THOMAS PODVIN’S FREELANCE WORK
Freelance writer - translator - Editor

As the title suggests, this release is one part sexual innuendo and one part black humor. Formed in 1998, the Black Eyed Peas is an American multi-ethnic quartet that currently features three male rappers (a Jamaican-American, a Filipino, and a Mexican) and the very fit Californian female, Fergie. This is their fourth album, and their best effort to date. Most of the cuts feature musical dialogues between the boys and the girl, i.e. seductive word games with explicit lyrics. Take the anthem “Don’t Phunk with My Heart”; here, the lads express their interest in Fergie, who is not at all assured that intentions are honorable. The ambiguous nature of the lyrics has caused some US radio stations to play an edited version: “Don’t Mess with My Heart”. Another witty number, “My Humps” complains about women who use their looks to part men from their money. The ‘humps’ and ‘lumps’ referred to in the song stand for Fergie’s bottom and bosom. The CD has many more of these hilarious (to some) alternative hiphop/rap pieces, as well as guest appearances from James Brown, Sting, Talib Kweli, Macy Gray and others. With four Grammy nominations, BEP appears unstoppable; they’ve even been contracted to write and perform a song for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Now that should be a kick.
A&M

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March 2006 issue

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March 2006 issue

This is a come back album for the Florida quintet, who went from being the new kids on the block in late 1990s, to the old chips off the block in the early 2000s. Following their Grammy award in 1998, the boy band became extremely popular, mainly with young girls. They sold tons of albums, 87 million, to be exact. But fame, ego, and drug and alcohol problems resulted in the band’s breakup two years ago. Now the backstreet boys are back. This release, after a five-year hiatus, is the band’s fourth effort and perhaps their last chance to prove they still have the right stuff. They do. Never Gone sold over two million copies in seven days and went number one in America, Europe and Asia. This release has it all: catchy hooks across the musical spectrum – ballads ("I still…"), soft rock ("Just Want You to Know"), R&B ("My Beautiful Woman"), pop dance numbers ("Poster Girl"). All sung in the usual soothing, uplifting vocals. That said, after one listen, it all sounds about the same. But no matter. Fans loved The Boys concert in Shanghai last January 2006, proving they do have staying power.
Sony-BMG

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March 2006 issue

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If you think you know Pierce Brosnan, think again. The stylish, phlegmatic British gentleman, James Bond, is no more. In The Matador, Brosnan is Julian Noble, an unsavory hitman sent all over the world to ‘facilitate fatalities’. Noble is anything but. He’s an asocial, alcoholic, middle-age killer, whose social life is limited to nights with hookers. ‘Matador’ means ‘killer’ in Spanish, and killing is what Noble does best. But even hitman get the blues, and Noble suffers a middle-age crisis; he senses the shallowness of his life; becomes depressed; fails to do his job. Of course, this leads to some serious consequences. Despite the nature of the story, this is not an action film; rather, it is drama laced with black comedy. With a well-written script, a wicked soundtrack, great performances and slick photography, this film is a sure hit, if you’ll excuse the pun. The real draw though is Brosnan’s portrayal of an inept, sleazy killer, and it’s evident that the actor enjoyed the part, meticulously deconstructing his screen persona. Check out the scene in the posh hotel lobby and you’ll understand why he was nominated for Best Comedy Actor at the 2006 Golden Globe awards.
The Weinstein Company

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March 2006 issue

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March 2006 issue

For the past five years, Zhang Yimou has switched back and forth from action blockbusters with mass appeal to the more personal art-house film. His latest work falls in the latter category. Or does it? With a modest budget of RMB 56 million, this movie might best be described as an ‘art-house blockbuster’. It has been promoted and distributed like a blockbuster and has enough appeal to reach audiences across Asia and beyond. But at the same time, it’s the sort of work that will wow film-festival goers. The plot concerns a Japanese fisherman who travels thousands of miles to Yunnan province in search of a local opera performer who was supposed to sing for the fisherman’s terminally ill son. The story is an excuse to throw a taciturn Japanese guy - played by ‘Japanese Clint Eastwood’ Ken Takakura - into the Chinese countryside and see what happens. While the film has definite commercial potential (just ask the Yunnan tourism board), its also addresses father-son relationships and the culture gap in a thought-provoking manner. So is this hybrid a sign of what’s to come? Perhaps Zhang’s next flick, Autumn Remembrance, will be a ‘blockbuster art-house’ film.
Toho Company

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March 2006 issue

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Kung Fu movies aren’t famous for providing anything more than kicks, back flips and thrills, but Fearless breaks the mold; indeed, it is a movie with a message. Produced by and starring Jet Li, this film tells the true story of Tianjin-born Master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910), the heroic founder of the Jing Wu Sports Federation. In Shanghai, in the first decade of the last century, Hou set out to prove the superiority of his (and China’s) martial arts. He challenged all comers and in doing so earned the respect of some of the most ruthless and brutal opponents ever to appear in the ring (the fight scenes are extraordinary, choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping [the Matrix]). But there’s more to this movie than action. Huo’s motto was: ‘Never give up’ – even when he lost a fight, he came out a winner. Li seconds the motion. Like Huo, he also founded an organization with a noble aim, the One Foundation which offers support to the suicidal. Its message: ‘Life is worth living’. And Fearless, both for its cinematic qualities and uplifting message, is worth seeing. Indeed, it is the best Kung Fu film we’ve seen in years.
Columbia Tristar Asia

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March 2006 issue

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Following his highly successful adaptation of Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson tackled another classic, Cooper and Schoedsack’s King Kong (1933). Of course, he had a far bigger budget, and it shows in this latest version. Jackson’s Kong is an epic, though the story remains about the same: An ambitious, ruthless moviemaker persuades his cast to travel to the mysterious Skull Island, where they discover a giant gorilla. Indeed, this is the most expensive film made since Titanic – USD 207 million (equal to the total Chinese box-office revenue for 2005) – and much of the cash was spent to grand affect. Emotions, action and special effects are state of the art, which is to say they are overblown. True, Jackson has worked hard on character development, and roughly the first third of this three-hour long movie serves to introduce the players. The 7.6m ape appears some 70 minutes into the film, and he does look real, courtesy of the motion-capture technique (the same used for Gollum in the Rings trilogy). That said, this high-tech, megabuck version has nothing on the original.
Universal Pictures/UIP

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March 2006 issue

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March 2006 issue

The original Franz Ferdinand wasn’t a Glasgow rocker with an attitude. Rather he was an Austrian archduke, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, whose assassination in 1914 triggered the outbreak of World War I and changed the world. Franz Ferdinand, the indie-rock band, however, aims for world impact of another sort: since their 2001 debut, they’ve made music “that girls can dance to”. Indeed, their brand of post-punk, garage rock and stomping new wave is an open invitation to shake your booty (“This Boy” and “Outsiders”). Influenced by the 1960s Kinks and Beatles, David Bowie circa Boys Keep Swinging, 1980s rock and new-wave acts like XTC (despite their denial), the band features scratchy guitars, percussive sounds and jerking techno beats. Their lyrics are intentionally cryptic, many of which have a double meaning (“The Fallen”). So cryptic, that the lyrics have to be explained to the band members before they play the music. This release, even tastier than the debut Franz Ferdinand, might not change the rock world but it’s a chart-topping good-humored album with better things to come: Franz promise to record an even greater third album after their massive 2006 world tour. Domino

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

In March 2005, Shanghai-based music producer Liu Xing embarked on a ten-day journey to the Miao ethnic communities of southeastern Guizhou province. There, life is as basic as it gets. Nevertheless, Liu, the devout musicologist, recorded various Miao songs using what equipment he could find. And in the process, he discovered just how important music is to Miao culture. Their high-pitched melodies have a higher purpose than mere rhythm. Indeed, the 5,000 years of Miao history is transmitted from generation to generation by song. The Miao culture is an oral one. As such, music is everything: a means to convey history and wisdom, and also an act of celebration, recitation or commemoration of national accomplishment. This release includes a 26-page bilingual booklet (Chinese/English) with a brief introduction to the Miao’s culture, their history and, of course, their music. It also includes a diary that provides insight into the recording session, the reclusive Miao lifestyle and the warmth of the people. Above all, the music speaks for itself: with the delicate sounds of the lusheng, a reed-type wind instrument, entering into the rich cultural heritage of the Miao people is a luxury we all can afford.
Bandu Music,1/F, Bldg.11, 50 Moganshan Rd (6276 8267)

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) is no longer a fifth-generation director; he’s become a maker of the blockbuster. Nothing wrong with that; The Promise (Wu Ji) is an exhilarating romp, with great care exercised in all departments. Photography, sets and costume design provide eye candy, while the SFX and action scenes will delight the most demanding audiences. Wu Ji’s a Chinese fantasy tale about a love triangle involving a slave, a general and a concubine, which gives moviegoers plenty to chew on for 128 minutes – about what you’d expect from the most expensive movie ever made in China (USD 42 million). The film reportedly broke the China opening weekend box office record pulling in USD 9 million (total earnings in China are expected to reach USD 25 million), which is good news for the marketing team. Premiere tickets were sold at an exorbitant (RMB 2,000), while ordinary tickets were 30 per cent dearer than usual – which is probably not the best way to fight piracy. Evidently designed for foreign audiences or the Chinese newly rich, The Promise doesn’t seem to fit the definition of cinema as “entertainment for the masses”.
China Film Group

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

A Chinese Tall Story contains all the necessary ingredients required for an amusing festive-season movie. The RMB100 million production provides some of the most eye-popping scenes ever seen in a Chinese film. But there’s also lighthearted comedy, eccentric characters, and a touching romance. The plot is thus: 500 years ago, a monk is looking for his three disciples; along the way he falls for a lizard imp and battles evil in the form of UFOs, a bizarre Buddha and assorted monsters. Ten years ago Hong Kong filmmaker Jeff Lau explored the legend of the Monkey King with two successful, hilarious movies starring the SAR’s number-one comedian Stephen Chow (Kung-Fu Hustle). Lau’s proven to be capable of delivering witty situations with a sense of anything goes. Yet this episode is less convincing for lack of a really talented comedy artist (Chow does not appear). Indeed, what’s most interesting is the eagerness of the various production companies to show off their prowess within the Chinese film industry. No question the movie is ambitious: it’s an over-the-top show piece, with an excessive number of visual effects, and nearly every actor signed by the Emperor Motion Group (a branch of Emperor Motion Pictures) makes an appearance.
Emperor Motion Pictures/H. Brothers

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

In his introduction to The Flower Drum Song, Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang states that Asian-American literature has long been marginalized in mainstream society. Perhaps, but this novel, originally published in 1957, might be considered a groundbreaking work of popular Asian-American literature; one that is a page-turner even today. This bittersweet tale follows an array of eccentric Chinese characters in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Wang Ta, for example, opts to study medicine rather than join the ranks of the employed, and ends up entangled with a number of equally unconventional young women. His younger brother, Wang San, longs to become a ‘normal’ American teenager; he plays basketball and makes sandwiches using Chinese food, all to the consternation of his old-fashioned, rather stubborn father, Master Wang, who misses China and tries to maintain his Confucian principles in the US. Charming, sexy, poignant, cynical, The Flower Drum Song is an astute depiction of the cultural gap between generations and between Chinese and Western society. An instant bestseller, the book was made into a successful musical and feature film in the 1960s.
Penguin Books

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

With this compelling book, blending autobiographical elements with elements of fiction, Shanghai-born US-based university teacher and writer Yuang-Tsung Chen delves deep into the lives of China’s peasants in the 1950s. And in the process, he exposes the myth that life in the countryside is, in contrast to its urban counterpart, honest, straightforward and happy. The novel begins in the city, circa 1949, at a bourgeois home located in Shanghai’s French concession. Ling Ling, raised by a wealthy uncle, is tired of the good life and joins a group of cadres who wish to take part in the agrarian revolution. Together they bring the concept of “land reform” and hope to Longxiang (Dragon’s Village), a tiny village in the Northwest province of Gansu. However, they soon discover that village life is less than idyllic; indeed, it revolves around outmoded traditions, superstition and secrecy. Full of drama and suspense, The Dragon’s Village offers an intriguing look at the life of peasantry as it undergoes one of the greatest societal changes in its history.
Penguin Books

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February 2006 issue

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February 2006 issue

What is love? Hong-Kong filmmaker Peter Chan addresses this simple, yet unsolvable question, in his first directorial effort since 1996. Of course, the question gets complicated when you have a USD 10 million budget and an international cast and crew. The plot is thus: Ten years ago, Lin (Taiwan heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Sun (Chinese mainland actress Zhou Xun) were a couple living in Beijing. They split and went their separate ways. Fast forward to the present when they meet in Shanghai on the set of a musical. Lin tries to win Sun's love back, but she's romantically involved with the musical’s director, Nie Wen (Hong Kong's 'God of Song' Jackie Cheung). For a love-triangle, this sounds rather complex, at least on paper. But Chan has transferred the somewhat convoluted plot to the screen in a very straightforward fashion, and in the process raises an interesting question: What is the nature of reality and fiction? Produced by Andre Morgan (Million Dollar Baby), Perhaps Love is certain to seduce audiences and critics alike. Indeed, the film has already pocketed the Best Foreign Film award at the Queens Film Festival in New York, and many more awards are expected. So what is Love about? Guess we'll never know.
Applause Pictures

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January 2006 issue

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January 2006 issue

This new Harry Potter opus will surely bewitch the younger audience with its parade of bizarre characters and eye-popping special effects. Still, Harry himself has grown up and teenage fans can share his first brush with acne and puppy love. That said, there's not much time for romantic frivolities in this fast-paced plot where Harry is chosen against his will to represent his wizard school at the Triwizard Tournament. This fourth installment of a saga rests more than ever on the franchise's main assets: hatfuls of magic and SFX. Both are taken to the limit in one sequence, a flying chase between Potter and a dragon. Which is a good thing. The dazzling effects help one to forget the unequal performances. That said, the cast veterans are solid: for example, Brendan Gleeson (Kingdom of Heaven) is wonderful as the madcap 'Mad­Eye' Moody. Viewers indifferent to Potter's fantasy world will probably see the real magic in the real behind-the-scenes story: J. K. Rolling, unemployed for years after fleeing a violent husband, has become the wealthiest woman in UK. Incidentally, at the Shanghai premier, Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger promised, much like the makers of this global series, to "be back".
Warner Bros.

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January 2006 issue

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January 2006 issue

Although Cantonese is spoken by 66 million people from southern China (Hong-Kong, Macau, Guangdong), south-east Asia and, indeed, in cities all around the world, very few reference books on this knotty language have ever been published. Subtitled The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life, Hutton and Bolton have compiled a 500-page dictionary of everyday Cantonese including colloquialisms and slang from sources as diverse as comics, street gangs, teenagers, magazines and movies. Many of the entries have never been listed in common dictionaries before. The dictionary is aimed at foreign students and Chinese alike. The foreword, signed by a former police officer, states that the book is a valuable and useful tool, containing authentic word usage from the Hong-Kong underworld. Triad-trash talk aside, this is a practical guide to the vulgar and the vernacular that will help the reader to get around the oral Cantonese trickiness.
Singapore University Press/available at www.nus.edu.sg/npu

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January 2006 issue

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January 2006 issue