Comments on: Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) http://piddleville.com Musings about movies Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bill http://piddleville.com/reviews/curse-of-the-golden-flower-2006/comment-page-1/#comment-5311 Bill Sun, 14 Dec 2008 19:44:54 +0000 http://piddleville.com/reviews/curse-of-the-golden-flower-2006/#comment-5311 Thanks for visiting Piddleville! Sorry, but I have to disagree with your disagreement. I think parts of your argument are false as they suggest an audience must have an awareness of "certain unwritten aesthetics," history (always somewhat subjective), and of China itself. While this might be helpful, even desired, a movie cannot expect an audience to come to it with anything other than a willingness to watch. It stands or falls only as a movie, a story. I certainly wouldn't disagree that it has appeal for a western audience, or even that it was made with that in mind. Only Yimou Zhang could answer that question. Still, it's good or bad as a story, one well told or not. It can't be considered good or bad due to its historical accuracy or by how well it fits into an aesthetic. I grant you, an audience in China may appreciate (or not) a film differently than a western audience. Within a Chinese context, it may be a lousy movie. But I can only judge it from a western context - it's really all I know. Neither negates the other or is ascendant over the other. From my perspective, it is a very good film. I found the story engaging and, honestly, I don't care if its historically accurate. This is a drama and, by definition, fiction. Thanks for visiting Piddleville! Sorry, but I have to disagree with your disagreement. I think parts of your argument are false as they suggest an audience must have an awareness of “certain unwritten aesthetics,” history (always somewhat subjective), and of China itself. While this might be helpful, even desired, a movie cannot expect an audience to come to it with anything other than a willingness to watch. It stands or falls only as a movie, a story.

I certainly wouldn’t disagree that it has appeal for a western audience, or even that it was made with that in mind. Only Yimou Zhang could answer that question. Still, it’s good or bad as a story, one well told or not. It can’t be considered good or bad due to its historical accuracy or by how well it fits into an aesthetic.

I grant you, an audience in China may appreciate (or not) a film differently than a western audience. Within a Chinese context, it may be a lousy movie. But I can only judge it from a western context – it’s really all I know. Neither negates the other or is ascendant over the other.

From my perspective, it is a very good film. I found the story engaging and, honestly, I don’t care if its historically accurate. This is a drama and, by definition, fiction.

]]> By: PB http://piddleville.com/reviews/curse-of-the-golden-flower-2006/comment-page-1/#comment-1344 PB Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:35:17 +0000 http://piddleville.com/reviews/curse-of-the-golden-flower-2006/#comment-1344 PB would have to disagree with you there unfortunately. The Curse was a horrible rendition of an otherwise potentially great film. Chinese historical dramas are bound by certain unwritten aesthetics and this one made a mockery of all of those. While PB stands ambivalent with Yang Zhimou as a director, she most certainly found this work to be particularly annoying. Notice the oversaturated colors, the distorted psychedlic lighting, the overtly sexual displays, the subpar dialogue - yes, they helped achieved an effect but was it a worthy one? PB feels like this is yet another Chinese film that is geared toward the Western market because it caters to a very Western sense of what Asian cinema should be in order to be good. It is not even remotely historically accurate and seemed to have been made with little regard to character developement, opting for cool special effects instead. In fact it was very poorly received among Chinese film critics and audiences alike. PB counts herself one of those dissenters. P.S. Sorry to have just left a comment without any introduction. Hello. PB found Piddleville after googling classic movie blogs. PB would have to disagree with you there unfortunately. The Curse was a horrible rendition of an otherwise potentially great film. Chinese historical dramas are bound by certain unwritten aesthetics and this one made a mockery of all of those. While PB stands ambivalent with Yang Zhimou as a director, she most certainly found this work to be particularly annoying. Notice the oversaturated colors, the distorted psychedlic lighting, the overtly sexual displays, the subpar dialogue – yes, they helped achieved an effect but was it a worthy one? PB feels like this is yet another Chinese film that is geared toward the Western market because it caters to a very Western sense of what Asian cinema should be in order to be good. It is not even remotely historically accurate and seemed to have been made with little regard to character developement, opting for cool special effects instead. In fact it was very poorly received among Chinese film critics and audiences alike. PB counts herself one of those dissenters.

P.S. Sorry to have just left a comment without any introduction. Hello. PB found Piddleville after googling classic movie blogs.

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