Subbed: 舍不得星星 You Are My Lover Friend trailer 1 + So Close gifs

[halfcactus]

Watch on YouTube

I actually subbed this entire thing on my phone and then my phone crashed and I apparently lost my draft, so I had to redo it on my computer which was 1) faster, 2) srt-friendly.

Fun facts: Wang Yuwen and Zhang Xincheng are real-life childhood friends (I haven't been keeping up with their promos, but the ones I've seen have been a lot of fun, though unshippable because of the sibling energy), and Zhang Xincheng and Guo Yunqi are college buddies. And IIRC this is the one where the Young Blood cast has a cameo?

Also just rewatched So Close, which was gayer than I remembered, I guess because a lot of Karen Mok's character's moments flew over my head when I was younger. This movie was really formative for me in spite of me only having seen it once. Assassin sisters, all-woman cast with extended fight scenes, enemies to lovers... what's not to love? (Okay, the shot of Karen Mok in her underwear was unnecessarily male gaze-y as neither of the sisters was around to witness it.) (And they appear to have spent all their music budget acquiring Close to You because the BGMs are so repetitive... The clubbing scenes are dreadful.)

Anyway I made a bunch of GIFs.


Shu Qi gifsets (please appreciate her tear-away suit)


Zhao Wei x Karen Mok gifsets (yes they kiss)

Comments

[douqi]

Shu Qi, Zhao Wei AND Karen Mok!!

I really should rewatch some female-led HK movies. They literally don't make them like that anymore.

[halfcactus]

Ooooh do you have favorites for female-led TW/HK movies?

Shu Qi, Zhao Wei AND Karen Mok!!
IKR!!! What an era to be alive and watching movies.

I thought that maybe I just have nostalgia bias but they really don't make movies like those anymore! Corey Yuan passed away a couple years ago, and even among active filmmakers who make movies about men, some of the big Hong Kong ones have pivoted to the Chinese market ... And the recent films haven't been able to produce the same crop of actors, I guess because the cultural environment has changed. I did remember liking Soul Mate but it came out way back in 2016. At this point I feel like I'm just gonna have to go through the Zhao Wei / Faye Wong / etc catalogue.

[douqi]

I watched All About Love with Sandra Ng and Vivian Chow recently, which I enjoyed. Since I was going through a Sandra Ng kick, I also watched Portland Street Blues, which is basically an old-school gangster movie with all that entails (also features Shu Qi). I also, fairly recently, watched Cafe. Waiting. Love mainly for Megan Lai playing a lesbian, and that was quite entertaining in an absurdist way. Oh, and Peony Pavilion, which basically has Joey Yung and Rie Miyazawa as a butch/femme couple.

There are things I vaguely remember seeing bits of when I was much younger and would like to rewatch: New Dragon Gate Inn, The Heroic Trio, Tsui Hark's Green Snake, the He's a Woman, She's a Man duology, and probably more things that aren't coming to mind at the moment. I may do a deep dive into Brigitte Lin's filmography at some point because I'd like to find out how she went from doing the classic ingenue role in Outside the Window to... playing a super martial artist who just happens to be a trans woman in Tsui Hark's Swordsman series.

[halfcactus]

Thank you so much for the detailed list!

I've had He's a Man She's a Woman on my to-watch list forever, but I didn't know it was a duology! And I would totally watch Portland Street Blues for Shu Qi... and triad women for a change. I might also have to put Swordsman on my list (or at least the one with trans martial artist Brigitte Lin)...

[geraineon]

Brigitte Lin's Swordsman role is so iconic! Best DFBB!

There are so many movies that's only half remembered now because too long ago... Might be time for me to rewatch all the HK classics too.

[douqi]

Yeah, I watched a lot in a piecemeal fashion as and when they happened to air on terrestrial TV and as and when my parents/grandmother/aunts decided to watch them. I don't think that was really conducive to film appreciation!
I want to do a Tsui Hark filmography deep dive and a Yonfan one as well, at some point.

[geraineon]

Yeah, same. HK dramas were family time, so I just watched whatever they wanted to watch. Definitely not conducive for film appreciation (and memory XD)

[halfcactus]

I feel like that's how those shows/movies were meant to be enjoyed, though! And as a child I don't think I had any real ~appreciation~ or preferences for movies/TV/art yet...

[geraineon]

Sucks to lose your work when your phone crashed >.<

The gifsets are lovely. When I was still watching HK dramas and movies, I liked Karen Mok! Definitely need to watch So Close.

[halfcactus]

Thankfully it was only a two-minute video with light dialogue, but I did spend some time styling the text orz I should have just done soft-subs from the beginning. (•̀⤙•́ )

Do you have any fav Karen Mok movies? I'm so tired of being disappointed in cmovies, which is why I've been going back to older TW/HK works.

[geraineon]

I didn't specifically seeked out Karen Mok (I didn't watch movies based on actors back then, it was mostly what was on TV and what was in the cinemas and what my family wanted to watch) so I can't really recommend.

and then I went looking at her wiki and hm, I don't remember watching this movie but hmmm all girls school: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Were_the_Days_(1996_film)

[halfcactus]

Girls!!! (ง ◉ _ ◉)ง