Thank you, thank you, thank you omy.sg! I can finally get to see Tony Leung and Stephen Fung! Yay!!
Unable to contain my excitement, I messaged my friend Jalea to meet up for early dinner and get star struck with me. Our excitement was very well contained by a simple dinner at Kim Gary Restaurant,shopping at Daiso and wine-drinking at Vivocity whilst taking in the splendid evening view of the harbor and Sentosa.
Finally after much waiting, the moment had arrived!
From afar, we could already see people crowding excitedly around the red carpet area, holding cameras and getting ready their camera phones in the hope of catching the best shots of their idols. Jalea and I managed to get a good spot where we could capture the grandeur of the celebrities.
The emcee, a reknown radio deejay, did a wonderful job of giving a synopsis of the movie and introduction of the various characters and actors of the movie, in an extremely humorous way . Most importantly, he gave me a poster of the movie and hence he rocks! hahaha! He also warmed up the crowd really well, making the crowd's welcoming of the celebrities a really warm and grand one.
After some martial arts demonstration from the young kungfu masters from the Martial House, the celebrities finally arrived to everyone's keen anticipation.
Dressed in casual jeans and shirts, Tony Leung, Stephen Fung and Yuan Xiaochao still looked great! Here are some shots of our star struck moment:
After addressing the several insightful questions posted by the emcee, they took their leave as the keen movie previewers headed up to the theatre.
Taichi 0 太极之从零开始 turned out to be an entirely different movie from most Hong Kong kung fu films! I am particularly impressed and surprised by Stephen's daring step to illustrate this traditional martial arts form in a humorous and tastefully artistic way, and also his move to film the Part 1 & 2 together, with the second part to be on-screen three weeks after the Part 1. Combining Stephen's interesting directing angles and new approach in graphics, Sammo Hung's experienced and great martial arts choreography, Yuan Xiaochao's clean and sharp martial arts moves and Tony's great portrayal of a somewhat warped Taichi Master, this movie proved itself to be entertaining and funny while not compromising on the seriousness and gracefulness of Taichi.
In the movie, Stephen also took efforts to introduce most of the main martial arts actors by listing their credentials and past films briefly whenever they pop up on the screen and I applaud him for his respect for these martial arts masters who have kept this traditional Chinese martial arts form alive and well-respected by the world.
There is also strong chemistry among the actors, despite some of them being new in the industry.
Curious? Don't take my word for it. Hop on the nearest cinema near you and see it for yourself :)
Here is an extract of the synopsis from Golden Village Cinemas' website:
As an uncommonly gifted child, Yang Luchan had a fleshy abnormality that holds tremendous power growing on his forehead. However being teased as the town fool, Yang's mother spurs him to practice martial arts, and following her wishes, Yang travels the distance to come to Chen Village to learn TAI CHI.
At this legendary village, everyone practices TAI CHI and uses TAI CHI in every aspect of their lives. Nevertheless, it is forbidden for a villager to disclose TAICHI to an outsider, and Yang learned this the hard way.
Upon arriving at the village, locals discourage Yang by challenging him with fights. From the strong men to hold ladies to children, everyone defeats Yang with their TAICHI moves. After facing the toughest battle and being defeated by Master Chen's beautiful daughter Yuniang, Yang is determined to master the art of TAICHI and he needs to find Master Chen.
Little does Yang know, the poor strange man who he befriended with is in fact Master Chen who then saved him from the duel with Yuniang. Master Chen realizes Yang's genius and disguises himself to secretly guide Yang to his self realization of TAICHI.
One day, a frightening steam-powered machine came to the village, lead by Fang Zijing, a childhood friend of Yuniang. He has bribed government officials to permit him to build a railway that will run straight through the village. Yang decided to join forces with Yuniang to defeat Fang Zijing and destroy the machine. This brave act may just win the hearts of the villagers....
You can catch the trailer here.
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