(Looks like I had a-nother senior moment this morning and forgot to press Submit after Preview!
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Jia Zhangke Brings Fashion to Venice
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/04/1261@269930.htm
Jiang Wen, China's answer to Marlon Brando back with bang after five-year ban
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asi ... 924405.ece
"The Sun Also Rises" Released at Venice
Jaycee Chan
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/04/1042@269718.htm
Wayne Wang
Also at the top of Telluride attendees' list of favorites was Bay Area filmmaker Wayne Wang's new feature, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," based on a short story by the up-and-coming writer Yiyun Li, who teaches at Mills College. Wang said he related to Li's story of an aging widower who travels from China to Spokane, Wash., to help his daughter recover from divorce, because, as he put it, "Chinese parents assume that no matter how old you are, they have the right to interfere."
Returning to the subject of Chinese immigration, Wang said, was a nice break from making "Hollywood fast-food films." The director said he "had to relearn a lot of stuff to make this film, which deals with small dramas, silences and what is unsaid."
The festival also offered a sneak preview of another Wang-Li collaboration called "The Princess of Nebraska," which follows 24 hours in the life of a young Chinese woman who, at four months pregnant, takes a daring journey from Beijing to San Francisco to have an abortion.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... FRU3F4.DTL
Distributor confident of Jet Li's film release in China
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 031841.htm
Mere rumours - Nancy Sit
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... sec=movies
Fate cannot be forced
Lin Ching Hsia settled down over a decade ago, but tabloids continue to link her with Chin Han.
http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp ... sec=movies
Review
Black Belt/Kuro-Obi (Japan)
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/2020/
It was a great Jacky Cheung concert from start to finish.
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... &sec=music
Jacky Cheung cancels concert due to sore throat
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/03/1261@269471.htm
Jacky Cheung to Make up for Canceled Shows
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/04/1261@269964.htm
Vicki Zhao Offers More in Music
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/09/04/1261@269922.htm
TROUBLE IN THE 3 KINGDOMS
Controversy surrounds two upcoming movies based on China's classic novel
NEXT year looks set to be the year of the Three Kingdoms.
There are already two films set in ancient China's 'Three Kingdoms' era (from 190 to 280 AD) announced for release, with a third still in its planning stages.
A TV drama serial is also in the works.
The biggest is surely renowned Hong Kong director John Woo's much-hyped Red Cliff, which is based on the events of the pivotal Battle Of The Red Cliffs.
In that legendary battle in 208 AD, northern warlord Cao Cao's attempt to unify China was foiled when his massive armada was routed by the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan.
The US$70m ($106m) production stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung, Zhao Wei, Lin Chiling, Zhang Fengyi and Chang Chen.
Fellow Hong Kong director Daniel Lee also has some big names in his upcoming film, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon.
It stars Andy Lau, Sammo Hung and Maggie Q.
Even a tentative third Three Kingdoms movie, a comedy called I Am Jiang Gan, which doesn't even have a finalised script yet, was in the news because the producer, Chinese host Chen Luyu, invited Jay Chou to star in it.
Meanwhile, the drama serial, The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, is still in its casting stages.
Other than big stars, what unites Red Cliff and Three Kingdoms is controversy over the casting and characters.
With Three Kingdoms, the moment a publicity poster was released, fans immediately complained about how General Zhao Yun, played by Andy Lau, was nothing like the way the character is typically portrayed.
Instead of all-white armour, Andy wore grey. And instead of a spear, Andy had a sword.
LOOKS LIKE A ROBOT
Online fans also complained that he hardly resembled a Chinese general, with one person saying he resembled a 'robot Japanese warrior from the future'.
Even the Hong Kong star himself said he had some 'issues' at first.
However, he reassured fans that the image on the poster was of Zhao Yun before he became a general. And the reason there wasn't a spear was because it was too long to look good on a poster.
There was also rumblings about the casting of Maggie Q, with some fans online wondering how her pan-Asian look would fit in ancient China. She was also reported to have wanted to leave the movie initially, but decided to stay on.
Woo's Red Cliff has had even more trouble, with actors coming and going. Tony Leung withdrew from the movie earlier this year, then rejoined the cast to replace Chow Yun Fat as the lead character Zhou Yu, who helped masterminded Cao Cao's defeat.
Yun Fat, for his part, played a game of 'am I in or am I out?' He complained he got the script late whereas the film-makers said he made unreasonable demands.
Both sides have confirmed he is definitely out.
Ken Watanabe was rumoured to have landed the role of Cao Cao, which led to an outcry. Fans complained that it was not right for a Japanese to play such a major Chinese historical character.
John Woo has since denied that Watanabe was even on the cast list.
Fans have even complained that Taiwanese babe Lin Chiling was 'too old' or 'not beautiful enough' to play legendary beauty Xiao Qiao.
To add to Woo's troubles, torrential rains recently washed away part of his outdoor set.
'Red Cliff is the movie I've spent the most energy on, prepared for the longest, and (is) the most tiring since I started making movies,' Woo told China's Nanfang Daily.
The seemingly endless griping about cast and characters by fans is partly because the movie's stories are important to Chinese culture.
A fan, public relations executive Tan Kok Kuan, 27, said: 'If it's too different from the story they're familiar with, people may not like it.'
Part of its popularity is due to the novel, The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. It is considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature and is still widely read.
But are there too many Three Kingdoms shows coming?
U-Weekly's film critic Wayne Lim doesn't think so.
Having more of such films can help build awareness of the era.
Mr Lim said: 'For young people or people who don't know that much Chinese history, it's a chance for them to pick up a little bit.'
My Paper's movie reviewer Mervyn Tay believes the high number of movies only means that Three Kingdoms is fertile ground for films.
He said: 'It poses not only creative challenges in terms of the story - how do you find a new angle or create new insights to something so well-known - but also in terms of production.'
As for the controversies, both said it could turn out to be a good thing as it has generated a lot of publicity.
But it is not only fans well-versed in Three Kingdoms history who are looking forward to the movies.
Though filmgoer Adrian Sim, a 27-year-old writer, is not keen on yet another Asian period epic in the wake of The Banquet and The Promise, he still believes Red Cliff will do well.
After all, John Woo is a marquee name.
His films - The Killer, A Better Tomorrow and Once A Thief - are all landmark films in Hong Kong cinema, Mr Sim said.
'Now he's back in Asia doing a Chinese film after so many years in Hollywood, it's something fans are looking out for.'
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story ... 57,00.html
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:51 pm