Curse of the Golden Flower

Chinese filmmakers have a double curse. They have this tradition where individuals only matter in context, so when there is a spat between a man and his wife, it can only be illustrated in large sweeps of society. This is compounded by the ability to marshal (real, human) extras and extravagant sets on a scale unmatchable anywhere else.

I liked this filmmaker's earlier projects. "To Live" really was able to show the inside of a man by mapping it to lurches and sweeps in the world around him. "Daggers" was at least a masterpiece of ballet. And "Hero," probably my favorite, was the most cinematic, expressing real human qualities in luxurious cinematic terms. Who can forget the spatial existence of discovered deceit in the flickering flames in front of the throne?

This is a wholly different formula in how the internals of a family sweep into the environment. The setup is an extraordinary web of relationships between two families. Some commentors think this is drawn from soap opera, but I think they have a common ancestor instead. This is Greek, and though on daytime TeeVee you will get similar relationship complexities, they will have their tethers to the cosmos broken. They will be single souls adrift in the world.

These are souls that command the world, apparently. It could have worked.

Why it didn't I think is because the filmmaker decided to root himself in the magisterial. It probably was influenced by the fact that he is a former lover of the female star and there are some reflections between that situation and what we see. Its "Annie Hall" with flying ninjas instead of lobsters. Breasts instead of the swirling of engagement. Narrative mistrust where Woody had open exploration and experimentation. Diane and Woody were in a place, a city that colored them. These characters here ARE the city.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.