69 replies to this topic

[Centaur]

Another new film on the way: Curse of the Golden Flower <<满城尽带黄金甲>>. This show will be competing with 'The Banquet' in the Canns Film fest of 2007.

The plot is based on Cao Yu's 1934 drama Thunderstorm, but is set in the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty. Hong Kong filmstar Chow Yun-Fat plays the emperor while Gong Li, who starred in many of Zhang Yimou's films in the years 1987-1995, plays the empress

To watch the trailer:
Site: http://www.apple.com...hegoldenflower/

source: Wikipedia

site: http://www.monkeypea...oldenarmor.html

[WangEnlai]

I'd have to say this flux of chinese movies is a good thing.

[Centaur]

I'd have to say this flux of chinese movies is a good thing.

I hope they will be able to maintain a good standard for the movies... it is important that these movies are for quality and not just some thing the 'Promise' or the 'Myth'.

I managed to check the promo for The Banquet and it is kind of good - hopefully, it is not a case of 'Loud thunders and little rain'

[Wujiang]

As long as Jackie Chan isn't it in, it has hope.

[Mayo]

Edited by Mayo, 23 November 2006 - 11:13 PM.

[Moon]

Wow! Look at the costumes and the jewels and the production settings.. already worth the movie ticket's price. Though I suspect the story is a fiction..?

Must watch, my fave actor (Chow Yuen Fatt) is in it.

[DaMo]

Did empresses show that much cleavage?

[Ashura]

Why is everything in the set golden? I know golden is in the title but does it has to be this much?

Why is the empress wearing nail protectors? I thought it was a Qing tradition.

If the setting is in Tang, then the roof shouldn't be yellow.

Zhou Jie Lun is not an actor, let alone a good one, why is he even in a moive?

This movie seems like a pure eyes-pleaser.

Zhang Yi Mou needs to make a black & white movie before he can be called a good director.

[Centaur]

Why is everything in the set golden? I know golden is in the title but does it has to be this much?

Why is the empress wearing nail protectors? I thought it was a Qing tradition.

If the setting is in Tang, then the roof shouldn't be yellow.

Zhou Jie Lun is not an actor, let alone a good one, why is he even in a moive?

This movie seems like a pure eyes-pleaser.

Zhang Yi Mou needs to make a black & white movie before he can be called a good director.

Zhang Yimou likes to play with colours and there not surprising that he is still on it... Remember 'Hero' the rush of colours?

You are right, historically, the show is incorrect. I guess, they put Jay Chou in the movie because his current status as an idol and they are hoping that he would draw the crowds... that is really not quite right, after all Gong Li and Chow Yuen Fatt should be enough of a box office draw.

I suppose someday Zhang Yimou might come up with a better show... actually, there was a show I particularly liked..."Not one less" (1999). I thought this was definitely a better show than all his other new shows.

source site: http://www.sonypictu...eless/home.html

[Yun]

I really liked Not One Less too. Too bad he's switched to making mostly blockbuster-wannabes.

The low necklines were unique to Tang fashion, but I'm sure they weren't that tight. Frankly, no one seemed to care much about breast size in the Tang, if paintings are anything to go by. The aim of the low necklines was to show off the fleshy shoulders - which are all covered up in Gong Li's case, so the whole effect looks wrong.

And what is that Dadao glaive doing in the Tang dynasty?

[Ashura]

Zhang Yimou likes to play with colours and there not surprising that he is still on it... Remember 'Hero' the rush of colours?

I know he likes to play with colours, but this play is starting to get boring and unoriginal as he is just putting them up as a show now. Kurosawa played with colours too but colours in Kurosawa's movies serve a purpose. Take Ran for example, it makes one to think about the tragic story in a colourful world. In Ran, the prettiness is a sharpe contrast to the ugliness. I see nothing in Zhang Yi Mou's recent blockbuster-ish movies. That's why I said he really needs to make a black & white movie to understand what is the play of colours all about.

In addition, even though it is a fiction, if he wants to set in in Tang, at least he should try to make it looks like it. Do some research. Man, CHF is just a few clicks away.

[Mayo]

I really liked Not One Less too. Too bad he's switched to making mostly blockbuster-wannabes.

The low necklines were unique to Tang fashion, but I'm sure they weren't that tight. Frankly, no one seemed to care much about breast size in the Tang, if paintings are anything to go by. The aim of the low necklines was to show off the fleshy shoulders - which are all covered up in Gong Li's case, so the whole effect looks wrong.

And what is that Dadao glaive doing in the Tang dynasty?

Correction

Guan Dao

[Nero's Neptune]

Why is everything in the set golden? I know golden is in the title but does it has to be this much?

Why is the empress wearing nail protectors? I thought it was a Qing tradition.

If the setting is in Tang, then the roof shouldn't be yellow.

Zhou Jie Lun is not an actor, let alone a good one, why is he even in a moive?

This movie seems like a pure eyes-pleaser.

Zhang Yi Mou needs to make a black & white movie before he can be called a good director.

The roof's yellow because Zhang Yimou was shooting the film in Hengdian Studio's 1:1 replica of Qing-era Forbidden City. Since Qing dynasty costume appeared in Zhang Yimou's eariler Tang-era period film House of Flying Dagger, I'm not surprised at all Zhang decided nail-protector should make an appearance in Curse of Golden Flowers.

I consider Zhang Yimou to be a culture exploitor, a 'Self-Orientalist'. He is a director who feeds on people's stereotypes. The stereotypical view of Chinese palace is golden roof and red walls, so he gives you golden roof and red walls. The stereotypical view of Chinese weapon is Ming-era and Song-era dao, so he gives you these weapons in both of his Tang-era films. The stereotypical view of Chinese sense of colour is bright and gaudy, so he gives you a lot of showy golden and red....the list can go on and on, to his Raise the Red Lantern, which was criticized by Shanxi locals as a work of exoticism based on outsiders' myth and stereotypes.

When the Chinese culture performance during 2004 Athen Games closing ceremony (which Zhang Yimou directed) was widely criticized on Chinese internet forums for misrepresenting Chinese culture, he told an interviewer that despite its poor reception in China, foreigners loved the show because 'it's the China they all knew'.

[Ashura]

Well Zhang Yimou is then an irresponsible cultural transmittor. I think we should boycott this movie....and almost all recent Chinese period blockbusters to teach them a lesson. History when taken out the truth is merely a propaganda...even worst in this case it is a money tree.

[Yun]

Correction

Guan Dao

Guan Yu never used it, so why call it Guandao? Why make that concession to a historically inaccurate novel?

To be more precise, I should have called it Yanyuedao, since there are many types of Dadao.