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Ratatouille (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Brad Bird
I watched Ratatouille with a 3-year old who is currently obsessed with super heroes. Hey, want to watch a movie about a rodent who becomes a super chef? "Yeah, hee!" came the big response; whereas I cringed at the idea. What will Pixar think of next? A cockroach barista? Rats conjure up images of the Great Plague, disease, and so forth - nothing too positive. To see a whole army of rats swarming around the sacred kitchen is not my ideal night of entertainment, but that's exactly what happens in this brave new animation. Having an extremely keen sense of taste as well as a passion for culinary arts, you can say, Remy is not your average rat. But in a world driven by humans, an eccentric rat... [read more]
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Magic Boy (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Tsui Tin Yau (Actor)
| Kate Yeung (Actor)
| Anjo Leung (Actor)
| Adam Wong (Director)
Adam Wong made a solid directorial debut in 2004 with the indie feature When Beckham Met Owen, an insignificant-slice-of-life drama about a middle school boy who begins to question his own sexual orientation. The film was mostly an exercise in mundane realism, capturing the unexciting living conditions and internal conflicts of a housing estate youth in everyday Hong Kong. And yet for a film with unattractive photography, amateur leads, and no emotional or narrative ups and downs to speak of, When Beckham Met Owen was quite palatable, just on the brink of meaning something. It was a fine start for a new director working on a shoestring budget, and Wong has made good on his promise with his... [read more]
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Island Etude (DVD) (Single Disc Edition) (Taiwan Version)
Yang Li Yin (Actor)
| Tung Ming Hsiang (Actor)
| Xu Xiao Shun
| Wu Nien Jen
When I was living in Taiwan, one of my big plans was to take a round-island trip. Unfortunately, it simply never happened, so now I can only live vicariously through Island Etude. The directorial debut of A City of Sadness cinematographer En Chen, the eminently enjoyable Island Etude follows a hearing-impaired young man's one-week bike circuit of Taiwan. Starting and ending at the southern port city of Kaohsiung, the film has all the romanticism of a traditional road movie, and leading man Tung Ming Hsiang paints some inspiring imagery as he huffs along on a scrappy bike, with a pack and guitar on his back. As expected, the film is comprised of random encounters and episodes that seem to add... [read more]
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Brave Story (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Matsu Takako
| Tokiwa Takako
| Imai Miki
| Wentz Eiji
Anyone who's ever played an RPG should find the story of Brave Story familiar. A 10 year-old boy named Wataru follows mysterious friend Mitsuru through a strange portal, only to arrive in a fantastic medieval land called Vision, complete with dragons, anthropomorphic creatures, melee weapons, and armor. Once there, Wataru assembles a party of compatriots and treks across in the land in search of the "Goddess of Destiny", in order to fulfill some important quest involving fate, destiny, and the lives of untold innocents. Or something like that. Wataru's quest actually has acute real-world significance to him: his parents are estranged and his mother deathly ill, and Wataru wants the Goddess... [read more]
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The Sun Also Rises (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Anthony Wong (Actor)
| Jiang Wen (Actor, Director)
| Joan Chen (Actor)
| Jaycee Chan (Actor)
Thirteen years ago, Jiang Wen made his directorial debut with a little film called In the Heat of the Sun, which still remains one of my all-time favorite films. In the Heat of the Sun offered a revisionist take of the Cultural Revolution, following a group of apathetic teenagers in the heat of their lives, basking in the reckless freedom of days without parents, teachers, or school. By applying hazy-dazy, coming-of-age nostalgia to one of the most controversial periods in modern Chinese history, Jiang told a different story from that of the mainstream memory of pain and suffering. This adolescent vision of the period created significance in its irreverence, challenging public and personal... [read more]
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Kiki's Delivery Service (Hong Kong Version)
Miyazaki Hayao (Producer)
A teen witch's coming-of-age taleAnother work of passion, Miyazaki Hayao's fifth directorial film turned into a major success for Studio Ghibli. There is a certain charm about Kiki's Delivery Service that won me over as soon as this movie was in my DVD player. It all starts with the relaxing music by Miyazaki's first choice film score composer Hisaishi Joe whose acoustic sounds complement this original story about a thirteen-year-old witch like a glove fits the hand. As for the stunning artwork from the now established Japanese animation studio the world has come to know and love, many viewers including myself may get the idea to look for original paintings from the movie to put up at home. As background motifs for his... [read more]
December 6, 2007 Picked By A-Xiang Joe See all this editor's picks
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Exodus (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Simon Yam (Actor)
| Annie Liu (Actor)
| Irene Wan (Actor)
| Nick Cheung (Actor)
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Edmond Pang is challenging the audience or mocking the audience, and that's what makes his films so interesting and entertaining. Hong Kong's best young director makes it six winners in a row with his latest effort Exodus. This time he's taken the eternal battle between men and women to its logically illogical conclusion - all women are in cahoots to kill men. Pang throws a curveball at the audience from the very first frame, beginning the film with a fairly long scene of scuba divers beating up a man in a long hallway in slow motion. Who is this man? Why scuba divers? Why is he getting beaten up? It turns out none of these questions matter as the opening... [read more]
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Fearless (Director's Cut) (Hong Kong Version)
Jet Li (Actor)
| Nakamura Shido (Actor)
| Harada Masato (Actor)
| Collin Chou (Actor)
No disrespect to Jet Li, but after watching a string of his past movies like Unleashed (2005), The One (2001), and Romeo Must Die (2000), my impression of the actor was limited to his martial arts skills. Honestly, how I ended up seeing Fearless was nothing short of a coincidence. Basically, it boiled down to two choices: lousy first row seats for Pirates of the Caribbean 2, or a three-hour wait until the next screening of Perhaps Love. Then there was Fearless offering ample seats; thus began my rediscovery of Jet Li. Touted as Jet Li's last film in the martial arts genre, Fearless chronicles the life of legend Huo Yuan Jia who found the progressive Jing Wu Sports Federation at the turn of... [read more]
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Green Snake (DTS Version)
Joey Wang (Actor)
| Maggie Cheung Man Yuk (Actor)
| Vincent Zhao
| Tsui Hark (Director)
Tsui Hark's Green Snake is simultaneously revered and reviled, and honestly, it's not hard to see why. Sublimely beautiful Hong Kong Cinema icons Joey Wong and Maggie Cheung star as a pair of immortal snakes who attempt to circumvent the natural order by attaining human form, thereby pissing off the local Buddhists, including Zhao Wen Zhou (a.k.a. Chiu Man Cheuk, Vincent Zhao, and probably a few other names), who plays Fa Hoi, an exceptionally powerfully monk whose devotion is tested by his own earthly desires. Though the two snakes' human lives don't really cause anyone grief, it's the human foibles - love, anger, lust, jealousy, intolerance - which serve to bring their paradise-on-Earth... [read more]
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Perhaps Love (DVD) (US Version)
Jacky Cheung (Actor)
| Takeshi Kaneshiro (Actor)
| Zhou Xun (Actor)
| Ji Jin Hee (Actor)
Hong Kong doesn't attempt too many musicals, making Peter Chan's glossy 2005 foray into the genre, Perhaps Love, all the more worthwhile. Though not at the same level as Hollywood's flamboyant offerings, the film wins with great production values, a clever conceit - Perhaps Love is not a musical in the traditional sense, but rather a movie containing a musical - and the pure force of Jacky Cheung's vocals. Cheung stars as worn-out, ill-tempered director Nie Wen who is shooting a musical starring his girlfriend Sun Na (Zhou Xun), Hong Kong actor Lin Jian Dong (Takeshi Kaneshiro), and himself. The musical is about a girl who loses her memory and gets rescued by a circus master. The circus... [read more]
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I Not Stupid Too (Cantonese / Mandarin Dubbed Version) (Hong Kong Version)
Shawn Lee (Actor)
| Joshua Ang (Actor)
| Ashley Leong (Actor)
| Xiang Yun (Actor)
A follow-up to 2002's I Not Stupid, Jack Neo's I Not Stupid Too continues the director's crusade against Singapore's overbearing education system and work values. Focusing on the communication gap between parents and children, the film revolves around two normal, clean-cut, angsty teenage boys from different backgrounds who stumble over to the wrong side. With their parents too busy or hardheaded to understand them, trouble communicating at home eventually leads to troublemaking outside of home. One of the truly winning points about both I Not Stupid and I Not Stupid Too is Neo's ability to come around to all sides of the story. The film is told mostly from the children's perspective, but... [read more]
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Secret (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Jay Chou (Director, Actor)
| Guey Lun Mei (Actor)
| Anthony Wong (Actor)
| Alice Tzeng (Actor)
The big secret: Jay Chou can direct too!It's not a secret anymore: Jay Chou can do more than just compose music and sing, he can direct too. However, the jury may still be out on his acting. Chairman Chou does quadruple duty for Secret; besides directing and starring in the film, the do-it-all entertainer penned the original story and the film's evocative score. Chou stars as Jay, a young, talented musician whose cool demeanor is both aloof and charming. Even though he's a bit of a cold fish and even an odd duck, people still regard him with awe thanks to his amazing musical skills and charming, boyish demeanor. It's almost like he's playing...the real Jay Chou! That said, Jay Chou plays himself rather well, though as a romantic... [read more]
September 13, 2007 Picked By Koh So See all this editor's picks
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Hooked On You (DVD) (US Version)
Miriam Yeung (Actor)
| Eason Chan (Actor)
| Stanley Fung
| Jolie Chan
In a decidedly mediocre year for Hong Kong cinema, Law Wing Cheong's Hooked On You shines like a beacon for being not only an outstanding Hong Kong film, but also an outstanding Hong Kong story. Out of the three "Handover" films released around the Hong Kong Handover 10th Anniversary period, Hooked On You is the one that best captures the Hong Kong experience, and it does so in a completely engaging and unassuming manner. Hooked On You covers ten years in the lives of two typical working class Hong Kongers, fishmongers Miu and Fishman played by Miriam Yeung and Eason Chan. Working at the same market, the two go from rivals to friends to perhaps something more. Over the years, there are ups... [read more]
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The Go Master (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Chang Chen (Actor)
| Sylvia Chang (Actor)
| Matsuzaka Keiko
| Emoto Akira
While his fellow Fifth Generation auteurs have been busy cooking up dubious, over-the-top period epics, Tian Zhuangzhuang continues to practice the art of subtlety with his latest masterpiece The Go Master. Quiet, elegant, and slow-burning, The Go Master is simply and directly a biopic of master Go player Wu Qingyuan. With neither judgment nor fanfare, the film follows the extraordinary life of a Chinese man, whose genius in the game of Go brought him to the shores of Japan during the early 20th century. In order to continue playing, he chose to remain in Japan during the Sino-Japanese War, but his struggles with faith and self would lead him to join a cult and even briefly give up Go. The... [read more]
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Gong Tau (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Mark Cheng (Actor)
| Maggie Shiu (Actor)
| Kenny Wong Tak Bun (Actor)
| Lam Suet (Actor)
It's been a long time since Hong Kong has had a good old Category III exploitation thriller, but lucky for us all, Herman Yau has been working overtime. Gratuitous violence, gore, and nudity? Check, check, and check! Hong Kong, it's good to have you back. For those not versed in their voodoo, "gong tau" is a form of black magic mainly practiced in Southeast Asia. Film and television depictions of gong tau usually involve voodoo dolls, pins and needles, and various poisonous creatures like centipedes and snakes. Unless a counter-curse is found in time, victims of gong tau develop various nasty boils and ailments and succumb to gruesome, mysterious deaths. Gong tau has a comfortable home... [read more]
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The Little Fairy aka: Fairy From The Wonderland (Ep.1-30) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version)
Ariel Lin (Actor)
| Hu Ge (Actor)
| Bobby Dou (Actor)
| Tse Kwan Ho (Actor)
It's long and it's cheesy, but there's just something inherently charming about The Little Fairy. As per usual with period dramas, The Little Fairy is a variation of an already familiar story, in this case the folk tale of Dong Yong and the Seventh Princess. This star-crossed romance between a kind-hearted mortal and the heavenly Jade Emperor's seventh daughter is one of the great classics of Chinese folklore, and The Little Fairy basically gives it a colorful new-generation facelift. Idol leads, bright sets, and funny CGI seem like an easy recipe for disaster, but in this case, the drama falls pleasantly into place. Stretching a whopping 39 episodes, The Little Fairy adds more than a few... [read more]
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Exiled (Hong Kong Version)
Simon Yam (Actor)
| Francis Ng (Actor)
| Nick Cheung (Actor)
| Richie Jen (Actor)
Johnnie To manifests his unique gangster film aesthetics to the utmost in Exiled. In terms of manipulating the framing and colors, and depicting the male bonding between the five characters, Exiled can been seen as a showcase of Johnnie To's cinematic style. The gunfight scenes provide a perfect stage for him to show off his mise-en-scene techniques, embedding the film's explosive tension in graceful actions. The film opens with a gunfight between Wo (Nick Cheung), Blaze (Anthong Wong), and Tai (Francis Ng). Johnnie To carefully arranges their positions to make full use of the depth of field, such that, amidst all the swift actions, they always form a triangle in contrast to the various... [read more]
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After This Our Exile (DVD) (Director's Cut) (3-Disc Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
Aaron Kwok (Actor)
| Charlie Yeung (Actor)
| Ian Iskandar Gouw (Actor)
| Kelly Lin (Actor)
Patrick Tam was away from the director's chair for 17 years, and I did set high expectations on his After This, Our Exile which marked his return in 2006. The film didn't fail me. I watched the director's cut, which was 160 minutes long. Reportedly, the 120-minute Hong Kong theatrical release has cut out a few scenes which I would regard as significant. In case you are looking for a DVD version, I recommend you to get the director's cut. 160 minutes might sound daunting, but once you get engaged, 2 hours 40 minutes just lapse quickly. Aaron Kwok is gambler Sheng, whose innate shortcomings in personality tragically destroy his family. At one point he swears to quit gambling and even attempts... [read more]
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The Postmodern Life Of My Aunt (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Chow Yun Fat (Actor)
| Siqin Gaowa (Actor)
| Vicki Zhao (Actor)
| Shi Ke (Actor)
Living in the city sounds alluring, but one must endure the solitude of living in it. Otherwise he or she will be like the pathetic Ye Rutang in Ann Hui's The Postmodern Life of My Aunt. The film opens with Ye Rutang (Siqin Gaowa) greeting her nephew (Guan Wenshuo) at the railway station. She lives alone in the metropolis of Shanghai - although the film later reveals how much she has given up by choosing to stay in the vibrant metropolis - and her nephew, no matter how naughty, has brought her a sense of companionship which she has apparently yearned for. But her nephew exploits her affection to cheat his old-fashioned, at least morally, but affectionate aunt. Then she comes across this... [read more]
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Whatever You Want (Shaw Brothers) (Hong Kong Version)
Anita Yuen (Actor)
| Michael Wong (Actor)
| Jordan Chan (Actor)
| Christy Chung (Actor)
Whatever You Want may be the most forgotten film in the IVL/Shaw Brothers collection - and it could deserve that classification. This pastiche of movie parodies, dumb comedy, and general silliness is far from a quality motion picture experience, and should come with writer-director Wong Jing's official seal of mediocrity embossed in the DVD cover. However, the above criticism only exists if we expect all our moviegoing choices to be official award-winning cinema - in which case stuff like Scary Movie or Airplane! would never make our viewing list. Let's face it: cheap, disposable silliness has its place. If that's the case, then Whatever You Want should be the pick for longtime Hong Kong... [read more]
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