Jackie and Jet join forces in the Forbidden Kingdom

The 2 supreme Kungfu masters of the Chinese movie world - Jackie Chan and Jet Lee have finally joined forces in their new movie - Forbidden Kingdom aka Kungfu Masters (功夫之王). Many have speculated on who is the true supreme master, some say its Jackie and some say its Jet... But my humble opinion is that since they have vastly different styles - Jackie's style is acrobatic and humorous and Jet is more consistent and serious in his craft, it will be hard to determine who is the better fighter. But still it will definitely be a box-office draw when these two kungfu masters come together in a film. The movie also stars up and coming Chinese actresses Liu Yifei (the very pretty Little Dragon Lady in Romance of The Condor Heroes) and Li Bingbing.

They recently came together in full costume for some promotional shots and here are the results:

hmmm... although this movie is very loosely based on the classic Chinese novel Journey To The West, from the way they are dressed, they seem to be making another adaptation of Louis Cha's swordfighting novel The Condor Heroes... Jackie's character must be from the Beggar Sect and Jet's character looks like a highly skilled exponent from the Shaolin Temple...

this should be interesting...

[Picture from http://www.asianpopcorn.com/default.asp?Display=737]

Tags: Jackie Chan, Jet Lee, Forbidden Kingdom, Kungfu Master, Liu Yifei, Li Bingbing, Kungfu movie, Asian American movie, Asian American co-production, upcoming movies.

War Of Money - hottest Korean drama serial now

War Of Money is currently the most popular Korean drama serial airing in South Korea now based on its TV ratings. Starring Park Shin-yang, who starred as the romantic bespectacled tycoon in Lovers in Paris, Park Jin-hee of Come Back Soon-Ae! fame, Shin Dong-wook and Kim Jung-hwa, War of Money is about how an ordinary (but still bespectacled) stock analyst played by Park Shin-yang runs into financial hard times and decides to learn to become a ruthless loan shark so that he can make lots and lot of moolah... hmmm... seems to me he should just trade in stocks instead since he is a stock analyst and Warren Buffet definitely makes more than the general loanshark haha ;-P

With society's general fixation with money, it's no wonder this drama serial has been hitting high ratings of over 30% ever since it started airing on 16 May, hitting a high of 35.5% on 21 June for its 12th episode. It also provides a welcome break from the humdrum romantic dramas and comedies that the South Korean TV stations have been producing these last few years.

Check out this entertaining MV of the main theme of the drama serial that I found on Youtube.




Information from:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2876416
http://chinese.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/06/22/20070622000035.html

Tags: War of Money, Korean drama, Korean drama serial, Park Shin-yang, Park Jin-hee, Shin Dong-Wook, SBS.

Direction Of Upcoming Asian Films?

According to this report by NY Times, stylised violent gangsta pics and horror movies are fast losing ground and the next in things in Asian cinema are saccherine sweet sentimental dramas, cute campy comedies and more realistic gangster movies ... The writer of this article based his conclusions on a sampling of the movies being presented at this year's New York Asian Film Festival which serves as a roadmap of sorts on the latest trends in Asian cinema.

Its an interesting article worth checking out :-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/movies/17kehr.html


Tags: East Asian Cinema, East Asian movies, trends in Asian movies, East Asian Films, direction of Asian films, East Asian Movie Industry.

South Korean Actress Wins Cannes Best Actress Award

Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon for winning the Best Actress award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film Secret Sunshine by director Lee Chang-dong. In the film, Jeon Do-yeon plays a woman struggling to maintain her sanity after the death of her husband and son. She is only the second Asian actress to win this prestigious award after Maggie Cheung won it in 2004 for her role in director Olivier Assayas's Clean.

Here is the trailer for Secret Sunshine that I found on YouTube. Just from the trailer I can tell that Jeon gave a fantastically heart-rending performance in this film and richly deserved her Best Actress win.




Tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Chang-dong, Secret Sunshine, Cannes, Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival, Korean film, Korean movie.

Made-In-East-Asia Movies And Drama Serials

It seems that the world is getting smaller everyday. With the Internet and increasing air travel, living internationally seems to be an ever increasing trend. It is the same in the world of movies and dramas, collaborative projects that span across multiple countries are becoming increasingly common especially co-productions between East Asian countries. Nevermind the language barrier, if the actors and actresses cannot communicate in each others languages just have them read the dialogue in their own native tongue and the dubbers will take care of the rest ;-P

Just look at the growing number of Korean actors in Japanese productions... A recent example is Korean hunk Lee Byung Hun starring in the much anticipated Japanese film Hero starring Takuya Kimura and Matsu Takako. This film is expected to be a hit as it is a movie remake of the highly-rated 2001 TV serial of the same name that also starred Takuya Kimura and Matsu Takako. Lee Byung Hun plays the role of a Korean investigator who assists Kimutaku's character - public prosecutor Kuryu Kohei with his investigations in South Korea.


Another example of a Korean star in a Japanese production is Mr. Winter Sonata himself Bae Yong-joon who recently acted in the Japanese version of the hit Korean drama series Hotelier (top left pic). The original Hotelier (left pic) was a star making vehicle for Bae Yong-jun in 2001 and it was his biggest hit before Winter Sonata came along in 2002. In the Japanese version, Yon-sama (as he is affectionately known in Japan) makes a guest appearance as Shin Dong Hyuk - a character with the same name as the one he played in the original Hotelier. Other cast members in the TV Asahi drama include Ueto Aya and Seichi Tanabe.

How about Korean actors in Chinese drama productions? These are almost a dime a dozen ever since the Korean Wave exploded in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South-East Asia. Ones I know of include Jang Nara in the Chinese television serial The Mischievous Princess 刁蛮公主(one of the first Korean actors to star in a Chinese production) in 2005, Jang Dong-gun in the big-budget Chinese movie The Promise in 2005. And just recently, Chae Rim (who btw is the Best Actress award nominee at the Shanghai Television Festival for her role in Dalja's Spring) in The Mischievous Princess 2, a sequel of sorts to the one that starred Jang Nara.

OK... Korean actors are making inroads into Japanese and Chinese productions but how about the other way around? Apparently this is also happening... Taiwanese actor Chang Chen stars in South Korean director Kim Ki-duk's latest film Breath, that was in competition at the Cannes film festival that just ended.

Remakes and adaptations of literary works from countries other than your own are also becoming more common. Japan's Fuji TV recently made a TV dorama on the Chinese literary classic Journey To The West / Saiyuki starring SMAP member Shingo Katori as Son Goku (Sun Wukong). And how about Hana-Kimi or Hanazakarino Kimitachie (花ざかりの君たちへ) ? This was originally a Japanese manga that was made into a hit Taiwanese TV serial starring Ella and Wu Zun. The sheer popularity of the Taiwanese TV adaptation of this and other Japanese mangas could have prompted the Japanese TV stations to realise they have not been effectively using all the gems (manga) that was theirs for the taking all along and they are now making their own version of this popular manga starring Maki Origita, Shun Oguri and Toma Ikuta.

So as the world is getting smaller, we could be seeing more and more Made-In-Asia movies in the coming years. How about a Made-on-Earth movie then? It could be "Coming Soon" too...

[Picture from http://www.asianpopcorn.com/default.asp?Display=574 and YesAsia.com]

[Tags: East Asian Films, East Asian Movies, Hero, Takuya Kimura, Matsu Takako, Lee Byung Hun, Hotelier, Bae Yong Joon, The Mischievous Princess, Jang Nara, Chae Rim, Chang Chen, Kim Ki-duk, Jang Dong-gun, Hana-Kimi, Saiyuki, Journey to the West, Shingo Katori, Wu Zun, Ella, Hanazakarino Kimitachie]

Very short trailer clip of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution

Sorry, haven't been posting as often as I should... I will post more interesting East Asian movie and drama posts very soon, promise :-)

But for now, check out the URL below for clips of Ang Lee's Lust, Caution in this promotional advertisement by Focus Features for their upcoming releases in the second half of 2007. You will need to wait some time for the mov file to load though. The screen shots of the movie are somewhere in the middle of the clip.

http://www.focusfeatures.com/clips/about_focus/spring07-480x260.mov

Enjoy the clip :-)

Tags: Lust, Caution, Ang Lee, Tony Leung, Wang Lee Hom, Tang Wei, Chinese Movie, Chinese Film.

Japanese Movie - Love And Honor

After watching Love and Honor (Bushi no Ichibun), the final instalment of Yoji Yamada's samurai trilogy, I could not help but be extremely impressed with Yoji Yamada's attention to detail and his ability to create highly realistic depictions of life in Japan's samurai era.

Yet although the setting was realistic, while watching the movie, I could not help but feel that even if the whole movie (excluding the samurai fighting) was transported to a modern setting, the dialogue and storyline would not be out of place at all. This feeling was especially strong in some scenes early in the movie when samurai Shinnojo Mimura (played by Japanese pop idol Takuya Kimura) was teasing his wife Kayo (Rei Dan) and his elderly servant Tokuhei (played by Takashi Sasano) or when Shinnojo was complaining of his dead-end job to his wife. At such moments, Shinnojo could very well be a modern day newly-wed Japanese salaryman feeling very dissatisfied with his dead end job at a major corporation...

Takuya Kimura played the role of Shinnojo much better than I expected. He was particularly impressive in depicting Shinnojo's change in character and inner struggles after becoming blind. But I have to say that somehow I felt the role of Shinnojo was just too similar to the types of roles that Kimura has played numerous times before in TV doramas - that of the rebellious and playful young man who meets with a cruel twist of fate but somehow overcomes his insurmountable difficulties with sheer willpower and becomes a wise adult at the end. So much so that Shinnojo could just be Kimutaku in Long Vacation or Love Generation but with a much more cruel twist of fate - Shinnojo looses his eyesight whereas the others just had difficulties in their careers and relationship troubles.

Rei Dan was also impressive in her role as the Shinnojo's stoic wife Kayo. Besides somehow maintaing a quiet dignity even under the most difficult circumstances, I felt that she exuded a certain purity and luminosity that is quite rare in actresses today. (In fact, she actually reminded me of Tanaka Yuko, the actress who played Oshin...)

In the end, Yoji Yamada's attention to detail made all the difference between an excellent film and a so-so film. Minor details like the state of Shinnojo's house was not forgotten - at the beginning of the film when Shinnojo had a happy family, the house was bright and squeaky clean. At the end when Shinnojo was struggling with blindness and marital troubles, the house became dingy and old. A true reflection of our hero's inner struggles :-P

Tags: Love And Honor, Bushi no Ichibun, Yoji Yamada, Kimura Takuya, Rei Dan, Japanese Movie, Japanese Film, Period Movie, Samurai Movie.

Casting Troubles At The Red Cliff

Casting problems on the set of the in-production mega Chinese movie Battle Of The Red Cliff (赤壁) seem almost as exciting and unpredictable as the plot of the film itself.

The latest news is that Tony Leung Chiu Wai has rejoined the cast and may be taking over Chow Yun-Fatt's role of Zhou Yu after Chow left the cast last week. Leung was originally slated to play Zhuge Liang but his role was handed over to Takeshi Kaneshiro when he quit early this year.

The latest cast as per news reports:
Tony Leung as Zhou Yu (?)
Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang
Hu Jun as Zhao Yun
Zhang Fengyi as baddie Cao Cao
You Yong as Liu Bei
Chang Chen as Sun Quan
Chiling Lin as ancient hot babe Xiao Qiao
Vicky Zhao Wei as Sun Shang Xiang
Zhang Jing Chu as Da Qiao

This John Woo film will be divided into two parts, with the first part scheduled to be released before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the second part at the end of 2008.

Hmm... hopefully the casting troubles will not affect the film too adversely...

Good luck to John Woo :-)

Also, check out this site below (in Chinese) for some nice pics of the cast and the characters in the movie: http://ent.tom.com/movie/f/chibi.html
And for some background info on the movie, check out my previous blog post here.

[information from articles in the following sites:
http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1294807.php/Tony_Leung_rejoins_Woos_The_Battle_of_Red_Cliff’_ http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/04/17/chow-yun-fat-drops-john-woos-battle-of-red-cliff/
http://ent.tom.com/movie/f/chibi.html]

Tags: Battle Of The Red Cliff, Chi Bi, John Woo, Chow Yun Fatt, Tony Leung, Lin Chiling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chinese Movie, Chinese Film, Historical Movie.

The Two Versions Of Hwang Jin Yi

Korea's legendary gisaeng Hwang Jin Yi or Hwang Jini is moving from the small screen to the big screen this June. While the TV drama serial had Ha Ji Won (top pic) playing the beautiful and talented 16th century gisaeng (female entertainer), the movie will star sweetie pie Song Hye Kyo (bottom pic) in the title role.


It is certainly going to be a challenging role for Song as prior to this movie her roles have mostly been female leads in romantic comedies (e.g. Full House) or dramas that had relatively straightforward story lines and not all that much character development. But she will certainly need to exercise her acting chops this time round as Hwang Jini was a complex character and had a dramatic life story. Ha Ji Won managed to win the prestigious KBS Acting Awards' Dae Sang with her portrayal of Hwang Jin Yi.


Who will be the more memorable Hwang Jin Yi? Well, its too early to say as the movie is not out yet but I managed to find the trailer for Song Hye Kyo's Hwang Jini on You Tube and you can judge for yourself. Enjoy the trailer and watch out for the movie :-)












[Pictures from YesAsia and http://yummycelebrities.com/2007/03/01/song-hye-kyo-finished-filming-hwang-jin-i/]


Tags: Hwang Jin Yi, Hwang Jini, Korean Movie, Song Hye Kyo, Ha Ji Won, Korean Drama Serial.

The Host Wins Big At Asian Film Awards

The South Korean hit monster movie The Host won big at the recent inaugural Asian Film Awards held in Hong Kong, it hauled home 4 awards - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Cinematographer and Best Visual Effects, making it the biggest winner of the festival.

Best Director went to Jia Zhangke for his work in Still Life (which won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival). And Nakatani Miki took home the Best Actress award for her role as a hopeless romantic in Memories of Matsuko.

And here is an interesting article on the goings on at the festival which was attended by superstars like Rain and Michelle Yeoh and director Luc Besson:

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/179037.asp ;-)

Tags: Asian Film Awards, The Host, Still Life, Memories Of Matsuko, Rain, Nakatani Miki.

Endless Remakes of Louis Cha's Novels ... Sigh...

When I found out that there will be another remake of the swordfighting novel Legend Of The Condor Heroes (LOCH) by Louis Cha or Jin Yong, I shook my head in disbelief. Why? Because the novel was adapted into a 40+ episode mainland drama serial starring Li Ya Peng and Zhou Xun (of Perhaps Love fame) in 2003, just 4 years ago! And it was also made into drama serials in 1994 (with Athena Chu and Julian Cheung), in 1982 (with Barbara Yung and Felix Wong) and a long time ago in 1976 (with Michelle Yim in the title role of Wong Yung or Huang Rong).

A total of 5 times if I include the current remake which stars mainland actor Hu Ge as Guo Jing and Taiwanese sweetie pie Ariel Lin as Huang Rong, and this is not counting the movie and anime adaptations :-P

In fact, not only LOCH, practically all of Jin Yong's novels have been remade numerous times.

Actually I cannot understand why the directors and TV stations keep remaking the same novels time and time again, don't they understand the law of diminishing returns? I know a good story is hard to come by but I am not sure if viewers like to watch the same story over and over again...

Anyway, here are pics of the the latest incarnation of the main characters of LOCH, the super smart Huang Rong (Ariel Lin) and the dumb but upright Guo Jing (Hu Ge).

[pictures from spcnet forum: http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=15272&page=1&pp=20]

Tags: Chinese drama serial, swordfighting drama series, condor heroes, LOCH, gongfu drama, Jin Yong, Louis Cha, Wuxia.

Clip From The Departed's Asian Cousin - Infernal Affairs

After watching Oscar Best Picture The Departed a few days ago, I can't help but notice the striking similarities between this movie and the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. But of course they are similar -The Departed is an adaptation of Infernal Affairs. Silly me haha.

I think The Departed is a really fantastic movie but since I watched it after I watched Infernal Affairs, the remake can never really match up to the original... Because while I was watching Leonardo DiCaprio acting as the undercover cop, I was thinking of Tony Leung and while I was watching Matt Damon, I can't help comparing him with Andy Lau... Especially in the second half of the movie when many of the scenes were so similar.

For example, this scene (one of the most powerful moments in the movie) that I found from Youtube:



Remember how it was shot in The Departed? I actually preferred this version over the one in The Departed, somehow I just felt more pathos here especially with the great background score and the flashbacks.

Enjoy the clip. And watch Infernal Affairs if you have not done so, it really is a great movie :-)

Technorati tags: The Departed, Infernal Affairs, Best Picture, Oscar, Academy Award, Hong Kong movie, Tony Leung.

Asian Films In 57th Berlin Film Festival

Five movies from East Asia won awards in the 57th Berlin Film Festival held from February 8 to February 17 this year. Most notable being Tuya's Marraige or Tuya's Wedding (图雅的婚事) by director Wang Quan-an and starring Chinese actress Yu Nan in the title role which won the most prestigious Golden Bear For Best Film Award. This movie looks really good and I hope that I will have a chance to watch it soon... You can find screen shots from the movie and Yu Nan and director Wang Quan-an at the Berlinale here.

Other East Asian films that won awards included:

South Korean film I'm A Cyborg But That's OK by director Park Chan-Wook and starring superstar Rain won the Alfred Bauer Prize (awarded to the most innovative film). Here's the trailer (unfortunately no subtitles) from Youtube (definitely looks like a quirky movie...):



Taiwanese film Spider Lilies (刺青) by director Zero Zhou Mei-ling and starring teen idols Rainie Yang & Isabella Leung won the Teddy Award for Feature Film. You can find a rather interesting short 3-minute clip of the movie with English subtitles here.

Hong Kong /China film Getting Home (落叶归根) by director Zhang Yang won the Ecumenical Jury Panorama Prize. Screen shots of the movie can be found here.

Japanese film Faces of A Fig Tree (Ichijiku no kao 無花果の顔) by director Momoi Kaori won the NETPAC Prize. You can find the official website of the movie here (in Japanese).

One thing that I noticed was that many of the expensive big-budgeted movies from China like Curse Of The Golden Flower and The Banquet were conspicuously absent from many prestigious award ceremonies (including the upcoming Oscars). Hmmm maybe this should signal something to the directors and producers there that its still the story that counts in a film and not the bombastic effects and lavish costumes ...

Tags: Berlin Film Festival, Berlin Film Awards, Berlinale, Golden Bear, Tuya's Marraige, Tuya's Wedding, East Asian Films, I'm A Cyborg But That's OK, Rain, Spider Lilies, Rainie Yang, Isabella Leung, Getting Home, Faces Of A Fig Tree.

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(花より男子) by Yoko Kamio
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 (ピーチガール) by Miwa Ueda
Starring Annie Wu and Vanness Wu

Marmalade Boy 橘子醬男孩 (2002)
Based on manga Marmalade Boy (ママレード・ボーイ) by Wataru Yoshizumi
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 by Fuyumi Soryo
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 (悪魔で候) by Mitsuba Takanashi
Starring Rainie Yang and Mike He

Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 (2006)
Based on manga Tokyo Juliet (東京ジュリエット) by Miyuki Kitagawa Starring Ariel Lin Yi Chen, Wu Zun and Simon Yam

Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花樣少年少女 (2006/07) (picture)
Based on manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ) or Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo
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.

Curse Of The Golden Flower - My Thoughts

Just watched Curse Of The Golden Flower... Well what can I say, the sets and costumes were truly made of "gold", practically everyone and everything were nicely color coordinated BUT I admit that I don't like the movie that much...

Why? Actually I don't really know why just that at some places where I am supposed to be terrified or touched I just had the urge to laugh instead. Its not that the acting was bad, on the contrary it was really good for the most parts (Chow Yun-Fatt and Gong Li were truly amazing). But the movie just feels emotionally empty. Most of the time I was admiring the actors' clothes and the lovely scenery instead of being focused on what the actors were actually saying.

But still ... although the sets and costumes look gorgeous, I kept thinking that the palace looks more like some swanky Vegas casino hotel since everything was so bright and shiny, honestly I did not know that the Tang dynasty had spotlights haha. And not forgetting the "unbelievably" buxomy palace maids. Whew... how can any guy (even eunuchs!) work in a place like that without going a little ... :-P In other words, I think in trying to create a gorgeous and elaborate palace setting, the director seemed to have forgotten that a touch of realism would have helped a lot.

And the storyline... the familial breakdown and the violence that ensued could have made for a impactful and absorbing story .. if only it was handled a little better. I felt that more scenes should be given to explaining what the main characters were feeling and how the events happened instead of focusing so much on the scenes of the palace staff getting ready for the day etc... although these scenes were interesting too in their own way... seeing how efficient the palace staff were really puts me to shame ;-)

All in all, I feel that the movie is worth watching for 3 things: the costumes, the sets and Chow Yun-Fatt's and Gong Li's superb acting.

Tags: Curse Of The Golden Flower, Chinese Movie, Zhang Yi-Mou, Chow Yun-Fatt, Gong Li, Jay Chou.

Curse Of The Golden Flower Makes It To Time Magazine's 10 Best Films Of 2006

The Chinese hit movie Curse Of The Golden Flower has made it into Time Magazine's 10 Best Films of 2006 sharing the honour with prestigious films like Borat and Letters from Iwo Jima. It is the only Asian film to have made it to this prestigious list.

However, reviews for the movie have been mixed. The movie only managed to obtain a 57% rating in the Rotten Tomatoes critic ratings. This is very much lower than other recent Zhang Yimou movies with similar themes like House of Flying Daggers (88%) and Hero (94%). Chinese netizens were also not too impressed with the film, they have dubbed the movie "The Curse Of The Golden Corset" due to lead actress Gong Li's tight revealing costumes that showed off her ample curves to superb effect :-P

The harsh reviews did not seem to have any adverse effect on the movie's box office though... Golden Flower broke the opening week box office record previously set by super blockbuster Titanic in China. Till date, its box-office takings in China alone have exceeded the $200 million renminbi (approximately US$13 million) mark and the movie also performed above expectations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

I have not watched the movie yet.. will post my thoughts on the movie here once I have watched it. Check out my earlier post for more interesting info on this hotly debated film of the moment.

Tags: Curse Of The Golden Flower, Chinese Movie, Zhang Yi-Mou, Chow Yun-Fatt, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Time Magazine, Best Film, Time Best Films Of 2006.

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Golden Horse & Asia-Pacific Film Festival Awards

Two major film award ceremonies for Asian films have just been held over the last 2 days in Taipei, Taiwan - The Golden Horse Awards and the Asia Pacific Film Festival Awards.

Hong Kong films again reigned at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards, which some regard as the Chinese language equivalent of the Oscars - After This Our Exile (父子) from Hong Kong took home the Best Picture award. The movie's lead actor, Aaron Kwok, won the Best Actor award the 2nd time in a row for his portrayal of an abusive single parent. Nine-year old Goum Ian Iskandar, who played Aaron's son in the film became the youngest winner of a Golden Horse Best Supporting Actor Award.

The hugely popular muscial Perhaps Love (also from Hong Kong) won 4 awards - Best Director (Peter Chan), Best Actress (Zhou Xun), Best Cinematography and Best Original Film Song.

The mainland Chinese film Crazy Stone (a personal favorite of mine) won the Best Original Screenplay award.

Check out the videos of the ceremony here (videos are in Mandarin):
Best Picture (presented by John Woo and Takeshi Kanshiro): http://www.im.tv/vlog/personal/452795/853619
Best Actor (presented by Chang Chen [who was nominated for Best Actor but unfortunately the film he was nominated for The Go Master was withdrawn at the last minute] & Karen Mok): http://www.im.tv/vlog/personal/452795/853611
Best Actress (presented by Aaron Kwok and Charlie Young): http://www.im.tv/vlog/personal/452795/853607

Over at the 51st Asia-Pacific Film Festival, South Korean films reigned supreme, winning 6 awards in total. However, the Best Feature Film award went to Iranian film The Unwanted Woman, which also won the Best Director (Tahimeh Milani) and Best Screenplay awards.

15-year old South Korean actor Lee Jae-eung won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of a teenager's growing up pains in Bravo, My Life. Son Ye-jin took home the Best Actress award for her role in April Snow (which also starred South Korean mega hunk Bae Yong-jun). And South Korean box-office champ The Host clinched 3 awards as well for Best Supporting Actor (Byun Hee-bong), Best Sound Effects and Best Editing.

Congragulations to all the winners :-)

[Compiled from news articles: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=96083&GRP=B, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/26/content_742945.htm, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/243523/1/.html]

Tags: Golden Horse Awards, Asia-Pacific Film Festival, Hong Kong Films, Chinese Films, Movie Awards, Asian Films, Aaron Kwok, Zhou Xun, Perhaps Love, After This Our Exile, The Host, April Snow, Son Ye-Jin, Bravo My Life, The Unwanted Woman, South Korean Movies.

My Thoughts On Made-In-Japan Horror Movies

The release of The Grudge 2 recently made me realise what an impact Japanese horror movies have made on the horror movie genre this last decade or so.

When Ringu was released in 1998, the horror movie industry was facing a slump. Many of the best films in this genre like The Exorcist, The Shining and Salem's Lot were made in the 60s to 80s. In the 90s, scary movies were either slasher flicks or comedy cum horror type films. Although some of these movies were pretty shocking and could still generate a good fright, they lacked the dark, foreboding and dread inducing "I could hardly breathe" atmosphere that were so prevalent in the older horror movies. Instead, many predicted that the ability to make such terrifying horror movies were a thing of the past.

But when The Ring exploded on the big screen in and rung up the box-office cash registers in 1998, everyone started to look at this genre with new interest... and started to incorporate many of the elements that made the movie so successful in their own movies. I am sure you recognise the long-haired, white-gowned female otherworldly being with the creepy and jerky body movements in many recent horror movies. She has made many cameo appearances in slightly different guises in films like The Sixth Sense, South Korea's Wishing Stairs, Singapore's The Eye and of course Japan's own Ju-on and Dark Water.

Actually I feel that the Japanese approach to horror movies is very different from Hollywood. There is usually very little special effects if you compare it with horror films from Hollywood but there is always a sense that something mysterious and terrifying is lurking beneath the surface. The atmosphere is almost always very still and quiet, with a minimum of dialogue which makes the horror, when it comes, even more shocking and unexpected.

When I first watched The Ring at the cinema, I had such a shock from the infamous TV scene that I left the cinema shivering with fright. And I was actually worried that something will happen to me on the seventh day :-P Some people even shifted their TV sets out of their bedroom after watching the film... haha...

However, with more and more directors churning out Ringu style horror movies like a production line, I feel that the quality of horror movies these days have really fallen tremendously. For me, even Hollywood remakes of movies like The Ring and Ju-on really cannot compare to the original versions. I guess movie goers are tired of seeing the same techniques being used again and again... Could a horror movie slump be on the horizon again?

Technorati tags: horror movie, scary movie, Japanese movie, Japanese film, The Ring, Ringu, Ju-on, The Grudge, The Grudge 2.