From Heaven To Hell
I was buying The Heavenly Kings over the weekend when I realised that my friend who was with me must have thought I was buying some porn gay movie or something (see photo below).
The movie, about how a group of four guys come together to form a band called Alive amid HK's fickle minded music and star-making industry, is shot documentary style (or mockumentary as the film's creators described it). It features interviews with HK celebs like Jacky Cheung, Karen Mok and Miriam Yeung. The movie stars Daniel Wu (The Banquet recently and in Andy Lau's new movie Protege) together with Conroy Chan, Terence Yin and Andrew Lin.
I was laughing out loud at midnight (wonder what my neighbours would think of me now) because some of the scenes were really so hilarious and tongue-in-cheek.
Andrew, who dreams of becoming an actor, thought of forming the Alive band. He took in Daniel, a popular actor. Daniel dragged in Conroy (I'm the fattest boyband member ever" and "I wanted to be part of Alive because I want to be known not just as Josie Ho's husband.") and Terence, who had released an album in Taiwan previously. Everyone, except for Terence, cannot sing.
This is how their musical director described them:
Andrew: worse than I thought
Conroy: he's okay but lazy
Terence: he's the only one who can sing
Daniel: just as worse but he works really hard, he pratices a line over and over and on the 30th try, he gets it
This is how Terence described the group during a confrontation with Andrew and Conroy: "You (referring to Andrew) are very selfish, you just wanted this group for your own benefit and you took in Daniel because he is popular, me (Terence) because I could sing and Conroy to make yourself look good (because Conroy is the worst performer)."
(Terence, by the way, looks like that guy with the same name and it was a good thing that Terence here was an asshole so it wasn't really a pain watching the movie and being reminded of the other TR from the little red dot.)
The rise and fall of the band is documented from the time they decided to get together to the time they launch their first single. How they launched it? They played with the Internet and the media and it was cringing how the HK media actually bought their story. There are press conferences interspersed between the scenes and interviews. The movie plays like a behind-the-scene look on what happens to celebrities on their way to the top and it is definitely an interesting watch for pop culture fans like me.
And because it's showbiz, it's peppered with all sorts of characters. There are the managers (how many managers do one actually need?), one of which sell them the idea that they need to employ "professional fans" for their first performance (at a Channel V event in HK) because it would have been embarrassing if no one actually went to the show. On the sly, Andrew asked the manager how much a fan would cost and she told him HK$500. He asks her to set up five only for him (shameless prick and I was really rolling in laughter!). During the meeting, someone mentions that "I heard that even F4 has professional fans" and another one replies, "seriously?!")
Then there was the choreographer who discovers that just like most boybands, these guys cannot tell which is their left foot from the right. There was also the celebrity designer who came with a chihuaha (move aside Paris Hilton) and an even gayer assistant. The manager introduces him as someone who has designed for "Andy Lau, Kelly Chen, Twins..." and he interjects with sly shyness, "Faye Wong". The designer and the scenes with him were priceless and no one was even trying to be funny, but just looking at the expression of the four guys (HK's version of F4, one of the write-ups after their debut proclaimed) was the crown jewel.
And just like any celebrity's rise to fame, there are the ups and downs. The first performance, the first pictorial, the fans etc etc. Then the one big fight. The film starts and ends with that one scene that leads to the conclusion. I felt though that the ending was too contrived, that they could have done better especially since they were on a roll.
Daniel Wu is credited for directing the movie and he does well in it (which shows that he is not just a pretty face). The song "Adam's Choice", the band's first single, is also catchy (but the MV is so cheeky). You can get more of Alive at www.alivenotdead.com
(While watching the movie, I couldn't help but suspect that Daniel is a Virgo because there were just too many Virgo traits I saw in his character. But he was born on Sept 30 which makes him a Libra.)
The movie, about how a group of four guys come together to form a band called Alive amid HK's fickle minded music and star-making industry, is shot documentary style (or mockumentary as the film's creators described it). It features interviews with HK celebs like Jacky Cheung, Karen Mok and Miriam Yeung. The movie stars Daniel Wu (The Banquet recently and in Andy Lau's new movie Protege) together with Conroy Chan, Terence Yin and Andrew Lin.
I was laughing out loud at midnight (wonder what my neighbours would think of me now) because some of the scenes were really so hilarious and tongue-in-cheek.
Andrew, who dreams of becoming an actor, thought of forming the Alive band. He took in Daniel, a popular actor. Daniel dragged in Conroy (I'm the fattest boyband member ever" and "I wanted to be part of Alive because I want to be known not just as Josie Ho's husband.") and Terence, who had released an album in Taiwan previously. Everyone, except for Terence, cannot sing.
This is how their musical director described them:
Andrew: worse than I thought
Conroy: he's okay but lazy
Terence: he's the only one who can sing
Daniel: just as worse but he works really hard, he pratices a line over and over and on the 30th try, he gets it
This is how Terence described the group during a confrontation with Andrew and Conroy: "You (referring to Andrew) are very selfish, you just wanted this group for your own benefit and you took in Daniel because he is popular, me (Terence) because I could sing and Conroy to make yourself look good (because Conroy is the worst performer)."
(Terence, by the way, looks like that guy with the same name and it was a good thing that Terence here was an asshole so it wasn't really a pain watching the movie and being reminded of the other TR from the little red dot.)
The rise and fall of the band is documented from the time they decided to get together to the time they launch their first single. How they launched it? They played with the Internet and the media and it was cringing how the HK media actually bought their story. There are press conferences interspersed between the scenes and interviews. The movie plays like a behind-the-scene look on what happens to celebrities on their way to the top and it is definitely an interesting watch for pop culture fans like me.
And because it's showbiz, it's peppered with all sorts of characters. There are the managers (how many managers do one actually need?), one of which sell them the idea that they need to employ "professional fans" for their first performance (at a Channel V event in HK) because it would have been embarrassing if no one actually went to the show. On the sly, Andrew asked the manager how much a fan would cost and she told him HK$500. He asks her to set up five only for him (shameless prick and I was really rolling in laughter!). During the meeting, someone mentions that "I heard that even F4 has professional fans" and another one replies, "seriously?!")
Then there was the choreographer who discovers that just like most boybands, these guys cannot tell which is their left foot from the right. There was also the celebrity designer who came with a chihuaha (move aside Paris Hilton) and an even gayer assistant. The manager introduces him as someone who has designed for "Andy Lau, Kelly Chen, Twins..." and he interjects with sly shyness, "Faye Wong". The designer and the scenes with him were priceless and no one was even trying to be funny, but just looking at the expression of the four guys (HK's version of F4, one of the write-ups after their debut proclaimed) was the crown jewel.
And just like any celebrity's rise to fame, there are the ups and downs. The first performance, the first pictorial, the fans etc etc. Then the one big fight. The film starts and ends with that one scene that leads to the conclusion. I felt though that the ending was too contrived, that they could have done better especially since they were on a roll.
Daniel Wu is credited for directing the movie and he does well in it (which shows that he is not just a pretty face). The song "Adam's Choice", the band's first single, is also catchy (but the MV is so cheeky). You can get more of Alive at www.alivenotdead.com
(While watching the movie, I couldn't help but suspect that Daniel is a Virgo because there were just too many Virgo traits I saw in his character. But he was born on Sept 30 which makes him a Libra.)
posted by YupkiGirl at 4:43 pm
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