Asian Pride

I saw Memoirs of A Geisha with Joy last Saturday. I wasn't thrilled to see it as I've heard not-so-good reviews of it. I wasn't thrilled to see Chinese actresses playing Japanese characters. It's not about seeing an ethnicity portrayed by another race, it's just that I think who could better portray a cultural figure in Japan than a Japanese herself. If they chose them because of their english capabilities, why not have them speak in their native tongue? (I had a hard time understanding what Ken Watanabe was saying though). I wasn't thrilled to see the novel in action.

But there weren't other movies to choose from, so...

If for anything, Gong Li was a delight to watch. I don't know if that's enough reason for others to see this.

Afterwards, I met up with Siobe to catch Fearless. Being Jet Li fanatics, we weren't to miss this one. Especially now that it's not hollywood produced and it's said to be his last epic movie. (The only hollywood-produced movie of his that I saw was Romeo Must Die. After that, I chose to boycott all others). Effects wasn't grand. Fight scenes weren't either. The story line was simple. It was reminiscent of his Once Upon A Time in China movies which we totally loved up to this day. There he plays Wong Fei Hung (famous martial arts master), here he is Huo Yuan Jia, wushu master (although they fictionalized his life). Epic or not, watching him on screen will always be an experience.

The thing with these two movies is that both showed two Asian cultures that we can probably learn a lesson or two.

And yes, there's Ang Lee winning an oscar.