Freebie!

There were a whole lot of movies that I've seen since the last post, but this is the only one I'm gonna talk about right now - Curse of the Golden Flower. Because it hasn't been released yet and I want people to know about it before they go. Yes, some of you will be skiving off work just as I write this so it will probably be a pointless exercise but I'm gonna do it anyway.

This was meant to be a photo of what I manage to eat nowadays, but since I had a free pass to see the newest release by Zhang Yimou, I thought I'd throw it in there too. Zhang takes directorial credit as well as a writing credit for this, and despite being crammed against the wall on the right side third row, I liked it.

Sure, I had had passes to see a sneak preview of another Zhang film House of Flying Daggers, and it was pretty much the same - only different. There was a lot of the same imagery, a lot of close ups of Gong Li's face, a whole lot of flying fighting, but the story was a little different. I had a bit of a problem with the wardrobe, though. I'm no expert on Chinese history, but the dresses worn by the Empress and the female servants seemed to be a bit... let's say modern. This costuming ploy saved Bram Stoker's Dracula, so why wouldn't it help a film about the Empress of China? As my friend pointed out, there's really no reason to complain, but I prefer accuracy. If that's how it was back then, then so it was. Li stars alongside Chow Yun Fat as the Empress Phoenix and Emperor Ping of China, respectively. My friend and I were both a little puzzled by the whole premise but it goes a little something like this:

The Emperor has three sons by at least two separate women - probably just two but it's never really established where the third kid comes from. Ping is currently trying to poison his wife in an effort to drive her mad. See, his wife is having an affair with the eldest son, her stepson or whatever who in turn is getting it on the side from a servant girl who... more on her later. Anyway, Ping can't blame his son because he always was the favourite so I guess that's why he's trying to poison the wife - he blames her. Turns out the eldest son is a bit of a failure, and the hopes of the Empire truly rest on the shoulders of the second son played by Jay Chou. His mummy, the Empress discovers that she is being poisoned and shares this news with him. She says that during the Chong Yang Festival, she will force her husband to abdicate the throne so that her son can become Emperor. The son vows to protect his mother who, tells her stepson of the plot. The stepson decides that he can't go along with the plan and reveals all to his father.

At some point, the eldest prince tries to commit suicide. As the festival approaches, the servant girl who has been knowingly poisoning the Empress for weeks, chases her boyfriend to the Imperial palace to protect him or something. Her family has just been set upon by assassins sent by the Emperor because her father, the Emperor's doctor was married to a woman who happened to be a threat to the dynasty. Really, only the mother knows why. The servant girl arrives at the palace pursued by her mother, and both are captured and taken to the Emperor who is only trying to have a little peace and quiet with his wife and three sons. The servant girl's mother, known to the Empress blabs the Emperor's secret - that she is the mother of the eldest son, and thus the servant girl learns that she has been shtupping her half-brother for quite some time. She runs from the palace, screaming as her brain is exploding and is killed as she flees, and so is her mother.

The story moves back to the Emperor and his new family. The youngest prince stabs his eldest brother in the back and is pretty much wasted by the father after that. Somewhere in the film, the second son leaves the ceremony and goes outside to gather with the troops. He attacks the palace, but it's hopeless. He can't win. I guess he's the only one left of the ten thousand rebels who stormed the grounds because he is invited to eat with his parents. He is told by the father that he was meant to become the Crown Prince. The Emperor had changed his mind and had planned to make the announcement the very next day, but after this little act of treason the Emperor gave him an ultimatum. The choices were either be torn into fifths by horses, or continue to administer his mother's medicine which is poisoned, and which he knows is poisoned, but can't let his father know he knows it's poisoned because then the whole charade would be over and it would somehow implicate his mother who also knew the medicine was poisoned but couldn't accuse her husband directly of trying to poison her. So it's not really a choice at all. Either he dies or his mother dies. He kills himself, and that's pretty much the end. Which left my friend with a few questions like why the Emperor was trying to slowly drive his wife insane, and left me wondering what happened after that. This really wasn't the place to end the film I thought. What about the next morning? I would have liked to hear that conversation between Phoenix and Ping. Maybe there was no next morning for Ping, what with no heir and a really pissed off, ass-kicking wife. Just a few more minutes... That's all I'm asking.

The movie is all about hypocrisy and other stuff, but mostly hypocrisy. The Emperor proclaims that he has a model family and that it is his duty to inspire his subjects. All the while, he's trying to turn his wife mad, and his sons secretly hate one another while one is having an affair with the Empress, another is plotting to overthrow his father and another is just trying to get a little attention. Man Li stars as Chan Jiang, the servant girl. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the near future.