Curse of the Golden Flower
Encyclopedia
Curse of the Golden Flower is a 2006 Chinese epic drama film
directed by Zhang Yimou
.
With a budget of US$45 million, it was at the time of its release the most expensive Chinese film to date, surpassing Chen Kaige
's The Promise
. It was chosen as China's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
for the year 2006; but was not nominated in that category though it was nominated for the Costume Design
. In 2007 it received fourteen nominations at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards
and won Best Actress
for Gong Li
, Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make Up Design and Best Original Film Song for "菊花台" (Chrysanthemum Terrace) by Jay Chou
.
's 1934 play Thunderstorm
(雷雨 pinyin
: Léiyǔ), but is set in the Imperial court in ancient China. On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival
, golden chrysanthemum flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The Emperor (Chow Yun-fat
) returns from his various military campaigns with his second son and general, Prince Jai (Jay Chou
). The Emperor has returned to celebrate the holiday with his family. For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit affair. Prince Wan secretly dreams of escaping the palace with his secret lover Jiang Chan (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor's daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows curious and then worried over the Empress's health and her abnormal obsession with golden chrysanthemums.
For ten days, the Emperor had ordered the Imperial Doctor (Jiang Yiru) and his daughter Jiang Chan to secretly add tiny amounts of a poisonous Persian black fungus into the medicine that the Empress takes several times a day. The Empress summons Prince Jai, revealing to him her plot of rebellion. She asks for his participation but Jai hesitates, saying that it would be difficult for him to take up arms against his own father. After seeing his mother take a poisoned dose, he relents and agrees to participate.
A woman-in-black is captured by Prince Wan and taken to the Emperor, and it is revealed that she was Jiang Shi (Chen Jin), Jiang Yiru's wife, Jiang Chan's mother, and also the Emperor's previous lover. The Emperor promotes the doctor, sending him from the Palace to serve as governor of a remote area. Prince Wan runs after them to see Chan. From the information that Chan provides him with, he senses that the Empress is plotting something, so he hurries back to the palace and confronts her. The Empress, already losing her mind, bluntly claims that she just wants Wan to die and continue with her plan. Wan, in a panic, stabs himself and is put under care.
The doctor's family are attacked by mysterious assassins-in-black who kill Jiang Yiru. Chan and her mother are forced back to the palace. When they return the Empress reveals that Jiang Shi was actually the mother of Prince Wan, meaning his secret lover, Chan, is in fact his half-sister. Realizing this, a shocked and crazed Chan flees the palace screaming in horror with her mother chasing behind. Both are killed by the assassins-in-black.
Prince Yu abruptly kills Prince Wan and attempts to oblige the Emperor to abdicate the throne to him. He confesses that he also learned of the plot and his brother's affair with the Empress and acted in advance to gain the throne. The Emperor's assassins-in-black eliminate Prince Yu's tiny rebel force easily, and the Emperor beats Yu to death.
Thousands of golden armored warriors led by Prince Jai and wearing the embroidered flowers of the Empress charge the palace. As they charge forward, the Emperor's personal assassins attempt to stop them. Although Prince Jai's men take various casualties, they manage to beat the assassins and move forward. As the golden-armored army marches into the imperial square, they are boxed in by a clever trap. It is clear that the Emperor had full knowledge of the plot and had quietly moved a large army into the palace. From their superior position they are able to cut down the rebels with a massive hail of arrows. The Prince continues to fight but eventually surrenders. The survivors of the golden army are gathered, bound and executed on the Emperor's orders. After the battle, the courtyard is swiftly cleaned up as if the evening's event had never transpired and the Festival begins at midnight as scheduled.
The Emperor offers to spare Jai on the condition that he henceforth personally administer the medicine to the Empress. Prince Jai apologizes to his mother for his failure and kills himself, his blood spilling on the Empress's medicine. The Empress lets out a furious shriek and slaps the plate out of the servant's hands. The film then ends with an image of the poisonous medicine landing on an engraved wooden chrysanthemum and eating away at it.
poem attributed to the rebel leader Huang Chao
, "On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination" (不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊) or simply "Chrysanthemum":
Due to the film's high profile while it was still in production, its title, which can be literally translated as "The Whole City is Clothed in Golden Armor", became a colorful metaphor for the spring 2006 sandstorm
s in Beijing
and the term "golden armor" (黄金甲, huángjīnjiǎ) has since become a metaphor for sandstorms among the locals.
in the 1930s with its story re-worked (by Zhang) to transport it more than a millennium back in time.
At the start of the film, text from the English-language version of the film states that this movie is set in the time of the Tang
, in the year 928. However, the Chinese version of the film did not specify a time period. The film's published screenplay indicates it is set during Later Shu
of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In fact, the year 928 AD does not belong to Tang Dynasty, which actually ended in 907 AD. The year is in fact in the period of the Later Tang (923 AD to 936 AD) of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. On the other hand, two placenames, Qingzhou and Suzhou, are mentioned in the movie, but they were in fact not under the administration of either later Tang or later Shu. It should be noted that the story in the film is entirely fictional and has essentially no relation to real history. There are also a number of other inconsistencies
with established Chinese history. These include:
and holds an average rating of 65% by film critics on the review ranking site Rotten Tomatoes
. Yahoo! Movies
gave the film a B grade based on critical consensus. It has grossed over $78 million worldwide. It was also the third highest grossing non-English language film in 2006 after Apocalypto
and Pan's Labyrinth
.
Richard Corliss of Time magazine
praised the film's lurid operatic aspect and states: "this is high, and high-wire, melodrama...where matters of love and death are played at a perfect fever pitch. And grand this Golden Flower is." Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
states: "In Curse of the Golden Flower Mr. Zhang achieves a kind of operatic delirium, opening the floodgates of image and melodrama until the line between tragedy and black comedy is all but erased." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times
describes the film as: "A period spectacle, steeped in awesome splendor and lethal palace intrigue, it climaxes in a stupendous battle scene and epic tragedy" and "director Zhang Yimou's lavish epic celebrates the gifts of actress Gong Li while weaving a timeless tale of intrigue, corruption and tragedy." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon
states: "the morbid grandiosity of Curse of the Golden Flower is its own distinctive accomplishment, another remarkable chapter in the career of Asia's most important living filmmaker."
Stephen Hunter
of The Washington Post
writes: "Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower is a kind of feast, an over-the-top, all-stops-pulled-out lollapalooza that means to play kitschy and grand at once" and Hunter further states: "It's just a great old wild ride at the movies."
On the other hand, Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing
feels that the film was a poor reflection of director Zhang Yimou's
acclaimed works of the past. Bruce Westbrook of The Houston Chronicle though praising the film's spectacular visual, states "Visuals alone can't make a story soar, and too often this one becomes bogged down by spectacle..." Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
states the film is "A disappointing misfire from a great director." Gene Seymour of Newsweek
states: "Curse of the Golden Flower is to the feudal costumed adventure what Nicholas Ray
's Johnny Guitar
is to the Western. Both bend their genres to the extremes of operatic grandeur with such force as to pull up just below the level of High Camp." However Seymour states in the end that the film is overly melodramatic and ludicrous to absorb.
and one included in his Curse of the Golden Flower EP. The EP includes Jay Chou's song "Golden Armor" .
in 2007.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Zhang Yimou
Zhang Yimou
Zhang Yimou is a Chinese film director, producer, writer and actor, and former cinematographer. He is counted amongst the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, having made his directorial debut in 1987 with Red Sorghum....
.
With a budget of US$45 million, it was at the time of its release the most expensive Chinese film to date, surpassing Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling.-Early life:...
's The Promise
The Promise (2005 film)
The Promise is a 2005 Chinese epic fantasy film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Jang Dong-gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse. The film is based on the wuxia romance The K'un-lun Slave, written by P'ei Hsing at the time of the Tang Dynasty.First released in mainland China on...
. It was chosen as China's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
for the year 2006; but was not nominated in that category though it was nominated for the Costume Design
Academy Award for Costume Design
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
. In 2007 it received fourteen nominations at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards
26th Hong Kong Film Awards
Ceremony for the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards was held on 15 April 2007 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and hosted by Bowie Tsang, Nick Cheung and Lam Chi-chung. Twenty-six winners in nineteen categories were unveiled, with film After This Our Exile being the year's biggest winner...
and won Best Actress
Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
The Hong Kong Film Award for Best actress is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actress for the best performance by an actress in a leading role.-Records:-1980s:*1982 Kara Hui - My Young Auntie as Cheng Tai-Nan...
for Gong Li
Gong Li
Gong Li is a Chinese film actress. Gong first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping to bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States....
, Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make Up Design and Best Original Film Song for "菊花台" (Chrysanthemum Terrace) by Jay Chou
Jay Chou
Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
.
Plot
The plot is based on Cao YuCao Yu
Cao Yu , born as Wan Jiabao , was a renowned Chinese playwright, often regarded as China's most important of the 20th century. His most well-known works are Thunderstorm , Sunrise and Peking Man...
's 1934 play Thunderstorm
Thunderstorm (play)
Thunderstorm , is a play by the Chinese dramatist Cao Yu. It is one of the most popular dramatic Chinese works of the period prior to the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.-History:...
(雷雨 pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Léiyǔ), but is set in the Imperial court in ancient China. On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival
Double Ninth Festival
The Double Ninth Festival , observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period ....
, golden chrysanthemum flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The Emperor (Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
) returns from his various military campaigns with his second son and general, Prince Jai (Jay Chou
Jay Chou
Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
). The Emperor has returned to celebrate the holiday with his family. For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit affair. Prince Wan secretly dreams of escaping the palace with his secret lover Jiang Chan (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor's daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows curious and then worried over the Empress's health and her abnormal obsession with golden chrysanthemums.
For ten days, the Emperor had ordered the Imperial Doctor (Jiang Yiru) and his daughter Jiang Chan to secretly add tiny amounts of a poisonous Persian black fungus into the medicine that the Empress takes several times a day. The Empress summons Prince Jai, revealing to him her plot of rebellion. She asks for his participation but Jai hesitates, saying that it would be difficult for him to take up arms against his own father. After seeing his mother take a poisoned dose, he relents and agrees to participate.
A woman-in-black is captured by Prince Wan and taken to the Emperor, and it is revealed that she was Jiang Shi (Chen Jin), Jiang Yiru's wife, Jiang Chan's mother, and also the Emperor's previous lover. The Emperor promotes the doctor, sending him from the Palace to serve as governor of a remote area. Prince Wan runs after them to see Chan. From the information that Chan provides him with, he senses that the Empress is plotting something, so he hurries back to the palace and confronts her. The Empress, already losing her mind, bluntly claims that she just wants Wan to die and continue with her plan. Wan, in a panic, stabs himself and is put under care.
The doctor's family are attacked by mysterious assassins-in-black who kill Jiang Yiru. Chan and her mother are forced back to the palace. When they return the Empress reveals that Jiang Shi was actually the mother of Prince Wan, meaning his secret lover, Chan, is in fact his half-sister. Realizing this, a shocked and crazed Chan flees the palace screaming in horror with her mother chasing behind. Both are killed by the assassins-in-black.
Prince Yu abruptly kills Prince Wan and attempts to oblige the Emperor to abdicate the throne to him. He confesses that he also learned of the plot and his brother's affair with the Empress and acted in advance to gain the throne. The Emperor's assassins-in-black eliminate Prince Yu's tiny rebel force easily, and the Emperor beats Yu to death.
Thousands of golden armored warriors led by Prince Jai and wearing the embroidered flowers of the Empress charge the palace. As they charge forward, the Emperor's personal assassins attempt to stop them. Although Prince Jai's men take various casualties, they manage to beat the assassins and move forward. As the golden-armored army marches into the imperial square, they are boxed in by a clever trap. It is clear that the Emperor had full knowledge of the plot and had quietly moved a large army into the palace. From their superior position they are able to cut down the rebels with a massive hail of arrows. The Prince continues to fight but eventually surrenders. The survivors of the golden army are gathered, bound and executed on the Emperor's orders. After the battle, the courtyard is swiftly cleaned up as if the evening's event had never transpired and the Festival begins at midnight as scheduled.
The Emperor offers to spare Jai on the condition that he henceforth personally administer the medicine to the Empress. Prince Jai apologizes to his mother for his failure and kills himself, his blood spilling on the Empress's medicine. The Empress lets out a furious shriek and slaps the plate out of the servant's hands. The film then ends with an image of the poisonous medicine landing on an engraved wooden chrysanthemum and eating away at it.
Cast
- Chow Yun-fatChow Yun-FatChow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
as Emperor Ping (大王 Dàwáng "Emperor") - Corresponding ThunderstormThunderstorm (play)Thunderstorm , is a play by the Chinese dramatist Cao Yu. It is one of the most popular dramatic Chinese works of the period prior to the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.-History:...
character Zhou Puyuan - Gong LiGong LiGong Li is a Chinese film actress. Gong first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping to bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States....
as Empress Phoenix (王后 Wánghòu "Empress") - Corresponding to Zhou Fanyi - Jay ChouJay ChouJay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
as Prince Jai (Prince Yuanjie (王子元杰 Wángzǐ Yuánjié)) - Corresponds to Lu Dahai - Qin Junjie as Prince Yu (Prince Yuancheng (王子元成 Wángzǐ Yuánchéng)) - Corresponds to Zhou Chong
- Liu Ye as Crown Prince Wan (Crown Prince Yuanxiang (太子元祥 Tàizǐ Yuánxiáng)) - Corresponds to Zhou Ping.
- Ni Dahong as Imperial Physician Jiang (蒋太医 Jiǎng-tàiyī) - He is later Governor of Xuju and Commander of Chariots - Corresponds to Lu Gui
- Chen Jin as physician's wife (Mrs. Jiang (蒋氏 Jiǎng-shì)) - Corresponds to Lu Shiping
- Li Man as Jiang Chan (蔣 嬋 Jiǎng Chán, physician's daughter) - Corresponds to Lu Sifeng
Title
The Chinese title of the movie is taken from the last line of a Tang dynastyTang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
poem attributed to the rebel leader Huang Chao
Huang Chao
Huang Chao was the leader of the Huang Chao Rebellion , known in mainland China as the Huang Chao Revolution in China that seriously weakened the once mighty Tang Dynasty of China...
, "On the Chrysanthemum, after failing the Imperial Examination" (不第後賦菊/不第后赋菊) or simply "Chrysanthemum":
Due to the film's high profile while it was still in production, its title, which can be literally translated as "The Whole City is Clothed in Golden Armor", became a colorful metaphor for the spring 2006 sandstorm
Dust storm
A dust / sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil to move from one place and deposition...
s in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and the term "golden armor" (黄金甲, huángjīnjiǎ) has since become a metaphor for sandstorms among the locals.
Historical perspective
The primary source for the screenplay (co-written by Director Zhang, Wu Nan and Bian Zhihong) is a renowned Chinese play written by Cao YuCao Yu
Cao Yu , born as Wan Jiabao , was a renowned Chinese playwright, often regarded as China's most important of the 20th century. His most well-known works are Thunderstorm , Sunrise and Peking Man...
in the 1930s with its story re-worked (by Zhang) to transport it more than a millennium back in time.
At the start of the film, text from the English-language version of the film states that this movie is set in the time of the Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, in the year 928. However, the Chinese version of the film did not specify a time period. The film's published screenplay indicates it is set during Later Shu
Later Shu
Later Shu was one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China from 907 to 960. It was located in present-day Sichuan with its capital in Chengdu.-Founding:...
of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. In fact, the year 928 AD does not belong to Tang Dynasty, which actually ended in 907 AD. The year is in fact in the period of the Later Tang (923 AD to 936 AD) of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. On the other hand, two placenames, Qingzhou and Suzhou, are mentioned in the movie, but they were in fact not under the administration of either later Tang or later Shu. It should be noted that the story in the film is entirely fictional and has essentially no relation to real history. There are also a number of other inconsistencies
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
with established Chinese history. These include:
- The use of nail extensions by the Empress was not popular during the Tang Dynasty. Nail extensions did become popular during the Ming DynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
some six hundred years later.
Critical response
The US release garnered a generally positive reception (although tepid comparing to the director's past works). It received a score of 70 out of 100 from film critics according to the review aggregator MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and holds an average rating of 65% by film critics on the review ranking site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies , provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yahoo! Movies also includes red carpet photos, actor galleries, and production...
gave the film a B grade based on critical consensus. It has grossed over $78 million worldwide. It was also the third highest grossing non-English language film in 2006 after Apocalypto
Apocalypto
Apocalypto is a 2006 American epic action-adventure film directed by Mel Gibson. Set in Yucatan, Mexico, during the declining period of the Maya civilization, Apocalypto depicts the journey of a Mesoamerican tribesman who must escape human sacrifice and rescue his family after the capture and...
and Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...
.
Richard Corliss of Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
praised the film's lurid operatic aspect and states: "this is high, and high-wire, melodrama...where matters of love and death are played at a perfect fever pitch. And grand this Golden Flower is." Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
states: "In Curse of the Golden Flower Mr. Zhang achieves a kind of operatic delirium, opening the floodgates of image and melodrama until the line between tragedy and black comedy is all but erased." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
describes the film as: "A period spectacle, steeped in awesome splendor and lethal palace intrigue, it climaxes in a stupendous battle scene and epic tragedy" and "director Zhang Yimou's lavish epic celebrates the gifts of actress Gong Li while weaving a timeless tale of intrigue, corruption and tragedy." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
states: "the morbid grandiosity of Curse of the Golden Flower is its own distinctive accomplishment, another remarkable chapter in the career of Asia's most important living filmmaker."
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter is an American novelist, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic.-Life and career:Stephen Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunter, a Northwestern University speech professor who was killed in 1975....
of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
writes: "Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower is a kind of feast, an over-the-top, all-stops-pulled-out lollapalooza that means to play kitschy and grand at once" and Hunter further states: "It's just a great old wild ride at the movies."
On the other hand, Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing
CL Inc. is the Tampa, Florida-based publisher of three city newsweeklies and their associated websites. Each of the papers focuses on local news, politics, arts and entertainment, and restaurants...
feels that the film was a poor reflection of director Zhang Yimou's
Zhang Yimou
Zhang Yimou is a Chinese film director, producer, writer and actor, and former cinematographer. He is counted amongst the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, having made his directorial debut in 1987 with Red Sorghum....
acclaimed works of the past. Bruce Westbrook of The Houston Chronicle though praising the film's spectacular visual, states "Visuals alone can't make a story soar, and too often this one becomes bogged down by spectacle..." Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
states the film is "A disappointing misfire from a great director." Gene Seymour of Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
states: "Curse of the Golden Flower is to the feudal costumed adventure what Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
's Johnny Guitar
Johnny Guitar
Johnny Guitar is a 1954 Republic Pictures Western film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady.The screenplay was based upon a novel by Roy Chanslor. Though credited to Philip Yordan, he was merely a front for the actual screenwriter, blacklistee Ben Maddow. ...
is to the Western. Both bend their genres to the extremes of operatic grandeur with such force as to pull up just below the level of High Camp." However Seymour states in the end that the film is overly melodramatic and ludicrous to absorb.
Soundtrack
Besides starring in the film, Jay Chou has also recorded two songs to accompany the film, one titled "Chrysanthemum Terrace" , released on his 2006 album Still FantasyStill Fantasy
Still Fantasy is the seventh studio album by Taiwanese Mandopop artist Jay Chou. It was released on 5 September 2006 by Alfa Music and distributed by Sony Music Taiwan.The album was originally scheduled for release on 8 September...
and one included in his Curse of the Golden Flower EP. The EP includes Jay Chou's song "Golden Armor" .
Awards and nominations
Curse of the Golden Flower won four awards out of 14 nominations from the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards26th Hong Kong Film Awards
Ceremony for the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards was held on 15 April 2007 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and hosted by Bowie Tsang, Nick Cheung and Lam Chi-chung. Twenty-six winners in nineteen categories were unveiled, with film After This Our Exile being the year's biggest winner...
in 2007.
| Category | |Result | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Film Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to the films which is considered the best of the year.-History:... |
Curse of the Golden Flower | ||
| Best Director Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a director for the best achievement in cinematic direction.-History:... |
Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou is a Chinese film director, producer, writer and actor, and former cinematographer. He is counted amongst the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, having made his directorial debut in 1987 with Red Sorghum.... |
||
| Best Actor Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actor for the best performance by an actor in a leading role.-History:... |
Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-Fat Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... |
||
| Best Actress Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress The Hong Kong Film Award for Best actress is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actress for the best performance by an actress in a leading role.-Records:-1980s:*1982 Kara Hui - My Young Auntie as Cheng Tai-Nan... |
Gong Li Gong Li Gong Li is a Chinese film actress. Gong first came into international prominence through close collaboration with Chinese director Zhang Yimou and is credited with helping to bring Chinese cinema to Europe and the United States.... |
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| Best Supporting Actor Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actor for the best performance by an actor in a supporting role.-History:... |
Jay Chou Jay Chou Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for... |
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| Best Supporting Actor Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to an actor for the best performance by an actor in a supporting role.-History:... |
Liu Ye | ||
| Best Cinematography Hong Kong Film Award for Best Cinematography The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Cinematography is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a cinematographer or a group of cinematographers for the best achievement in cinematography.-History:... |
Zhao Xiaoding Zhao Xiaoding Zhao Xiaoding is a Chinese photographer and cinematographer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the film House of Flying Daggers . He is currently set to handle the cinematography for an upcoming historical drama war film called The Flowers of... |
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| Art Direction | Huo Tingxiao | ||
| Best Costume and Make Up Design | Yee Chung-Man Yee Chung-Man Kenneth Yee Chung-Man is a Chinese production designer, art director, costume designer and film director. He was awarded Best Costume and Make Up Design for Curse of the Golden Flower at the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2007.... |
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| Best Action Choreography Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a choreographer or a group of choreographers for the best achievement in action choreography.-History:... |
Ching Siu-tung Ching Siu-tung Ching Siu-tung , also known as Tony Ching, is a Hong Kong action choreographer, actor, film director and producer, who has directed over 20 films, including the critically acclaimed supernatural fantasy A Chinese Ghost Story .-Career:... |
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| Best Original Film Score | Shigeru Umebayashi Shigeru Umebayashi is a Japanese composer.Once the leader of Japan's new-wave rock band EX, composer Shigeru Umebayashi began scoring films in 1985 when the band broke up. He has more than 40 Japanese and Chinese films to his credit and is perhaps best known in the West for his score for director Wong Kar-wai's In... |
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| Best Original Song | "菊花台" (Chrysanthemum Flower Bed) by Jay Chou Jay Chou Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for... from Still Fantasy Still Fantasy Still Fantasy is the seventh studio album by Taiwanese Mandopop artist Jay Chou. It was released on 5 September 2006 by Alfa Music and distributed by Sony Music Taiwan.The album was originally scheduled for release on 8 September... |
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| Best Sound Design | Tao Jing, Roger Savage | ||
| Best Visual Effects | Cheuk Wah |
See also
- List of most expensive non-English language films
- Mingzong of Later TangMingzong of Later TangEmperor Mingzong of Later Tang , personal name Li Siyuan , original name/nickname Miaojilie , name later changed to Li Dan , was emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty from 926 to 933.-Family:...
External links
- Curse of the Golden Flower at LoveHKFilm.com
- Curse of the Golden Flower at MonkeyPeaches
- Official Website
- Official Chinese Website (Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia)
- UK DVD review at DVD Reviewer
- Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) at Box Office MojoBox Office MojoBox Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...