I happen to chance upon this unique Chinese film directed by Tsui Hark while I was performing one of my rare DVD rental rounds in hectic days of recent. It was screened sometime earlier on in the cinemas, but I just didn't get the chance to buy a ticket to it back then.
All About Women is a modern wacky tale about three distinctive ladies living in Beijing, who own different lifestyles and concept on love. A common enemy in the eyes of all her female friends and associates, Tang Lu is a 31 years old career woman who owns most of her success to her fatal seductive looks. Nevertheless, she believes brain over beauty and doesn't trust romance a single bit. Fan Fan has the nerdy demeanor due to her brilliance as a 27 years old research lab scientist, and things are made worst with her inability to cope with romantic courtship and men. Realizing her lack of a proper love life, she took advantage of her scientific knowledge and secretly created a medical solution. The amateur boxer cum punk rock star, liberal teenager Tie Ling has a delusional love affair involving an imaginary boyfriend since her tragic childhood, who is real life pop star X. Affinity brings these ladies together and their lives are influenced and changed by one another.
Clearly one that is unorthodox among the sea of Chinese movies, the over-exaggerated and creative script kept me all the way to the end as I am left unknowing what to expect of this unique film. This allowed special effects to be included in this project in order to widen the limits. Boasting a bizarre story-telling mode that appears to be one of a kind and probably self-indulging, this project is clearly over the top. Perhaps being dismissed by most critics, I still find myself attracted to certain features that this film offers that others do not.
The interesting characters held me close to the plot as tight as glue, especially Fan Fan, who is depicted by young and rising Zhou Xun. Her quirky personality and behaviour allowed her to stand out in this film, providing most of the flare and comedy in this film. I have to say, the costume designer certainly did well in dressing up Fan Fan. She appeared to own an unrivalled fashion sense and style on screen and definitely left a huge impression on me. From her peculiar nerdy glasses with a mushroom bob, to her bubble shorts and cute 'too-high-for-her-petite-stature' wedges, she is one distinct signature character for keeps. Kitty Zhang's sexy and charismatic portrayal of a matured Tang Lu provided a fair share of eye-candy that is capable of leaving a giant drooling pool of male audience to google her up on the World Wide Web. Everything in this movie is so modern and stylish.
Here's a quick outlook of what you might be expecting with movie scenes depicted in this MTV clip:
Being marketed as a mandarin version of Sex And The City, this DVD is worth a look although not all will be able to accept it using a mainstream perspective. More for the ladies, I should say, although I might be one of the irregularities being one of the opposite gender who appreciates this film.
Ladies, you might want to bring this home when your man is too busy for you.
Based on the first novel by Michael Crichton "The Andromeda Strain" and also a brand new made-for-TV remake of the 1971 similarly-titled film, The Andromeda Strain 2008 is now available in a two-disc DVD box set!
Directed by Mikael Salomon, who has directed episodes from series like Band of Brothers and Alias, and also produced by the highly-acclaimed brothers Ridley and Tony Scott, this miniseries proves to be one that is hard to miss. Just like how it caught my attention and found a way to be on my coffee table in my living room, when I dropped by the DVD rental store last week.
Plot begins with the crashing of a US military satellite in a small town and creates a bio-hazardous mayhem by wiping out the entire town less two survivors. As the military attempts to set a rigid quarantine in place to contain and prevent any potential outbreak, a small team of specialists who forms a critical protocol known as "Wildfire" is activated to discover a way to break a relentlessly powerful pathogen codenamed "Andromeda".
Visually stunning and high energized action and pace, this mini-series is one that stands out in a league of its own. Never have I witnessed this amount of CGI effects in a two-part TV series. The plot serves to be capable of capturing the audience's attention although it appears to be a tad bit over technical and heavy on scientific knowledge for some, which is actually one of the known traits of Crichton's style. It constantly gets one to crank one's brain real hard as some of the theories are rather out-of-this-world. Also allowing us to realize how vulnerable and weak we human beings can be upon facing such futuristic bio-threats, we cannot help but to ponder of the existence of a greater species other than Homosapiens in the Universe. The technologies employed in this project are intensively pretty and envy-inducing, such as gadgets like the 'e-paper'.
Not a title to be left on the shelves of DVD rental stores, do ensure that it gets into your hands and onto the tray of your DVD player and knock yourselves out.
A controversial psychothriller that is mentally intriguing, emotionally disturbing and yet calm with a regular pace. It's not what most will expect, you'll have to find out for yourself. The lesser you know, the better it'll be when you watch it.
A
Fire of Conscience
Dante Lam has proved to be a distinctive HK director with his cinematography and style. Story wasn't as intriguing as expected but enough to explore the possibilities of a berserker dwelling within each of us via impressive Leon Lai and Richie Ren.
B+
Mao's Last Dancer
Simple fluid piece of cinematic work that inspires with a mix of tears and joy. Linear plot adequately allows for onscreen issue debates and emotional mesmerisation. Impressive opener to SIFF 2010.
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