Tag: Chinese Film

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

The Grandmaster – A Film On The Life Stories Of Yip Man And Gong Er

An art house type of movie

To fully appreciate this Chinese movie, you probably need to understand the language, the culture, as well as the martial arts within.  It is not unusual for the olden day Chinese to speak in metaphors.  My dad still does too.  The English subtitles can be quite misleading at times.  What if you don’t understand Chinese but you are curious about The Grandmaster?  I suppose even if you can only get the essence of it, it may still be worthwhile provided that you enjoy watching art house type of movies or you are a fan of the leading actor and actress.

The backdrop is enticing.  A story told from Yip Man’s perspective (he who was Bruce Lee’s teacher).  From Yip Man’s age of 40 till his old age.  Upon the then-grandmaster’s retirement, while the northern China’s grandmaster title was given to Ma San, it was of the old grandmaster’s wish to pass the southern China title to a southerner.  Hence the introduction of Yip Man.

Tony Leung is quite possible one of the best actors I have seen.  He truly can act with just his eyes.  That heighten alertness in face of a real challenge, confidence with a hint of playfulness during a friendly duet, that moment of being mesmerized by the opposite sex, pain and despair, heartache and resignation, or simply that pair of weary eyes having seen too much in life.  It is a real treat to see him act as Yip Man.  This movie has provided him much opportunity to shine.

Zhang Ziyi plays the role of Gong Er, the daughter of the then-grandmaster.  While the range of emotion given is not as wide as Yip Man’s role, Zhang Ziyi has certainly chilled me with her coldness, pained me with her rare tenderness.  Her acting too is convincing.

The martial art scenes are pretty impressive.  With modern technology and the extreme slow motion close-up playback, the action is exciting to watch.  But here lies the problem.  The director Wong Kar-wai has cast this film in an art house setting (like his last movie My Blueberry Nights).  Take away the breathtaking action and the engaging acting is a series of artistic shots such as water peddles and street scenery, Buddha statues and candles.  The gaps can be extremely slow.  I found myself wanting to see the next action or acting scene and skip the excessive artistic frames.

One good example is the character Yixiantian “The Razor”.  The film has devoted quite a bit of airtime to develop The Rezor.  He has absolutely zero contribution to the main story except that one interaction he has with Gong Er on a train.  Even that does not materialize into anything.  The story goes on telling more about The Razor – humorous I must say – whereby taking all in, I wouldn’t miss a thing if the director has decided to cut this character away.  Maybe I am missing something significant here.  I don’t know.

Also, the resolution between Yip Man and his wife (played by a Korean actress Song Hye-kyo) appears to be fuzzy.  Is it because there is a lack of real life documentation of his marriage?  Or is it the director’s intention to have us thinking?  I thought for a bit.  Then I gave up.

Another of his movie that is low in entertainment but probably high in artistic value.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Painted Skin: The Resurrection

Cynthia woke up at 9 this morning.  On a supposedly lazy Saturday.  Reluctantly I got out of bed, tempted by that one bowl of hot oatmeal that would soon present itself in front of my computer together with a cup of fresh coffee.  I so wanted to sleep a bit longer.  Last week has been rough.  But I wouldn’t want to miss a hot homemade breakfast cooked by my wife.

Since Cynthia has a facial appointment in town, a few options became available.  I could stay at home.  But do what?  All my video games are getting boring and I have nothing to play.  If you are a girl and cannot relate to this, the next time you open your wardrobe and sigh, “I have nothing to wear”, remember guys also have the same painful dilemma too.  I checked online to see what movies I could watch in an hour or two.  Painted Skin II was the only option.  Since my buddy TK gamed for it, we then have a ‘date’ watching a Chinese film on a supposedly lazy Saturday.

I don’t know Zhou Xun.  TK told me that she is a famous actress.  I do know Vicki Zhao and the primary reason why I didn’t mind watching this one was her.  I have not watched the previous installment.  According to TK, that one is forgettable.  This one is too.  In the last episode, from what I gathered while watching this movie, the 1,000 years old Fox Demon fell in love with a married man.  In the end, the man has decided to go back to his wife.  Somehow, Fox Demon sacrificed herself to save this couple whom I suppose faced some kind of grave situation.  Because of this act, Fox Demon was banished, tortured, and frozen for 500 years as some sort of punishment by the – I guess – Prime Evil.  500 years later, a Bird Demon charmed by the beauty of the Fox Demon (who according to the lore wore the skin of the most beautiful woman known to men) and she broke the ice.  Together, the Fox Demon and the lesser demon, Bird Demon, escaped the frozen prison and into the mortal world hoping to outrun the Prime Evil’s frozen grasp.

Now that is part one of the story and the beginning of part two.  For those who enjoy the genre of Chinese fantasy, Painted Skin: The Resurrection delivers just that.  Nothing exceptional.  Nothing memorable.  There are not many action scenes either.  Mostly drama and bits and pieces of CGI.  Both Zhou Xun and Vicki Zhao are good actresses.  The contrast between the two – cold blooded demon and hot blooded human – is a joy to watch.  Zhou Xun the Fox Demon has little emotion.  No tear even when telling a rather sad story or singing a rather sad song.  Yet she can be coldly seductive when she plays the temptress role.  Vicki Zhao plays the Princess.  She is impulsive and boy, she can cry.  When the two swap their roles, the emotion templates get swapped too.  I seldom see Vicki taking up a lead role.  Hence, I am going to bump this very average movie to a slightly good average movie.

Ya, you welcome, Vicki.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers.  So if you plan to watch this, read no further.  I am writing this down for my future reference.  For sure, I will forget about the story months down the road.  Who knows?  Maybe there will be a third episode?

The backbone of Painted Skin II is a romance story between the Princess and her Guardsman.  8 years ago, the two fell in love.  In that magical moment under the snowy sky, the Princess asked the Guardsman if he loved her.  Knowing his status, the Guardsman hesitated in answering her.  Enraged, the Princess wandered into the forest and was soon attacked by a bear.  While the Guardsman managed to save the Princess’s life, the Princess’s right cheek forever bears the scar of the attack.  After that unfortunately incident, the Guardsman self-exiled to a faraway post while the Princess disappeared and partially covered her face with a mask made of gold.

Now that the Fox Demon has escaped, her number one priority is to find someone who is willing to give her a heart so that she can turn into a human.  OK, there is another romance story between the Bird Demon and the Demon Hunter (who is a human and inherit this role from his ancestors).  The Demon Hunter hunts no demons (ya, I know).  And the Bird Demon’s main contribution to the story besides being an eye candy is to vanquish the Evil Sorcerer after she is killed by the Evil Sorcerer who uses the blood of the Demon Hunter that is lethal to the demons.  Huh, you say?  I know.  This is Chinese fantasy.  Making sense out of the story is the last thing you should do (perhaps I should have done the same with Batman).

Call it a chanced encounter or a demonic plot, the Princess saves the Fox Demon from the bandits’ attack.  The Princess does not know that the Fox Demon is indeed a demon.  So she took the demon in as her personal servant whose primary role – I guess – is to entertain the crowd.  The Princess tries to rekindle her relationship with the Guardsman, but without success.  My speculation is that he is part guilty of the past and part charmed by the Fox Demon.  Frustrated, the Princess tried to commit suicide only to be saved by the Fox Demon, of which the true form of the demon is unveiled.  To prove a theory that because the Princess is disfigured and hence the Guardsman is no longer interested, Fox Demon suggests to exchange skin (?!) for one day.  Two beautiful women naked in a pool is sexy.  The process of skin swapping is not.  Fortunately it is done quite artistically.

Vicki’s character – the Princess – with Xun’s skin (hence acted by Xun) managed to make love with the Guardsman.  Therefore, Fox Demon’s theory seems to have its merit (Note: This is Chinese fantasy story and of course she is wrong).  Meanwhile, the Barbarians together with the Evil Sorcerer from the neighboring country demands a marriage deal in exchange for peace.  The Guardsman tries to fight the entire army of Barbarians and buy time for the Princess’s escape but fails.  Because he is no Achilles.  To save the Guardsman’s life, the Princess is willing to marry the Barbarian Chief, who is in fact dead and was killed by the Fox Demon earlier on (!).  It is the Princess’s heart the Barbarians are after for the resurrection of their Chief.

Without knowing that the Princess is going to be married to a dead man, the Fox Demon makes an offer.  Princess’s heart in return for Fox Demon’s skin.  Fox Demon can then be human and the Princess can be with the Guardsman, as a demon.  Agree to the deal, Vicki gives Xun her heart and her skin (!).  Like any good mathematical formula, think net-net, they have switched their bodies.

This secret soon surfaces as the Bird Demon tells it to the Demon Hunter and the Demon Hunter to the Guardsman.  Time is running out because (1) as soon as the Fox Demon (who is the Princess) eats a human heart, she will stay in demon form forever (think vampires) and (2) the Barbarians and the Evil Sorcerer are going to plug the Princess’s heart out (who is the Fox Demon) and plant it into the dead Chief.  The Guardsman looks for the Fox Demon (who is the Princess) and proclaims his love to her.  To free himself from the Fox Demon’s charm he caught earlier on, he blinded both of his eyes in one swift slice of a blade (!).  But fears not.  While our beloved Guardsman is not Achilles, he is quite a Paris and can shoot arrows with his eyes closed, or blinded.

The rest of the story focus on the conflict between the Han Chinese and the Barbarians.  Fox Demon the Princess is paralyzed because she is starved from not having human hearts as meal.  Princess the Fox Demon is also immobilized because she is tied up on a pole by the Barbarians ready for an ancient heart transplant operation when the sun is eaten by the moon.  In one dramatic end, at the dying second of the eclipse, Fox Demon the Princess and Princess the Fox Demon ascend towards the sun and are merged into a single entity (!).  The Princess is now alive, with her skin and her heart.  And her scar is healed too.  But no matter.  The Guardsman will not be able to see her beautiful face because he is now blind.

And they live happily ever after.

PS. Where is the Fox Demon?

Categories
Foreign Movie Reviews Romance

Love, A Chinese Movie

Here in Singapore – or it could well be anywhere in the world – we are suffering from a severe movie dry season.  There are just not enough movies these days that entice the Movie Review Squad to get out of our homes and do something.  For close to two months, three of us would have our weekly meeting over Whatsapp going through the agenda items of (1) are there any good movies to watch this weekend, (2) are there any good movies to look forward to the week after?  No and no.  We, at the virtual headquarter of MRS begins to wonder: has piracy finally killed off the entire movie industry?  Or is it the decline of our Singapore film distributors not willing to bring in quality films from other countries?  What happen to the Japanese or Korean movies?  European movies?  Or these markets too suffer from the same dry spell?  No idea.  We are sad pandas indeed.

Now comes the Chinese movie LOVE, staring a bunch of well known actors including Shu Qi and Vicki Zhao.  There are a multitude of characters all consciously or subconsciously looking for love, embracing love.  Each character comes with an individual story – a story that is weaved into an overarching  story of … you guessed right, love.  There is a little boy who has not met his father since birth.  A real estate agent who appears to prioritize supporting her family over anything else.  A woman who has never had a job in her life, always receives financial support from men.  A business executive who does not know what is love. Two girls, best friends of each other, and one of them is pregnant.  A young man whose dream is about to be shattered by one mistake he has made.  An old man who is rich beyond imagination but he is not always happy.  And finally, a young man whose stuttering affects his physical outlook, but well compensated by his kindheartedness and childlike attitude to life.  The story is tight, a quality piece of script writing.  The acting is good too.  There are scenes that tickle.  And there are scenes that move.

I do not know how to classify LOVE.  It is a tragedy, yet a comedy.  It is romance, yet drama.  I think it is best described as a movie about finding love through the extraordinarily unexpected.

Categories
Action & Thriller Foreign Movie Reviews

Wu Xia – Is Donnie Yen Enough to Save This Film?

For the past one week, Cynthia has been nudging me to watch “Wu Xia”.  Normally she is not into Chinese movie, so I was curious.  Then I found out that Takeshi Kaneshiro is starring in the movie.  I suppose her fascination to Takeshi is like mine to Shu Qi.  I was still unmoved until she told me that Tang Wei is in it as well.  Really?!  The last time I saw Tang Wei on big screen, my nose bled for hours.  Despite that unsightly bushy armpit scene – which I understand that perhaps in 1940, no one in China shaved their armpits – I still think that Tang Wei’s performance on and out of the bed was breathtaking.

When I was young, I was a huge fan of books of the Wu Xia genre.  I believe that it is a genre that cannot be fully presented in a film format.  In a way, “Wu Xia” does not have a strong plot of treachery and betrayal, no heartwarming romance or a strong heroine figure, and no character development in terms of how one becomes more powerful as the story unfolds.  There are no legendary weapons either or the quest for one.  Is there honor and sacrifice?  Perhaps a little bit.  The story is dark.  There are bits and pieces that took me by surprise.  Towards the end, there is a strong association to one of the famous Wu Xia stories.  Because of that, to me in comparison, “Wu Xia” seems a bit dimmer.  And the lack of love in the mist of family dispute also appears to be unrealistic to me.

Despite my lukewarm reaction to the plot, Donnie Yen is one fine actor.  It was my first time to see Donnie taking on the role of a martial art action actor.  In “Wu Xia”, whenever he fights, my body trembles.  He is my new Jackie Chan.  Takeshi plays the role of a detective (again) and he narrates part of the story.  With the help of computer effects, Takeshi has done a pretty good job in explaining some of the mechanisms according to the world of Wu Xia (still, no match to reading a proper Wu Xia novel).  What about Tang Wei?  She plays the role of an ordinary housewife well.  I wish she had a bigger role in shaping how the story climaxed.

In conclusion, “Wu Xia” is overall one ordinary film with moments of excitement with Donnie Yen is doing his things.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame – Intriguing!

This post has been delayed for quite some time as I have a backlog of blog entries piling up by the day.  But I have this quirky habit of documenting all the movies I have watched as I gave up collecting stubs that fade.  Unless the movie is so bad that all I want is to forget about the whole thing.  Besides, it is often more than a review.  It is part of my diary.

Wuxia fans would love “Detective Dee”.  I guess two weekends ago when this film was out, it was hugely popular.  All the cinemas in town were full.  Fortunately the Movie Review Squad managed to book some seats in a Cathay cinema in the middle of a heartland.  AMK Hub is always packed with people.  I have warned my buddy to buffer at least 30 minutes to find a packing lot.  It did not take that long.  But you would never know.

An intriguing detective story aside, those who have been reading wuxia stories should be able to appreciate some of the details the filmmaker has put into the show – the transfiguration, the foreign weapons and fighting style and poison from outside the mainland among others.  Andy Lau, Tony Leung (Ka Fai), and Carina Lau are seasoned actors and actress.  Hence I would not expect anything less.  I am also much impressed by the role played by Li Bingbing.  It adds another layer of complicity to the overall plot.

I would consider myself as someone who has paid much attention to my Chinese history lessons at school.  However, it took me some time trying to reconnect to the knowledge that Empress Wu is the only woman in the history of China to assume that title.  And then I did some research.  Her Chinese name is 武則天.  And then I remember.  Needless to say, when I studied Chinese history, I studied in Chinese, I remember in Chinese (PS. This movie is filmed in Mandarin and as a Cantonese, I have to rely on the English subtitles).  Today, I read up a little bit more about Wu Zetian on the Internet.  Her story alone is intriguing.  And her role in Chinese history is also intriguing.  Think about this.  Of the thousands of years of Chinese civilization, we only have one empress who ruled for 20 years.  That does not seem right, does it?

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Bodyguards And Assassins – One Shouldn’t Be Missed This Year, To Me

On the same day we were supposed to meet with our friend on his birthday to watch this film, I was reading “Superfreakonomics” in the morning.  In this new chapter, it says we often complain about how the old days are better, but more often so it is not the case.  After the film, I thought: What if web conferencing was a reality in 1905?  For the 1 hour meeting Sun Yat-sen has with the revolutionists in Hong kong, so many people are willing to put their lives on the front line to make it happens.  Apparently, I was not the only one who thinks that way after the show.

“Bodyguards and Assassins” has a few good surprises to me.  Cynthia and I were supposed to give it a miss as we were more interested in procuring the tickets for “Avatar”.  Not surprisingly, “Avatar” is full house all the way till Christmas and beyond.  Instead, TK picked “Bodyguards and Assassins”.  The storyline is epic, the costumes in the backdrop of 1905 Hong Kong are convincingly authentic, the acting quality of the huge team of Chinese stars is rock solid, and the film talks to me at the emotional level.  So thank you TK for booking this for us!

I have spent a good number of years studying Chinese history when I was in Hong Kong.  And I was holding my breath on what a Hong Kong and China production going to do with Sun Yat-sen, father of the modern China, also co-founder of Kuomintang (KMT) – a political party that eventually established itself in Taiwan after a fallout with the Communist Party of China.  Given the history and tension between China and Taiwan with a story set in a British ex-colony Hong Kong, how far would “Bodyguards and Assassins” push the political boundary?

It turns out to be one story that recounts the few days of logistic preparation prior to the meeting of Dr. Sun and the revolutionists in Hong Kong.  It is a revolution in the making against the Qing Dynasty.  The story ends on the day the meeting has ended.  And I am glad that the story manages not to displease the authorities of either straits.  It is good to be reminded – as a Chinese – how far we have endured in the last century, how much we have progressed in the last century.  A collapse of a Dynasty, the invasion of the Japanese, the colonization by the Western countries, and look where China is today.

Back to the film, as nowhere it is mentioned that the story is based on true characters, I have no basis to verify if these are historical events.  Having said that, the characters are very much alive.  Each individual is portrayed as a genuinely good person, with a future.  And that is why “Bodyguards and Assassins” is so hard to watch.  No one wants to see good people get hurt.  I think Cynthia was tearing all the way.

I get it.  Revolution is painful, very painful.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Foreign Movie Reviews

The Storm Warriors – Huh? What The …

For the record, I am a huge fan of the Wuxia genre.  I am also a fan of the original Chinese comic book series “Fung Wan”.  OK, where shall I begin with this second installment?  Part one is my casual thoughts, which fans of the movie may disagree.  Part two is my deeper albeit random thoughts, which those with little background of the genre who may find interesting to read.

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Cynthia seems to like “The Storm Warriors”.  My mind seems to have paralyzed by the movie not sure if I like it or not.  Casual thoughts as follows.

  • Those hair!  Oh my.  The hairstyle redefined the art of messiness.  I don’t recall it is that messy in the comic book.
  • I think all the characters in the movie are badly in need of a good bath.  Maybe the costumes are badly in need of a good laundry.  OK, maybe with the exception of the two girls.  Just maybe.
  • Lord Godless reminds me of the Lich King in World of Warcraft.  The evil Wind reminds me of the vampires in Twilight.  Maybe that’s why Cynthia likes the movie.
  • Wow, you call that romance?  The relationship between Cloud and Chu Chu is lifeless.  The relationship between Wind and Second Dream doesn’t even go beyond a good hug.  One may say, so what?  Well, the love relationship between, say, Cloud and Chu Chu is supposed to be epic, for those who have read the comic book series.  Epic!  So epic that makes people cry.  So epic that makes me cry watching “The Storm Warriors” for what it could have been.
  • For those who have forgotten the storyline of the previous installment (11 years ago, who would remember?), this part two does not quite help to refresh our mind.  The storyline of this installment – deviates from the original plot I reckon – leaves much to desire.  The climax, to me, would have been a joint force battle between the two main characters against an evil character.  If the story development is intended for a part 3, I would expand on the battle with Lord Godless, keep the long battle between Wind and Cloud short, and keep the ending as it is (though I still don’t like the bad romance).
  • The original language of the movie is Cantonese I believe.  In Singapore, for reasons beyond my comprehension (or my acceptance), it is dubbed in Mandarin.  Often, I can deal with it if I have to though I would love to watch it in my language (and hence, I seldom watch Hong Kong films in Singapore’s theaters).  The issue I have with dubbing is a missing in synchronization between the acting and the voice emote.  At times, the voice seems to more involved into the plot than the acting (especially so for the two girls).  Just not natural, to me that is.
  • The subtitles are laughable.  I have this urge to re-translate the dialogs just for Cynthia’s sake.  OK, without the background of Chinese and Wuxia, I admit some if not most of the concepts are hard to grasp.  As I read both the Chinese and English subtitles, some of the essence of the dialog could have been better preserved.
  • Computer generated imaginary does not make great movies.  And we know that.
  • 11 years we have waited for this 2nd installment.  Back then, in the year 1998, Ekin Cheng (Wind) was 31 and Aaron Kwok (Cloud) was 33.  Now, imagine if the 3rd installment is to come in the year 2020 with the original casting …

What I do like are the Thai-powered martial arts and the collateral damage incorporated in the storyline.  I think the movie comes alive after some innocent lives are taken.  Look.  If there is no sex and money in the plot, at least give us blood that pops our hearts.  No?

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Wow, part one of this entry is a lot longer than I have anticipated.  Perhaps I am passionate on this genre after all.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this genre, I have a few random thoughts to share.

  • Unlike some of the Western fantasy series, Chinese fantasy series seldom have the demon and angel entities.  Seldom do we summon anything demonic from Hell, or battle the evil with the blessing of God.  In Chinese, characters are gods of good and evil.  It is the person who follow the path of good or evil, not an external divine entity.  We have celestial entities like the dragons and we have evilness in the form of greed and power and the desire of immortality that corrupts.
  • Those who choose the path of good often take years to master the martial art.  In fact, the moral compass is often incorporated into the ‘form’ of the martial art.  If you recall, after the master Nameless has inspired Cloud to create his own martial art, Nameless comments that what Cloud lacks is the ‘form’.  Unfortunately, it is lost in translation.
  • One could also master the martial art without going through the fundamental of the moral values embedded within.  I believe in real life, learning Yoga in its truest form requires practitioners to meditate.  If one is to master the martial art by taking shortcuts, one could be consumed by the chaotic power within and turns ‘evil’.  Why evil?  That goes back to the common observation that anything good be it as reputation, relationship, communal infrastructures, and etc. takes years to build.  Destruction takes seconds.  The same pair of hands spend years building a school can also detonate a bomb that destroys it all.  In the movie, Wind took a shortcut and has become ‘evil’.  So that he can be so powerful in just 3 days.  Interestingly, Cloud also gains a new martial art technique that makes him powerful in the same 3 days.  What gives?
  • Are there any shortcut then for those who choose the path of the good?  According to the famous Wuxia writer Jin Jong, yes we can.  Decade worth of power can apparently be transfered from one character to another, in rare instances.  But that is beyond the scope of this movie.  In retrospect, I suspect the filmmaker wanted to incorporate this concept in the boosting of Cloud’s power by what remains in Nameless (the 10% after some bad wounding from the previous battle).  That would have made more sense as the path to good is often a long process.  I caught that in the dialog between the two.  But somehow, it is not executed that way in the movie.
  • While characters in a Wuxia setting often wield or in perpetual search for the ultimate weapon and armor – one that destroys all and one that is invincible to any attack – even the martial art technique to shield one from all harm, there is always a weakness somewhere (otherwise the story would be incredibly boring, no?).  That is what the repeated clumsy subtitle “his weakest point is hiding behind his strongest point” tries to convey.  Since the intended audience of the English subtitles are the ones who should have some concept of the Western culture, I personally would simply use the term “Achilles’ heel” to help with the translation.

Wow, an equally long part two!  Thanks for reading.  Peace.