Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

This is the third history-as-fantasy film from acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou after "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" -- both of which were super-duper filmgoing experiences.  However for the first half of its running time, this one comes across as an opulent bore.  There is no denying that the design and photography are lavishly fantastic, but it feels overstuffed and the domestic story of the 10th Century emperor, his wife and his three sons plays out initially as a period soap.  The wife who is being slowly poisoned by her husband (Gong Li, who actually does a wonderful and emotional job here) has been having an affair with the eldest son for three years; that she is not his birth-mother is technically irrelevant.  The emperor is played by one of my favourites, Chow Yun-Fat, whom I have always considered the coolest man in moviedom, but who initially is hampered here by heavy make-up and robes; however by the film's end his legendary coolness mixes well with the emperor's evil nature.  The movie is saved by the incredibly spectacular second half when the ineptness of the eldest son, the unrealistic ambitions of the youngest, and the mother-driven attempted coup by the middle son drive the action.  There follows some of the most amazing and beautiful battle scenes that I have ever witnessed.  I wouldn't like to say whether these were achieved with CGI, but it certainly didn't look that way, as wave upon wave of thousands of soldiers took the field for a mighty massacre.  Similarly in the end, once the blood has been washed away, the viewer is presented with row upon row of flowers, courtiers, servants, concubines, and musicians paying homage at the chrysanthemum festival.  I was awed, but still slightly worried by the director's emphasis on push-up cleavage; this just didn't seem to mix with the Tang Dynasty of 928 AD -- but what do I know?