Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Apparently Vicki Zhao Wei has been chosen to play Hua Mulan in the live-action remake of the famous Disney film. Jingle Ma, the hong kong director, has chosen her out over a possible casting of Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Liu Yifei. “Zhao Wei has the qualities necessary to cross-play,” he said.

Choi Jin-sil (최진실) was a talented actress from South Korea. Nicknamed “The Nation’s Actress”, she starred in movies The Legend of Gingko (단적비연수), The Letter (편지), and My Bride My Love (나의 사랑, 나의 신부). A full list of her accomplishments on the screen can be found at wikipedia; she was a prolific TV and movie actress.

Her personal life was full of scandal and misfortune. A brief timeline might be the best format for presenting the history that led to her impulsive suicide:

• 1968 – Born on December 24
• 1988 – Starred in Joseon Dynasty 500 years (조선왕조 오백년)
• 1994 – Former manager Bae Byeong-su was murdered by her road manager, Jeon Yong-cheol
• 1998 – Met Cho Sung-min, a pitcher for Japanese pro baseball team the Yomiuri Giants, at a TV show
• 2000 – Married Cho Sung-min
• 2002 – Seperated from Cho Sung-min
• 2004 – Divorced Cho Sung-min for adultery, domestic violence, and debts
• 2008 September – Actor Ahn Jae-hwan committed suicide after incurring large debts due to failed business projects
• 2008 September – A rumour is started that Choi Jin-sil lent Ahn $2M; the police arrested a suspect who started the rumour for defamation
• 2008 October – Suicide by hanging

On October 1, the night before her death, Choi had a drink with her manager, and sent a text message with the text:

“take care of my children no matter what happens” and “I’m sorry”

Choi Jin-sil then went home, locked herself in the bathroom, and hung herself by the neck with the shower hose in the bathtub. Her mother reported that Choi was drunk when she returned home. Yang Jae-ho, chief investigator at Seoul’s Seocho Police Station, said “Given the results of an examination showing no trace of physical trauma on her body, we concluded that it was a suicide.”

And so, in a tragic story of perpetual depressive unhappiness, coupled with substance abuse, another bright flame is extinguished.

WTF? They’re going to remake My Sassy Girl as an American offering? How could this possibly get better than the original, I don’t know. Check out the movie poster:

The film, starring Elisha Cuthbert of The Girl Next Door and TV show 24 fame, is scheduled to come out sometime in 2008, and is subtitled “The girl your mother warned you about.”

In spite of it being up for download online, I decided to cave in and buy My Girl on Amazon:

It has a 4.5/5 rating on Amazon, which bodes well, and my girlfriend swears to heaven it’s the best drama she has ever seen. I was able to get one at a used price of $40, which is also good! It was produced in 2005 / 2006, so it’s fairly new, and assorted ratings around the net put it 90% or higher. Here’s a plot summary from IMDB:

The story concerns a young hotel magnate whose grandfather lingers near death, depressed of having never met his granddaughter, having dismissed her mother from his life years earlier. The manager, unable to locate his long lost sister, instead hires a young con artist who has tried to scam him to act as his sister for the benefit of his grandfather. Romantic and comic entanglements ensue between the two as their plan takes hold all to well. But what will happen when the grandfather makes a miraculous recovery and the two are forced to act as brother and sister, perhaps forever?

It’s worth pointing out that in Korea a girlfriend will call her boyfriend “older brother,” so typical American feelings might not get the joke!

This too cute movie clip was bumming around Youtube. It’s from the movie Chik yeung tin si or So Close in English, starring Karen Mok, Shu Qi, and Zhao Wei.

IBDM gives the movie 6.7 (which isn’t bad) and the video has 133,006 views on YouTube. You can buy So Close on Amazon for $21 if you wanna watch it too.