look at but not that compelling to watch.

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is a sumptuous and beautiful film – a real treat for the senses. Every shot has been painstakingly put together, and the colour palette on display here is like nothing you've ever seen before. The scenery is almost overpowering in its luxury. Now usually, I'd follow this description up by saying something like 'unfortunately, there's no plot to go with it' – but not in this case. CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is a Shakespearian tragedy told anew and a film Kurosawa himself would have been proud of.At its heart, this is a family drama. Corruption, secrets and lies always seem to be present at the highest households in the country, and it's no exception here. A web of blackmail, adultery, incest, poison and murder unfolds in a completely spellbinding way and it's an added bonus that the cast can do the story so much justice. Gong Li is fantastic as the centrepiece of the film, the doomed empress trying to get herself out of an impossible situation; the three actors playing the sons are all brilliant in their own way, and Chow Yun-Fat makes for a hissable yet understandable villain.Of course, there's the martial arts too. While I would have preferred for more realism, there's no denying the artistry of the fights here. Watching shadowy assassins flying through the air or an army of golden warriors battling it out with their silver enemies is breathtaking and tremendously entertaining. This is a film that starts off slowly before ending on a real high – a modern masterpiece at that. I hated HERO and really liked HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS – but CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER is the best yet!

The title refers to the Chrysanthemum flowers filling the Imperial Palace as the Emporer returns from the battlefields with his son, the general, Prince Jai. While on the road for three years, the Empress(sexy Gong Li) has been messing around with her stepson, Crown Prince Wan. He, meanwhile, has another girl, Jiang Chan, the Impetial Doctor's daughter, on the side. Intrigue follows, as the Emporer orders the doc to poison his cheating wife. Many family secrets unfold along the way, and the plots become Borgia like in their scope. Shakespeare's dramas also come to mind, with the twists and turns of the story. The thousands of bright yellow flowers, the palace, and the costumes provide an epic feast for the eyes. Curse of the Golden Flower is at the upper level of historical dramas.

Set in the 10th century, the Tang Dynasty(where, evidently, it is a law that any woman must be strikingly attractive and, whenever possible, present her cleavage(which I swear grows over the course of this), and try to frequently run or ride horses to make those babies bounce... well, makes sense, if I had the power, I'd pass that, as well), in China, this is about the royal family, in their lavish surroundings. The emperor married the princess of a neighboring province and she has borne him two sons and raised one he had already. Unfortunately, for the last decade, she has been suffering a deadly illness, for which she is receiving medicine several times a day. She's been getting worse, recently, and has also become obsessed with sewing chrysanthemums. With her husband and two of the princes returning, a soap opera will play out between these people. This is based on the classic play Lei yu, also adapted in '57 and '61. It is the final part of Zhang's trilogy started with Hero(the middle part being House of Flying Daggers, which I haven't seen), and unlike that one, this is primarily a drama(and befitting a closing chapter, it is a massive production). The epic cinematography, breathtaking art(with vivid colors and intricate symbols... if it does get to be straining at times) and flowing editing make this a remarkable visual viewing experience. This isn't pure flash, either, as it follows the film's theme of there being ugliness underneath the prettiest of surfaces. There are a few battles - the finale is grand in scope, and takes up 10 or 15 minutes of running time, and it may satisfy some - but this is not an action film. When there are martial arts sequences, they are badass, impeccably choreographed, smoothly filmed(the camera pulls back from/zooms in on, flies around or swiftly follows, the fighting) and quite exciting. Also, ninjas. For some reason. Yeah, their presence is actually pretty distracting(note that I'm not complaining about their inclusion). This is paced well. The story is fine, not the most interesting or well-told. There are twists, and they aren't bad. The DVD comes with trailers for The Hoax, The Dead Girl, Miss Potter and Astronaut Farmer. There is a bit of disturbing content(some of it sexual, if it is not explicit) and bloody violence(some of it gruesome, if not much of it graphic) in this. I recommend this to fans of Asian cinema. 7/10