Johnnie To's romance, LINGER, slated for a 1/10/2008 release in Hong Kong has a teaser trailer. Many thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who sent it in. It's too short to judge anything by, but at least the music is nice.

 

Paris Hilton was in Japan recently and, dressed in a black sweatsuit like some kind of horrible celebu-ninja, she slunk into a branch of Daikokuya in Tokyo, a pawn shop that does big business in second hand luxury goods. The star of THE HILLZ bought 28 items, but after getting a 5% discount for a tax reduction she asked for another discount. The store gave her another 5%. Then she asked for another discount, which the store refused because it's straight up ghetto to go in a pawn shop and haggle and they knew it. And they knew that she should know it. Trying to change the subject, the owner asked for Paris' autograph, but she refused unless she got a further discount.  The owner agreed to give her a 10% discount, and got her autograph as  a reward. He says:

"Her signature was really cute. When all the girls here remarked on how cute it was, she mimicked us, saying 'kawaii (cute)' in Japanese. She seemed like a sensible sort of person, even if she was a tightwad."

Get the full story here. 

For the reading impaired:

Hey, Thailand! While you were out, your government totally screwed you.

 

Can Singapore's Media Development Authority kick it old school? Check out their hip hop video and then come back and riddle me this: I know that the press loves this outfit but here in the more democratic environment of cyberspace I can say I don't think they're all that. They don't like it? Then they should've stayed out of the kitchen. This is just blatantly stealing beats from Hong Kong's Institute of Chartered Public Accountants. These fools are going to be schooled when the Hong Kong/Singapore Hip Hop Wars heat up again. And just when Singapore was getting it together and having more positivity. Caps are going to be busted.

Over in the far more friendly world of children's television, Japanese experimental noise DJ, Cornelius, pays a visit to the kid's show Yo Gabba Gabba to teach the kids about counting. The kids freak out.

Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai have always done well in Hong Kong with their co-directed films, but after their latest collaboration, MAD DETECTIVE, got slapped with an adults-only Category III rating and the Pang Bros. film IN LOVE WITH THE DEAD and Hollywood flick 30 DAYS OF NIGHT were scheduled to open on the same day (11/29) it looked like this flick might continue Milkyway's recent string of box office under-performers like EYE IN THE SKY and EXILED.

Opening day box office figures are in and here they are:

MAD DETECTIVE - HK$646,395

IN LOVE WITH THE DEAD - HK$330,659 

30 DAYS OF NIGHT - HK$202,816

It's not as strong an opening as the ELECTION movies, but it's still pretty darn good. Here's hoping MAD DETECTIVE becomes a sleeper hit the same way that the somewhat similar Milkyway film, RUNNING ON KARMA, did.

 

(Thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who pounced on this like the quick brown fox.) 

The year's funniest movie trailer. Now with English subtitles.

A secret source lurking in Hong Kong informs us that Li Bing Bing will be dubbed by Panda Ivy in the Cantonese version of Johnnie To's LINGER, but that the film will be released theatrically in Hong Kong in Mandarin, which is the director's preferred version of the movie. Needless to say, Li's own voice is used in the Mandarin cut of the film.

In other dubbing news, Wong Kar-wai's MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS will get an all-star Mandarin dub when it hits the PRC. Gong Li and Jiang Wen (DEVILS ON THE DOORSTEP) will head the voice cast, along with Chang Chen (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) and Dong Jie (2046).

LINGER is the Johnnie To romance coming out on January 10, 2008, and only in Hong Kong would the lead actress have her voice dubbed. The story takes place in Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong but Mainland actress Li Bing-bing plays the lead role and her Cantonese is shaky. So newcomer, Panda Ivy (bestnamever!) came to the rescue. A veteran of TV, stage and film, Panda Ivy previously dubbed the voice of Louis Koo's wife in ELECTION 2, also directed by Johnnie To.

 

Panda Ivy has a blog, of course, where she can contentedly munch bamboo leaves and write about her experiences dubbing LINGER. She says that her voice "isn't dramatic enough" which is why she was chosen to dub Li Bing-bing, and that she's happy for the experience and it went well.

Writer Ivy Ho in the middle,

Panda Ivy on the right and

Heidi on the left.

Who's Heidi?

(Thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who sent this in)

In 2006, after years of pressure from America's Motion Picture Association, the Korean government agreed to cut their screen quota system in half, reducing the number of days local cinemas must devote to Korean films from 146 days to 73 days. Filmmakers protested, but the law was passed and people who supported the cut pointed to Korea's incredibly strong local box office performance as proof that Korean movies were doing well and didn't need these protections.

But protections are necessary because no industry does well all the time, and you protect your local industries so that when they're doing badly they don't get stomped into the dirt by foreign competition. That's why the US subsidizes its farmers to the tune of about $16 billion per year.

Well, now the Korean film industry is hitting those bad times and it's hard not to say "I told you so." A new report issued by KOFIC (Korean Film Council) says that from January to October of 2007, Korean films have watched their market share tumble by 29%, from 62% in 2006 to 46% in 2007. Foreign films, in the meantime, have grown by 35%, from 37% in 2006 to 53% in 2007. And the worst news of all is that Korea has released 89 films so far this year, as opposed to 86 during the same period last year. So more films are making less money. Only 1 in 10 Korean movies are showing a profit and given the rising costs of production the average film loses 4 billion won (about US$4 million), as opposed to 1.1 billion won last year.

It's not solely because of the quota cuts that these numbers are so dismal. Korea has been starved for big blockbusters this year and overall there just hasn't been the same excitement over Korean movies that there was in 2006. But now that screen quota is no longer there to cushion the fall, and I have a funny feeling Korean movies are going to land hard.

And just on a side note: American coverage of this issue has been predictably sparse. So hooray for sites like Beyond Hollywood, GreenCine, Twitch and the rest who cover real news like this and leave the puff pieces to TIME magazine, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. 

Marc Walkow of Outcast Cinema (crimes: producing HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN DVD for Synapse; organizing the Nikkatsu Action retro currently touring the US of A) has sold his left kidney to pay for a trip to Japan. Why? Because more crazy old Japanese movies are crawling out of their dusty vaults and coming to America to suck up our dollars.

He's focused his efforts on shooting interviews with Norifumi Suzuki who has been an instrumental part of more exploitation movies than is healthy, including directing the nuns-ploitation classic, SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST, and the bizarro action flick ROARING FIRE as well as hundreds of others, and writing even more than that. Some of the interview will be used for Media Blasters' February 2008 disc of the fourth in the Sukeban series, GIRL BOSS: REVENGE but most of it will appear on the Discotek DVD of his infamous STAR OF DAVID: BEAUTY HUNTING which will also feature a full length audio commentary from Norifumi Suzuki and Japanese film critic Kiichiro Yanashita subbed in English. Is this a movie you want to see? Take Midnight Eye's advice:

"You know what you're getting yourself into when you watch a film like STAR OF DAVID. If there's no excuse for a film like this, then there's also no excuse for complaining afterwards."

More details on the Outcast Cinema blog.

(See a gorgeously loopy clip of nuns beating a half-naked girl with rose bushes from SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST)

(See the ROARING FIRE trailer and wonder: Nazis?)

(See a painfully weird clip from ROARING FIRE starring Hiroyuki Sanada from Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE and Canadian pro wrestler, Abdullah the Butcher)