This is a brand new film. It just opened two days ago on the 2nd of September. It attracted a lot of attention at the Hong Kong Internation Film Festival last March. And there’s plenty of buzz about it now.

While this film isn’t really about The Social Network or even social networking – chat, text, and email is how the girls do their business. Plenty of personal info is divulged and before you can say How much? or gei doh chin a?, which is Cantonese for how much, the old barter system comes into play. Cash is traded for sex.

There are four female leads and each of them are in the business for different reasons.  Three of the girl are in it for the money and more, but Bonnie Xian’s character Ronnie is actually a bored rich girl. She doesn’t do it for money. In fact, she pays the john. This Xian’s 5th film.

Bonnie (straight on view) and Michelle (half-profile)

Michelle Wai is Icy – she’s the de facto madam/pimp/broker/agent as well as a player. She’s doing it to support her b/f’’s lifestyle. This is her 6th film.

Una Lin plays Lin, the nymphomaniac. She’s in the game for the cash, the thrills, and she hoping for the chance to meet Jing Kok Sinsaang - that’s Mr. Right in ying man (English). This is her first film, and of the four leads, she’s the only one to get naked.

Venus Wong portrays Gucci. And she’s in it so she can afford to get the big brand name accessories that every hot chick in Hong Kong has to have. She wants the real stuff not the knockoffs. Hence her knick is Gucci. This is her second film.

Since I haven’t seen the film yet – I am not going to call this a review. You can however see a trailer on Youtube below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFJf8WvDre0&feature=related

Or you can watch a Making of / Behind The scenes with English subtitles (below). Unless you are in Hong Kong this film probably won’t be playing at your local cinema any time soon. But eventually there will be a DVD.

http://www.youtube.com/v/zWWoY1yUqxs&hl=en&fs=1

The China Lover

The subject of the novel, or maybe it should be called a historical-fiction book based on real life events, is Yoshiko Yamaguchi who was also known as Shirley Yamaguchi, Li Xianglan, and Ri Kouran. Yoshiko was born in Manchuria in 1920 to Japanese parents.

Following the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese had set up a puppet Manchurian government. By the late 1930’s, she’d grown into a very pretty and talented young woman who soon caught the eyes of the Japanese working there. Yamaguchi wanted more than anything else to be a singer and a movie star.  The Japanese believed they had struck gold with this talented young woman, because she was fluent in both Mandarin and Japanese. Her movie career began and her career seemed to be fast tracked. But there was a problem.

Yamaguchi, was asked to pose as a Chinese girl by her Japanese handlers. Though born in China, and raised in China, she was Japanese. She was even given a Chinese name, Li Xianglan, to attract the Chinese audiences.

The agent makes a pitch to the director

As I said above, she wanted to be a star. But her films were in actuality propaganda pieces. Yes, even in 1940, the terms ‘win the hearts and minds‘ was in full use; nearly 30 years before this term was used by the United States in their efforts in Viet Nam. The roles she played under the name of Li Xianglan were all about Chinese girls falling in love with Japanese men. This was part of the propaganda plan that the Japanese used to help the Chinese to begin thinking of the Japanese occupation as beneficial and paternalistic.

But there was a lot of pressure on her. She found it difficult to live under an assumed identity. She chafed about having to act Chinese when she was really Japanese. As the pressure mounted, Yamaguchi realized she’d never be a star in  her own right. She also realized that she was a political instrument, though she hadn’t realized it at first. She threatened to quit. She was told to forget those notions and get back to work. When again she threatened to quit, she was told no chance. Back to work and shut up.

making nice to the military

But the Chinese were not fooled. When one particular role showed Ri Kouran as a Chinese woman was being beaten, belittled and abused by the Japanese character, a huge controversy arose.  The Chinese resentment about the Japanese rapidly and publicly increased. When Japan was ultimately defeated in WWII, the Japanese plans for China were publicly reviled as simple global aggression. Li Xianglan/ Ri Kouran/Yoshiko Yamaguchi was arrested by the Chinese and charged with treason and collaborating with the Japanese. She was on trial for her life. She ultimately revealed that she was in fact a Japanese and not a Chinese National and was cleared.

A promo image for the TV Series

But that’s not even close to the end of her story. After the war, Ri Kouran relocated back to Japan and relaunched another film career. She caught the attention of Hollywood and came to the USA and starred in a few films. She even did a Broadway musical in New York. She would later marry the famed Japanese-American architect Isamu Noguchi.

A scene from within a movie from a scene in the TV drama

When that marriage floundered in the middle 1950’s they divorced and Yamaguchi went back to Japan. Once more she launched another career, this time as a TV News anchor and talk show host. She became successful in this phase as a crusading TV journalist. This lead to her marriage to a Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Otaka.

Ri Kouran at a live performance meeting an old friend from the audience

In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese Parliament and she served for 18 years (3 terms). This was certainly a thrilling life. One that a film writer or novelist did not create. nor even dream of creating, yet, Yoshiko Yamaguchi actually lived it.

Buruma’s novel is this same story told through the eyes and ears of three different and separate men who came into contact with her at various stages of her life. Buruma’s book has a ctreative and interesting structure to it. One woman’s story as told over a 50 year period,  by three separate men is not something you read very often.

But the story of Yoshiko still has more to it. A Japanese tv mini-series called Ri Kouran was produced and aired in February 2007. All of the images, other than book jackets and another TV production, are of Aya Ueto and are from the DVD made from the Japanese TV series production.

Meisa as Kawashima with Ri Kouran as a supporting character

There was In fact, a second tv series involving Yamaguchi that was produced and that aired in 2008. It was called Dansou no reijin. Meisa  Kuroki starred as Yoshiko Kawashima, a woman in the military during the Japanese occupation who befriended Ri Kouran.

Ueto looks gorgeous in the period costumes, and I simply could not resist sharing them. The Youtube below is a music video of the Ueto song Namida no Niji which will show you some small segments from the Ri Kouran TV show mixed with the new music.

Basically, over the life of the series, which ran this year from mid-April through June 24th, we will learn some in depth info about the five lead characters. We watch as they struggle with their problems like: their aversion to commitments, their lack of confidence, their unwillingness to either express the truth or to face it.

If that sounds kind of grim and disturbing to you, you can rest assured that the series is not completely or only about bumps in the road, it only seems that way. The cast is youthful, attractive, and their problems/issues are not too remote for most of us to identify with or relate to. As they’ve agreed to meet for the first time in the opening Episode, I’ll give you a little thumbnail sketch about each of them to help you decide if you’d like to watch this series.

Eita as Nakaji

Keisuke Nakajima is played by Eita who is in real life is 28 and has been working steadily in TV series and films in Japan for some time. He’s well liked and you’d have to say that his career is burgeoning as he’s gone from supporting roles to lead roles.

Nakaji and Haru

Here he is called Nakaji. The info he’s put out to the group is that he is a photographer. In reality, he’s a photographer’s assistant, in short a low level assistant in the skin magazine trade. He works on gravure idol photo-shoots. Throughout this entire series, he has a continuous and endless case of one bad hair day after another. As the series begins we learn that he has been involved with and is in love with a married woman.

Haru Mizuno is played by the award winning actress Juri Ueno. She walked off with an award for her role as a high-strung student trying to become concert pianist in Nodame Cantabile in 2006. She then followed with another award for her performance as a gay woman in the 2008 series Last Friends.

Juri Ueno as Haru

Haru has told the group that she is a teacher at a private high school. Her reality is that she’s a provisional teacher who is still on probation and she hasn’t gotten her full teaching license yet. Her character is attractive but has no self confidence at all. As a result, she’s never had a boy friend and has already past her 24th birthday.

Jae-Joong Hero is not only a Korean actor, but in his role in the series, he portrays a Korean living and working in Tokyo. He tells the group he is a Doctor, and that (Doctor) becomes his character’s name. In truth, he is a salesman for a medical supplies firm, and his track record is not too good.

Jaejoong aka 'Doctor'

He’s going to fall head-over-heels for Haru. The relationship has a good many stumbles, and week to week it seems that she loves me, she loves me not is the rule rather than the exception. That’s because Haru also really likes Nakaji. And because she can’t decide.

Megumi Seki appears as Peach. She’s tall and attractive with a willowy figure. Beyond that she’s an aggressive and sexually active woman. She’s only a sales girl in a women’s clothing shop but she’s implied to the group that she manages the store.

Megumi Seki as Peach

She will be attracted to two of the three male leads, and when we meet her, she is already pregnant by another lover. She easily bonds with Haru, and they become the supporting friend for each other.

The last of the main characters is Kaoru Ichihara or ‘Leenda’, played by Tetsuji Tamayama. He has told the group that he is an editor of a prestigious magazine, but in reality he is just an assistant editor who is being sexually harassed by his female boss who constantly promises better assignments and promotions in return for sleeping with her.

Tetsuji as Leenda

As you will see, he is the fifth wheel as well as the odd man out. Yet he outwardly appears as the most stable of the main characters while inwardly he hasn’t yet learned to face up to his reality. He too has his secret which will emerge in the coming weeks.

I’ve watched the whole series which you can find with either hard or soft subtitles. You’ll have to google to find them,  At times, I became angry at the characters for their indecisiveness, their inability to be honest even to themselves, and for letting their fears control them. Yet despite the anger, you do get caught up in rooting for them.

The series as a whole is far from upbeat, and despite the somewhat happy endings achieved by some of the characters. the series does not end with you pleased about the results for each of them. But the production hasn’t skimped on cost savings measures, and it is a visually attractive series. I won’t go as far as saying this is a must see, but it is diverting, and I did stay with it to completion.

For two video trailers go to:
http://asianmediawiki.com/Sunao_ni_Narenakute

Shinzanmono

I think shinzanmono means something along the lines of ‘new neighborhood people or person’, which is what Detective Kaga Kyoichiro is in Ningyo-cho. Kaga was just tranferred to the Nihonbashi precinct, is placed in charge of the case. With virtually all of the residents of the neighborhood’s main shopping street, harboring one secret or another, they will all emerge as suspects, Detective Kaga must use his keen sense of deductive reasoning to uncover the truth about these people as well as solve the case..

Much of that is from the synopsis provided on the d-addicts.com website. But it really doesn’t do the series justice. Calling it a detective show is truly an over-simplification. Unlike American detective shows where the detective solves a new crime each week, this series focuses on just the one case. We, much like Detective Kaga, are in the dark. Though we witnessed the murder in the opening episode, and have seen snippets of it, in flashbacks, in every episode that followed, we still have no idea. This is a literal, “Who done it?”

Detective Kaga is portrayed by Hiroshi Abe. He brings a quiet calm to the role, and from his simple white shirt without a tie, and black suit…he appears to be completely style-less. In that regard, he is similar to the classic American detective, Lieutenant Columbo, who was played in that classic series by Peter Falk. But unlike Columbo, who actively worked at being shambling, forgetful, and messy to deceive the suspects, Kaga is none of the above. At worst he is edging in the direction of being unkempt but hasn’t arrived at that station yet.

He is direct yet quite polite and courteous, sharp as a tack when it comes to smarts because he is sharp-eyed and listens to everything that is being said, and extraordinarily giving in the sense of calming and reassuring both victims and suspects to gain their confidence.

Though the series broadcast run has concluded, I’ve seen just the first five episodes as I must wait for the subtitles to become available. But from what I have seen, I can decidedly recommend the series. So let’s give you a leg up by introducing some of the characters to get you started.

Mieko Harada as the victim Mineko Mitsui

But first, who and what was the victim Mineko Mitsui all about? She’s a 40 something divorced woman, living alone in a small flat, who is also estranged from her 20 something year old son.

From what we can see in the flashbacks, she’s attempting to get her life back on track, and has moved into this neighborhood because she has discovered that this is where her son lives. She’s made quite a few friends in Ningyo-cho, and apparently was well liked. Mieko Harada had the role.

Meisa Kuroki as Ami Aoyama

The beautiful Meisa Kuroki has the part of Ami Aoyama. She’s a part-time freelance writer/reporter/stringer for some local magazines and newspapers. She also works as a part-time waitress to supplement her meager earnings from writing.

We come to discover that she is the girl friend of the murdered woman’s son. While appearing in each episode, she is also the narrator at the beginning of each episode.

Anne (just a single professional name on stage) plays the role of Nao Kawakama in Episode One. She’s a headstrong girl who can’t get along with her Mom who runs an upscale cookie shop in the neighborhood. Nao wants to go to Paris and study hair design. She also lies to the police under questioning about an insurance salesman who is a suspect. That’s her right above this paragraph.

In Episode Two, we meet Yui Natsukawa (above left) who plays the restaurant owner Yoriko. Her husband is cheating on her with various bar girls. Detective Kaga is on the trail and he questions one of the girls, Asami, played by Mao Miyaji (above right) about this suspect. We will meet Asami again in the 4th Episode.

Yuki Shibamoto as Maki

In Three we get to know more about Maki Yanagisawa played by the lovely Yuki Shibamoto. Maki had met and befriended the murdered woman. Maki also was fighting with her Mother and went missing soon after the police arrived to question her. In this episode. Gravure Idol Yuko Ogura also had a small role as a men’s shop manager. She sells Detective Kaga some ties and undershorts.

Yuko Ogura as The Sales Mgr at a men's Shop. She loves how Det. Kaga looks with the ties she's selling

Four introduces a curmudgeon of a watch repairman played by veteran Japanese actor Yoshio Harada. His surliness stems from his unhappiness and disillusionment because his daughter ran off and married (against his wishes) a young man whom he considered to be biker-trash.

The daughter is played by Haru and she and her father will not reconcile until she delivers a newborn son. Her husband is now working at a watch manufacturing plant. As for the watch repairman, he’s a suspect because he is known to have frequented the same park as the murdered woman Mineko. And both of them were seen in this park at the same time on the day she was murdered.

Miyuki as portrayed by Mahiro Konno

In Five, we meet Miyuki who is employed at the favorite bake shop of Detective Kaga, Ami Aoyama, as well as the murdered woman. Miyuki is played by Mahiro Konno. Her character is pregnant and was befriended by Mineko, who watched over the pregnant girl, as any parent might; only she wasn’t Miyuki’s mother. We also find out that Ami Aoyama met and talked with Miyuki about Mineko in this chapter.

That’s as far as I can go up to now. It’s very interesting to watch as each Episode introduces a new character, and as we get to know them, we find that Detective Kaga will help them as people who are in need of a helping hand, and yet as he helps them, we must consider that each of them is possibly the murderer.

This excellent production has charm, wit, humor, superior writing, and lots of style. The characters are fresh, and while their family problems are universal and not new, we can enjoy how Kaga works his magic and uncovers their secrets one by one.

Through five weeks, I still have no idea who killed Mineko. And neither does Detective Kaga, and therein lies the charm and magic of this wonderful series. You just have to return the following week, because solving the case has become as important to us as it is to Kaga. Okay, make that almost as important.

The lead role of Rensuke Hazuki is played by the Japanese superstar, Takuya Kimura. He’s the CEO of the Regolith Corporation. Under his guidance, Regolith is about to pass the Mastpole Company, and become the number one brand name in interior design.

Simply described, he is in the furniture business and he’s very smart about it. So he’s successful, rich, and ambitious for more, much more.

Takuya Kimura and Chi Ling Lin

But he’s not content with just leading domestically (in Japan). He has bigger goals in mind. Namely – China. So he sets out to launch his brand with Shanghai as the location for the flagship store in China.

His right hand man is Cai Feng Jian who is played by Shota Matsuda. Though born in Tokyo, his character is a second generation Chinese. He and Hazuki met in college, and he has worked his way up through the ranks to his current position alongside Hazuki. His fluency in Chinese and his knowledge of the local laws will be invaluable to Hazuki. But Cai Feng is an operator himself. Through two episodes, he looks like he’s working for Rensuke , and he looks like he’s out to do whatever it takes for himself as well.

Then there are three key women. Aren’t there always Key Women?

Ryoko Shinohara as Maemi Ninomiya

Hazuki’s lead designer is Maemi Ninomiya. This role is played by the charismatic Ryoko Shinohara. She’s great at what she does, and she has known Hazuki since their school days. She has a huge crush on him, only he doesn’t know it. Because of her talent, and because she’s great at working with people, she has gotten a good deal of respect from Hazuki. In fact, she’s the only person employed at Regolith who is permitted to express an opinion, even if contradictory, to Hazuki.

Keiko Kitagawa as Yuzuki Ohnuki

Keiko Kitagawa plays a model called Yuzuki Ohnuki, who has set her sights on Hazuki. She’s proud, she’s tough, and she’s passionate about getting what she wants. She’s also the daughter of the head of Mastpole. She’s is often seen on the phone with Cai Feng…plotting something.

Chi Ling Lin as Xiu Mei Liu

L

There’s one more woman to be mentioned. She is Chi Ling Lin, a beautiful Taiwanese actress who I just saw in the John Woo epic Red Cliff 2. She starred opposite Tony Leung in that one. Here she plays a worker, Xiu Mei Liu, in the Shanghai furniture factory just taken over by Hazuki’s Regolith Corporation. She’s front and center in the workers protest against Regolith, because the plans are to take down the Chinese Furniture factory and put up a new Regolith factory. The Chinese workers are protesting as they fear they’ll lose their jobs.

Somewhere in the protests, Xiu Mei Liu meets Hazuki. His plan is to turn things upside down and make Liu the poster girl for his brand Regolith. It’s the carrot at the end of the stick concept. He hopes to soften her stance by making her a center piece for the new brand. She buys into his deal especially when he promises to re-employ all the factory workers.

Do you see where this is going? A Chinese girl, a beautiful Japanese model, and the steadfast designer all are suddenly thrust together, and none of their lives, including Hazuki’s will ever be the same afterwards.

Seems like a great concept – Kimura and three sexy ladies. Couldn’t ask for more. In Episode One, we meet the players, and things look good. In Episode Two, we find out that there’s nothing Rensuke won’t do, up to and including reneging on his promise about the factory workers and attempting to pimp out Xiu Mei to a Hotel Chain Owner who is opening a hotel in Tokyo and Rensuke wants the furniture contract. But Xiu Mei will have none of it.

I’ve seen the first two episodes and wow! Is Kimura playing against his usual good guy type? Is he really this scuzzy?  What’s going to happen to those lovely ladies all of whom are encircling him?

The images you see, are all from the first two chapters which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Beast Stalker is a 2008 release and about the worst thing I can say about it is that the title is a bit misleading. Dante Lam previously co-directed, with Gordon Chan, the excellent Beast Cops in 1998. That film was nearly unanimously acclaimed, so using ‘Beast’ in this title might be an attempted marketing ploy for knowledgeable film folks.

Nevertheless it has all the style and chops that Lam is noted for – gritty and tense situations which are amped up by a jittery hand held camera, strong characters who are both good and bad, and some very fine use of lighting and slow motion.

The story is a bit hum-drum as it starts: A well connected criminal is convicted and being driven to prison. His gang engineers a way to spring him out of that car. Then a massive multi-car crash occurs involving a number of vehicles. One car is the one in pursuit with Sgt. Tong (Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong’s version of Johnny Depp). Another is the car driven by Prosecuting Attorney (what we call an A.D.A. in the States), The third car is the one driven by Hung (a hoodlum for hire played by Nick Cheung). And of course, the first car with the convicted but escaped criminal.

These characters will all connect in the heart of the movie. Without revealing too much, there is a fatality in the crash…but the victim was shot not killed by the impact.

Hong played by Nick Cheung

Hong is hired by the criminal’s gang to kidnap the daughter of the ADA -

Nicholas Tse as Det. Sgt. Tong

Sgt. Tong is distraught because he was the one who fired the shots -
ADA Gao, (played by the striking  Jingchu Zhang) is asked to ‘lose’ crucial evidence -

It is a story that as we get deeper and deeper into it, we discover that every character is multi-faceted. No one is all good or all bad. Lam handles the action very well, and a few of the action set pieces are exceptional.

Some of this film is truly edge of your seat thrilling. Some of this you’ve seen before – you know – the villain that gets up again and again. And for all the shots fired, hardly anyone is hit by bullets. Despite these facts, or should I said factors, the film doesn’t disappoint when it comes to tension, thrills, and drama.

There are a few surprises and revelations which may or may not propel the story forward, but instead, they provide you with some added depth to a few of the characters. And believe me there’s nothing wrong with expanding a character, especially in these days of card-board villains, shallow female roles, and tough as well as thoughtless heroes..

My overall impression is that this is a well-made actioner, that does keep you involved, and doesn’t need to resort to an over-kill of blood, gore, and body-parts.

The story basics start with three characters, Wai-Tung and Simon, a gay male couple, living in Manhattan, and Wei-Wei, a beautiful struggling artist who is a tenant in a rental apartment property in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that is owned by the portfolio diverse Wai-Tung.

Wai-Tung has not told his parent that he is gay. Said parents continue to harangue him about getting married and presenting them with grandchildren. And Wei-Wei is facing deportation from the US unless she can marry an American.

Well, Wai-tung is a naturalized American citizen, so a ‘marriage’ of convenience between he and Wei-Wei is designed by the threesome. This should allow Wai-Tung and Simon to continue as they wish, and Wei-Wei would then be granted a green-card to allow her stay in the US. Or so they thought. Wai-tung announces this to his parents in Taipei, and to his shock and dismay, they promptly announce that they are flying in to meet the bride, and arrange the wedding, as a civil ceremony only just won’t do.

So the structure of the funny and yet heartwarming film is set in motion. We watch in glee as various subterfuges are created to deceive Wai-tung’s Taiwanese parents;  the father a retired Army General, and his mother, a very proper Chinese matron.

Wei-Wei and Wai-Tung

One of the film’s tag-lines is: A little deception at the reception. Another tagline is: Everyone at the wedding wanted to kiss the bride – except the groom.

Wai-Tung

Ang Lee has done a marvelous job with the script, which he co-authored with Neil Peng and James Schamus. The production is quite sumptuous and looks far better than you would expect from a production budget of less than a million dollars.

The grand plan is conceived

As for the cast, Winston Chao portrays Wai-Tung. This was his first role as a movie actor. And he turns in an excellent performance as a man who is struggling to be happy himself as well as making his parent happy. He’s caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place: his own sexuality, and his desire to placate his parents.

Wei-Wei and Wai-Tung, along with Simon, meet the parents

Simon, is played by Mitchell Lichtenstein, and he is truly the odd-man out. As Wai-Tung’s significant other, he is always around and he needs to be presented (to the parents) as an integral part of Wai-Tung’s life, yet the actual truth cannot be revealed.

Finally, there is the gorgeous Wei-Wei who is played by the beautiful Taiwanese pop-star, May Chin. Her role is the most precarious because she knows Wai-Tung is gay, and she knows that the marriage is a sham, and despite this, she develops strong feelings towards him. It is way more than a crush.

The honeymoon begins: maybe...

There you have it. This is not La Cage aux Folles, despite beginning in a somewhat similar mode. The film is enjoyable and easily crosses cultural and sexual lines, and is very accessible to all adult viewers, Chinese or American, gay or straight, as well as those looking for a film that has a comedic side as well as a dramatic side.

Connected

In a nutshell, an attractive single Mom called Grace Wong, an electronics whiz played by the wonderful Barbie Hsu, while driving a sporty convertible gets into an auto accident which was no accident. When she recovers her senses, she as well as we are brought up to speed as we all learn she is a victim of a kidnapping.

The bad guys want something from her brother and think she might have it, or might know where he is. She doesn’t have a clue but the bad guys have to resort to some real heavy-handedness to get to that point.

Barbie Hsu as the kidnapped but still resourceful Grace Wong

Meanwhile, there’s a debt collector, Bob, played by Louis Koo. He is a single Dad, and his task this day is to meet his sister and his son Kit at the airport as they head off on a trip to Australia where Kit will then live with his mother.

Louis Koo as Bob takes a call from Grace Wong

But he is diverted from his task when he gets a phone call from Grace Wong who has jerry-rigged a just smashed telephone. She tells Bob, a complete stranger, that she has been kidnapped and he must help her.

Bob will run into a former police detective, Fai, played by Nick Cheung, who has been demoted and now is a traffic cop. So Fai, Bob, and Grace Wong all have their issues and their problems, and their diverse situations will of course all be connected, no pun intended, sooner or later, as they deal with the bad guys.

Liu Ye as the baddest of the bad guys

If all of this sounds familiar, it is because this time, a Hong Kong outfit has done a remake of a Hollywood film. And that would be the 2004 action/thriller Cellular.

Benny Chan and his screenwriters – Bing Xu and Alan Yuen have done a splendid job of adapting the Cellular screenplay written by Larry Cohen and Chris Morgan. They pretty much stick to the script, again, no pun intended, of the original, and have done an excellent job of fitting the story to the Hong Kong locations as well as the Hong Kong style of action.

You will have to suspend disbelief when you watch the auto chases, which are fun and entertaining,  although not particularly realistic.  While there’s plenty of gunfire, the sounds seem a little less noisy than you might have expected. But the color and locations are beautiful, and they’ve done a fairly good job with the pacing, so you’re not squirming in your seat during the slow down times.

Beibi Gong in a shootout

Koo is believable and likable, despite his grandiose overacting as a normal guy thrust into an unusual set of circumstances. Hsu as Grace Wong, is great as a frantic woman who has to work very hard just to keep Bob on the phone.  You should also be on the lookout for Beibi Gong, a stunning beauty who is one of the bad guys, and Liu Ye as the head of the gang that has grabbed Grace Wong. He’s kind of cardboard villain at times, but he conveys more than enough menace when needed.

The film does have plot holes as well as product placements galore. I could spend more time writing about the film’s issues, but the bottom line is that if you want to get ‘Connected’ for about 90 minutes, and this time, the pun is intentional, Benny Chan and the gang do deliver a rollicking entertainment. For my last comment, I did say this was a remake. The film even says so in a closing credit. They weren’t kidding. Even the movie posters are alike.

Look For a Star

The star is the eminently bankable Andy Lau who has returned from doing a few period epics to a modern Romance in this feature. His co-star is Shu Qi.

The film  is set entirely in Macau, which is a mere 40 miles and 40 minutes away from Hong Kong via your choice of high-speed ferries like jetfoils, turbo-cats, jumbo-cats and other kinds of hovercraft. I must add that clearing immigration in both Hong Kong and Macau took almost as long as the rapid trip across the South China Sea. Macau is correctly called the Las Vegas of the East, and serves as a glittering backdrop for the story.

Andy Lau plays Sam Ching, a multi-billionaire developer. We hardly see him at work, but he owns the super-luxury MGM Grand Hotel in Macau. Though he’s an amiable guy besides being filthy rich, he has three ex-wives. You see, with that kind of fame and wealth, he’s always been unsure of whether or not his gal pals who show signs of being interested in him long-term, as in wedlock, as opposed to short-term as in one-night-stands, are interested in him or his wealth.

So Andrew Lau and his screenwriters  James Yuen and Ming Tang have fashioned a Hong Kong and updated version of the Richard Gere and Julia Roberts hit film, Pretty Woman. It’s not a remake, I’m just offering that title for comparison purposes. The difference is that LFAS has three sets of the romantic couples. Besides Sam and Milan (Shu Qi), we also have Sam’s chauffeur Tim (Ka-wah Lam) who has been fixed up with a beautiful divorcee, Shannon Fok (Xinyi Zhang) who has a cute daughter, Queenie, and Sam’s Corporate Secretary, Jo Kwok played by HK singer Denise Ho, who is paired with Hanyu Zhang as hotel maintenance man Lin Jiu.

So we have three romances to follow, like a juggler tossing balls in the air. The theme is whether people from different stratas or classes can ever find romance. Don’t expect anything new – after all this is a romance, the only thing that ever changes in these Man/Woman scenarios is how they get from A to B, when the happy times (B) change to rough times (C), and then how they get from C to D (they all lived happily ever-after).

Denise Ho as Jo Kwok

Hanyu Zhang as Lin Jiu, the honorable maintenance man

You’ll enjoy the meetings, the chases, and the good times that precede the bad times. Remember all of this is set in the sparkling new and glittering New Macau with occasional forays into the older and more colonial-looking Old Macau. Lau and Qi look great and deliver performances that they might have sleep-walked through, but didn’t.

Kah-wa Lam as Chauffeur Tim

Xinyi Zhang as DWC (Divorced with Child) Shannon Fok

In my view the acting honors go to Denise Ho as Jo Kwok and Hanyu Zhang as the good-guy handyman who just oozes honor and decency.

Telling the world he loves her

The last act is a bit cheesy. They use an all-too obvious gimmicky TV show, Follow Your Heart, where the guys go onstage and in front of the TV cameras to tell the world (the studio audience and the show’s TV viewers) why they and their romantic partners should give their floundering romances another chance at the gold ring.

The movie is entertaining, enjoyable, and even touching at times. The  pretty locations and attractive actors and actresses will make the nearly two hours go by without any of those dreaded dead spots. It is a little less polished than it could have been in spots, but on the whole, it is a feel happy rom/com that delivers a good time.

It seems, per the article, that Akiko long suspected her husband of infidelity, but she is surprised that drugs are also involved. She filed for divorce four days after Oshio’s arrest.

I’m not going to comment further on the arrest, the alleged crime, the alleged drug use, or infidelity. Those things will work themselves out with or without press coverage and definitely without my opinions.

Maybe it is part of the press campaign for her next motion picture. In a more recent Japantoday.com article, they’ve  announced that Akiko will play a police detective along with Kenji Sakaguchi doing the Bruce Willis role in the Japanese version of Die Hard.

But let’s set the news blurbs aside. I do think Akiko Yada is a beauty, a wonderful actress, and I have had the good fortune to see her in at least five Japanese TV Dramas. I am not only willing to share these with you, but I am very happy to do so.

The first series I saw with Akiko was called My Little Chef (MLC).This show was produced and aired in 2002. Akiko starred and had the lead as Seri Kamosawa, a talented but unknown chef. She comes in from the country to work at Etoile, a fancy French eatery. But it has gone out of business. However, the fates are kind and she hooks up (not romantically) with that restaurant’s former manager Kenaku Tachibana. played by Hiroshi Abe, and they open their own French restaurant.

With Aya Ueto on board as a hostess and server, and a fine assortment of actors as chefs and cooks in this restaurant, the series will entertain you three ways:

- The stories are often about the guests of the restaurant and all will be well after they taste and enjoy the fine food
- We are treated to the preparation and service of some really tasty and artfully created and presented dishes. The menu for each meal was created by Seri after having a brief conversation with the restaurant’s guest.
- The restaurant itself must fight to survive. It is being taken over by a French outfit, and the CEO is none other than Seri’s Mom who she has not seen in almost twenty years.

My thought was that this was a very fine production, beautifully presented. The cast was extremely likable, and Akiko shined as a young chef struggling to find her footing in the world of culinary arts, as well as pleasing the customers, and keeping the restaurant afloat.

Plus there is a bonus. The theme song of MLC is a wonderful song called Voyage by the superstar Japanese songstress Ayumi Hamasaki.

The second drama featuring Akiko Yada was called Top Caster (2006). It is set in the News department of a network TV station. Yuki Amani as Haruka Tsubaki has been hired as the new News Anchor. She’s bossy, bitchy, and a  ball-buster. She cares about just one thing and that’s getting scoops which translates to higher ratings for the network. The higher the ratings the higher her bonus.

She tabs TV weather girl Nozomi Asuka played by Akiko to be her assistant. That doesn’t mean editorial assistant. It doesn’t mean production assistant. It means both of those AND personal assistant 24-7.

Poor Akiko as Nozomi is nearly overwhelmed. She must wake her boss up every morning with a cup of tea at the ready. She must unpack the dozens and dozens of boxes and crates and that means set up her boss’s apartment.

So Akiko must work her tail off. Will she stay with it, or will she be crushed by the steamrolling anchorwoman Haruka? And will Haruki be able to bring in the scoops to keep the network honchos happy that they brought her in from New York at a super high salary?

The third series was called Voice. It has hints of CSI but it isn’t really about deaths caused by criminal activity. Instead it centers on 5 med students who are in the forensic pathology field. Most of them aren’t thrilled by this field but that will change.

The lead actor believes that medicine ends with death. But as he and the other students will find out, medicine also applies to the dead. The so called ‘voices of the dead‘ is really the pathology and study of the tissues and relevant facts that caused the person to die in the 1st place.

Akiko Yada portrays Reiko. She’s not one of the students. Instead she’s one of the staff at the med school. She befriends the students and helps them along with their studies. It’s not much of a role, but Akiko looks good in a doctor’s white coat.

Akiko played a high school health teacher to Takashi Sorimachi’s Enzo the Art teacher in HOTMAN. Enzo is a family man in a big way. He’s raising a 5 year old girl who is his daughter as a solo parent. He also lives with his 2 sisters and twin brothers. And in effect he is serving as their father, while in truth he is their brother. They all had the same mother, but the brothers and sisters had different fathers.

Akiko gets involved through the school, and her relationship with with Enzo is not the main story. The main story is Enzo and the children. Still as I’ve mentioned before, Akiko is great to look at, and always seems to get a role that you can’t help but like her in.

The last and most popular of Akiko’s TV series was called Last Christmas. Produced in 2004 for the holiday season, the series was broadcast between October 11th and December 20th that year. Her co-star is Yuji Oda as Kenji. Both Kenji and Yuki (Akiko) are employed at a large sporting goods company, a Japanese version of Nike. Yuki is dating Kenji’s boss, while Kenji is concentrating on business.

You probably can guess where this will take us, but there’s plenty of side stories – two other couples including the busty MEGUMI and the gorgeous Nana Katase, round out the cast.

But this story is more than just a rom-com. There’s some decidedly dramatic parts to this series. Akiko Yada is certainly beautiful in her own right, in fact, men really go for her in this series. but there’s more to find out about her, much more than meets the eye at first.

While Yuki and Kenji are the central characters, Yuki’s role is much more complex.  My opinion was that this was indeed a holiday treat.

My conclusion is that Akiko Yada is an attractive as well as accomplished actress. I look forward to her return to TV dramas. By the way, a simple google search for each of these dramas will produce lots of links to English language subtitled dl’s.