Chinese directors seem obsessed with the royal incestous theme these days. And they are playing it up with glorious cinematography, lush sets and really fancy costumes.
Zhang Yimou, grand-daddy of Chinese Arthouse, has jumped on the hip
Hamlet bandwagon with his latest offering, Curse of the Golden Flower. And in what better style than to be reunited with his darling muse, Gong Li. Who by the way kicks some kewt Zhang Ziyi ass in this
Tang adaptation of an old 1934 play called Thunderstorm by Chinese playwright Cao Yu. Ziyi, if you remember, played a similar role of love-torn Empress in Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet earlier this year.
Well we caught this late yesterday evening, a sneak peek before the Chrysanthemums officially bloom in cinemas today. And I must say we enjoyed it more than we did The Banquet.
Sure the themes in both films are almost identical. Empress, trapped in a loveless marriage to a despotic Emperor, is secretly in love with a useless Prince, and plots the downfall of a doomed Dynasty. Been there done that =)) But with Curse, the story is told much more vividly and Director Zhang manages to keep a tight rein on the pace and dialogue which made the 2 hours pass relatively enjoyably and quickly.
For 30-somethings like us, the draw in Curse was the ever charasmatic Chow Yun Fatt (my idol during his 'pre-pubescent'
Man In The Net days) and China's greatest gift to Movieworld, Gong Li. Both did not dissappoint. In fact they were really impressive. If Gong was the consummate Empress with the perfect screen-gravitas, Chow matched her every emotional quiver with such icy royal nonchalance, I actually felt cold =))
But Zhang Yimou is a wily old fox as well as expert film-maker. Old Mr Chow and Ms Gong may appeal to the older set, but by having Taiwanese Prince of R&B Jay Chou ditch his trucker-rapper cap and ripped jeans for luscious gold armor as a 'real'
Tang Prince, he has scored a coup with the Mumbler's legions of adoring young fans. Better still, Zhang got Jay to sing the film's theme song, a plaintive emotional ditty about a Chrysanthemum Flower Bed. Whatever that is! =)) Grapevine talk is that Jay agreed not to mumble his way through this number out of respect for Zhang who admitted that he, like most old-foggies, did not know what the rapper was mouthing about half the time =))
Anyway, Jay Chou should stick with his droopy-fringe-over-slitty-eyes-I-don't-give-a-damn-if-you-think-I-mumble persona. Because he looks, how should I say this without offending the Chou-ers, pretty wierd in period costume. You almost wish he would take off his stuffy robes and do a little song and dance for the amusement of the numerous sexy, ample-bosomed, Palace maidens. Ooolala =)) They all look like back-up dancers in his MTVs anyway =P Jay's acting was at best, OK, and at worst, slightly wooden. Nothing to shout about really.
In terms of set design and costumes, I would say Curse loses out to The Banquet because the latter was more designer-oriental-chic and stylish. But only slightly. This time, I think Zhang went a little overboard with the Golden theme. Not to say it wasn't nice, just too painful for the retinas after a while =)) The Palace set was a trifle tacky though. What with colorful, glow-in-the-dark pillars and psychedelic walls. In some scenes, you might think you have walked right smack into the Crown Prince of Brunei's wedding and that the Emperor would soon break into
silat or something to entertain the guests =))
Overall a 8/10 for me. If not for Gong Li and Chow Yun Fatt, then for the bevy of corset-tightened nubiles running all over The Forbidden City.