The Last Supper - 王的盛宴

The Last Supper (王的盛宴) is an 2012 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Liu Ye, Chang Chen, and Daniel Wu. The supporting cast include Qin Lan and Huo Siyan. The movie is based on Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty in Zhong Guo. The story takes place from when Liu is 48 years old to his death at 61 years old.



Liu Ye plays Liu Bang as the movie opens when he is 61 years old. Haunted by memories of two of his greatest enemies, Lord Xiang Yu and General Han Xin. The movie goes into episodic flashbacks of his struggle from common man to emperor. Liu seeks the help of Lord Yu to reclaim his wife and family. The set out to overthrow the Qin government, the fall of Qin, and the fall of Lord Yu. Along the way, Liu's army is partially lead by General Han Xin. But Liu's paranoia prevents him from trusting those close to him and those that helped him establish hit empire. The movie closes out with with the death of both General Han Xin and Emperor Liu Bang.



This was an artsy fartsy movie at its core. Told in episodic flashbacks and full of deep thoughts, it tells a story of commoner to emperor to paranoia. How much of this is based on history is beyond me. I only know a little of the Qin and Han dynasty from wuxia series and films, like The Myth. And an wiki article here and there. Nothing to make me understand that era.



I do recommend it because the acting is pretty awesome. Liu Ye, Chang Chen, Daniel Wu, and Qin Lan age with the screen and it's very believable. Some of the best acting in a ancient Zhong Guo film in recent memory. The language wasn't super formal and very modern so I didn't have to turn on the subtitles.

停車 - Parking

停車 (Parking) is a 2008 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Chang Chen. The rest of the supporting cast include Kwai Lun-mei, Jack Kao, Leon Dai, Peggy Tseng and Chapman To.



The movie revolves around Chang Chen and his parked car. While buying a cake, someone double parks next to him, preventing him from leaving. Because of this, Chen gets involved with the happens of Chengde road, where his car is park. Chen patiently waits from late afternoon to sundown. The first is a one hand barber next to his car. The barber is played by Jack Kao and tells him that the car probably belongs to the people on floor 3. Chen goes up and finds an elderly couple with their granddaughter Nini. The grandfather calls him Xiao Ma, the nickname of their deceased son. Chen goes along with it and ends up having dinner with them. When he's done with dinner, the double parked car is gone. About to leave, Chen receives a phone call. Distracted by the phone call, he sits on the cake he bought. Now Chen's butt is covered in frosting and he goes back to the barber to clean up. After cleaning up, he finds that another parked car has blocked him via double parking. Chen goes to a nearby tailor store to ask for help. Chapman To is that tailor and doesn't help him. Chen calls the towing company to get the car towed. The towing company is busy from it being Mother's Day and a Sunday. The towing company tells him to take a cab. Chen finds a cab but the cabby refuses to take him to his destination. Leaving the car angered, he kicks the double parked car. The car is not empty and filled with triad members. Just as they are going to do something bad to Chen, To runs out being chased by triad members. The barber steps out and tells the triad head to let them go. The barber and triad boss are old buddies and chat about a little history and their current situation. Chen's car is still double parked, but by a different car now. Chen heads to the fourth floor to ask if its their car. Chen than gets into an argument with them and is beaten up and thrown into a park ditch.



The movie is a trip as there are many small subplots along the way. I didn't even bring up Peggy Tseng's character. One of the subplots revolves around Chang Chen and Kwai Lun-mei as his wife. There's also the subplot of tha barber that gets somewhat explored.



This was a slow moving movie, but for a purpose. The slowness in the beginning turns into lots and lots of things going on in the second half of the film. Peggy Tseng makes her movie debut. I've not seen Peggy before because she's in Taiwan commercials and appeared in a few MVs, two things I see very little to none of here in LA. I think she gives a breakout performance.

I highly recommend this film.

Red Cliff - 赤壁 - US Release

Red Cliff (赤壁) is getting a one film US Release on November 18, 2009. It has also been available via VOD for the the past month or so in the US. The film was broken up into 2 parts for the Asian market. I wrote reviews for Part I and Part II in the past.



Red Cliff has a star studded cast of veteran Chinese actors including Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, and Zhao Wei.



The US version will have some additional "explanation" scenes and voice overs. Some of the secondary stories from the Asian version will be out right deleted.



I am not sure I'll be catching this anytime soon. I am not sure I can watch a "English" dub. That just sounds wrong.

赤壁:決戰天下 - Red Cliff II

赤壁:決戰天下 (Red Cliff II) is 2009 film directed by John Woo. Starring Chen Chang, Lin Chi-Ling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Wei Zhao. I had watched Part I last summer and had a first thoughts and review posts.

Red Cliff is based on the Battle of Red Cliffs. Because the storyline has so many characters and Kingdoms, I'll leave it to you to read up on wikipedia. I'll just be talking about what I thought of the film here.

Red Cliff Part 2 starts as Cao Cao's armies descend on the Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu and Zhugu Liang prepare for the coming onslaught. Some plot points that I thought were interesting. The plague victims from Cao Cao's camp are sent to Zhou Yu's camp. The plague plays a major point in the storyline. Cao Cao is reputed to be a wife stealer. Stealing the wives of his conquered victims. In this case, Cao Cao wants Zhou Yu's wife. There is espionage from both camps but Zhou Yu gets the better end of the deal. Zhuge Liang fortune telling turns the tide. Lin Chi-Ling is still hot in this movie.

The battle of the Red Cliff doesn't actually seem that intense. The graphics are good, but you can tell it is computer generated. The fighting incorporates wuxia elements for the generals. But supporting people do die. There's soccer?

Red Cliff Part 2 was awesome and it's a good sign for the Chinese movie audience and film makers. The sign that these kind of movies can be made and that the audience will support it financially.

赤壁 - Red Cliff Part 1

赤壁 (Red Cliff Part 1) is 2008 film directed by John Woo. Starring Chen Chang, Lin Chi-Ling, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Wei Zhao. Initially thought of as one film when filming began. It was split up into 2 movies. Having seen both, the split was logical and its better as two movies versus a long condensed version. I had watched it last summer and had a first thoughts post.

Red Cliff is based on the Battle of Red Cliffs. Because the storyline has so many characters and Kingdoms, I'll leave it to you to read up on wikipedia. I'll just be talking about what I thought of the film here.

Red Cliff Part 1 has the job of introducing the cast and their importance to the story. So, there's a lot of character development here versus Part 2. But there's just as much action, if not more than Part 2. Two major battles are shown. One in the beginning where Zhao Yun saves Liu Bei's son. The other being the initial engagement between the allied forced against Cao Cao.

Through it all, characters are popping up and right. You do need to have a general knowledge of that era to understand the movie better. But pop up they do. This film also introduces Lin Chi-Ling's acting debut. Lin's been a top model and spokeperson for over 10 years now. But finally making the turn to acting now. And a good roll it is.

Takeshi Kaneshiro plays the iconic Zhuge Liang. Zhuge is like the "sherlock" of the Chinese world. Known for being an expert strategist and intelligence beyond all those around. Zhuge Liang is a reference in Chiense pop culture all the time.

Tony Leung's character of Zhou Yu does creep to the top of importance and prominence as Part I ends.

In all, I thought Red Cliff Part I was a great introduction to the characters and the eminent battle of Red Cliffs.

詭絲 - Silk

Silk (詭絲) is 2006 film out of Taiwan starring Chen Chang with a supporting cast of 大S (Barbie Hsu), Wilson Chen, Karena Lam, and Janine Chang.

Chen Chang plays a cop with extraordinary vision. So good, he can see the feathers of the birds flying above him as well an expert lip reader and a sharp shooter. A cop with an extreme temper to go with it. Chen Chang gets re-assigned to a special paranormal division for all the previously mentioned skillz, but mostly for his keen eyesight. The time has trapped a ghost with a special technology called the Menger Sponge. The plot thickens as the guy that put this team together is a little tipsy and doesn't play by the rules. Rules fly out the window and the triller horror begins.

When I first heard about this movie back in 2007, I thought it was a Japanese movie. I didn't find much more back in the day, but when I saw it via Netflix in 2008, I realized it was a Taiwan movie. With the supporting cast a who's who of the "it" actors and actresses, I was pleasantly surprised.

The action, suspense, solving of the mystery, and the resolution all left me satisfied. Before I started the film, I thought it was going to be a movie like Ringu or The Ring or ghost with hair that covers the face, etc. type movie. Boy was I wrong. It was a mystery and the subplots revolving around the main plot made it all the more intriguing.

I highly recommend this film.

Chinese Odyssey - 天下無雙

Chinese Odyssey (天下無雙) is a 2002 movie that stars Faye Wong, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Chen Chang, and Wei Zhao (張震, 朱茵, 梁朝偉, 王菲).

The movie is about a brother and sister pair that gets together with another brother sister pair. Does that mean that when they have kids, they kids are not cousins but brothers or sisters?

The movie stars the lovely Faye Wong in one of her few acting roles and Chen Cheng hot on the heals of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. Tony and Zhao Wei had been pretty established by 2002.

The movie is crude and rude and is a comedy all rolled up into one. In HK cinema, the wuxia stuff is thrown liberally into most films. For this movie, that was the case.

In all, I remember this film being well made, but didn't leave a lasting impression.

I was only reminded of this film because it was a recommended movie for me on Netflix.

最好的時光 - Three Times

Three Times (最好的時光) by director Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an art film at its core. The 3 episode movie stars 舒淇 and 張震 (Hsu Chi and Chen Chang).

The movie is divided into 3 episodes. Each episode is a different period in time. One in the present 2005, one in the Qing Dynasty, 1911, and one in 1966. Each time period portrays a relationship between 舒淇 and 張震. All 3 get to it in different ways.

It was an interesting look at 1911 during the end of the imperial age. The 1966 storyline was a look into the innocence of love. The 2005 story was the modern take on love as its lost its innocence and is part of the globalized community.

Red Cliff Part 1 - 赤壁 - First Thoughts

Originally posted on xanga.



I just finished part 1 of John Woo's Red Cliff (赤壁). It was an intense movie with a lot of stuff going on.

Here are some thoughts:
I need to learn my Chinese history better
Lin Chi-Ling is pretty dang hot
Zhao Wei is looking like she shouldn't play early 20s rolls anymore
The Costumes are amazing
The special effects look real and fake at the same time
I can't wait to see part 2.
Too bad there's no part 3
I would want to play a video game based off this (in english, since my Chinese is useless)

Go see it. It won't blow you away, but its a good film.

Being sold for $3 in my local video rental places. Crazy cheap.