By Eric on 2006-10-23

Zhang Yimou’s “Curse of the Golden Flower” with Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li. I had all weekend on think about it. Chow Yun Fat’s first appearance is hilarious since he had a beard. There’s lavish battle scenes with techniques I’ve never heard of, and I was an East Asian studies major!

The flick is basically a period piece depicting the 10th century reign of an emperor who wore Liberace beating blinging gold in each scene with the backdrop of drama between he and his family. Stripped down, Zhang Yimou is up to his same tricks, it’s a historical drama with characters who are being sneaky and jealous of each other. Zhang’s muse continues to be the depressed looking Gong Li. But what brings this one up is Chow Yun Fat, and the insane battle scenes and techniques, incredible ninjas, and the insane armor. Gladly the sword play wasn’t overbearing, since we don’t need that anymore… See this one for sure.