Xuan Zang 2016

Xuan Zang 2016 is not your usual “Journey to the West” movie. You won’t find flying monkeys there. Instead, you’ll find a realistic journey of an amazing Tang monk across the treacherous deserts, who spoke fluent Hindi when he was already in India and addressed the Indian monks/gurus as “Acharya” in such a respectful way. Copied from my other personal blog because it relates to Li Shimin (Tang Dynasty) and it gave me a thought about LOCH 2017.

I found Xuan Zang when I was on board Singapore Airlines from Hong Kong to Singapore (part of my lag from Washington DC to Jakarta). The good thing about flying with SIA is that you’d be guaranteed to have a wide array of Asian movies to watch. This journey was not an exception. I was weighing between Xuan Zang and another Asian movie, and in the end, boy I’m glad that I watched Xuan Zang.

The Chinese-Indian movie was directed by Huo Jianqi, produced by Wong Kar-wai (that name I know!) and starring Huang Xiaoming as the titular character. Never seen HXM in action before, but I was very impressed with his performance as Xuan Zang that he’s one of my favourite Mainland actors now. HXM made me thought that he was actually channelling Xuan Zang in the movie; his serene face and wisdom were so palpable, I wondered if he actually set aside time to meditate every day before filming. Actually, I would be glad to just sit next to him, listening to him chanting the sutras...

LOCH 2008 first impressions

LOCH 2008 poster from Clapanuelos

In preparation of LOCH 2017, I thought I'd better watch LOCH 2008 to acquaint myself with the 21 CE wuxia style, particularly that of Jin Yong. I watch LOCH 2008 through KissAsian Jianghu. This post is for episodes 1-15 and I posted it with my iPad, so please excuse the brevity and mistakes.

I find the 2008 version having an interesting story telling with flashbacks. Sceneries, the grand scale of Heng Dian studio and cinematography definitely win against 1983. However, I still prefer the costumes of 1983, although they would be recycled later for other series (e.g. The Foundation 1984). And most definitely, the original voice wins against any dubbed versions. This is not just for the Mandarin-dubbed HK series, but also for Mainland dubbed series. I really don't get it. What's wrong with using Ariel Lin's real voice? I can see and hear how Huang Rong's voice was dubbed, for it's just too cute (in an annoying way) and too high pitched oftentimes.

I still much prefer the old 80s with minimum cables and real fist fights, somersaults and backflips from the actors and actresses. Exceptional mention is the Temujin vs Jamukha fight in Ep 2 or 3 win just fists and wrestles; now that was pleasing to watch! The theme song for that scene was great too. When Brian Leung's North Beggar arrived on screen, we then start to enjoy the older classical fighting scenes, cos Brian had solid kung fu, like those of the old TVB era. They actually even showed a Hong Qigong double doing sommersault, to my glee! I also like YK/MNC and YK/GJ close-distance sparring/fighting. It seems when it's not involving flying off the roof scenes, modern wuxia series actually can pull quite good fighting scenes. But once it involves anything resembling rooftop or height, it paradoxically falls to the ground.

Yang's Saga 1985 review

Directed by Johnnie To, Raymond Lee and Siu Kin-hing, “Yang's Saga” is star-studded with important actors and actresses, minus my dear Barbara who passed away around the time of the filming or editing of this movie. Even the first scenes in Heaven had Dodo Cheng as Immortal Woman Ho, Mr Cheung Ying-choi (Master Ma Yu in LOCH 83 and the Emperor in CLH 84) as Royal Uncle Cho, Chow Yun Fat as Lui Tung-ban (Lu Dongbin), and Maggie Cheung Man-yeuk (Chang Man-yi) as the Divine Lady of Nine Heavens. We have Lisa Lui as Empress Li of Song and Margie Tsang as Tony's apsara girlfriend who was banished to the Earth because she was dating Tony Leung the Thunder Boy. Michael Miu was the Fourth Young Master Yang (Yeung Yin-fai, Yeung Sai-long), Mimi Kung (Wah Jan-Jan in CLH 84) played as his Song wife. Felix Wong was the Fifth Young Master Yang (Yeung Ng-long). Any Lau was the Sixth Young Master Yang (Yeung Yin-Chiu/Yang Yanzhao). Tony Leung was the Seventh son (Yeung Chat-long). Michael Tao was one of the brats in the nemesis Poon family. Kent Tong was the Eight Prince of the Song (Prince Bat Ying, or Zhao Defang). Chan Wing-chun (Wu Tit Fa in CLH 84) and Chun Wong (Old Imp, LOCH 83) were the two Yeung generals. Check this Wiki link for other casts.

Legend of Dik Ching 1986 eps 11-20

Click this link to see the raw Cantonese episodes of Dik Ching

Seung Seung and Dik Ching shared their hearts, Ep 11

Ep 11: SS went to see the imprisoned DC and made up for their fights earlier. DC produced the jade arhat that SS once gave her, thus she knew that he truly loved her. Although her brother still dragged her away, she appeared again just before DC and his friend were guillotined. She threatened her brother that she'd commit suicide if DC was still killed, but the silly girl took a misstep and actually truly stabbed herself. She was still okay, but the Prince delayed the death punishment for DC. The next bit, I don't really get, but I think the Prince then offered DC freedom and gave his permission to marry SS if DC would reside with the Mongols. Or something like that, cos later the word "Fuma" (prince consort) was spoken by Chung tai-gor’s sister. DC refused, so he was imprisoned again. Then A Fuk and the girl came to the camp, and somehow managed to talk to DC. This is when DC asked the girl to talk to SS, I think telling SS that his refusal to be a Fuma (prince consort) doesn't mean he didn't love SS. That night, DC's colleagues tried to rescue him, but the idiots failed... 

Legend of Dik Ching 1986 eps 1-10

Update: Have updated some aspects in the synopsis based on Wina's explanations and her great childhood memories!

Kitty Lai (Princess Seung Seung) and Michael Miu (Dik Ching) in DC 1986

The Legend of Dik Ching (狄青)was the Northern Song rom-com featuring Michael Miu and Kitty Lai as the leads. This was one of the first series Michael played after Barbara's passing in 1985 (the other one was Yang's Saga), which makes it paradoxically sadder to me due to its rom-com nature. However, Wina recommended the series to me. Since it's a Michael Miu series, I thought why not watching it. Plus, I love Kitty Lai as well since I saw her as Zhao Min in HSDS 86 three decades ago. The problem is that there is no English sub for DC, hence I had to just watch the raw version. I still opt to watch the Cantonese version though, at least I still can hear Michael's real voice. Now, the trick is, Youku does not have the complete DC episodes. Luckily, my persistent to view the Canto ver paid off, for I found this Yueyuyy website. Yueyuyy actually airs the Tudou and Youku links, but only Tudou links work. It doesn't have the sub, but that's the only complete collection I can find in Cantonese, so you better watch it soon if you are interested. Click here for the summary in the TVB channel (spellings are Mandarin Pinyin, mostly).

DC was the Northern Song version of Szeto Man Mo. DC's family held exclusive rights to trade salt and rice in the Song kingdom, and they had been doing a fair trade with the consumers. DC liked to prank and a bit good-for-nothing in the beginning, but actually had a golden heart. He had a childhood friend named Yeung Chiyan (Shalin Tse, the yellow-dressed maiden in HSDS 86) who loved him so much. DC worked for the Magistrate or something like that, I suppose after his mother rebuked him for being a lazy bone. Mum was Felix Wong's Kwok Ching's mum (Li Ping) in LOCH 83. DC had a loyal servant named A Fuk (who often became DC's sandbag in the earlier episodes or became DC's unsolicited adviser, though the results were not always guaranteed). DC's nemesis was Pon Sau, another royalty portrayed by the cute Michael Tao (Right Emissary Fan Yao in HSDS 86). 

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 1986 Eps 23-40 (End)

Wina supplied all photos for this post for me, hence, thank you, Wina!

Zhao Min (Kitty Lai) was the highlight for this series for me

Sorry for the minimum post this week, have been having three deadlines until next weekend. This post picks up from the HSDS part 1 (eps 1-22) where Zhang Wuji (WJ, Tony Leung) finally met Zhao Min (ZM, Kitty Lai). At first, WJ didn't realise ZM was a Mongolian royalty. He was just attracted to her the way she was to him. WJ had collected three "girlfriends" at this stage: Zhou Zhiruo (the Emei student), the Spider-Girl Yin Li (his cousin from mother's side, actually) and Xiao Zhao (a servant girl who would be the Persian Ming Cult leader later). Dressed as a handsome young man (Kitty was as handsome as Barbara Yung when dressed as a guy), ZM was intrigued at WJ. It didn't take long for her to reveal to WJ that she was a girl, and soon after, she bestowed him a hairpin inside a golden box. 

Innocent/ignorant WJ gave the hairpin to Xiao Zhao, which flared ZM when she realised that he'd wasted her intentions. She still managed to make him promise three things in return of a healing paste for Third and Sixth Uncles (the healing paste inside the good box, the ingredients inside the hairpin). WJ promised that he'd do the three things, as long as they were righteous deeds and within his means. The first was that he'd take her to the Fire and Ice Island to see the Dragon Sabre. ZM kept the second and the third promise till later.

The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 1986 eps 1-22

I’ve been re-watching the New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (HSDS) 1986 these days, and I quite enjoy the re-watch. I actually re-watched it because my new friend Wina reminded me of this series (we’re both suckers for 80s series), hence this post. Thus, this post is for you, my dear Wina, as an early Happy Eid for you.

Starring Tony Leung (Zhang Wuji/Cheung Mo Kei/Tio Bu Ki), Kitty Lai (Zhao Min/Chiu Man/Jia Min), and Sheren Tang (Zhou Zhiruo/Chow Chi-yeuk) as the main leads and Simon Yam (Zhang Cuisan) and Dodo Cheng (Yin So-so), among others, as the supporting actors, I feel like transported back to my childhood when I watched this series in my lounge, desperately not being caught by my mum for watching too many wuxia. HSDS didn’t have the lovey-dovey effect on me the way Chor Lau Heung 1984 did (still does), but I do remember many HSDS scenes quite well.

The historical accuracy of the 1980s ancient costumes

The pre-Tang Dynasty women fashion from Hujiang.com

After watching Langya Bang, I realised that some Mainland productions are improving, namely in the beautiful cinematography and historical accuracy in costume design. Of course I can complain all day long about the dubbing and the excessive use of CGI and cables during fighting scenes, but let’s stay positive this time. Particularly in the costume design part, I recall that the last few Mainland wuxia series that I watched had been quite accurate, though some has been a hit and miss as well. Granted, I don’t watch a lot of Mainland wuxia series, but I certainly can comment on those that I watched. To me, Bu Bu Jing Xin and Li Hou Zhu definitely joined LangyaBang/Nirvana in Fire in their costume design accuracy (although there might be some discrepancies that my non-expert eyes missed). In the previous decade, it seems the Treasure Venture 2001 (Nicky Wu and Vicky Zhao) was also accurate in their design. I can’t say that about Xiao Shi Yi Lang 2002 (Nicky Wu, Athena Chu) though, for Nicky’s hair and his earlier costumes were definitely not done in a traditional sense.

Having said that, how accurate was the 1980s Hong Kong productions in costume design? Since I have only recently watched the Michael/Barbara series, I can only comment on that, but that’s a good place to start. I’ll divide it into the early Tang Dynasty (the Foundation 1984), the Song Dynasty (LOCH 1983), the Ming Dynasty (CLH 1984) and the Qing Dynasty (FD 1984). I will compare it with the costumes of Nicky Wu and Liu Tao, my other favourite actors (I love Liu Shi Shi too, but I don't watch many of her ancient dramas). I’m still confused with the fashion terminology of Hanfu (Han clothing), so I will just simply refer to the parts as “trousers”, “jacket”, “skirt” etc. Do forgive me for that. Check this video for the fashion up to the Tang Dynasty and this video for the Song, Ming and Qing fashion styles.

Langya Bang (Nirvana in Fire)

Having sworn off the modern wuxia series (as in, made in the 21st CE but the setting is up the Qing Dynasty) due to their constant use of CGI and ‘flying’ heroes using cables instead of the genuine somersault and backflips, I gladly eat my own words for Langya Bang. ‘The Langya List’, a.k.a. ‘Nirvana in Fire’ (see it at Viki or MyAsianTV) is a  2015 Mainland production. It starred Hu Ge, Liu Tao, Wang Kai, Chen Long, Jin Dong, Victor Huang, et al. and it has taken me by surprise for its non-cheesy, ‘non-traditional’ approach for a semi-historical drama. By ‘non-traditional’, I mean that this series is not a romance series, has no love triangle drama almost every writer love to use, and despite full of palace intrigue, it did not resort to the likes of ‘My Fair Princess’ (tho I love Vicky Zhao and Ruby Lin) in the tendency of having the Empress vs Consort war as the main focus.

Barbara Yung's hair styles in her series

Today is Barbara Yung's 57th birthday. I almost missed it; I thought it would be tomorrow (8 May). Good thing I checked, otherwise I'd beat myself for missing it. 

I have three posts for Barbara and us her fans: her hairstyle (this post), an MV for her and a bit of LOCH 1983 Behind the Scenes with some Michael as Yeung Hong there. Let's see if I can post all before midnight, for it's less than 1.5 hours before midnight here in Australia. 

For the first post, I have some shots of her various hair styles, including the unused hair style from LOCH 1983. Which one do you like the best? 

ROCH 1983 final impressions

Haven't found the original artist. Anyone knows?

I finally finished watching ROCH 1983 a few nights ago. What a relief! Although the series definitely has its highlights, in general it didn't meet my expectation of a grand series worth re-watching, but I know many people like this series. So of course my opinions below are just my own. Read on at your own peril.

To me the series became more interesting AFTER Xiaolongnu or Little Dragon Girl jumped off into the Passionless Valley. Yeung Gor didn't commit suicide afterwards, which was good. He instead became a much more interesting person without XLN. In the 16 years alone, he became the tai hap, the hero, his father would have had he been raised properly by Mr n Mrs Yeung.

ROCH 1983 second interim impression

Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu by Hiliuyun Deviantart

I’m off for a week’s holiday (yay!), but I want to write about my second interim impression of Return of Condor Heroes 1983 before I go. This review is going to be short; I basically just want to jot down my thoughts before finishing the series. I will still put the review under the break due to spoilers, just in case someone hasn’t seen this series and would like to. My review is from episodes 18 to 35. Also a forewarn for those who like the main romance for this series, for what I will say may very likely upset you.

Interim impressions for the Return of Condor Heroes 1983

The Brave Archer and His Mate, by Hiliuyun

I started watching the Return of Condor Heroes (ROCH) 1983 last week, mainly because I want to see the plight and victories of Yeung Hong's son Yeung Gor (Yang Guo, Andy Lau). I've watched the series when I was like 11/12... and then also when I was already at second year at uni, but I've forgotten most of the details. I'm in Ep 17 now and so far, I like it. I decided not to do episode summaries this time for it's not an MB series, but you can check Wiki for this. So this post is mostly for my interim impression up to Ep 17. Romanisation is mostly Cantonese. Click here to watch the series in Dramanice. Major spoilers for those who have not watched the show (trust me; there ARE people who haven't watched the series...), so proceed at your own risk.