When "East Meets West" 《中西唱盘》, a tribute to the 50's by Yudi 友弟

East Meets West 《中西唱盘》is a concept music show that Yudi 友弟 concocted to pay tribute to the wonderful era of the iconic 50's (also encompassing 40's to 60's) when popular music from the West and the East started to flourish and integrate into each other's culture.

It was pretty much the beginning of idol worship of Hollywood stars such Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day to name a few. In the East, there were legendary divas GeLan 葛籣 ，YaoLi 姚利，WuYingYin 吴莺音，LinDai 林黛 .

‘中曲西词’ Chinese melodies with English lyrics

Example:  玫瑰玫瑰我爱你 （meigui meigui wo ai ni) Rose Rose I Love You

The English version was said to have been sung for Rose Chan, the legendary burlesque dancer of Malaya.

‘中词西曲’Chinese lyrics sung to Western melodies

Example: River Of No Return 大江东去

Example: Never On Sunday 别在星期天

Award-winning Yudi 友弟 personifying
"there once was a sassy Chinese lady who time traveled from the 50's"
in 'East Meets West" 《中西唱盘》

#EastMeetsWest #50s #hollywood #goldenoldies #tribute #riverofnoreturn #roseroseiloveyou #neveronsunday #teresateng 

The Curse of Eternal Youth: The Age Of Adaline

"On December 31, 2014, a taxicab travels through San Francisco, from Chinatown to San Marin. The car carries a single passenger: a woman, her birth name Adaline Bowman, current alias Jennifer Larson. This is the first and last chapter of her life."

I love the way the movie starts with a narration and introduces Adaline Bowman in the first scenes. 

Narration doesn't always fit into every movie genre, but without it, The Age of Adaline would lose its period-drama charm.

Adaline Bowman was born on 1st January, 1908. At the age of 29, while driving at night on a lonely road in California, snow fell. California is a state that never sees snow. As she struggles to see her way, Adaline, a widow with a young daughter, drove her car off the road and into the water. For several minutes, she floats unconscious in the water. Suddenly, lightning strikes her and she floats up to take a breath. 

She then lives on in a life of "eternal youth" that most of us would die for. But for Adaline, it becomes a curse. She runs from identity to identity, never staying long enough in one place to establish relationships. 

Why does she run? Is it because of the FBI that wants to investigate why this woman doesn't look her age?

One of the most poignant scenes is when her dog dies, and she tearfully flips through a photo album of her dogs throughout the years, all of the same breed, from black and white photos to  orangey tints to the photos of current times. 

Adaline is tired of living life without aging. Yes, she does have her youth and energy even though she is now 107. She is tired. She is tired of running to hide her identity. And when she meets tall, dark, handsome, wealthy, philantropic, historical-buff, love-at-first-sight, oh-so-into-her Ellis (is this the perfect description of the perfect guy or what), she realizes more so that she is tired of running from love. 

The story, the acting and the direction has kept her character in tact as a woman born from the elegant era of the 1900's. We find Adaline cool and charming, but behind that facade, is a heartbroken woman.

What this movie does is address our society's general judgement on the factor of age between two people who love each other. 

What's age got to do with it? Only because we let it.

Love Is...

Love is...a beautiful story of four tragic hearts. Well, in this movie, it is.

Its story plot feels familiar, like the type of sob stories that were popular years ago in Indian, Taiwanese, & Korean TV dramas. 

As this Thai movie embarks on the tragic love story plot for today's audience, the title "Love is" makes us question how we would react if we were in similar situations as any of the four characters.

The movie starts off steadily without much drama, and scenes took their time to build each character, their family background, their expectations of life, and their relationship with each other. 

Tall and handsome Kamon from Bangkok visits the hilly Chiang Rai, at the scenic north of Thailand. He is greeted by an excited family of friends who are preparing for dinner outdoors in the cool evening.  

There are two young ladies there. Boisterous Xiao Ping, we find out later, is his best friend. There is sweet Qing, who is Kamon's shy girlfriend. Then there is Wei, whom just graduated from a university in China. He grew up together with Qing and was raised by Qing's grandmother. They are all part of the Thai Chinese community of Chiang Rai where Chinese traditions are still strongly practised. 

The buddy-buddy, happy-family mood drops a notch down the next day. The two guys, Kamon and Wei, spend some buddy time together. Wei confides that he has to marry Xiao Ping as they are both in an arranged marriage by their families. He resents the upcoming marriage as he does not feel any love for Xiao Ping. 

Kamon then reveals his intention to propose marriage to Qing. Wei is visibly upset by this news. It seems he harbours deep feelings for Qing.  

Nurse Xiao Ping on the other hand, loves Wei with all her heart. Qing and Kamon's romance, has actually been going on for several years, but the two characters' roles are portrayed somewhat in contrast to that fact. I don't even remember if they held hands. Her job as a primary school teacher and her responsibility for caring for her grandmother, who has to take insulin jabs, tells audiences that she would be unwilling to follow Kamon to live in Bangkok after their marriage.

Wei and Xiao Ping are wed. The wedding night is a disastrous night of painful tears.

One day, Qing and Wei spend some time under the tree where they used to spend their childhood days, reminiscing about old times together.  We think there may be something going on here as Qing then hugs Wei -- but tells him they are both better off as friends. 

Qing and Wei walk home together. When they reached the house, grandmother and others greeted them with panicked faces. Kamon has just been in an accident!

Love has a different meaning for each of these characters. What happens with Kamon, Qing, Wei and Xiao Ping towards the end of the movie lets you fill in the blanks. Love is ...

When Geek Meets Serial Killer

A curiously captivating movie title, and interestingly, an old friend's directorial debut. So, I took an effort to watch it, curious to see what and how he has made this movie. By the 5th minute, I already wanted to feedback to him that it was brilliantly told. 

It's a movie that is considered daring for a conservative Chinese society. Refreshing black humour, choreographed and executed so well by a director yet unseen in the Chinese world of movie making. 

It starts off with a comic artist who lands the fantasy of a lifetime when 5 sexy maids turns up at his apartment. Then he wakes up --  to a blood-strewn apartment with a dead person lying in front of him.

The story is told in first person narration, each character's psyche expressed clearly to the audience scene by scene, and the storyline of each character was cleverly interlinked with flashbacks, and kept me going "oh....so that's what was going on..." Ne'er a dull moment.

As a producer and director, and intending to write and make my own movie soon, I have always liked intercutting to flashbacks to tell the story instead of telling an entire story the linear way. But it is not easy to write, plan, shoot, and edit this way and still keep your audience clued to what's going on. 

The CGI just makes you laugh at the humour of what really goes on in our minds. Each shot and talent positioning was choreographed to tell a particular satire; the script and the entire message of the movie was a cynical hit at the farce of a hypocritical society.