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

http://www.liquorsnob.com

Here’s a website from a couple of mates who take their booze seriously. Viewers need not be heavy drinkers to appreciate the site’s many refreshing and palate-pleasing liquid concoctions, especially if mixology is crucial to the success of the next party. Established in September 2004, Liquor Snob offers “news and tips on all things alcoholic”; drink recipes, breathalyzers, drinking games, gear and hardware, even booze book reviews. Each new brand of alcohol is thoroughly drunk, digested, analyzed, reviewed and mixed with other ingredients to come up with the perfect cocktail combination. Be warned though that “One man’s favorite drink is another man’s toilet water.” Other advice includes how to use an octopus beer tap or how to beat a hangover by eating cabbage. Finally, a rule of thumb: “A drink should never have more than three ingredients, including ice.” Enjoy, and drink responsibly.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
February 2006 issue

A pastiche of personal memories mixed with snapshots of China’s modern history, Zhang Yang’s Sunflower is in one sense a semi-autobiograhical account of his conflict with his father. At the same time, the story’s thirty-year time span, including the “cultural revolution”, serves as a document of social changes.

Zhang was born at roughly the same time (1967) as the film’s main character, Xiangyang, and shared his sense of rebellion. In the film, Xiangyang’s father, a former painter, hopes to recapture his lost glory through the talents of his son. Yet Xiangyang is reluctant to pick up a brush; so reluctant that he explodes a firecracker in his hands to disable himself. “[In some ways] that part [of the film] was full of my own memories,” says Zhang. “It is just like my childhood; I was not well-behaved and was often beaten by my father.”

Zhang’s father, Zhang Huaxun, was a filmmaker who in the 1970s made some of the first Kung Fu movies on the Chinese mainland. But unlike his screen alter ego, Zhang’s act of rebellion was to pursue his father’s profession. His parents wished him to become a doctor, but he chose his father’s métier. In 1992, Zhang completed his studies at the Beijing Central Drama Academy and later joined the Beijing Film Studio as a film director. Says Zhang, “When I got older I became more sensible, but I’ve always remained quite rebellious, relatively independent-minded.”

This spirit has served him well in his career. Zhang’s directorial debut was an independent production called Spicy Love Soup (1997) that became a domestic box office hit and a success with critics overseas. Sunflower has also received its fair share of accolades after appearances at several international film festivals.
So in the end, much like Xiangyang, Zhang eventually won the respect of his father and the two were reconciled. Says Zhang Yang: “My relationship with my father was difficult, and for me this film was a way of resolving that.”

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
February 2006 issue

Until recently, the risks and profits associated with producing big-screen animated films based on comic books have been left to the Americans (Sin City and Heavy Metal) and the Japanese (Ghost in the Shell, Akira).

Enter the Dragon. Last July, two Chinese companies formed a joint venture to produce The Clash of the Storm Riders, a big budget animated feature inspired by Hong Kong-based Ma Wing Sing’s comic book Storm Riders. Hong Kong-based Asia Animation will produce the film (which will hit theaters in the first quarter of 2007) and the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) will handle authorization procedures, marketing and distribution in China. With a budget of RMB 40 million and more than 200 animators from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, this will be China’s first real challenge to the dominance of the US and Japan productions. To paraphrase Asia Animation’s producer Tommy Tse, this film will provide a chance to do good business.

Indeed, the name Ma Wing Sing, or Ma Wing Shing, all but assures big returns at the box office. Ma is considered one of China’s most influential comic book artists and has almost single-handedly transformed the Chinese comic book industry. His groundbreaking works – Chinese Hero and Wind and Cloud – feature longhaired, muscular heroes, the sort that young males and females alike can admire. And Storm Riders has already been adapted into a successful TV-series and a live-action movie. “This bestseller represents an important part of the local culture,” comments the film’s award-winning director, Dante Lam Chiu-yin.

That said, the very popularity of the work has put a lot of pressure on the film’s creative team. Lam (Heat Team, 2004) says one of the biggest challenges is to preserve the comic book’s Chinese flavor. “We have to … stimulate and develop our local style and not follow the Hollywood and Japanese models.”

And then there’s the technical problem. This project is Lam’s first venture into animation – all his previous work has been on live-action films. With no actors to direct, Lam says the emphasis must be on character development. “I am going back to basics,” he says. “I will focus my attention on scriptwriting.” Lam hopes to translate his ideas using a variety of techniques from hand drawing to the latest animation technology. He’s even promised one “secret” animation technique, which the studio is guarding closely.

Though it may seem like a disadvantage, the idea of having a live-action film director was part of the plan. The producers hope to combine a live-action sensibility with a variety of animation techniques – in a sense creating a “new kind of animated film”. Clearly, in an animated film, the visuals are important. As such, Lam has hired a stunt director to bring a sense of realism to the martial arts action scenes.

But the real trick is to combine creativity, technology and commercial appeal. “It is not easy to be creative as well as to always please picky audiences,” says Chen Bin, a SMG producer. But as Ghost in the Shell proved, it can be done.

This article also features in the film-production company Asia Animation Ltd. website: http://www.asiaanimation.net/company/index9.asp

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
February 2006 issue

Here is a feedback from a that's Shanghai reader (Lise Ong from Shanghai) published in the February 2006 issue of that's Shanghai.
She appreciated the feature piece on Jeff Lau's A Chinese Tall Story (January 2006 issue).

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
February 2006 issue

Hong Kong-based director Stanley Kwan has seen the relationship between the Shanghai and Hong Kong film communities pass through three distinct phases: from indifferent to competitive and, of late, collaborative. "Throughout the last fifteen years, I experienced firsthand how Shanghai has changed," he says, adding that his interest in Shanghai, whatever the state of affairs, has never waned.

In one sense, Kwan's movies trace the industry's history and its relations. He was one of the first directors to shoot in the Chinese mainland with Center Stage (1991), a biopic of Shanghainese screen legend Ruan Lingyu. Says Kwan: "It was a real Hong-Kong movie shot in the Chinese mainland... though all the money came from Hong Kong." Nonetheless, the experience broke the ice, so to speak, and was a starting point for future cooperation.
After the 1997 handover, the Hong Kong film industry began to integrate itself into the Chinese mainland film industry, though the process was not always smooth. "Each side brings something," says Kwan. "The Chinese mainland provides the studios and beautiful locations; Hong-Kong supplies pop stars and money."
That said, Kwan has no problem holding up his end of the bargain. In his latest film, Everlasting Regret, based on a novel by Shanghainese author Wang Anyi, he cast two of Hong Kong's most bankable stars, Tony Leung Kar-fai and Sammi Cheng; Jackie Chan took the role of producer. Indeed, Kwan says that Shanghai Film Studios counted on him to attract big stars from Hong Kong and get some financial partners.

But the business continues to change and partners increasingly share in the investment and the risks. For Kwan's next project, a biographical film on the life of opera legend Mei Langfang, Chinese mainland investors, together with their counterparts from Hong Kong and the US, will contribute to the estimated RMB 80 million budget. This time Kwan will cast an even more bankable Tony: Leung Chiu-wai the star of In the Mood for Love.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Meet The Lanterns, the new kids on the block in Shanghai. Given the difficulty of making a break-through in the local alternative music scene – read rock scene – it's just as well that the members of the band aren't driven by the twin illusions of fame and fortune. "We don't think of the money," explains lead singer Martin Wong. "We didn't sign with a label because no one wants us – Chinese people want Dao Lang!" True, rock acts don't make a buck in China, let alone in Shanghai. Rampant piracy and free music downloads have crippled the local industry and made producers lose confidence in taking a punt on unknowns. "The whole industry is bulls__t," protests Wong. "There are no managers because they know it's not going to make money."
Wong has a point. The band was able to release only 500 copies of their debut album To the Light House in the alternative market. Their follow-up Turning All the Clouds due out this year, is a remix of the first album and includes a new single. Only 5,000 to 10,000 official copies will be distributed in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. All this despite the fact that The Lantern's music has a highly engaging, commercial sound. Influenced by British bands like The Verve, they deliver a kind of Chinese Brit Pop with melodies they use to great effect to convey a conservative message. "We write Chinese lyrics to bring traditional literature and Chinese feelings to the fore," says Wong. "We try to give confidence to young people in Chinese traditions." The band's Chinese name sounds like "Lan Ting" (Orchid Pavilion), a masterpiece poem anthology with calligraphy by Wang Xizhi from the Dong Jin Dynasty. "Sometimes you can read music from calligraphy; actually you can find rhythm in a lot of things," says Wong. When not performing, the members of the band eke out a living through an assortment of odd jobs and music tuition. With any luck they'll release their sophomore album next summer with an entirely new repertoire of original material.
According to Wong, their lyrics have to deal with love and have an easy-to-remember chorus which everyone can sing along to. The 'drama inside' comes from the band member's life experiences, which in some cases play out like distorted guitar riffs. Take bass player Jack Dye for instance. Dye came to Shanghai to escape the memory of seeing one of his best friends crushed beneath an airplane. Wong says he got his vocal skills from his mother who used to argue vociferously with his father. "As a young kid I was a real dreamer, and I thought I could do the same as the bands on the tapes I used to listen to," says Wong. Their collective past might explain why the band's music is full of soul. The five members of the band – all of them in their mid-twenties – say that it's music alone which brings them faith in everyday life. They don't seem at all perturbed by the fact that making any headway in the local music scene is an uphill battle. For them it's all for the music. But producing good music is no magician's trick and you have to find a good melody. And that's what The Lanterns is all about.
Catch one of The Lanterns' gigs in Harleyís bar in Xujiahui or The Ark in Xintiandi

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue
Photo courtesy Hugo Hu www.huphoto.cdd.cn

Dragon Squad is the latest attempt to revive Hong Kong's golden age of action movies. Directed by Daniel Lee (Star Runner), this multi-layered film also typifies the current approach to filmmaking in the SAR, aimed at overcoming the industry's decade-long financial crisis. It works thus: assemble an international team and piece together a movie with the widest appeal possible. Dragon Squad was co-produced by America's favorite mullet-coifed limb-breaker Steven Segal, and features a cast of recognizable stars, including the lead, Heo Jun-ho (Silmido), and Michael Biehn (Terminator). Unfortunately, some of the less experienced cast members reveal a startling lack of acting skill. The plot follows a team of Interpol agents who enter into a game of cat and mouse with a gang of mercenaries. It's formulaic and viewers won't find any surprises. However, the main problem is the abundance of main characters (a dozen) and the uneasy shifts between butt-kicking and dramatic sequences. That said, the action is terrific, and these scenes benefit from expert editing and, more importantly, the spirit of traditional Chinese swordplay. In spite of its many flaws, then, Dragon Squad delivers on one level, that is if you appreciate a well-placed, swift kick to the groin.
Shankara/Visualizer Film Productions

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Looking back - but not necessarily in anger - is currently the theme of choice in the art-house film scene. Take Wang Xiaoshuai's Shanghai Dreams or Peng Xiaolian's Shanghai Story for instance. Both films concern the impact of the past on the present – especially that most troubled of decades from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. In Sunflower, Beijing-based director Zhang Yang looks back (for 130 minutes) at a family in his home town. The story centers on Xiangyang, whose father, a painter, is sent to the countryside in 1969. When he returns seven years later, Xiangyang doesn't recognize him, or his parental authority. Yet slowly the father regains his influence and eventually leads his son to a successful painting career in the late 1990s. Zhang injects a personal note in the father-and-son conflict; his own father, Zhang Huaxun, was a successful filmmaker from the 1970s. As a result, this is personal filmmaking at its best, providing thoughtful analysis and psychological insight.This RMB 12 million film is one with which audiences can identify; the father-son relationship parallels the transformation of society as a whole, as evidenced in the radical shift from the traditional siheyuan to modern multi-story buildings. Still, the underlying sense of nostalgia is balanced by hope for the future.
Fortissimo Films/Ming Productions

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Your boss cracks obscene jokes, constantly interrupts your work and still boasts of his great team leadership skills. He's cocky, ineffective, a foul-mouthed pseudo-philosopher devoid of any real qualities. Nevertheless, he inspires pity. Sound familiar? Well, then imagine him on TV. David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is the boss in the multi- award-winning TV-series The Office. Filmed in faux-BBC documentary-style using hand-held cameras, this series has a disturbing sense of realism which may explain its widespread popularity. Some scenes documenting the boss' boorish behavior will feel so familiar that the hair on the back of your neck will stand up. Add office flirtations and what you have here is a sense of déjà-vu all over again. But for one thing: the colorful British dialogue and Cockney slang might not be instantly recognizable, but somehow it translates well. You may be disgusted by the humor, but you'll laugh your arse off anyway. In any case, Gervais, a former radio DJ turned comedian/actor/writer/director has inspired an imitator: in the US, NBC produced an adequate (and successful) version of the series all on their own, without any bossing around from the man himself.
BBC

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

British director Guy Ritchie (the man critics love to hate) goes against the odds in this unusual, sexy gangster movie. Indeed, he sets the stakes so high that he risks losing the audience. Which is fitting, at least in one sense: the double or nothing bet is Revolver's main theme. Rather than rat out his associates, inveterate gambler Jake Green (Jason Statham) takes a seven year fall in the big house. While inside, he passes the time planning the perfect con, including the formulation of a set of Sun Tzu-like sure-win rules. Following his release, he puts the plan in motion, a plan designed to make him rich at the expense of his nemesis, crime boss Macha (Ray Liotta). As in his earlier gangster flicks (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) the director favors eccentric characters, black humor, a plot that is too clever for its own good, oh-so-cool camera tricks and a catchy soundtrack. Produced by Luc Besson, Revolver has every trick in Ritchie's bag, with the addition of animated sequences. In the end, it's all a bit too much. The overly obtuse plot, experimental editing and excessive angst will leave most viewers feeling as if they've overdosed on valium. Ritchie is willing to take chances (he's Madonna's husband after all), but with this effort, he's bet the house and lost.
Europa Corp.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 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

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
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.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
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

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
January 2006 issue

In his introduction to this book Jonathan Spence writes that "It is a basic belief of most historians, including myself, that the more time elapses after an event has taken place, the easier it is going to be to interpret that particular event..." During the height of the "great proletarian cultural revolution" (1966-70) Li Zhensheng worked as a photojournalist for Harbin's Heilongjiang Daily, shooting film for the newspaper and, as it turns out, for himself. While some of his photographs were published at the time, Li hid the bulk of his work in the hope that it would provide documentation of the period for others in the future. Forty years later that time has come. This book provides an amazing visual record (400 photos) and includes a preface, introduction, text by the photographer, a chronology, maps, and extensive photo captions. The photographs were selected from a collection numbering in the tens of thousands and many have never been seen before. Li's inventive techniques and powerful images make him one of the premier Chinese photographers alive today. This book, which takes its name from the literal translation of Li's accreditation as a photographer, is part of the key to understanding one of the most turbulent eras of modern Chinese history.
Phaidon

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
January 2006 issue

http://beifan.com/

The Internet offers trainloads of travelogues with material of diverse quality and practical use. This website was created to share photos of Chinese people, and their geography, customs and food. Not especially well designed, the homepage displays gazillions of hyperlinks. As a result, the visitor is overwhelmed; fortunately, they provide an extremely handy site map. Beifan.com was created by an English teacher in a Methodist Church in Wrexham, North Wales who happened to meet some 'boat people'. How likely is that? Anyway, as a result of this chance meeting, he traveled frequently to China from 1987 to 2005. He fell in love with the Chinese and his passion spilled all over the web. The site has many different topics, in no particular order. In short, it is all about chance. Some of the links provide hours of virtual tours to some of the most gorgeous places in China (from the Yangtze Gorge, to Dalian's beaches and even Shanghai's Bund). The accompanying text is just as intense, containing a wealth of details and historical facts. Visit this site if you have plenty of spare time; ideal for train travelers.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue