What would you do?
Your father, knowing of the affair between your mother and stepbrother, offers your mother a medicine that will make her lose her mind and eventually kill her in a couple of months. Your mother, knowing perfectly well what the medicine is for, seeks for your help to rebel against your father.
Jay Chou plays Prince Jai in another epic Chinese movie, The Curse of The Golden Flower. In front of his father, the Emperor (Chow Yun Fat), his voice emanates strength and confidence. In front of his mother, the Empress (Gong Li), his face softens and his voice transforms into that of a child, soft, tender, and endearing. Although I’m no movie critic, I’d say he played the role perfectly!
Caught between the love for both his parents, not to mention his respect for his Emperor, Prince Jai is bewildered on what to do.
In the end, he chose what I would have chosen. Others may see his character differently, but for me, I saw him as an idealist. His last lines in the movie, directed to his father and mother encapsulated his whole character. The message was so striking that I hoped, after all that happened that night, his parents would have come to their senses and started anew. However, the Imperial family like the world is never ideal. And like all other idealists, Prince Jai gets trampled on by the aspirations and ambitions of others. How very sad.
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Jay Chou is a Chinese pop star turned actor. The Curse of the Golden Flower is only his second movie. Although unknown to me then, I happened to buy his CD when I was in Beijing. Here’s the movie’s ending credit, roughly translated as Chrysanthemum Terrace, which he sang.
I personally prefer the literal translation of the chinese title which is “The City of Golden Armor” instead of “The Curse of the Golden Flower”. Somehow, I feel that the current english title puts blame on the Empress. :(
ReplyDeleteJay Chou also starred in a movie "Initial D" from an anime series that was made into a movie.. I havent seen it coz i left before it was shown in theaters, but i saw the anime. I wanna watch it but i dont know where to look for it hahaaha :) probably in Taiwan. Damn, wish i was back there. lol
ReplyDeleteyeah, i heard he won an award for his performance in that movie. ^^
ReplyDeletejay chou won an award for Initial D? that movie was awful (sorry to Jay Chou fans)... the anime (and the manga) is much better! :)
ReplyDeleteyeah! he won a golden horse, i think. parang oscars for chinese actors hehehe ^^
ReplyDeletesyempre, chinese interpretation of the manga na siguro. haven't seen that movie yet. ^^
he's going to star in the movie adaptation of slamdunk as well. hehehe (filming na ata ... pero i heard he can play basketball well ... so baka ok lang. ^^)
welcome back benj! how was davao?