“Anything’s possible, that’s the beauty of life.” – a worn out adage, used innumerably on novels and films, and even those annoying optimists that wiggle around societal circles. Shanghai Kiss lives with this adage, a conventional proverb presented in the most entertaining and interesting way.
It’s a journey of a man of Chinese decent figuring out who he is and what he wants in life, where in the land of milk and honey (note: it’s a global perspective, can’t ignore the current economic crunch US folks are experiencing) he can’t seem to find his niche, his call to success.
Liam played by Ken Leung, throughout the film endures looking for love in all the wrong places, having a secret relationship with a sixteen year old high school student played by Hayden Penettiere, of Heroes fame, he met in a bus in LA and an intricate collection of women he picks up in bars.
Every woman might think he’s a living breathing A-Hole with no inclination to ethics and morals but what makes this character beautiful to watch is his guilt stricken moments when he cheats on his teenage lover. These moments create humanity in Ken’s portrayal of Liam, his epic struggle on two clashing principles, fighting desire for flesh and desire for a devoted and sincere relationship.
His inner conflicts are portrayed so vividly that it sucks anyone in to his conundrum. The issue Liam goes through is realistic on anyone’s account.
The film tackles his reluctance to pursue a relationship with a sixteen year-old in fear of a crime that’s essentially questionable since it still assumes the mental incapacity of minors to be in a consensual relationship with someone older throws him in a situation where he wants to but he just can’t.
And yet the positivism that Hayden Panettiere exudes for her role is exceptional, that seeing her with Liam whose twelve years older seems so right. Her optimism and dedication for the relationship is an outright stark contrast to what Liam offers. I’m just freaked out on the prospect of dirty old men fantasizing of having a secret young lover as hot and enchanting as Hayden.
A good chunk of viewers, especially male viewers, would strongly relate to Liam. And isn’t this one of holy grails of filmmaking? -- The creation of a determinate connection between the audience and the film? Shanghai Kiss executes this oh so well.
The film is full of symbolisms – Liam’s Mini Cooper and mirror reflections. Well this could all be coincidence and could be deciphered by the viewer but the director never really meant to portray that message. But if observed more, the dirt, bumps, and dents on Liam’s Cooper symbolic explanation of who he is and what he’s been through.
Witty and self-deprecating humour fills that vacuum of optimism and within a depressed and lost character. The relationships that are built around Liam is amazingly thought out and well written.
Shanghai Kiss reminds me of Lost Translation when Liam’s in Shanghai in search for his roots and identity, the scenic urban shots and language barrier interactions makes him so helpless and lost.
Each character has their personal struggles, and yet hope still exists within each of them, pushing them on for what they aspire – and that’s what makes Shanghai Kiss so human. It’s relentless exhibition of human imperfections and how each deals with them.
When the film stops rolling or should I say stop spinning? Shanghai Kiss successfully reaches out to the audience clearly stating that the possibilities are out there, and that’s the beauty of life – the conclusion fulfils that.
It serves as an inspiration to all on how one can be so different and realize that difference is from within. We are all different, therefore are difference is our commonality, that difference becomes a common ground for which people of different race and background can connect and break social barriers.
The script holds the movie together and gives it the upper hand over the countless horror gore-infested films released every year.
Scenes where the antagonist drags his victims to an enigmatic room is an ingenious way to keep the audience stuck to their seats. The myriad guesses within the viewer’s mind slightly alleviates the agonizing moments of witnessing abysmal character development and casting – an American chief detective with a German accent? Not that I have anything against Germans being a chief detective in US soil but stick to the minor conventions and stereotypes. It throws away the focus of the audience and opens doors for them to ponder on the reasons behind such logic unless the story develops more on the character introduced.
Also, some aspects of the film could be derived as comedic and lame. The doctor’s scream in the first few scenes was an epic fail but laughable nonetheless. On a positive light, it could be this great grand scheme by the writer/director to ease the audience slowly into the film to relieve the tension before the roller coaster goes haywire.
And I can’t help but feel the emotional detachment of the four leading actors to each other. They were introduced as close friends and sold as a bunch that has been through a lot. And yet when someone gets whacked, the survivors are absent of remorse, grief, and loss. The relationship the audience may think these four have is completely non-existent beyond the first few scenes.
Conversely, these are minor complaints on a very well crafted, albeit simple story. The torture and massacre scenes are riveting and graphic. And fans of the genre will find themselves right at home and would appreciate the extra effort to up the ante on violence and gore.
Midnight Movie may have glaring faults but it’s original story, authentic eye-twitch inducing scenes carry the movie till the end. And with an open ended conclusion, a sequel could be on the horizon.
On a side note, doesn’t the lead actress look exactly like the guy from Speed Racer and The Girl Next Door? Word.
Occasionally, we meet people who exude that infectious upbeat stance and vigor in life. As I first laid my eyes on this German hottie, she personified just that -- her sincere smile and bubbly tone was undeniably attractive and contagious.
Being in the fashion industry for so long, you’d think that she’d be bored and drowned with ennui and yet she presents the complete anti-thesis for someone at that caliber.
A model, singer, agent, and actress, she has garnered experience throughout her career. Hailing from Munich, Germany she has that adorable accent and control of the English language.
She’s also a vigorous entrepreneur – she founded Steluna Models International handling modeling stints for various projects around the world. She's currently connected with Fashion TV but still manages her agency simultaneously.
SYNOPSIS Midnight Movie will have audiences squirming in their seats, as the killer from the movie emerges from the screen to hunt down each viewer one-by-one before dragging their dead bodies back into the film to be tortured for eternity.
At a run down theater in a sleepy suburban town, a group of friends get together for a midnight screening of an early 1970s horror film. What they do not know is that the Director/Star of the film has something more in store for them than just a movie.
While he is thought to have died five years earlier in a psych ward massacre, the detective and doctor who witnessed the aftermath of the bloodbath suspect that the director was not a victim, but the perpetrator of the killings and is still on the loose.
What none of them understand is that he has enshrined his soul into the film itself.
As the film starts, the kids heckle the old black-and-white scenes, but are jolted when the movie's gruesome killer butchers one of their friends on screen! They realize that it is not the prank that they had hoped it was as they soon become the stars of the very movie they are watching on the screen.
Caught between the world of reality and the screen's flickering shadows, these unsuspecting viewers fight to stay alive in the locked theater.
Here’s a list of the upcoming screening sched for Midnight Movie.
Shriekfest Horror/Sci-Fi Film Festival Oct 2-5, 2008 Releigh Studios, Los Angeles, CA Screening times/details to follow when they formally announce in a few days
Eerie Horror Fest October 9-12 The Warner Theater - Erie, PA Screening times/details to follow when they formally announce in a few days
Escapism Film Festival October 17-19, 2008. The Carolina Theatre – Durham, North Carolina Screening times/details to follow when they formally announce in a few days
Satdown with Bill Gardner and listened to his discussion of what the CRAZY Filmmaker Program is as well as his history here in Bigfoot Entertainment and its academic arm, International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT).
The program essentially as I see it, targets the edgier side of creativity. Most of the time filmmakers and everyone involved are trapped into conventions and niches of what works and what viewers generally accept. And yet time and time again, audiences have grown smarter. They’ve become very capable of predicting how the story turns out, how the characters develop.
We are in an age of predictable entertainment.
I assume the CRAZY Filmmaker program addresses this on many fronts. Currently, IAFT has a one-year immersion program but the newly offered program requires a two-year immersion – that’s hardcore. Touching on the crafts of creating Fashion Television shoots, TVCs and even public service announcements. And to cap off the program, as mentioned by Bill, the students would be involved in a feature film production within Bigfoot.
I have nothing but an optimist’s outlook on the possibilities of such a program. To create a slew of new-age filmmakers bending conventions, going against the status quo’s of superheroes and CGI enriched feature films.
Mind you, I’m not in total disagreement of such an approach in filmmaking, neither do I desire to disparage the efforts of our modern day film artists – but don’t you just want something new?
Movies and TV shows have become stale throughout the years. Has creativity died with innovation? Suddenly Hollywood realized there’s more money to be made on action flicks and linear storylines drowned with ennui.
Perhaps this CRAZY filmmaker program that Michael Gleissner conceptualized could be the new primordial creative boom the global film industry’s been waiting for – too far fetched you say? It could be CRAZY enough to work.
To commemorate the program's edginess and creative openness, posted the vid that made me go gaga for everything CRAZY.
Covering male models is just a journalistic/literary ordeal for me. These men have perfect physiques and women just stick to them like fridge magnets. It makes me insecure and degraded whenever I’m in their presence, as if my viability to be noticed by the opposite sex vanishes into oblivion.
When a man looks at James (a straight one that is), one can’t help but wish he had the same physique and exude the same sexy model like aura. I for one envy the guy, compared to him, my body’s physique’s an epic fail. In fact at this very moment, I’m laying out the blueprints to photoshop my face over his and post it on Facebook (desperate times call for desperate measures).
He’s a Physical Education teacher by day and a top-notch model by night, how convenient can that get?
Ladies, for your amusement, posted some of his pics.
It’s a sunny and shimmering Thursday morning in Cebu and couldn’t help but ponder on a new paradigm, could it be that Thursday’s the new Friday?
Friday (subjectively speaking) is the best day of the week as it ushers in the weekend and the inevitable blissful events that are attached to it. And when Thursday arrives, the anticipation for Friday sets in (to be specific, beyond 1pm of Thursday), the ennui that has plagued anyone through the week should mellow down as each passing hour goes by.
At the end of the day you and your colleagues await the arrival of ‘the’ day of the week when the transition from work to vacation occurs -- this IS the climax, this IS the nirvana everyone looks forward to.
And to welcome this newly declared Friday, recently interviewed a talented editor from Bigfoot’s Post Production offices.
Trox Salazar shows us the viscera of editing within the chief’s fortress as he works on a vid for Bigfoot’s very own Starbucks-inspired (more like a straight out rip off), ‘Bigbucks’.
On location with Michal Garcia to cover a shoot that Bigfoot’s various production teams normally do on a daily basis. The vid features raw (in this case, really raw) behind the scene footage of an educational material for would-be photographers under Bigfoot's academic arm, International Academy of Film and Television or more widely known as IAFT.
Itook the liberty to indulge myself in investigative journalism and squeezed myself into Bigfoot’s jumbolicious (doesn’t sound right does it?) studio. Always wondered what’s going on the innards of that structure.
I was left impressed with the size and scale of ‘almost’ everything in it. The ‘Eye Sore Award’ had to go the green painted plane (troubling as it may seem, it clearly resembled a beheaded monolithic duck).
Being around models, gives that paralyzing aftermath on my spine, beautifully sculptured beings that walk amongst little men like me. However, behind that spine-tingling paralysis these goddesses lay upon me, they’re just average deities going through life’s journey, having their ambitions and aspirations in pursuit of happiness (whatever it may be) tucked behind those perfect 8 figures.
Recently sat down with Isabelle Du, a model, actress, and a body double for Bebe Pham (Deep Gold Leading Actress). Hailing from San Jose California at a fresh age of 23, having a Vietnamese, Chinese and French decent (err, she lost me at ‘Vietnamese’), this stunning beaut gives many a new angle of how breathtaking Euro-Asian Barbie Dolls can be. (But hey, don’t take my word for it; beauty’s a subjective devil).
Isabelle, as most models, is well traveled. She modeled in Thailand for 2 months before beginning shoot for Deep Gold and to add to her diverse portfolio, she did covers for EastWest Magazine, Audrey Magazine, and BN. As well as TV appearances for the Tyra Banks Show and Spike TV’s Manswers (which I initially spelled as Manseers, go figure. In fact, Isabelle was cute enough to write down the title for me).
Posted some Isabelle’s pics for your viewing pleasure (notice, no orgasmic modifier, let’s keep it clean people).
Filming of Deep Gold came to a screeching halt only after a day of resumed filming. According to Bec Piket, associate producer, production stopped due to some “set fine tunings” and issues regarding body doubles.
Guess the challenge of finishing and producing the film is a movie in itself – somebody’s got to capitalize the drama attached to these types of productions; the delays, conflicts and clashes, reality TV personified!
XOXO, you know you… oh s***, wrong blog! Darn it.
UPDATE: It seems production resumed, although on a minor scale as production awaits their maestro to return.
The next entry to Bigfoot’s lineup of feature films, “Deep Gold”, is currently in the final phase of production according to the official press release.
(But get this: the last update was eons ago back in March.)
Directed and produced by the chief himself – a story about a Cebuana freediver named Amy who goes looking for her papi as he and a truckload of gold enigmatically goes missing en route to Central Bank in Manila.
(Deliver gold to Manila you say? Gold vanishing into thin air? Bet they reached stateside, perhaps a few steps short of Central Bank. It’s Manila after all -- ruled by warlords and kingpins. Government funds poof away here on a daily basis, nothing new, case closed. -- Next!)
But on a more serious note: so what caused the disappearance of such a valuable package, and the people delivering it? That’s where the Cebuana chick comes in – to unravel the mystery (say in a low, whispered voice) behind the strange disappearance of her boyfriend and the gazillion worth of gold. As she gets caught in a web of conspiracy and intrigue along the way, she uncovers a plot bigger than what she could’ve ever expected (pretty exciting stuff).Based on what I’ve seen, with regard to behind the scene footages, it’s promising on many fronts.
Brand spankin’ fresh in the PR and Marketing team, the virgin days has gone by swiftly. Introduced to some interesting people from various departments and teams make me feel optimistic bout working here, plus the fact that Cebuano’s always have this warm smile, irrelevant whether it’s sincere or not, either way, it has the same effect, your mere existence being recognized in a jovial and gleeful manner, who’d resent that? My first official job as a writer feels like a bliss, getting paid for what you love doing, fantastic -- this is the way to live. Besides the conventional complaints of waking up early and doing a 9 to 5, or in Bigfoot’s case, 9 to 7 job, what else’s there to complain about?
Being a contractual has it perks such as non auto-deductions on compensation, but alas, this can’t go on forever, health benefits and paid leaves would be of necessity later on, as one grows older, body can’t take that much punishment as it used to. So a permanent job with benefits is the way to go kids.
Blogging experiences, observations, opinions within the premises, perhaps even the mundane could be transformed into exciting literary pieces. But that’s the thing; I wouldn’t have to settle for the mundane since there’s just a lot productions/projects going on in and around Bigfoot.
In anyone’s life there comes a time where you’d have to crawl your way out of your comfortable shell, for whatever reason it may be, desire for independence or perhaps the age old nightmare of being disowned. I fervently pushed for the former.
On a wet and humid afternoon, wearing nothing but a bacon gartered underwear in front of a radiating and irritatingly blinding monitor at home in Manila, Bigfoot gives me a ring. Exchanges went on for about month, negotiating minor details on lodging issues and compensation. Somehow, I just couldn’t resist the temptation of working in a high-end, fancy office with blonds randomly sprouting from corners. Oh, plus the fact that Fashion TV is affiliated with Bigfoot, and how can anyone forget those midnight shows on FTV? H.O.T.
Bigfoot's lobby
the lobby from another angle
Being the nerd-stricken, phlegm-swallowing boy that I am, signed the contract and took the next flight to Cebu. And here I am, typing on as a passionate (yes, hail to self-promotion) copywriter serving Michael Gleissner and his army of filmmakers.
Note to self, never believe pictures – they’re the new age devils. I feel like Adam & Eve squished into one atrocious walking mammal. White sand beach? What beach?!
A shot of the main Bigfoot building
A pristine and concrete open area between the main building and Casablanca apartments? More like a complex terrain of quasi hills and a fraction of the rain forest.
We can’t have everything can we, and even with all the superficial gripes and rants the Bigfoot premises rightly deserves, this is an adventure and experience that’s worth a peek.
Add Comment
