Back from buying a giant cage at the pet store, I’m ready to share some thoughts on EYE IN THE SKY.

EYE IN THE SKY
跟蹤
Cantonese: Gun chung
Mandarin: Gen zong
English: Following The Tracks
Official Site: http://www.eyeinthesky.com.hk/
Director: Yau Nai-Hoi
Cast: Simon Yam Tat-Wah (Dog Head), Tony Leung Ka-Fai (Shan), Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan (Piggy), Lam Suet (Fatman), Maggie Shiu Mei-Kei (SU Chief)

Synopsis (from Yahoo! Movies Singapore): Surveillance Unit (”SU”) is one of the most secretive branches of Hong Kong Police. Its field agents use unassuming appearance and covert operations to conduct surveillance on targets like an “eye-in-the-sky”. What they watch becomes crucial intelligence leading to the arrest of criminals. SU unit leader Dog Head (Simon Yam) receives an order to seek out suspects of a highly publicized jewelry heist. Rookie agent Piggy (Kate Tsui) and her teammates conduct extensive stakeout looking for the elusive target. What they don’t know is heist mastermind Shan (Tony Leung) knows too well to shake off the police. On the busy streets of Hong Kong, a game of hide-and-seek ensues…

PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS: Not too many since the film didn’t even pop up on my radar until November 2007 when I started the process of rehabilitating my HK entertainment database. Even then, the words “eye in the sky” didn’t make me think about Milkyway, Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka-Fai, it made me think: “I am the eye in the sky, lookin’ at yoooouuu, I can read your mind …”. In fact, I actually went through some boxes looking for a mix tape I had from the early-1980s that had “Eye in The Sky” on it. This gave me a chance to relive childhood memories since the tape also contained — in glorious monaural sound — such ’80s era oldies as: “Love is a Battlefield”, “Cum On Feel The Noize”, “99 Red Balloons” (both English and German versions), “Gloria”, “Hold Me Now”, “Abracadara” and “Who Can It Be Now?”. Man, I’m old.

Reminiscences of days past aside, EYE IN THE SKY is a Milkyway production starring two veteran actors so I’m anticipating a good movie. The only wild card is Kate Tsui Tsz-Shan. When I saw her name in the cast list for the film, my initial reaction was “one of the Cookies/Mini-Cookies is in a Milkyway film?”. Then, I remembered that she was the winner of the second last Miss Hong Kong Pageant, 2004, I covered on my old site. All I recall from that year was that Kate Tsui was sort of an unexpected winner and that Devily Leung Lai-Yan (contestant #11) had a cool English name. After doing some research on the Internet, I’m not expecting much out of Miss Tsui. The prevailing opinion on her acting out there in the discussion forums — both English and Chinese — goes like this: “She is not that pretty and her acting is soooo fake. I don’t know if she can improve. I don’t even know how she won Miss HK.” Ouch.

AFTER THE MOVIE: Despite a couple of dubious plot points and one cheestastic scene near the end of the movie, EYE IN THE SKY is solid entertainment and another quality addition to the renowned Milkyway body of work. Some may argue that the flaws in the last thirty minutes of the film tarnishes what happens in the thoroughly engrossing first sixty minutes but the flaws are not fatal. Moreover, by the time the questionable sequences appear, the film has built enough momentum to carry through to the end the suspension of disbelief for most viewers.

MORE THOUGHTS (WARNING: contains spoilers): On the grand scale of far fetched movie contrivances, the convergence of the Shan plot line and the gambling debt guy plot line tends toward the “it could happen” end of the scale rather than the “totally preposterous” end. After all, Hong Kong crams seven million people into an area of only 1,104 square kilometres — that works out to 6,420 people per square kilometre. By comparison, Los Angeles has a population density of 3,077 people per square kilometre. Therefore, it’s not totally inconceivable that Piggy could spot Shan while on the trail of the gambling debt guy turned kidnapper.

Besides, the momentum and goodwill generated by the finely-tuned and captivating storytelling in the first two-thirds of the movie should earn it enough slack to sustain its “cinematic illusion” for all but the most nitpicky of viewers. Never underestimate the power of momentum and goodwill. It can even carry through from movie to movie. The goodwill generated by Wong Kar-Wai in CHUNGKING EXPRESS and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE sustained me through the messy ASHES OF TIME and the ostentatious 2046 respectively. The momentum of A BETTER TOMORROW not only got me to buy that Mark had a twin brother named Ken in A BETTER TOMORROW II, it even got me to swallow that goofy “eat my rice” sequence.

While the plot contrivances pose no great obstacle to EYE IN THE SKY’s momentum, there is one cheesy scene near the end that may provoke momentum-killing groans from some viewers. The sequence starts at around 1:19:00. Dog Head has his carotid artery slashed by Shan and everyone back at SU headquarters is exhorting him to tell a story because they don’t want him to fade out and die. When Dog Head falls silent, Piggy loses track of Shan, starts crying and collapses on the street in the pouring rain. Then, Dog Head suddenly resumes his story, the rain stops, the sky clears, Piggy gets up from off her knees and spots Shan just ahead. The sequence — complete with twangy music signaling poignancy à la FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (the movie not the television series) — is so heavy-handed and corny the only way it could be more cheesy is if everything went into slow-motion and Jimmy Cliff started singing: “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone …”.

Not only is the sequence wildly melodramatic, it isn’t true to the logic of the film. Are you telling me that Shan — heretofore shown to be careful, precise and a little paranoid — was steps ahead of Piggy but did not notice her fall to her knees and cry “TAAAALK!!!” into her microphone like William Shatner yelled “KHAAAAAN!!!” in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN?

Shatneresque-level of cheese notwithstanding, the rest of EYE IN THE SKY has laid a solid foundation that is strong enough to withstand the blow from the kitschy scene. The way it shows the nuts-and-bolts operation of the Surveillance Unit and its cat-and-mouse pursuit of Shan and his henchmen is riveting. Like Spock in STAR TREK II, I will invoke logic and say that the good of the many scenes in the first two-thirds of EYE IN THE SKY outweighs the bad of the few plot contrivances in the last third and the one cheesy climactic scene.

MISCELLANEA:

-It may be because my expectations were lowered by the drubbing she takes on the discussion boards but I was very impressed with Kate Tsui’s performance. In stark contrast to all the chatter about how she overacts, I found Tsui very measured and very restrained. She hits the right notes in the right spots be it inexperience, fatigue or controlled fear. Her performance as an inexperienced rookie is so convincing, I was a bit taken aback by how sophisticated and cool she appeared in the “piggy has been become a hunting doggy” scene at the end. Since there seem to be no babies to nominate this year, I fully expect Kate Tsui to get a Best New Artist nomination for the upcoming 27th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards.

- If my local Chinese video store hadn’t gone out of business while I was ill, I would have run out and rented LA FEMME DESPERADO or STEPS to see if the criticism Kate Tsui receives for her TVB work is justified. As it is, I have to settle for the DVD of CONTRACT LOVER to see how she handles herself in a different genre.

- Kate Tsui’s performance also got me thinking about past actresses from the “Miss Hong Kong School” (香港小姐派) and wondering if any one else who emerged from the Miss Hong Kong Pageant could have done as well in EYE THE SKY. Specifically, I’m trying to think if any other beauty contestant-turned-actress could have given a similar or better performance two years or so into their careers. This rules out anyone from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 pageants since it’s too early to tell about them. I don’t think any of Sonija Kwok Sin-Lei (1999), Myolie Wu Hung-Yi (1999), Anne Heung Hoi-Lan (1998), Bernice Liu Bik-Yi (Miss Chinese International 2001), Michelle Ye (Miss Chinese International 1997) or Charmaine Sheh Si-Man (1997) could have done this at a similar point in their careers so we have to go back to pre-1995.

Kenix Kwok Ho-Ying (1993)? Maggie Cheung Ho-Yee (1994)? As much as it pains me to say, I don’t think either of these ladies could have been convincing as an inexperienced rookie.

Valerie Chow Ka-Ling (1991)? Anita Yuen Wing-Yi (1990)? Maybe. I hate to admit this but my memory is so fuzzy on Anita Yuen’s early career, I can’t say if she had any real skills around the 1992/1993 period.

Ada Choi Siu-Fan (1991)? Michelle Reis (Lee Ka-Yan, 1988)? Elizabeth Lee Mei-Fung (1987)? Too hot to be believable as a dopey, inexperienced “piggy”.

Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching (1987)? Uh, no. Maybe EROTIC EYE IN THE SKY …

Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk (1984)? With all due respect to the actress she has become, she was doing nothing but “flower vase” roles in her early film career and her work in the first POLICE CADET was raw so I’m not sure she could have pulled it off. Although, you never know. Different time, different era so it’s hard to say.

Barbara Yung Mei-Ling (1982)? After watching the first twenty episodes of LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES (1983), I don’t think she had the chops for a precise, dramatic performance.

Olivia Cheng Man-Nga (1979)? Angie Chiu Nga-Chi (1973)? Maybe. I remember being impressed by their work when I saw their TV series as a kid but what does someone who just learned the multiplication table know about acting? Anyway, as with Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk — different time, different era so hard to say.

Good God, I went all the way back to 1973. I feel like the HK entertainment circle equivalent of Dr. Z — talking about 70s era actresses in a review of a 2007 film is exactly like talking about Weeb Ewbank and Joe Namath in the era of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Man, I’m old.

- Speaking of being old, I was going to go on an Abe Simpson-like old guy rant on the absurdity of Kate Tsui being forced to apologize for talking about sex on a public radio information programme. However, this post is already too long so I’ll close the Kate Tsui portion with this thought: Is it just me or, in the picture below, does Kate Tsui have a look on her face that suggests: “Give me any guff and I’ll turn this sceptre into a suppository”?

- I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that EYE IN THE SKY did poorly at the HK box office (earning just a little over HK$4 million during its run). In many ways, it reminds me of the early Milkyway films like WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES and EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. If I recall correctly, those movies did not fare well at the box office either. Instead, they found their audience on home video and, I suspect, this is where most people will discover EYE IN THE SKY. I used to keep a spreadsheet of HK box office figures going back to when I started doing translations in the late-1990s so I would have backed up this argument with hard numbers. Alas, I lost the file in the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2007. I’m confident, however, that Milkway’s first box office hit was RUNNING OUT OF TIME and that all its movies before then didn’t break HK$10 million. If any one has the old numbers, it’d be great if I could find out whether or not my memory is faulty.

Public Service Announcement Time: Kids, always back up your data on a regular basis. You never know when a hard drive failure will occur.

- I think EYE IN THE SKY is a good candidate for a Hollywood remake. The material should translate to Western audiences better than THE MISSION or EXILED. I’m just not sure if any American city has the density of camera surveillance or octopus card technology to support the plot. Maybe it’d have to be set in London. Anyway, the advantage an EYE IN THE SKY remake will have is that you can draw an audience by casting a compelling hot babe to play Piggy. There’s no compelling hot babe role in either THE MISSION or EXILED.

- I was heartened to see that Maggie Siu Mei-Kei (aka Maggie Shiu) got a Golden Horse nomination for her role as the SU head. She always does so much with the smallest of roles be it a foul-mouthed superior in this film, a triad wife in ELECTION or a nervous PTU cop in PTU. It’s a shame that some casual HK entertainment fans still think of her as “the girl Ekin Cheng Yi-Kin dumped for Gigi Leung Wing-Kei”.

- Maybe he’s just too good-looking but the twenty pounds Simon Yam gained to play “wolf in schlub’s clothing” Dog Head didn’t make him convincing as a schlub. The bad fat-pack they strapped to his gut didn’t help much either. They should have gone with the body-suit technology used in LOVE ON A DIET or RUNNING ON KARMA or, better yet, abandon the whole fat idea and just gone with wardrobe and Simon Yam’s acting. The way it ended up being done is very distracting.

TANGENTIALLY SPEAKING: While we’re on the subject of films that had a questionable ending but a great opening and middle, I saw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN recently and came away disappointed. What the heck kind of ending was that? It’s like if SEVEN SAMURAI kept the buildup and the opening skirmishes between the reinforced village and the bandits but then skipped to Kambei Shimada and Shichiroji talking about how the farmers won and the samurai lost. Wholly unsatisfying. People I’ve spoken to who claim to like the ending always seem to have talked themselves into liking it. I have yet to hear from anyone who viscerally liked that ending when the credits started rolling. It’s always “well I thought about it for a bit and …”.

HAPPY, HAPPY: Happy 32nd birthday, tomorrow, to my ex-entertainment circle girlfriend Ruby Lin (Lam Sum-Yu). I wonder what she’s up to these days. Also, happy 37th birthday to Fann Wong.

IMAGE CREDITS: TVB (Kate Tsui), Cinema City Film Productions (Chow Yun-Fat in A BETTER TOMORROW II), Milky Way Image Company (EYE IN THE SKY screen grabs), Paramount Pictures (William Shatner in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN), TVB by way of Miss HK Beauty (Kate Tsui), Toho Company (SEVEN SAMURAI screen grab)

Happy New Year! … even though everyone knows that the “real” New Year doesn’t begin until February 7th.

In my usual timely fashion, I’m going to start off 2008 by talking about 2007. On New Year’s Day, I went out for dim sum with my family. As most dim sum delicacies and, sadly, “oil-fried devils” (油炸鬼, my favourite Chinese food: fried doughsticks) remain beyond my eating and digestive capabilities, I nursed a bowl of congee while enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of a busy teahouse. I also picked up a copy of “Oriental News Weekly” — a free Chinese-language newspaper distributed to Chinese communities here in Western Canada. Inside the paper was an article by an unnamed author listing the “Top Ten Entertainment Circle Stories of 2007″. Surprisingly, I was aware of eight of the ten stories. I guess my entertainment circle database isn’t as out-of-date as I thought. Although, I would categorize most of these stories as news about entertainment circle personalities rather than actual entertainment circle news. Nevertheless, sharing the article with you guys will help get the ol’ writing and translating skills rolling again so, without further ado, the “Top 10 Entertainment Circle Stories of 2007″:

10. Ada Choi Siu-Fan Reveals Relationship, Announces Forthcoming Marriage

On December 10th, Ada Choi Siu-Fan released a four-hundred word statement to the press revealing that she and Mainland actor/stuntman Max Zhang Jin have been dating for four-and-a-half years and that they planned to marry in the near future. In the statement, which featured nineteen exclamation marks, Choi gushed about her future husband and called him a “man of the highest grade”.

Choi, 34, won the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1991. Zhang, 33, worked as a stuntman on CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON and HERO. He can be seen in the movies CHINESE HEROES, THE UNDISCOVERED TOMB and SHAOLIN VS EVIL DEAD 2. The couple reportedly fell in love with each other during shooting for the Mainland television series PARADISE (水月洞天).

(NOTE: Choi and Zhang married on January 12th, 2008.)

Related Links: Official site for PARADISE; Max Chang photo gallery from Baidu

9. Cathy Chui Chi-Kei Gives Birth To A Daughter

Shortly after actress/model Cathy Chui Chi-Kei (aka Cathy Tsui) married Martin Lee Ka-Shing (the second son of billionaire businessman Lee Shau-Kee — the founder of Henderson Land Development) in December 2006, rumours emerged alleging Chui was pregnant. On July 17th, 2007 those rumours came true as Chui gave birth to six-pound, eight-ounce baby girl Leanna Lee Hei-Tung. Similar to their opulent wedding in Sydney, the couple threw a lavish banquet in October at Hong Kong’s Four Seasons Hotel celebrating their baby daughter’s “eighty-day” milestone. The event was attended by most of Hong Kong’s wealthy and influential business people.

(SANNEY: How does this qualify as a “top ten” story? Was 2007 a really dull year for the entertainment circle?)

8. Lydia Shum Tin-Ha’s Continuing Health Struggles

After being diagnosed with liver and gallbladder cancer in 2006, Lydia Shum Tin-Ha, 60, has been in-and-out of hospitals. In October, she was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and treated for pleural effusion — a complication of liver cancer. She recovered sufficiently to receive a lifetime achievement award in November at TVB’s 40th Anniversary Gala. Days later, while in Macau for a banquet, Shum was taken to a hospital after she collapsed. She was transfered to Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital later that week where she remains today.

Related Link: Lydia Shum biography at Hong Kong Cinema: View From The Brooklyn Bridge (scroll down to bottom of the page)

7. Moon Lee Choi-Fung Divorces After Dirty Laundry Aired

Former “Girls With Guns” star Moon Lee Choi-Fung, 42, got divorced from husband Dennis Law Kai-Yan in 2007 after Law allegedly discovered Lee having an affair with their twentysomething godson. Supposedly, Law walked in on Lee and the godson — who worked for Law’s performing arts company — while the two were intimately involved. Exposing the alleged affair to the media in June, Law declared: “No matter how you look as it, as a husband or as a godfather … to discover something like that in your own bedroom … of course, it’s a shock and something that’s very hard to accept. What hurts most is that a loving family and marriage have been destroyed. After I learned the truth, I found out that this affair was an open secret among many people at the performing arts company.”

In response to Law’s declaration, Lee took out an ad in a newspaper denying the allegations. Reportedly, Law and Lee have now divorced with Lee receiving US$12,000 per month in alimony.

Lee, best known for the “Angel” series of action movies, married Law — a surgeon turned artistic company director — in 2000. The two formed Sight, Sound & Action Ltd., a production company that has staged successful musicals such as HEAVEN & EARTH and TERRACOTTA WARRIORS.

Related Link: Moon Lee’s blog (Chinese language only)

6. Yumiko Cheng Hei-Yi Reveals Two Points In Toronto

After suffering a wardrobe malfunction that exposed her thong at the 2006 Tung Wah Charity Show, EEG starlet Yumiko Cheng Hei-Yi suffered another wardrobe failure in 2007 as she unknowingly flashed her nipples on June 23rd while performing at Canada’s Wonderland for the New Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition Show. Not only was the exposure shown on the stage’s big screen, it was uploaded onto YouTube where it became one of the most viewed clips.

5. Carmen Choi Ka-Man, Daughter of Toy King Choi Chee-Ming, Marries

(SANNEY: Let’s skip this one because I have no idea how this is related to the entertainment circle. As far as I can tell, Miss Choi is not involved in the entertainment business. Also, she married a man from another rich family and not some actor or singer.)

4. Michael To Dai-Yu Denies That Sonjia Kwok Sin-Lei Is “The Other Woman”

TVB star Michael To Dai-Yu and his wife Wong Wai-Bo divorced in March 2007 following six and a half years of marriage. Shortly after, Wong reportedly told “a friend” that TVB leading lady Sonija Kwok Sin-Lei was the “third party” responsible for breaking up her marriage. Despite strong denials by To, the allegation provoked a hailstorm of negative publicity that caused Kwok to flee Hong Kong for her native Vancouver for three months.

Kwok, a “rumour queen” who has been linked to many of her TVB co-stars, announced in December that she will not be renewing her TVB contract when it expires this year. She will instead concentrate on building her career in the lucrative Mainland market.

3. Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau and May Lo Mei-Mei Blacklisted

Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau and his wife May Lo Mei-Mei were blacklisted by the Philippine Consulate General in September 2007 from hiring any more Filipino maids. Reportedly, the Consulate General labeled the Cheung family a “substandard employer” after they allegedly went through twenty-one maids in three years. Responding to the move, Cheung told the media that he was an “ordinary employer” who has often rehired maids after their contracts expired and only fired the ones who weren’t “helpful”. He blamed the high turnover rate on a number of maids who resigned because they could not deal with the numerous stairs of his four-story home.

In addition to the ban on hiring new maids, the blacklisting means that Cheung will not be allowed to renew the contracts of his current maids when they expire. May Lo reportedly appealed to the Consulate General but to no avail.

This is the not the first time the Cheung household has had problems with Filipino maids. In December 2006, one of Cheung’s maids was convicted for stealing a letter and three photos from Cheung.

2. Singer/Business Executive Stephen Gan Fock-Wai Arrested For Indecent Assault

Pak Fah Yeow executive Stephen Gan Fock-Wai, 45, was arrested in October 2007 for an alleged indecent assault on a male taxi driver. Reportedly, on a taxi ride home following a night of drunken celebration, Gan touched his taxi driver inappropriately then tried to make amends by leaving a HK$500 bill.

In addition to his duties as an executive for Pak Fah Yeoh — makers of the popular remedy “White Flower Oil” — Gan has dabbled in music, releasing seven albums since 1987. He had his first hit, “Love for Another 80 Years”, in 2007. The song served as the theme music for a “White Flower Oil” ad campaign.

In the past, Gan has been linked romantically to actress Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying. There are also rumours that he is bisexual.

1. Father Of Obsessed Andy Lau Tak-Wah Fan Commits Suicide

The father of an obsessed Andy Lau Tak-Wah fan killed himself on March 26th by jumping into the sea off Kowloon after escorting his daughter to the star’s birthday party. The man, 68, left a twelve-page suicide letter stating that the trip to Hong Kong from their home in Lanzhou bankrupted his family and the least Lau could do was give his daughter, 28 year-old Yang Lijuan, a private audience.

According to media reports, Yang has been obsessed with Lau since she was 15 and had quit school and refused to work in order to be a full-time Lau fan.

The suicide set off a wave of condemnation in the Mainland media against over-indulgence of children and celebrity worship.

Image credits: Wenhui United Press Group (”Oil-Fried Devils”), Baidu.com (Max Zhang), CRI Online (Lydia Shum), Moon Lee (Moon Lee), Pak Fah Yeow (While Flower Oil bottle)

On Friday, December 14th — in a report that was picked up by other media outlets and countless blogs — British tabloid The Mirror alleged “porn star” Shu Qi was involved in a tryst at a London restaurant with Hugh Grant and film director John Duigan. According to the report, Grant and Shu Qi were kissing passionately while Duigan caressed Shu Qi’s thigh. Supposedly, Shu Qi was in London looking for career opportunities.

For the record, Shu Qi spoke to the Chinese media this week and flatly denied the allegations. In a Xinhua Newsnet article, Shu Qi said: “I haven’t been to England in around five years. I have never even met Hugh Grant. I think his acting is OK but I don’t have any ‘feel’ (attraction) for him.”

A spokesperson for Shu Qi’s management told the Chinese media that the reports were wildly inaccurate and that Shu Qi was in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the days that she was allegedly in London. The spokesperson also stated that Shu Qi’s management is looking into taking legal action.

Since Shu Qi was photographed in Hong Kong on December 13th attending the “Shiny Night” charity event at the Conrad Hotel, her strong denials appeared more credible than the British tabloid report. As it turns out, The Mirror issued a retraction on Friday declaring that they have “learnt that Shu Qi was not the woman in the restaurant with Hugh Grant and John Duigan.” The tabloid went on to state that they were “happy to correct [their] mistake and apologise for the error.”

Here is The Mirror’s full retraction:

On December 17, in a story on page 15 under the headline “Shu’s that girl”, we printed a picture of Shu Qi, an ex-porn star, and said that she was the woman who had been snogged by Hugh Grant whilst his friend, John Duigan, caressed her thigh in a restaurant (as we reported on 14 December). We have since learnt that Shu Qi was not the woman in the restaurant with Hugh Grant and John Duigan. We are happy to correct our mistake and apologise for the error.

Related Links: Retraction by The Mirror, Photos of Shu Qi at the charity event (CRIEnglish.com), More of Shu Qi at the charity event (Ming Pao)

Happy correction notwithstanding, if I were Shu Qi, I would still be out for blood. I’d be asking my lawyers if I still had any kind of case against The Mirror. Even if the initial report was true, referring to Shu Qi as a “porn star” was egregious. I may have more liberal sensibilities than most but I wouldn’t characterize what Shu Qi did at the beginning of career as “porn”. Next time you go to a Chinese video store, wander into the Japanese porn section (don’t worry, no one in the store will care) and check out some of the video covers. Now those videos are porn. Shu Qi’s early work isn’t even remotely in the same vicinity. Besides, Shu Qi’s body of work in the past ten years has been substantial enough that calling her a “porn star” is like calling two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank an “action star” because her first lead role was in THE NEXT KARATE KID. For Pete’s sake, Shu Qi was in a Hou Hsiao-Hsien film — that’s as far away from porn as you can possibly get!

Unfortunately, I think Shu Qi got caught in the line of fire between the British tabloids and Hugh Grant. The report was more about taking Hugh Grant down a peg or two than slighting Shu Qi. Though it’s patently unfair, this sort of thing happens in the entertainment circle. Be that as it may, she was still 6,000 miles away from Hugh Grant and that restaurant so, if I were her, I’d be looking to get more than that flimsy retraction and weak apology.

Now, something more appropriate to the season …

Earlier this month, during my search on iTunes for Miriam Yeung’s version of 每當變幻時 (”When Changes Occur”), I was fed an ad for the “Twelve Girls of Christmas” album by Twelve Girls Band. Since the holiday season was approaching and the whole album only cost $9.99 to download, I decided to buy it and give a listen to the musical phenomenon I’ve been reading about since 2002 or 2003.

Going in, all I knew about Twelve Girls Band was that their schtick was hot babe musicians playing modern music using traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu and the pipa and that they famously covered Coldplay’s “Clocks” for one of their albums. As I appreciate both Chinese culture and hot babes, I had always intended to give them a listen but just never got around to doing it. Until now.

What did I think of the album? In the words of Larry David: “… pretty good, prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good”. It was cool to hear a Chinese spin on traditional carols like “Joy To The World” and “Silent Night” as well as modern Christmas tunes like “Jingle Bells”, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. An aside, it’s hard to believe that “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is a Mariah Carey original. It feels like a cover version of a 1950s, 1960s Christmas song but it was actually an original creation for Mariah Carey’s 1994 Christmas album.

While traditional Chinese instruments are featured by Twelve Girls Band, they play somewhat modern compositions so, if you are a strict Catonian when it comes to Chinese traditional music, then “Twelve Girls of Christmas”might not be for you. Instead, old-schoolers may want to try looking for an album called “Chung King Christmas” by the Oriental Echo Ensemble. It also features traditional Chinese instruments but has a more conventional sound than Twelve Girls Band. Unfortunately, the album appears to be out of print. I heard it back in the early-1990s at my friend Jürg’s house. Jürg’s father owned a bookstore so he had access to all sorts of albums. Hence, “Chung King Christmas” was playing while Jürg and I wasted part of our Christmas holiday with Sega Genesis games like Golden Axe. I was going to make a copy of it but those were the days before Pentium computers and CD burners so I never got around to borrowing the CD and recording it on cassette tape. Why didn’t I just buy it from the bookstore that Jürg’s father owned? Well, it was an expensive import and it wasn’t like I was of independent means back then. My Mom was giving me rides to Jürg’s house.

Getting back from that trip down memory lane … Any opinions on Twelve Girls Band? Are they a cool spin on traditional Chinese music or a cheesy commercial gimmick? Any Twelve Girls Band fans out there? Is there anything else by the girls that I should try as the Leung treasury allows? Any Japanese fans out there who knows what “Koibito Ga Santa Claus” and “Shiroi Koibito Tachi” means?

… and with that flurry of questions, Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays! I intend to spend part of it watching DIE HARD — my reigning favourite Christmas movie. To me, nothing brings out the toasty warm feelings of the yuletide season like John McClane decorating Karl’s brother Tony with a holiday motif or the touching moment at the end when Al overcomes his psychological problems and saves McClane by blowing Karl away.

Have a safe and joyful holiday everybody! Yippy-ki-yay!

Image credits: Metro.co.uk (Shu Qi story screen grab), Ming Pao (Shu Qi at the Shiny Night charity gala), Domo Records (Twelve Girls of Christmas album cover) RCA Victor (Chung King Christmas album cover), Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (DIE HARD screen grab)

I’m ready to share some thoughts on HOOKED ON YOU now that I’m back home after a trip to the St. Annie Cake Shop where I redeemed my cake coupons before the store went out of business.

HOOKED ON YOU
每當變幻時
Official Site: http://www.hookedonyouthemovie.com/
Director: Law Wing-Cheong
Cast: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah (Miu), Eason Chan Yik-Shun (Fishman), Stanley Fung Tsui-Fan (Miu’s Father)

Synopsis (from Yahoo! Movies Singapore): Miu (Miriam Yeung) works as a fishmonger at the Fortune Market to pay off the debts of her father (Stanley Fung). She gives herself three years to settle her father’s debts, leave the wet market and find a man worthy of her. At the market, however, she finds herself at loggerheads with Fishman (Eason Chan) in the neighbouring stall. A fierce battle ensues but the two are forced to work together when a new supermarket threatens their business at the Fortune Market. Will Miu find her Mr Right, or is he a figment of her imagination?

PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS: I can’t imagine myself disliking this movie. The always reliable Johnnie To is the producer and it stars Miriam Yeung and Eason Chan — two very affable personalities that I’ve liked for years. It’s not an elaborate martial-arts costume epic engineered for the international market or an art film designed to appeal only to film sophisticates. There’s no way this film can turn out to be a stinker — right? The probability of Athena Chu Yan showing up at my front door in a short skirt and a long jacket has got to be higher than the probability of me sitting on my couch disappointed and angry after watching this movie.

AFTER THE MOVIE: As I hoped, HOOKED ON YOU did not disappoint. While a few cheesy elements and some overplayed scenes keep it from being a masterpiece, the movie is thoroughly entertaining and exquisitely captures the bittersweet sentiments of the 1970s classic Cantopop song (”When Change Occurs”) that it bases its Chinese title upon (see below). For the most part, it manages to maintain the delicate balance between being entertaining and being thought-provoking. As a result, it should please both the “artsy” crowd looking for insight and the “fartsy” crowd who just want a good time at the movies.

MORE THOUGHTS (WARNING: Contains spoilers): To me, the most remarkable aspect of HOOKED ON YOU is that it takes what is basically the setup for a disposable light-comedy TVB drama and manages to subtly deliver astute observations about the bittersweet nature of life. The effective incorporation of benchmark events from the ten years of Hong Kong history since the Handover help to highlight the theme that time passes, changes occur, there will be ups, there will be downs, you’ll win some and you’ll lose some so all you can do is move forward and not dwell too much on the past, just cherish the good times and remember the bad times. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this result because I was expecting a regular, good-ol’ romantic comedy — a well-made one — but routine nonetheless. I envisioned myself sitting on the couch and going “awww, what a nice love story” as I was switched off my DVD player. I was not expecting to be dazzled by philosophical insight.

I’m certain that the “when changes occur” message refers not just to an individual’s life but extends to Hong Kong as well. Clearly, Fortune Market is a metaphor for the Fragrant Harbour. As I don’t live there anymore, I don’t have any sort of feel for day-to-day life in Hong Kong. Therefore, I’m not going to embarrass myself by attempting to explain how the film’s message applies to Hong Kong. I do recognize that it’s there and I’m sure that it resonates somehow with the local audience.

While its philosophical accomplishments are impressive, there are flaws in HOOKED ON YOU that make it just miss the mark of being a pantheon Hong Kong film. The TVB-style setup at the beginning robs the film of a bit of the gravitas required for pantheon status. The Fishman character starts out as a caricature. Miu’s character, and her hard-luck story, come straight out of the TVB drama writer’s handbook. You also have the loveable but irresponsible parent and the local dai lo. I’m not knocking TVB and its dramas. Of the three major forms of HK entertainment: movies, TV serials and Cantopop, TV serials — especially the ones by TVB — are my favourite. If I was an emperor, then TV serials would be my empress while movies and Cantopop would be consorts that I occasionally hang around with. I’m just saying that the low-brow setup and thin characterizations rob HOOKED ON YOU of some credibility preventing it, just barely, from being thought of as a great film. It’s very good and I’ll remember it fondly but I wouldn’t categorize it as a classic.

Speaking of TVB, I’m sure that a graduate student in sociology can find plenty of material for a thesis if they look at TVB and Hong Kong society. While jotting down a few thoughts for this post after I put the DVD away, I couldn’t help thinking of HOPE FOR SALE (街市的童話) — a 2001 TVB drama starring Gallen Lo Ka-Leung, Christine Ng Wing-Mei and Melissa Ng Mei-Hang. In the series, Gallen Lo plays a vegetable-seller who enjoys his simple life working at the wet market while Melissa Ng plays his materialistic wife. She pushes him to “better” himself and leave the market.

If HOOKED ON YOU was a TVB drama, it would have had a much different outcome. Fishman and the way he clutches to the wet market lifestyle would be seen as virtuous while Miu’s quest to leave the wet market would be vilified as materialistic and vain. HOOKED ON YOU’s nuanced message would be replaced by the standard message from TVB dramas: 平凡是福 (ping faan si fuk or “a common life is a blessing”). As TVB is in the ratings business, it has to make product that appeals to its audience so, clearly, something about the “common life is a blessing” theme appeals to Hong Kong society. Like I said, there’s a thesis in there somewhere.

MISCELLANEA:

- I’m not a PETA supporter but I definitely felt bad for the eel that Miriam Yeung chops up at the beginning of the movie. Having watched Hiroyuki Sakai and Masaharu Moritomo slice up eels in IRON CHEF episodes, I thought I was de-sensitized to live eel killing but it looked to me that Miriam Yeung didn’t chop her eel all the way through. It must have been in agony as Yeung slid it into that plastic bag. Poor eel.

- Jo Koo, where are you? Right now, if I could have an entertainment circle girlfriend, I think that it’d be Jo Koo (Kuk Tso-Lam). So, it pains me to say that I was surprised when I saw her name in the credits because I didn’t spot her in the movie. Does anyone know who she played?

Yes, if I could have an entertainment circle girlfriend it’d be Jo Koo and if I were a rich man, ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum. All day long I’d biddy biddy bum. If I were a wealthy man.

- Hey, it’s interesting to me! Scanning the credits, I was intrigued by the name Marie Zhuge (諸葛梓岐). Having probably spent months of my life playing various video and computer games based on ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, I wonder if Marie Zhuge is a descendant of the legendary Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮). A Google search yields no pictures but reveals that she is a Canadian (Yeah! Fellow Canadian!) and that she belongs to the same modeling agency as Kathy Chow Man-Kei and Qi Qi. I figure she must be Fishman’s favourite prostitute, Fishman’s wife or the girl who bugs Miu about her age. Anyone know?

- Speaking of the girl who bugs Miu about her age, I liked the way the film used her to help mark the passage of time and advance Miu’s storyline. She started as a young woman cooking dinner for the first time for her boyfriend and ended up as a married woman with child. Anyone know who plays girl who buys Miu about her age?

- Funny, but the last definition of “miss” — the courtesy title before the name of an unmarried woman or a girl — never occurred to me until I read the intertitle. Perhaps it would have had my “mind voice” pronounced it HK-style: “misseee”.

ABOUT THE SONG: HOOKED ON YOU gets its Chinese title from 每當變幻時 (”When Changes Occur”), the hit Cantopop song from 1977 sung by Fanny (薰妮 aka Fun Nei aka Fanny Wong). As you can tell from the following translation of the song lyrics, the movie does a good job of capturing the bittersweet sentiments of the song.

A quick disclaimer, I am not an English major so pardon me if my rudimentary translation does not do proper justice to the Chinese lyrics of Jim Lo Kwok-Tsim (盧國沾). Nevertheless, I think you can get a sense of how well the movie plays upon the song’s message. For your information, the song starts playing at around 1:32:20 of the film.

Thanks to a box of tapes that belonged to my late Uncle Kwok-Hung and a mp3 file from my cousin, I was able to listen to both the Fanny version and the Miriam Yeung version of the song. With all due respect to Miriam Yeung, I think the Fanny version is better. The arrangement and the vocal inflections of the 1977 version suit the wistful nature of the lyrics better than that of the 2007 version.

By the way, does anyone know why it’s virtually impossible to buy Cantopop songs on iTunes? I suspect that it probably has something to do with Hong Kong music companies not being able to adapt to the times. Don’t they realize that if they make things easy and cheap for consumers, most people will take the path of least resistance and buy the songs from a legal source like iTunes rather than waste time searching for illegal downloads on the Internet?

IMAGE CREDITS: Media Asia (HOOKED ON YOU screen captures, Jo Koo), Wing Hang CD Ltd. (Fanny Wong)

… Paulyn Sun Kai-Kwan (aka Pauline Suen aka Alien Sun)?

If you were a fan of mid-1990s Hong Kong cinema, you will undoubtedly recognize Paulyn Sun Kai-Kwan (孫佳君). After entering into the consciousness of HK movie fans and moviemakers with her role in the 1995 Stephen Chow Sing-Chi film SIXTY MILLION DOLLAR MAN, Sun had a solid three-year run as a leading lady that saw her star in middling films like: MR. MUMBLE, LOVE AND SEX AMONG THE RUINS and BANANA CLUB (not to be confused with TOP BANANA CLUB). When money for middling films dried up as a result of the Handover and the Asian economic crisis, Sun took on titillation roles as a maneater, literally, in THE UNTOLD STORY 2 and as “not Teresa Chiang Siu-Wai (the former Mrs. Kenny Bee)” in the Wong Jing-produced LOVE AND SEX IN THE EASTERN HOLLYWOOD.

While the aforementioned roles suggest that the years following her run as a B-level “It Girl” consisted entirely of lowlights, there were some highlights. Although she lost to Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk (THE SOONG SISTERS), Sun’s work in the 1997 film ISLAND OF GREED was recognized by a Best Actress award nomination at the 17th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2000, Sun had a “heard but not seen” role as the cheating wife of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai’s Chow Mo-Wan character in Wong Kar-Wai’s masterpiece IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. She followed that up with a provocative role in Takashi Miike’s notorious ICHI THE KILLER.

After making the Japanese film in 2001, Sun worked sparingly. She did some television, some beauty product ads, had a supporting role in EVERY DOG HAS ITS DATE and lead roles in three films — BLESS THIS CHILD, FU BO and A WEDDING OR A FUNERAL — that essentially went straight-to-video. She has not appeared in anything since 2004.

What happened to Paulyn Sun Kai-Kwan in the years since her last appearance? According to an article in a March 2005 edition of East Weekly, Sun is now married and the mother of a son. In February 2005, East Weekly reporters spotted Sun and her husband eating and shopping in and around Tai Koo Shing. Reportedly, Sun’s husband, Mr. Chan, is a Mainland-based millionaire businessman in his 40s. Approached by East Weekly reporters who asked where she has been since 2004, Sun revealed: “I’ve gotten married. I even gave birth to a son. We didn’t marry in Hong Kong. About my husband, I won’t say too much. He’s not involved in the entertainment circle.”

Sun, who appeared about ten pounds heavier than she was during her entertainment circle heyday, was then asked about her future in the business. Sun: “Let’s just say that I won’t be making any more movies.”

The marriage puts an end to Sun’s somewhat tumultuous single life. As she received her break by appearing in a Stephen Chow Sing-Chi movie, there were, naturally, rumours that she was involved with Chow. There were also rumours linking her to Jimmy Wong Ka-Lok (a model/actor whose main claim to fame is that he had a four-year long relationship with Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam). Those rumours, however, paled to tales of a relationship with former billionaire business tycoon Louis Law Siu-Fai. In March 2002, an edition of East Weekly published photos exposing Sun as one of Law’s “kept women”. The article claimed that Sun was one of many HK female celebrities that Law “kept” by paying upwards of HK$500,000 a month. In addition to Sun, East Weekly alleged that Anita Yuen Wing-Yi, Carina Lau Ka-Ling, Teresa Mak Ka-Kei and Maggie Q — among others — were actresses that were “kept” by Law at one point or another.

Law, a billionaire real estate mogul in the early-1990s, was hit hard by the Asian economic crisis of the late-1990s. He incurred a heavy debt and attempted to commit suicide in December 2000. In January 2005, he was arrested on drug charges in Macau. Earlier this year, he was sentenced to two years in jail on those charges and fined 10,000 Macanse pacatas.

RECOMMENDATIONS: If you want to check out some of Paulyn Sun’s work, I would recommend starting with MR. MUBMLE and BANANA CLUB. MR. MUMBLE is based on the Japanese manga CITY HUNTER. Besides Sun, the film stars the likeable Michael Chow Man-Kin, hot babe Francoise Yip Fong-Wah and the always delightful Jessica Suen (aka Jessica Hester Hsuan). Despite having a lower budget and less star power, I thought MR. MUMBLE was more enjoyable and more fun than CITY HUNTER (Jackie Chan, Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching, Joey Wong Tso-Yin).

BANANA CLUB is a run-of-the-mill three boys/three girls romantic comedy but the charming boys (Michael Chow Man-Kin, Simon Lui Yu-Yeung, Edmond Leung Hon-Man) and charming girls (Paulyn Sun, Halina Tam Siu-Wan, Amanda Lee Wai-Man) make it worthwhile if you like that sort of thing.

If you want to check out Sun’s work while seeing a “good” movie then THE GOLDEN GIRLS and LOVE AND SEX AMONG THE RUINS are your best bets. There are also various editions of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE that feature scenes that Sun appears in but were cut out of the theatrical release of the film.

Related image:
http://img.ppzy.net//desk/renwu/gang/yan/1109148386.jpg (1280×1024 wallpaper of Paulyn Sun featuring a photo from a beauty ad)

MOVING FORWARD: No, no, this isn’t the section of the post where I do an ad for Toyota (though if Toyota wants to pay me a boatload of money for mentioning them here, I wouldn’t object). This is the section where I talk about the content of this blog in the short term. As I said in my last post, my HK entertainment database is badly out of date. Before last week, if you said “eye in the sky” to me, I would think “Alan Parsons Project” and not the film starring Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Simon Yam Tat-Wah. Consequently, for the next little while, this is going to be a little bit of a chat blog. I’ll talk about some of the HK-related stuff I’ve seen recently and see what you guys thought about them. Depending on how this post is received, I may do a few more “whatever happened to …” articles. We’ll see.

Eventually, I hope — in some fashion — to return to doing entertainment news. I just have to get my HK entertainment database updated. Right now, I’m learning about the rise of former Cookies member Stephy Tang Lai-Yan. Unlike Kozo, I am not as bemused by her success because I never doubt the power of Tang.

IN CLOSING … a few words about my e-mail situation. My Summer of Sloth included neglecting the e-mail account I set up for The House Where Words Gather. As a result, it has now turned into a spam nest. If you sent me an e-mail any time from the end of June to the beginning of November, it’s probably lost in the mess. Sorry. I’m looking into setting up another account. When I get the new account established, I promise to be much more diligent about e-mail. In the meantime, please use the blog’s comment box to correspond with me.

Until next time …

IMAGE CREDITS: East Weekly Magazine (Paulyn Sun and her husband, Paulyn Sun and Louis Law), Toyota (Toyota ad bug)