dry wood fierce fire
i fell in love with this show coz its SOOO NICE. not only is it a super funny romantic comedy show, it stars my idol, louis koo(gu3 tian1 le4). the plot is superb and the love... just great. it can make u laugh AND cry... wow... i really enjoyed it and even recorded it down on tape. here's the summary, copied off a webpage.
While sometimes forced and a little clumsy, this ultra-light romantic comedy features an amiable comic tone and a fun pairing of Miriam Yeung and Louis Koo.
It features an offbeat, slightly strange female lead in Miriam Yeung, and a handsome male lead in Louis Koo. The two play coworkers in an office setting, and like Needing You the threat of gossip and office politics is always around. Furthermore, the two don't have a lot in common at first, but form a burgeoning friendship due to mutual respect and a few convenient plot devices. Then a third party (played by Flora Chan) gets in the way, so our two heroes must admit their feelings or face life without each other. Or something like that. Yep, just like Needing You.
Alice (Miriam Yeung) works for "Ladies," a female-only magazine. However, publisher Michelle (Flora Chan) decides to merge "Ladies" with "Gents", an all-male magazine that employs Ryan (Louis Koo) as one of the chief editors. As you'd expect, this leads to your standard male/female office politics, but the quirky quotient is upped thanks to Alice's status as a fourth-generation Chinese herbologist. That means Miriam Yeung gets to spend a good third of the film engaging in wacky cultural shtick, i.e. prescribing herbs at the office, cooking traditional remedies, and practicing kung-fu all over the place.
Alice's antics around the office provides most of the film's comedy until the film's real plot comes to light. Here it is: Alice finds Ryan incredibly attractive, but he's sort of a lout towards her. Still, the two become friends when Ryan falls for Michelle and vows to win her love. Alice decides to help Ryan win Michelle, not noticing until it's too late that her own affection is growing stronger. She hides her true feeling until Ryan discovers it. Then Ryan must choose between the two women, deciding who he really wants to live with for the rest of his life. Ryan's(Louis Koo)'s indecisive nature as a Libra also proves a problem here as he contemplates his emotions, and also which furniture to buy! He had to choose between a relation that gave him a comfortable happy feeling and another which gave him sparkles and adrenaline flow. He chose the latter as she was the one he truly loved.
Like all romantic comedies, the fun comes not in the outcome of the film, but in the journey. In that, Dry Wood Fierce Fire stalls, as the buildup to the eventual blessed union consists of wacky shit. Ryan and Alice shop for furniture but stop to fight with a beggar (Cheung Tat-Ming). They engage in Three's Company-type antics when Michelle visits Ryan, and Alice must hide herself in the fridge. They get their hands stuck together with epoxy, which means we get a short sequence of them holding hands. The comedy is certainly agreeable and fun, but nothing new occurs here.
Director Wilson Yip has a track record for terrific handling of character. That skill is lost here because he's directing a romantic comedy. When dealing with the horror trappings of Bio-Zombie or the cop soap opera of Bullets Over Summer, Yip has brought hidden depths to typically character-free genres. However, the usual romantic comedy situations at work here are too mechanical to allow for any hidden depths. There is the occasional moment that accomplishes much more (a dinner scene between Alice, Ryan and her parents is surprisingly affecting), but those moments are buried beneath recycled romantic comedy devices.
Still, the performers shore up the film's laziness. Louis Koo has shown surprising comedic instinct. In contrast to usual Libra-style "aw-shucks" romantic leads, Koo has shown the willingness to lampoon his own lady-killer image. His performances in this film and La Brassiere have opened up a whole new range of roles for him.
And, Miriam Yeung is a charming performer despite her limited repertoire of mouthy, innanely perky characters. Her comparison to Sammi Cheng is an understandable, but ultimately questionable one. Superficially, the two resemble one another, but the characters they play are quite different. Yeung is the quintessential "jade girl", the girl-next-door who charms thanks to her perky, pure-hearted attitude. Cheng's characters seem to have more complex emotions, and her acting style is natural and even deceptively subtle. Yeung is likable, but Cheng is currently the better actress.
Yup so there u go, another movie added into my favourites list, super romantic yet funny, a rare movie to catch. NOTHING beats hong kong films man... the plot and the way its filmed is just... too nice. :)
OH YEA and btw, MY COM's REALLY GARBLED UP! it may crash anytime, and im lucky to have internet explorer working again last night at about 12 or 1am. well, if it crashes, i cant blog anymore or read other ppl's blogs... :(
happy hsien ^^
While sometimes forced and a little clumsy, this ultra-light romantic comedy features an amiable comic tone and a fun pairing of Miriam Yeung and Louis Koo.
It features an offbeat, slightly strange female lead in Miriam Yeung, and a handsome male lead in Louis Koo. The two play coworkers in an office setting, and like Needing You the threat of gossip and office politics is always around. Furthermore, the two don't have a lot in common at first, but form a burgeoning friendship due to mutual respect and a few convenient plot devices. Then a third party (played by Flora Chan) gets in the way, so our two heroes must admit their feelings or face life without each other. Or something like that. Yep, just like Needing You.
Alice (Miriam Yeung) works for "Ladies," a female-only magazine. However, publisher Michelle (Flora Chan) decides to merge "Ladies" with "Gents", an all-male magazine that employs Ryan (Louis Koo) as one of the chief editors. As you'd expect, this leads to your standard male/female office politics, but the quirky quotient is upped thanks to Alice's status as a fourth-generation Chinese herbologist. That means Miriam Yeung gets to spend a good third of the film engaging in wacky cultural shtick, i.e. prescribing herbs at the office, cooking traditional remedies, and practicing kung-fu all over the place.
Alice's antics around the office provides most of the film's comedy until the film's real plot comes to light. Here it is: Alice finds Ryan incredibly attractive, but he's sort of a lout towards her. Still, the two become friends when Ryan falls for Michelle and vows to win her love. Alice decides to help Ryan win Michelle, not noticing until it's too late that her own affection is growing stronger. She hides her true feeling until Ryan discovers it. Then Ryan must choose between the two women, deciding who he really wants to live with for the rest of his life. Ryan's(Louis Koo)'s indecisive nature as a Libra also proves a problem here as he contemplates his emotions, and also which furniture to buy! He had to choose between a relation that gave him a comfortable happy feeling and another which gave him sparkles and adrenaline flow. He chose the latter as she was the one he truly loved.
Like all romantic comedies, the fun comes not in the outcome of the film, but in the journey. In that, Dry Wood Fierce Fire stalls, as the buildup to the eventual blessed union consists of wacky shit. Ryan and Alice shop for furniture but stop to fight with a beggar (Cheung Tat-Ming). They engage in Three's Company-type antics when Michelle visits Ryan, and Alice must hide herself in the fridge. They get their hands stuck together with epoxy, which means we get a short sequence of them holding hands. The comedy is certainly agreeable and fun, but nothing new occurs here.
Director Wilson Yip has a track record for terrific handling of character. That skill is lost here because he's directing a romantic comedy. When dealing with the horror trappings of Bio-Zombie or the cop soap opera of Bullets Over Summer, Yip has brought hidden depths to typically character-free genres. However, the usual romantic comedy situations at work here are too mechanical to allow for any hidden depths. There is the occasional moment that accomplishes much more (a dinner scene between Alice, Ryan and her parents is surprisingly affecting), but those moments are buried beneath recycled romantic comedy devices.
Still, the performers shore up the film's laziness. Louis Koo has shown surprising comedic instinct. In contrast to usual Libra-style "aw-shucks" romantic leads, Koo has shown the willingness to lampoon his own lady-killer image. His performances in this film and La Brassiere have opened up a whole new range of roles for him.
And, Miriam Yeung is a charming performer despite her limited repertoire of mouthy, innanely perky characters. Her comparison to Sammi Cheng is an understandable, but ultimately questionable one. Superficially, the two resemble one another, but the characters they play are quite different. Yeung is the quintessential "jade girl", the girl-next-door who charms thanks to her perky, pure-hearted attitude. Cheng's characters seem to have more complex emotions, and her acting style is natural and even deceptively subtle. Yeung is likable, but Cheng is currently the better actress.
Yup so there u go, another movie added into my favourites list, super romantic yet funny, a rare movie to catch. NOTHING beats hong kong films man... the plot and the way its filmed is just... too nice. :)
OH YEA and btw, MY COM's REALLY GARBLED UP! it may crash anytime, and im lucky to have internet explorer working again last night at about 12 or 1am. well, if it crashes, i cant blog anymore or read other ppl's blogs... :(
happy hsien ^^
posted by Jonathan Lee Hsien Jun at 10:11 AM
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