ZHANG YIMOU: Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia / Curse of the Golden Flower

This is the best film of the year. Saw it at the AFI in Los Angeles, and was just utterly blown away by it. Great review Michael, you nailed it right on the head.

Why is it getting so may negaive reviews by Hollywood reporter and Variety?

Fantastic review! You've covered everything I wanted to know about the film. Thankyou Michael!! My friends and I are highly anticipating this film. How can any film lovers resist a Zhang Yimou, Gong Li & Chow Yun Fat collaboration? They are one of the finest talents in their profession. I saw the trailer and photos of the film & my jaws dropped in awe of the absolutely stunning imagery! The plot sounds interesting too, dark & mysterious! I just can't wait to watch it! Does anyone have any idea when it will be shown in Sydney, Australia?

Thank you, Marc; I'm heartened to hear someone shares my enthusiasm for the film.

Like yourself, Hill, I'm curious about why Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have been so disparaging. Mileage varies, I guess. The film has been criticized for its CGI warrior scenes. The standard, of course, has become LORD OF THE RINGS and everything is measured against that. Granted, true, it's nothing new; but, watching the hordes cascade in gold and silver remains visually stunning.

Lorraine, please let me know what you think when you and your friends finally get to see the film in Sydney.

I too saw the film (and the director and the actors) at the AFI debut. It raises the bar on spectacle and is visually beyond the beyond, as we would expect from Zhang Yimou. As a westerner I found the court intrigue less interesting than the other two Wuxia films. But Zhang Yimou is incapable of making a bad film. The spectacle alone is worth twice the admission!

I'd have to agree with you there, David, and yeah, when it comes to court intrigue, I guess folks prefer various styles. Though I enjoyed the Shakespearean simplicity of it all, I'm aware that others consider it simply quasi-Shakespearean.

Wow! this film really sounds good. Well i know a lot of people loved Hero and house of flying daggers, but the big reason they loved it is because the films were kinda centered around love, love of your country, love 4 ur lover. The action was a way to keep people interested in it. I hear this film is more a drama than an action film, but whatever, if it has a little action or no action I'd still go see a Zhang yimou film. People here in the us can't say that the film has too much cgi!!! Besides practically the entire continent loved lord of the rings, and that film is all cgi. It's either because its an asian who made the film or it might just be because the cgi sucks, but anyways when i see the film an judge the cgi for myself then i'll know whether or not people are just not liking this whole asian prospect of film making. ZHang yimou is awesome!!

Variety's review cites The Banquet as being better than Curse of the Golden Flower because Banquet was able to better balance the mix of martial arts and drama. This is completely opposite of every review of The Banquet I've read, which faulted it for having a poor balance in that the action intruded on the story.

Variety, and the LA Times as well, tend to favor made in Los Angeles films, and perhaps this bias played a role.

merhaba. mükemmle bir film.