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!

An intense drama with superb production design.It's the kind of drama that we used to see in our childhood with family politics involved and the fight is for the throne. Who is going to be the heir? How to take the throne from a king who is good at fighting but not so kind at heart? This forms the whole story and indeed that is what is the whole movie.Characters are shown as they are, and slowly as the film progresses, their real motives are revealed. From crown prince to the empress to a doctor, everyone is doing something for themselves and its their selfishness that has drowned them. At the beginning, I thought it would be hard to understand story, but as things got simpler, I started actually disliking it. It's a complex story with every character being pivotal to the culmination of the story, yet with each detail revealed I was getting to know more of the story and as knowledge grew, interest reduced and that's what happened. Yet, this is a very hardcore drama and a great drama too. We don't see so much of politics involved and each character plotting against the other in many films. Now, before I go ahead reviewing anything, costume design and set design which combine into production design are aspects I loved this movie for. The climax fight that is choreographed superbly shows a glimpse of how authentic the whole film is. From beginning to the end, the palace, the kings costume, the queen's embroidery each has it's own distinct artistry and all are beautiful. Gong Li as the empress has showed great variation in emotion and so did Chow Yun Fat as the emperor. All others showed emotion well. Sound design was good tooNow, this is good movie and not a great one though, a 3/5 is what I think is apt.

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.

First off I love Zhang Yimou's films - Raise the Red Lantern. He seems to be really good when he's placed under extreme pressure and has a modest budget. But when he's given tons of cash, he produces this.It looks like an epic. But it feels so try hard - like the effort to increase the bust sizes of all the female actresses by several cup sizes.I found the battle scenes to be very corny and fake. Maybe they were trying to make it stylized or something like Kagemusha but it didn't work for me.When I watched Raise the Red Lantern, I loved the cinematography, the pacing, the direction - this film however seems the total opposite. Maybe it was made for a greater mass appeal.