{"id":45069,"date":"2024-09-27T00:01:58","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T04:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=45069"},"modified":"2024-09-26T17:11:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T21:11:22","slug":"the-golden-lotus-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/27\/the-golden-lotus-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Lotus (1974)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Available now from 88 Films (US)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following an affair, a pair of adulterers decides to kill her husband, leading them into a life they did not expect. Expectations aren\u2019t met, common goals are unclear, and sadness awaits.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Written and directed by Han Hsiang Li, this erotic drama is one that has not aged-well when it comes to the story, characters, and how the situations are handled. It is however most likely period accurate at least in how life was for folks of the upper class in this bygone era of China. This is to say that with today\u2019s standards and sensibilities, this movie is really rape-y, from the first encounter between the rich man and the poor woman to the end of the film, many sexual encounters here are not consensual and are sold to the viewer as erotic, sexy even. Culturally, this was the reality, and still is for some, but to turn it into a film and try to sell it as something to enjoy watching in a story that shows karma will take care of both of them (abuser and victim alike) by serving them with an unhappy life is more than problematic. Now, if we look at the writing and direction as separate items from the ick factor here, they are fairly well-done, a bit dated, but they both work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The cast here works well in that you end up disliking just about everyone involved in the original affair and many of the characters they come across. The work done by the cast is great on that front as that was the goal from the beginning, to make them bad people who enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. The cast in good here in doing this. They play the part as they should be with a bit of 1970s flare and that very-Shaw Bros-esque style. The cast here has a few Shaw Bros regulars and a surprising appearance by a very young Jackie Chan (who does not participate in the nudity or sex parts of the film for those who may wonder). His appearance comes off odd now but was just a random young actor taking a part back 50 years ago.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Something The Golden Lotus does well here is the look of the film. The costumes are lovely and appropriate for the characters and their respective place in their society, the d\u00e9cor is great (likely reusing other Shaw Bros\u2019 sets), and the cinematography is on point, giving us just the right angle at all times, may it be to titillate or to make the viewer feel like a voyeur as well as in more serious scenes. The film looks very much like a Shaw Bros production from start to finish.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This new release of The Golden Lotus by 88 Films has a solid 1080p transfer that looks and sounds fantastic. The original Mandarin audio is the only audio option and the subtitles are well done, easy to read, and seem to fit the story right in tone. For extras, there is nothing here, just the film in a pretty presentation. The box art is great and the cardboard slipcover has that pretty golden, shiny look that attracts the eye even when sitting on the shelf.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Available now from 88 Films (US)\u00a0 Following an affair, a pair of adulterers decides to kill her husband, leading them into a life they did not expect. Expectations aren\u2019t met, common goals are unclear, and sadness awaits.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[302,329],"class_list":["post-45069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-erotica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45070,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069\/revisions\/45070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}