The Banquet

i jsut watched "The Banquet".. the show starring zhang ziyi aka ziyi zhang.. haha.. but nvm.. they say its a loose adaptation of hamlet.. but i havent read hamlet before.. so nvm..





anyway, the movie's setting was during the fall of the tang dynasty or smth.. the reigning emporer will killed by this poison which just needed to be blown into the ear.. [its made of scorpions poison and some weird plant..] so the emperor's brother[killed his brother] usurped the throne and the empress married him so that she could gain protecion and also plot against him secretly so taht the crown prince [her childhood sweetheart] will become the new emperor.. so the emperor sent assasins to kill the crown prince.. and failed like 3 times?? LOL.. yup then he went back to the capital to seek revenge and stuff..

the empress later seeks to have the throne all to herself and during the banquet, the empress plans to kill the emperor with the poison.. but some palace maiden Qing suddenly made her appearance and instead of the emperor drinkin the poisoned wine.. she drank it cuz the emperor jing yi bei jiu to her.. haha.. yep.. this Qing girl was in love with the crown prince.. then she died.. then the emperor decided to kill himself.. then the crown prince was unsure of whether to take the title of emperor and in all the chaos.. Qing's brother, who happens to be some general attempts to kill the empress with a poisoned blade.. but the crown prince grabs the blade and is poisoned.. then empress then kills tt general and the crown prince also dies.. she cries painfully at his passing and she becomes the new emperor.. then she was sort of reflecting over all these incidents saying smth about the flames of desire and saying how many lives have been lost cuz of desire and that she is the only one who will rise above it.. then she is KILLED by a sword.. and the story ends..

BUT! i have no idea who the hell killed her.. wth.. the director didnt show the killer.. damn shitty la.. hm.. but it could be the one of her maids.. cuz why else would the director have so many clsoe ups of her.. haha..

not bad a movie which discusses about the desires of love, hatred, power and why the deadliest poison is the human heart.. its quite a "literary" movie tt sort of requires some sort of thinking in order to appreciate it.. lol..