Post by MYR Admin on Apr 8, 2007 21:18:30 GMT 7
I would rate this between MIT and UHD (I think UHD is crap - perhaps not my cup of tea). I don't know if reading the synopsis from the news before this has influenced my judgment of this movie. The scary parts doesn't seem as scary or perhaps I've known too much of the story to be scared.
Michelle's acting - I think her acting is good in this movie. She played her role well. Actually I think all the 4 main leads did well with their respective roles, even Yang Chihfei the newcomer (not exceptionally well, but good enough for newcomer), oh even the child actress was not bad - but I'm not 100% sure since I watched the mandarin dubbed one. So basically there is no acting problem in this movie. I remember some parts where I think her acting is really good.
(1) When she was chasing after Yang Chihfei with the knife wanting to kill her
(2) When Francis presented her with a ring in the midst of his magic snow show (her eyes and tears were really touching!)
(3) Haha, her scene ‘seducing’ Francis is excellent, her eyes, moves, sways, she is real good in this scene – the scene where she wore Chihfei’s clothes and danced with Francis. And if it was Michelle’s original voice, I think it would be perfect, as the dubbing wasn’t as good.
(4) Last scene where Michelle is recovering and talked to her daughter, her face is so natural and serene and passionate as she tucked a lock of hair behind her daughter’s ears. I like that loving look of hers.
The drawback:
The quality - as in the film quality (view / color) it reminds me of movies filmed back in the 80s! The quality is real bad / is that the current quality in HK? The sound quality is still acceptable. The lighting is terrible, altho I know this kind of movie tends to be 'dark', but sometimes its so dark you can't make out anything at all. A quality dark usually still enables you to make out things or outlines, but in this movie there are parts where we totally can’t see the actor's face / movements. It is like having a performance stage left empty for audience to begin pondering - a fatal mistake. This happened to Michelle, Francis and Yang Chihfei at a few scenes.
The storyline is actually quite interesting and unique, but somehow was brought out not so outstandingly. Well, I'm not expert so I don't know what went wrong, but maybe they did not bring out the storyline too clearly? / was it too rushed? Some parts of the movies doesn't seemed flowing, they just happen... erm like... not really out of the blue, but not too smoothly...
It is like segmented pieces put one after another instead of a whole flowing movie.
There was this part when Eddie lost his job and Michelle was crying, I understand that she is schizophrenic, but somehow the cry seemed a lil stiff even for a mental patient. Maybe she blinked too much / stiffened her jaws too much. (It was a side view). But when the camera turned to take the front view, her expression was good.
Her ‘discussion’ with Yang Chihfei to ask her to take pity on her and ‘give’ Francis to her and her daughter is also among the not so convincing scenes.
Ending – another part I felt was not flowing. The ending where both Eddie and Michelle were in hospital, I duno, not really catchy – spoilt the interesting storyline, I think someone dying would give a better impact, again trying too hard for a happily-ever-after ending is not too good. But the last scene where it showed Francis continue challenging the extreme is acceptable I guess.
Dubbed mandarin version
I think the dubbing is terrible. The emotions and mood is not brought up at all. I think the original Cantonese version will be able to gain more credits!
Overall, I think it's worth watching! However, if I'm not a Michelle fan, I will be mistakenly put off by the quality of the movie, when actually the storyline is worth watching haha...
The few expressions of Michelle I reall liked:
Michelle's acting - I think her acting is good in this movie. She played her role well. Actually I think all the 4 main leads did well with their respective roles, even Yang Chihfei the newcomer (not exceptionally well, but good enough for newcomer), oh even the child actress was not bad - but I'm not 100% sure since I watched the mandarin dubbed one. So basically there is no acting problem in this movie. I remember some parts where I think her acting is really good.
(1) When she was chasing after Yang Chihfei with the knife wanting to kill her
(2) When Francis presented her with a ring in the midst of his magic snow show (her eyes and tears were really touching!)
(3) Haha, her scene ‘seducing’ Francis is excellent, her eyes, moves, sways, she is real good in this scene – the scene where she wore Chihfei’s clothes and danced with Francis. And if it was Michelle’s original voice, I think it would be perfect, as the dubbing wasn’t as good.
(4) Last scene where Michelle is recovering and talked to her daughter, her face is so natural and serene and passionate as she tucked a lock of hair behind her daughter’s ears. I like that loving look of hers.
The drawback:
The quality - as in the film quality (view / color) it reminds me of movies filmed back in the 80s! The quality is real bad / is that the current quality in HK? The sound quality is still acceptable. The lighting is terrible, altho I know this kind of movie tends to be 'dark', but sometimes its so dark you can't make out anything at all. A quality dark usually still enables you to make out things or outlines, but in this movie there are parts where we totally can’t see the actor's face / movements. It is like having a performance stage left empty for audience to begin pondering - a fatal mistake. This happened to Michelle, Francis and Yang Chihfei at a few scenes.
The storyline is actually quite interesting and unique, but somehow was brought out not so outstandingly. Well, I'm not expert so I don't know what went wrong, but maybe they did not bring out the storyline too clearly? / was it too rushed? Some parts of the movies doesn't seemed flowing, they just happen... erm like... not really out of the blue, but not too smoothly...
It is like segmented pieces put one after another instead of a whole flowing movie.There was this part when Eddie lost his job and Michelle was crying, I understand that she is schizophrenic, but somehow the cry seemed a lil stiff even for a mental patient. Maybe she blinked too much / stiffened her jaws too much. (It was a side view). But when the camera turned to take the front view, her expression was good.
Her ‘discussion’ with Yang Chihfei to ask her to take pity on her and ‘give’ Francis to her and her daughter is also among the not so convincing scenes.
Ending – another part I felt was not flowing. The ending where both Eddie and Michelle were in hospital, I duno, not really catchy – spoilt the interesting storyline, I think someone dying would give a better impact, again trying too hard for a happily-ever-after ending is not too good. But the last scene where it showed Francis continue challenging the extreme is acceptable I guess.
Dubbed mandarin version
I think the dubbing is terrible. The emotions and mood is not brought up at all. I think the original Cantonese version will be able to gain more credits!
Overall, I think it's worth watching! However, if I'm not a Michelle fan, I will be mistakenly put off by the quality of the movie, when actually the storyline is worth watching haha...
The few expressions of Michelle I reall liked:
