June Woo: The opening narration:
“In America, I will have a daughter just like me. But over there, nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch. Over there, nobody will look down on her because I will make her speak only perfect American English. And over there, she will always be too full to swallow any sorrow.
The recent post on this blog about Ming-na Wen brought to mind her role as June Woo in the wonderful film adaption of the Amy Tan novel, The Joy Luck Club. The novel’s pedigree is impeccable. Published by G.P. Putnam & Sons in 1989, the book was on the New York Times best seller list for more than six months, it has been translated into more than 35 languages, and has sold in excess of 30 million copies world wide since its original publication more than 20 years ago.
After Amy Tan had a lengthy three day meeting with screenplay writer Ron Bass and movie director Wayne Wang, where they hashed out how the novel would be adapted into a movie, the three of them made a pact that they would not sell the book’s movie rights, or the screenplay, unless the studio gave them total creative control, meaning they would control the screenplay, the choice of location and actors, the filming, the editing, all the way up to and including the final cut. Read more…
Source: Curve
I don’t get the opportunity to watch much television these days, but I might have to start watching Stargate Universe after finding out a couple of days ago that Ming-Na is a part of the cast.
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Painted Skin (Wa Pei) is a fantasy tale based off the classical Chinese novel of Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio) and is directed by Gordan Chan. It starts out with general Wang Sheng (Kun Chen) and his army invading and inevitably demolishing a bandit outpost in the middle of the desert. The action choreography is too pretty and perfect as only the bandits take a beating, leaving the army unscathed. The battle includes decent wire work as the general and his legion jump up walls and on top of buildings.
As general Wang Sheng fights his way through, he comes upon a graceful and stunning beauty (Xun Zhou) amid the dirty bandits. She lies barely covered by an animal pelt next to a murdered man and as the general makes his appearance, she is noticeably intrigued by him. He carries her to safety and as his army make their way back, a lone lizard looks on almost as an omen as the titles come up.
At the army’s return to their city, Wang Sheng’s wife Chen Peirong (Wei Zhao) appears and is instantly and understandably wary of the young looking Xiaowei’s proximity to her husband. This early sense of danger leads her to future revelations regarding the newly rescued damsel.
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Director: Jingle Ma
Cast: Louis Koo, Cherrie Ying, Tats Lau
Synopsis: He’s great looking. She’s gorgeous. They meet in Beijing, China, and it looks like love will blossom. Or will it? This isn’t boy meets girl, boy loses girl. Instead this is boy meets girl, then boy can’t remember girl.
Tagline:
Classification: Romantic Comedy
Release date: April 10, 2003
Running time: 97 minutes
Language: Cantonese or Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles
Studio website:
Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379975
Categories: Comedy, Romance
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Karmic Mahjong (2006) stars Francis Ng and Cherrie Ying (she was the reason I rented the film) as the attractive leads in this comedy (maybe) / thriller (maybe not) set in Chengdu, China.
Ng plays a loser mechanic, Wu Yu-chuan, who has disappointed his wife sexually, who runs afoul of a gang of thieves who have a car smuggling racket, and is being given some bad advice by a blind fortune teller.
Ying plays a good looking woman, Jia Jia, who sold her son to a gangster, but tells people he was kidnapped, and now is desperate to get him back. She too consults the fortune teller.
Can these two people who have seemingly run out of luck and are both beset by the ‘villians’ in their lives, find a way to leave all their bad luck behind them by teaming up?
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Back when your grandparents were dating – let’s make that era sometime in the 1950’s, a film star was known the world over for simply standing on a grating on a Manhattan street and having a wind draft from below lift up her skirt.
That would be the legendary Marilyn Monroe and the film was called The Seven Year Itch. Monroe’s career was already in high gear by that time (1955), and an iconic picture like what was used in the film’s poster (next image below), only added to her allure. Sadly, she died in her sleep in 1962, having made, in fact, only six more films after this one.
This film was a male fantasy of course. Tom Ewell played the male lead whose wife goes out of town for a period of time, and then, a dreamy, single, sexy blond bombshell moves into the apartment upstairs. Fantasies ran rampant through his head after chatting with her, when she said to him, “When it’s hot like this, you know what I do? I keep my undies in the icebox.”
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Isabella (Yi sa bui lai) is a 2006 Hong Kong film written and directed by Ho-Cheung Pang. It takes place in Macau and stars the beautiful Isabella Leong and Chapman To. The film begins abruptly with Chen-Shing Ma (Chapman To) attempting to pick up Bik-Yan Cheung (Leong) in some dark corner of a bustling club. It quickly cycles through a series of images including Bik-Yan smoking a cigarette down an unknown hallway, a close-up of a defeated Chen-Shing hunkered against a slot machine, and an ant’s eye view between some unfamiliar buildings before the title card appears.
The shots feel disjointed but not only do they give an idea of what is to come but they showcase the talented eye of cinematographer Charlie Lam and his excellent framing. The music is also introduced here with artsy guitar strumming and piano playing. Now while the score won best film music at the Berlin International Film Festival, I feel that it grows repetitious later as it never changes in tempo. Read more…
Today is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Millions of Americans will be getting together to enjoy some turkey and watch some football, then waking up early in the morning on Friday if they haven’t already went to wait hours in line so that they can spend their money on deeply discounted merchandise. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to take a moment to give thanks along with provide some updates. So continue reading the Thanksgiving edition of What’s New In ScanLover.
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You know, the Asian Beauty Appreciation Blog started about 4 months ago. We’ve had a series of great contributions from a number of people that included photo books, favorite gravure idols, Japanese television dramatic series, movies, gorgeous Asian actresses and models, reviews of AV and IV DVD’s, as well as just some nice articles from folks who just wanted to bring someone or something in the news to your attention.
I think the blog has gotten off to a terrific start and I wanted to thank every one who has contributed as well as to scanlover for deciding to have a community blog. Read more…
“Robotrix” is a 1991 Hong Kong film, directed by Jamie Luk, and starring Amy Yip. Billy Chow, Chikako Aoyama , and David Wu. It is a combination of genres: sci-fi, HK action, soft-core porn, and has even achieved “cult film” status.
What makes it so much fun is that it does not take itself seriously by trying to pretend it is more than it is: a Class III film, meaning grade B, but with sex, nudity, and soft-core elements.
I confess that the main reason I bought it was to see the beautiful Chikako Aoyama and her spectacular breasts in motion, and she does not disappoint. But it is such a quirky and action packed movie, that I found myself watching every scene, even the ones that did not include the charms of Chikako.
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