Viewers coming to Zhang Yimou's stunning family tragedy by way of such films as RED SORGHUM (1987) and RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991) are in for a shock: It's an operatic historical drama with a thick overlay of intrigue, incest and voluptuous violence, a la Shakespeare's much-reviled "Titus Andronicus." Fans of HERO (2002) and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (2004) will also be disappointed by the relative dearth of balletic martial-arts sequences. But on its own merits, it's a lavish entertainment that revels in lurid colors and yet more lurid emotions. Set during the excesses of the Tang Dynasty's corrupt tail end (923-936 AD), it unfolds almost entirely within the walls of...
Released:
2006
Rated:
R
Length:
118 mins