It's almost the end of the year and time once again for reflections on what happened in this past year ;-P Wow time flies, it seems that it was only yesterday that I was celebrating the 2007 New Year. I think that this has been a pretty decent year for East Asian films and TV dramas on a whole. Here is a general recap of the news and trends that have caught my attention this year.
1. Chinese Movie Of The Year: Lust, Caution
This film was the most talked about Chinese movie in 2007. With Ang Lee's signature low-key approach, attention to detail, the engrossing storyline and great acting by Tony Leung and Tang Wei in some of the most daring erotic scenes ever seen in an Asian movie, it comes as no surprise that this film enjoyed fantastic box-office takings throughout Asia and won the Golden Lion and seven awards at this year's Golden Horse Awards.
2. Ancient Is Golden 
Period movies and drama serials continue to be popular in Korean and Chinese dramas and films in 2007. Big-budget period movies with star-studded casts and state-of-the-art CGI like The Warlords performed very well at the box-office. The period drama boom was also seen in Korean drama serials with period dramas like Jumong and Taewangsasingi snaring the top positions in television ratings. This period boom looks set to continue in 2008 with the release of the most expensive Chinese film ever made - Red Cliff during the Beijing Olympics.
3. More Pan-Asian Co-productions
Co-productions between different Asian countries seem to have become the norm in 2007. From arthouse productions like director Kim Ki-duk's Breath starring Taiwanese actor Chang Chen to Japanese hits like Hero with Korean actor Lee Byung-hun in a cameo role to big-budget Chinese flicks like The Warlords and Red Cliff that are financed by investors throughout East Asia, filmmakers are cooperating in more ways than ever to expand a film's appeal to a wider pan-Asian audience.
4. Quest For New Themes
To counter the whimsical and fast-changing tastes of viewers, movie and drama makers must come up with new themes at an ever-increasing speed. This is especially apparent in the Korean TV drama market where it seems that viewers have become increasingly tired of the same romantic drama plot used countless times in the past. To maintain viewer interest, TV stations and production houses have had to come up with new themes for their dramas. This has resulted in the type and range of drama serials expanding considerably this year. From dramas about money lenders to police action thrillers to romantic comedies with "cross-dressing"themes, this aggressive search for new themes have already yielded gems like War Of Money, Time Between Dog And Wolf and First Shop Of Coffee Prince. It remains to be seen if this exploratory approach will continue into 2008...
5. International Recognition
East Asian films continue to perform well in international film awards in 2007. Lust, Caution took home the Golden Lion and Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon won the prestigious Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine, only the second time an Asian actress has won this award in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.
All-in-all, 2007 has been a good year for Asian films and dramas. Let's hope for an even better 2008 :-)
Have A Happy New Year!
Tags: Lust, Caution, Asian Movie Trends, Chinese Movie, Korean Movie, Japanese movie, Drama Serial, Drama Series, Korean Drama Series, co-productions, Pan-Asian Films, Asian Drama Themes,
East Asian Film And TV News & Trends In 2007
From Manga To Idol Drama
Japanese anime and manga have always been extremely popular in East Asia, especially Taiwan and Hong Kong. Popular manga titles in Japanese have been known to fly off the shelves of bookstores faster than books published by local authors in the local language. Many people flock to language schools to learn Japanese for the sole purpose of reading untranslated manga and watching Japanese anime and drama. In fact, I personally feel that anime and manga have a greater cultural impact in East Asia than cartoons from Disney or Warner Bros.
Especially in Taiwan, the Japanese love of all things "kawaii" (cute) have so successfully taken root that many of the pop stars or actresses that have became famous in the last 4 to 5 years look very much like shojo manga (young girl's manga) characters themselves - big round eyes, long hair, peachy complexions, super sweet smiles and slim girlish figures... Classic examples include Jolin Tsai, Cyndi Wang and Rainie Yang...
Adaptations of popular Japanese manga into Taiwanese "idol" dramas are also extremely common. The only "localization" done is usually that the setting of the story is changed to Taipei instead of Tokyo. The names of the characters are more often than not the same... even if the Japanese names sound strange in Chinese. A good example is Meteor Garden's "Dao Ming Si", in the Taiwanese adaptation, the character's surname becomes "Dao Ming" and his given name becomes "Ah Si" which is a direct translation of the character's surname Domyoji in the manga.
Examples of manga that have been made into Taiwanese idol dramas include:
Meteor Garden 流星花園 (2001)
Based on manga Hana Yori Dango
Starring Barbie Hsu and pop group F4 (Jerry Yen, Vic Zhou, Ken Zhu and Vanness Wu)
Peach Girl 蜜桃女孩 (2002)
Based on manga Peach Girl
Starring Annie Wu and Vanness Wu
Marmalade Boy 橘子醬男孩 (2002)
Based on manga Marmalade Boy
Starring Stella Huang Xiangyi and Ken Zhu
The Rose 薔薇之戀 (2003)
Based on manga Bara No Tame Ni (薔薇のために) by Yoshimura Akemi
Starring Ella (from pop group S.H.E), Zheng Yuan Chang and Jerry Huang
Mars 戰神 (2004)
Based on manga Mars
Starring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu
It Started With A Kiss 惡作劇之吻 (2005)
Based on manga Itazura Na Kiss (イタズラなKiss) by Kaoru Tada
Starring Ariel Lin Yichen and Joe Cheng
Devil Beside You 惡魔在身邊 (2005)
Based on manga Akuma de Soro
Starring Rainie Yang and Mike He
Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 (2006)
Based on manga Tokyo Juliet
Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花樣少年少女 (2006/07) (picture)
Based on manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
Starring Ella (S.H.E), Wu Zun and Jiro Wang
As you can see, creating idol dramas based on manga is really common. One reason could be that the ratings for such dramas are usually pretty good as there exists a ready audience from fans of the popular manga and also because the boy-girl relationship issues in manga suit the Taiwanese idol drama genre to a tee.
So... expect more such manga/anime based drama serials in the years to come...
Tags: idol drama, Taiwanese drama, Chinese drama series, drama serial, manga, anime, shojo manga
Goong Theme Song From Radio.Blog.Club
Just a short post...
I know I am really slow in catching up with things :-P but its only today that I came across a really great website Radio.Blog.Club that has lots of music from East Asian movies and TV dramas. Just click on the Play button below and you will hear one of the theme songs from popular Korean drama Goong that is from this website (a personal favorite of mine).
Will be back with more substantial posts soon :O)
Cheers!
Tags: Goong, princess hours, theme song, soundtrack, korean drama, drama serial, drama series, radio blog club.
Princess Hours - Goong
After watching the very popular Korean drama Princess Hours (Goong), I can't help but think that this drama series was created for maximum viewer ratings because it caters to both viewers who like historical drama serials like Dae Jang Geum (with its palace intrigues) and viewers who are into trendy modern comedies like My Girl or My Lovely Samsoon (complete with a spunky and cute heroine in tow).
Princess Hours, which recreates a fictional modern Korean monarchy has some of the most beautiful costumes and elaborately built sets that I have seen in an Asian drama series. It is one of the most expensive Korean drama serials ever produced, the production cost for each episode is 230 million won (about US$245,000)!
The gamble paid off handsomely for the producers as Goong performed very well, garnering almost 30% in viewer ratings when it was shown in South Korea at the beginning of this year. It was so popular that a sequel of sorts Goong 2 (Prince Hours) is currently being made but unfortunately none of the 4 major characters in Goong will be appearing in the sequel.
Although Princess Hours was based on a South Korean comic book series, to a certain extent the story reminded me of another extremely popular Chinese drama serial that was shown a couple of years ago - Princess Returning Pearl or Huan Zhu Ge Ge. The character of Shin Chae-gyung (played by Yoon Eun-hye) resembled very closely the personality of Xiao Yan-zi (played by Zhao Wei). Both characters were lively and mischievious teenagers who entered the repressed and dreary royal palace by a twist of fate but somehow not only survived the experience but even brought a breath of fresh air into the stifling environment in the palace.
It also made major stars out of the 4 fresh-faced youths who played the main characters in the drama: Yoon Eun-hye (Shin Chae-gyung), Joo Ji-hoon (Crown Prince Lee Shin), Song Ji Hyo (Min Hyo-rin) and Kim Jeong-hoon (Prince Lee Yul). Even Prince Lee Shin's best friend "Alfred" the teddy bear (see picture) has become a hit :0)
This is definitely a drama that is well worth watching.... Although the storyline is a bit too fairy-tale like and unrealistic, the effort that was put into creating the show is nothing short of spectacular and the chemistry between the 4 lead actors is also a major attraction!
Tags: Princess Hours, Goong, Palace, Korean Drama Series, Drama Serial, Korean Mini Series, Princess Returing Pearl, Huan Zhu Ge Ge.
Heroines In Modern Korean TV Dramas
Have you noticed the change in the personalities of the lead female characters in modern Korean TV dramas in the last few years?
When the Korean Wave first exploded from 2001 to 2003, the heroines in the most popular dramas during that period were usually sweet and gentle girl-next-door types that somehow had extremely tragic destinies. However, they still maintained their sweet smiles and stoic optimisim even in the most difficult circumstances, which of course made the situation look even more tragic in the audience's eye. Classic examples include Eun-Suh (played by Song Hye-Gyo) from Autumn In My Heart AKA Endless Love, Yun-Hee (Kim Hyun-Ju) from Glass Slippers and Han Jung-Suh (Choi Ji-Woo) from Stairway To Heaven. If you want to enjoy a good cry, try watching these dramas, especially Autumn :-P
But since about one or two years ago, the producers must have realised that audiences were getting tired of the unrelenting tragedy in their dramas, possibly signalled by falling ratings in similar dramas and decided to make more light hearted dramas. In came the comical, down-to-earth but klutzy heroines such as Kim Sam-Soon (Kim Sun-A) from My Lovely Sam Soon, Yoo-rin (Lee Da-Hae) from My Girl and Ji-Eun (Song Hye-Gyo again) from Full House. Besides the usual comedic but sometimes touching romantic entanglements with the male lead characters, these modern misses mostly do not have painful pasts or tragic destinies like their sisters in earlier dramas. They are more like Asian versions of Ally McBeal and Bridget Jones... and immediately struck a chord with young Asian women who identified with the characters' struggles and problems.
The success of these light-hearted dramas in terms of ratings showed that perhaps this is the road to TV drama land success for Korean drama serials at the moment. However, who knows, there may come a time in the near future when weepy dramas launch a comeback with a new vengence haha....
Technorati Tags: Korean Drama, TV Drama, Korean Drama Serials, Modern Korean Drama.
