China has picked Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower as its submission for the next Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The martial-arts costume drama, which stars Chow Yun-Fat, Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou, and Zhang's old muse, Gong Li, portrays assorted intrigues plaguing one of China's highly dysfunctional imperial families.
There has been some discussion regarding a potential gay love affair in the film — one involving a prince and a (male?) bodyguard — but I couldn't find any confirmation (or denial). The Sony Pictures trailers are great to look at — and we learn that Gong Li is the chick who appeared in Miami Vice — but they offer no clues as to the film's plot or characters.
Two other Zhang-Gong films have been nominated in the foreign-language film category: Ju Dou in 1990 and Da hong deng long gao gao gua / Raise the Red Lantern in 1991. Zhang's Gong-less Ying xiong / Hero was nominated in 2002.
The Federation of Film Producers of Hong Kong — which, curiously, is considered a territory apart from China, as far as filmmaking is concerned — has selected Feng Xiaogang's epic Ye yan / The Banquet as its Oscar film. Inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Banquet stars Ziyi Zhang, You Ge, and Daniel Wu.
Ok, so Curse of the Golden Flower wasn't the most exciting movie ever made. Still, it should have received an Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film.