It's finally nearing the end of the term. I have a breather today and an advertisement on CLEO got me curious about the other dramas/movies starring Korean star Gianna Jun. Soon, I finished watching a movie she was co-starring in, titled "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan".
Based on a book by Lisa See with a completely oriental plot (practice of feet binding and the erotic fascination with lotus feet, women dependent entirely on men with no privilege of their own, and the intimacy of sisterhood), this is a familiar genre to me. The genre with stories of oriental women with a strong will but delicate beauty fascinates me. It's my favourite genre I'll say... and the love for books featuring strong women started when I read "The little princess", "Pride and Prejudice", "The last empress" and so on. Books about women is attractive, but books about Asian women is a big plus as I am drawn to the familiarity and depth of my culture. The only thing I will say is that the male characters in these books (often marketed internationally to Europe/USA) are often Caucasian. I don't quite agree with that but I suppose it is due to the backgrounds of these authors... they are often Asian women with Caucasian partners, or half Asians.
Asian made movies offers a whole new perspective to that imbalance as it features entirely Asian characters. Some of the movies I had watched are "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Dangerous Liaisons", "The Grandmaster", "House of Flying Daggers", "Chungking Express" and "In the mood for love". Movies featuring Zhang Zi yi or made by Wong Kar Wai are often quite good.
A divergence but I also enjoy Woody Allen films even though it is not an Asian movie. "Midnight in Paris" has a fascinating storyline and romance, while 'Amelie Poulain' is a beautiful french movie about a girl who is quite different.
Rambling off..
xoxo
