Nurse turned superstar singer and actress Miriam Yeung turns fishmonger in her latest movie…

words yvonne teh

“Hong Kong people are brave and professional, especially all nursing and medical staff in Hong Kong. We need to pay high respect to these nursing and medical officers. We’re proud of them, especially in Hong Kong.” These may not be the kind of comments one would expect to hear issue from the mouth of a superstar. Yet, Miriam Yeung, the female lead of Law Wing Cheong’s Hooked On You, is no ordinary entertainment diva, not least because, for close to four years before her present career path, she was a nurse at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Looking back at that stage of her life, Yeung maintains “I so appreciate what I learnt from nursing school,” and feels that her nursing training taught her to “build up a philosophy or system of thinking” which schooled her to regularly weigh up what she can do and can’t do, and what she wants, which has continued to serve her well to this day. In addition, that professional background has so influenced her that when asked to share her thoughts about the last 10 years of Hong Kong’s history, she turns immediately to the SARS outbreak of 2003. “I will remember it forever,” she says.
On a lighter note, Yeung’s nursing background also has a role in her thinking that to appear in or watch a comedy is “a kind of therapy”. Rather than aspiring to be “the latest queen of comedies in Hong Kong” as one publicity blurb has put it, the woman who many people like to see and hear laughing explains her appearance in comedies as, “I just want to make my dreams come true during the shooting of a movie. Real life is so stressful and not really smooth because it’s quite complicated so I also need therapy to release my stress and sadness, etc!”
That said though, she isn’t about to say no to roles in other types of films. For one thing, Yeung believes that she needs a full range of movies as well as general experiences to grow as an artist and a person. For another, she feels she should do what is necessary to make sure that her body of work includes the “unusual and refreshing”.
Returning to the issue of nursing vis-a-vis entertainment, she readily concedes that she’s had “two very, very different careers” and life paths. Ten years ago she even considered leaving Hong Kong for a nursing job abroad. “But then I became an artist and quit my thoughts about emigrating to another country,” a decision which led to Hooked on You and the love story of two fishmongers. Yeung plays Miu and Eason Chan ‘Fishy’ and the movie details their lives over the 10 years from 1997 to 2007.
The romantic drama that its female star suggests will get viewers “thinking about themselves” and encourage them to “treasure all the people they meet in their lives” is the two singer-thespians’ second acting collaboration, having appeared together in Frugal Game in 2003. However, Yeung and Chan have actually known each other for 12 years, which lends weight to her comment, “I feel that Eason has grown up and me too. [We’re] more mature and professionally we know [better] how to express our feelings during acting. We have more dimensions to our acting, can be more subtle.”
Hooked On You also marks Yeung’s second professional collaboration with the Milkyway Image film company, director Law Wing-cheong, producer Johnnie To and scriptwriter Fung Chih Chiang after last year’s breast cancer drama-comedy, 2 Become 1. Speaking in particular about her experiences working with To and Law, she says, “I feel guilty if I can’t do what they want or am not up to their standards!” And adds that the first time she worked with the director, “I was sort of scared of him. He looks very serious and stubborn!”
At the same time, Yeung is happy to credit Law with having improved her acting. “In the last few years, when I took part in comedies, sometimes I just used a big face or maybe very exaggerated expressions for my acting. This time, he directed me that acting doesn’t just involve using my face, smiles or even just eyes. He taught me that acting also uses the heart.”
Perhaps the biggest compliment Yeung pays Law, however, is, “I think that director Law is like Mel Gibson,” specifically, the actor’s character in What Women Want (2000). “He understands what women want, what they feel about love at different ages and so he can direct me how to act, how to present the reactions towards all the crises faced by a woman. I think he’s a woman. He’s a woman in a past life. He’s Mel Gibson!”

Hooked On You is now showing in cinemas.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Maggie Q
Director: Len Wiseman
Scheduled release: 4 July

NYC Cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) famously stated in 1990’s Die Hard 2 that in his eyes “progress peaked with frozen pizza”. The set up for this latest outing then has the techno-phobic detective further out of his depth than ever before. After the FBI Cyber-Terrorism Unit experiences a technical breach, it attempts to round up the 1,000 most notorious hackers in the country. McClane, out late at night stalking his estranged teenage daughter, gets the call to go and pick up one of these computer geeks, Matt Farrell (Justin Long from Dodgeball), and take him to DC. Farrell has been designing algorithm templates for a mysterious client, and no sooner does McClane arrive on the scene, said client deploys free-running snipers on Farrell’s apartment. McClane and Farrell evade capture and head for DC, only for the tech-terrorists to execute their evil plan. By tapping into the nation’s computer systems, rogue hacker Thomas Gabriel (Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant) implements a three-stage ‘fire sale’ – crippling the nation by first shutting down its transportation, then the stock markets and telecommunication networks, before finally stopping all public utilities. Of course McClane has no idea how any of this works, let alone how to stop it, but Farrell is on hand to guide him through the technological advances of the last two decades while McClane in return helps him learn what it means to be a real man.
There was much speculation and anxiety over the reported attempts to make Die Hard 4.0 more family friendly than its predecessors – and indeed there have been some changes. Most notably is the addition of Justin Long as McClane’s unwitting sidekick, a lad barely out of his teens who should appeal to male and female teenagers alike. He is cocky, tech-savvy, into nu-metal and with not a pimple in sight. However he lacks good old-fashioned street smarts, which have always served as McClane’s trump card in battling terrorists. Director Len Wiseman (better known as Mr. Kate Beckinsale) also gives the series a visual overhaul, filming everything through a metallic filter to ensure the proceedings all emote a modern, tech-noir sheen that make it look a little like The Matrix. And then of course there is the very nature of the film’s plot – the threat that a country can be invaded through cyberspace and set to self-destruct from within its own borders. Even McClane himself gets an image overhaul – Willis finally embracing his hairline problems by going completely bald and eschewing his plaid shirts, cardigans and – horror of horrors – even the trademark white vest in favour of leathers and figure hugging Tees. But fear not, McClane is still the same old guy underneath. His own personal body count in Die Hard 4.0 goes well into double figures, using any means necessary to take out the enemy. He even kills women with a roar of victorious defiance.
And underneath all the glossy sheen and CGI effects, the film definitely feels like a Die Hard adventure, still parading the same true-blue Republican values as its predecessors, although this time round exposing them for being a little outdated in the new era. There are obvious nods to post-911, post-Katrina US vulnerability, a feeling that these good ole boys running the country are out of touch with their people and with the rest of the world, and more importantly have a lack of understanding of the enemy and their capabilities. While this is personified here as the tech-savvy younger generation – a sentiment that harks back to the baby boomer/communist paranoia flicks of the 1950s – it can also be applied to the USA’s perceived enemies elsewhere.
Willis is in fine form as McClane, truly relishing another chance to embrace his signature role. The cop is again out of his jurisdiction, going head-to-head with the ‘suits’ as well as making his battle with terrorism a highly personal affair. Justin Long does surprisingly well in a role that could have been very one dimensional and the hugely talented Olyphant does as best he can with a character you can’t help but feel has a valid point, but is never allowed, by McClane or the script, to fully explain his motives. There is able support from Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) as Federal Agent Bowman and also Hong Kong’s own Maggie Q, in what appears to be the biggest role of her career. Ms Quigley gets a fair amount of screen time as Gabriel’s girlfriend/henchwoman, but her role still amounts, as it did in MI:3, to little more than looking hot and kicking ass. One can’t help but fear she needs to get her teeth into something a little more substantial right now, or risk slipping off the radar.
So all in all Die Hard 4.0 is a worthy addition to the series, with plenty to delight fans of McClane’s previous outings without excluding newcomers. There are in-jokes from earlier instalments for those who notice them, as well as numerous stand-alone one-liners. The action sequences are also pretty spectacular, including a fantastic pile-up in a freeway tunnel and a highly inventive elevator shaft scrap – although the final showdown involving a fighter plane, semi-rig truck and a flyover maybe a stretch too far for some. One disappointment was the series’ decision to abandon the running Christmas theme after the second film. The events here take place over July 4th weekend as an obvious attempt to return at least part way to the holiday angle, but for someone who’s favourite Boxing Day pastime is still to munch down on turkey sandwiches and watch John McClane run barefoot through Nakatomi Plaza, it remains an empty gesture. James Marsh

Starring: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Zoe Bell, Sydney Poitier
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Scheduled release: Now showing
Quentin Tarantino’s latest feature is a meal of muscle car mayhem called Death Proof. In 10 words or less, homicidal maniac (Kurt Russell) kills innocent girls via car crashes. But with this simple construct, Tarantino creates something more, a wicked study in setup and payoff that had preview attendees screaming with delight.
Death Proof begins, like its predecessor, with funky period music and missing frames. But at the midway point, something changes. Instead of just being the joke, the film begins to reference it. Four women, taking a break from their work on a film set, discuss movies like Dirty Mary Crazy Larry – and then become their own thrill-a-second car chase classic as Russell’s stalker comes after them next. Little does he know that a) one is a supreme stuntwoman (Zoe Bell, Uma Thurman’s double in Kill Bill, playing herself) and b) these hot broads know the meaning of strength in a post-Thelma and Louise world. Sure enough, Grindhouse loses its scratchy visual style and heads firmly into the present, as Tarantino moulds one of the best vigilante sequences
ever seen.
One reason the finale gets such a visceral reaction is the slow burn of ‘Tarantino speak’ leading up to it. The main characters chew and chew on dialogue in what feels like a long, dry exposition. Is Tarantino really full of his own chitchat, or is he lulling us into comfort so the good stuff gets us to our feet? Whatever the case, it works remarkably well.
Another reason: an all-star turn by Kurt Russell, who calls on Snake Plisskin from Escape from New York only to smash the tough-guy stereotype with a solo performance that had the audience howling. Norm Schrager

words yvonne teh

Barbara Wong’s latest film makes heroes out of ordinary people in difficult situations. Is that why it has been chosen as the celluloid icon for the 10th anniversary of the Handover?
“Nothing is impossible in this world. Even though today I can be on top of the world, I don’t think it’s going to be forever. Because nothing’s impossible! Life’s like that, it’s up and down. You can go up, you can go down. Nobody’s up there forever. Nobody’s down there forever.” Barbara Wong Chun Chun must be talking about her own life – just a few years before returning to Hong Kong and building a reputation as one of our better known female filmmakers with the docu-drama Women’s Private Parts (2001), she was contemplating bankruptcy in New York with debts of close to
$2 million.
But this summer sees Wong at the helm of Wonder Women, a movie which has been selected as the official film of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. Starring singer-actresses Gigi Leung and Fiona Sit (and also including the likes of George Lam and Commercial Radio DJ Siu Yee), the film, which the director
describes as an epic of sorts, tells the story of two very different women – one a successful careerist named Joy, the other Tung, a young office lady – and their travails and triumphs over the course of the past decade.
The way Wong sees it, “The last 10 years have not been very easy for many Hong Kong people. There have been ups and downs, sorrows and happiness, and it’s not that easy for these two women either.” Still, the pair, through whose eyes Wong has chosen to cast a perspective on the last decade, “have come through everything, just like a lot of Hong Kong people. And that’s why I think they’re called wonder women.”
So this 2007 film has nothing to do with DC Comics’ Wonder Woman or the superheroine played by the late Anita Mui in The Heroic Trio (1993). Or, for that matter, Wonder Women (1987), that charming tale of female friendship with Carol ‘Do Do’ Cheng and Cecilia Yip. That it is its own film becomes obvious with a more literal translation of its Cantonese title, Nui Yun Boon Sik, as either ‘Women’s True Colour[s]’ or, as Wong would have it, ‘The Virtues
of Women’.
And it is also evident that the director sees women’s true colours as virtuous and their strength as often under-estimated. “Number one is that we’re born to [give birth to] babies,” she says. “That’s already the most difficult thing in the whole world, do you know what I mean?” And then laughingly adds, “I do think that women nowadays have to be quite strong because at the same time, men do expect women to be strong! Because on the surface, they love you and pamper you and stuff like that but when something happens... I don’t think that men want weak women. We can suck up a lot of problems and difficulties – more than men sometimes.
”The trouble is that females have many more things to do in life! Like have a great family, be a great mother and wife, [and a] great boss. You know, you have to have very high management skills.” And Gigi Leung’s character has to show she has those in spades since, “The film starts with her having a wonderful husband, financially doing very well, with a wonderful baby, a big house, a car, everything’s perfect. Then everything starts to fall apart. Then how does she face it? After her husband dies, how can she handle it and continue her career? And then she’s also got the kid...”
So how do women cope and even flourish with the full plate, and more, that life deals them? In the case of Wonder Women’s Joy, it pays to have female friends, one of whom is the younger, more innocent and often more upbeat Tung. Another is a character called Momo (Siu Yee). Wong looks upon this third wonder woman in her movie as “a very lovely, lovely character. Since 1997, she has had this strong belief that if she works hard, nothing is impossible. Be rich, be successful!”
Initially, Momo may come across as rather irritating as she continually borrows money from Joy and Tung. Actually, after her initial borrowing only results in money lost, she almost gives up. But Gigi Leung’s character continues to give, thereby encouraging her. This, Wong explains, is “because [she] believes it’s so rare that someone would try so hard in life. Nothing is impossible, right?” And as far as Wong herself is concerned, “That character means a lot to me. I think that as a human being, when we go through difficult times in Hong Kong or anywhere, we have to be very persistent.”
For all of her film’s female focus, however, Wong actually thinks that, be they female or male, “Hong Kong people are wonder people. I was born and raised here. Then I went to New York to study,” an experience, together with others abroad, which helped her see her home territory and its residents in a new light. More specifically, “Now I realize that, actually, no city’s like Hong Kong. Hong Kong people are very strong, very tough. They’re very adaptable in good and bad times. Good times – wah! – they immediately go and buy a lot of things”, including Rolls Royces! “But when it’s bad times, they’ll immediately find a way to survive. So I think that Hong Kong people are very special people!”

Wonder Women will open in local theatres on July 5.

Voices: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas,
Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake, Julie Andrews, Eric Idle
Directors: Chris Miller and Ramon Hui
Scheduled release: Now showing
I’ve never understood what children see in Shrek. Hardly a role model, the selfish and ornery ogre voiced perfectly by Mike Myers wears a defeated, sour puss only a mother could love. He constantly belittles his best friend, Donkey (Murphy), and guards his affections for true love Fiona (Cameron Diaz) with well-honed sarcasm.
And yet, the Shrek machine — marketing factions included — makes money hand over fist as the franchise exploits ancient fairy tales children no longer read and spins timely jokes from pop-culture references kids couldn’t hope to understand.
The creative team piloting Shrek’s animated adventures has always aimed over the heads of young audience members in hopes of amusing the parents in the theatre. But this latest sequel Shrek 3 abandons kids altogether to invent a marginally paranoid but enjoyable comedy rooted in the psychological terror associated with entering adulthood. Seven credited screenwriters polish a story only parents can appreciate, though most moms and dads will miss half the movie because they’ll be explaining jokes and themes to their befuddled youngsters.
Right off the bat, Shrek 3 had massive shoes to fill. The second Shrek, by far the series’ sharpest installment, also happens to be one of the funniest animated comedies I’ve ever seen. It’s also the third-highest grossing film of all time (in the USA). In comparison, this new sequel cannot measure up to its immediate predecessor. Shrek 3 more closely resembles the original Shrek, hinging its fate on a rescue mission (of sorts) that’s designed to bring the titular, bitter homebody a little bit closer to his beloved swamp.
The movie makes a quick sweep through the Beverly Hills-inspired Far, Far Away to reestablish its fantasy environment before advancing the two main plotlines. In one, newly married Shrek, his loyal Donkey, and sword-for-hire Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) set out to find a substitute heir to King Harold’s throne after the ruler — now a frog — croaks. On a side note, Puss officially supplants Donkey as the sidekick of choice (in my mind) the minute he gently removes his tiny hat and proclaims in Banderas’ sultry whisper, “The Frog King... is dead.” DreamWorks reportedly wants to groom the fashion-conscious cat for a separate franchise; a project is in the works for a 2010 release. Not a problem. This courageous kitten could carry a film of his own.
But back to Shrek 3. While Shrek and crew are travelling to Worcestershire to bring back potential ruler Arthur (Justin Timberlake), vain villain Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) recruits a makeshift army of disgruntled fairytale villains — Captain Hook, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella’s wicked stepsister among them — to attack Far, Far Away and claim the vacant throne. Left to defend her father’s kingdom, Fiona receives unexpected assistance from Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and the narcoleptic Sleeping Beauty. As if that isn’t enough to process, Shrek 3 ups the ante one more notch by blessing Fiona with a bun in the oven, which gives daddy-in-the-making Shrek a healthy dose of parenting anxiety.
Subversive humor, long the calling card of the Shrek films, is present here but in shorter supply. A dream sequence involving a wave of baby ogres invading Shrek’s cottage gets its biggest laugh when the scene shifts abruptly to a textbook nightmare that shows Shrek giving a commencement speech at his college graduation wearing a cap but missing his gown. The Shrek team assumes their audience has matured since the ogre’s 2001 debut, so it doesn’t hesitate to toss off jokes about Hooters, baby making, and parenting perils, knowing full well these gags will reach maximum impact at an altitude higher than the average adolescent head.
Shrek 3 is a short comedy (running barely 90 minutes), and the funniest bits are in the trailers: Shrek and Fiona bumbling through their royal duties in the requisite opening montage; Donkey and Puss switching bodies after new character Merlin (Eric Idle) casts an inappropriate spell. When the sharp sarcasm wanes, Shrek smashes objects or falls back on a flatulence joke. Ninety minutes of this is more than enough.
It goes without saying that the cutting-edge animation impresses. In this installment, our main ogre looks more human — Shrek actually resembles the late Carroll O’Connor in this outing — and the human characters behave more like ogres. Unfortunately, Prince Charming is a minor foil compared to his mom, the Fairy Godmother (voiced with devilish wit by Jennifer Saunders in part two), and the conflict sustaining Shrek 3 withers rather quickly.
Thankfully, there is the family issue, and Shrek 3 concludes with a choreographed home-from-the-nursery routine that’s frantic, caring and — again — constructed with parents in mind. Some might think this is a natural end for Shrek and Fiona, but parents know their fun is just beginning. Sean O’Connell

Starring: Jim Chim, Charlene Choi, Anthony Wong Chau San, Eric Tsang, Chapman To, Ann Hui, Michelle Ye, Hui Shiu Hung, Lam Suet, Raymond Wong Ho Yin, Sammy Leung, Alan Mak, Fruit Chan, Vincent Kuk, Wilson Yip, Sandra Ng, Lawrence Cheng, Josie Ho, Jo Kuk, Patrick Tam Yiu Man, Fiona Sit, Wong Yau Nam, Tsui Tin Yau, Derek Tsang
Directors: Chan Hing Kai and Patrick Leung
Scheduled release: Now showing

If you haven’t already, do please check out the cast list of this comedy. For therein lies one of the great attractions of this movie that also has the distinction of being the first in which noted funnyman Jim Chim has a major starring role.
Back when Hong Kong cinema was in clover, a number of films were made that only die-hard fans could love. Among those were a couple of charity efforts, The Banquet (1991) and Twin Dragons (1992), that were filled to bursting with cameo appearances by familiar faces best enjoyed as a game of ‘spot and name the star first’ with your friends. And Derek Yee’s acclaimed C’est le Vie Mon Cherie (1993) provided such spotting thrills for enthusiasts particularly good at recognizing directors as well as actors.
Then came a lean period during which some of us thought we would never see such offerings again. But with McDull: The Alumni (2006) and now also Simply Actors (2007), people are mustering the resources to once again bring some pretty star-studded vehicles to the big screen. But are there enough fans of this kind of Hong Kong movie left to bring such works commercial success?
At the screening I attended, it was obvious the film was playing to its home audience. It wasn’t just that some of the thespians and their celebrity spouses were in attendance. Rather, it also was that a roar of appreciative laughter immediately greeted auteur Ann Hui’s appearance on the screen, before she even so much as uttered a word, never mind did anything that was all that amusing.
Near the movie’s end, Hui has a genuinely funny scene with Chim (whose character, Chan Man Lung, is the film’s main man). Even then, though, I found myself wondering how much of the humour depends on one’s familiarity with the personalities involved.
At the same time, it’s true enough that Chim does provide a load of laughs through his physical antics and the particular comedic style he’s allowed ample opportunity to display essaying an unconventional police constable with dreams of becoming an actor. And all the more so when an undercover cop’s death convinces the police higher ups that moles need to know better how to act and enrol PC 5824, informally known as Man Lung, in an acting course at the HKAPA.
Entering mid-semester, Man Lung can’t help but stick out like a sore thumb among the other acting students. Fortunately for him, though, the class also has another new student who doesn’t quite fit in, at least not at first. It doesn’t help matters for Mandarin-accented Dan Dan (Charlene Choi complete with breast enhancements of some sort) that she hails from Mainland China and is also a well-known soft-porn star. It becomes obvious, pretty much everyone at the HKAPA, be they teacher or fellow student, has his or her own quirks and eccentricities.
And together with the star power, it’s the oddball nature – and also, in some cases, appearances – of its multitude of characters that Simply Actors uses to to keep its audience entertained. If that is the sort of thing to make you happy, then this movie is for you. If not, it’s best to wait for the appearance in cinemas of works with far less flimsy stories and far fewer recognizable names and faces. Yvonne Teh