Art-house ending for JY's stories

[PJ]

And PJ, I am kinda stuck...more hints?

See below.

That's pretty good. It kinda reminds me of the 1st part of Hero where Maggie Cheung kills Tony Leung because he cheated on her after suspecting that she was unfaithful.

Wrong movie but correct actors

[smurf120]

SPW

LHC and RYY have retired to the little house on the lake for a while now - living quite normal but mundane lives. Suddenly illness befalls LHC and he is diagnosed with liver problems from his drinking.

RYY cares for him tenderly but still needs to make a living selling kites, so they hire a nurse. The nurse's daughter accompanies her on trips to LHC's home. In his semi-delirium he thinks that he sees Yue Ling-san again as the nurses daughter Ling-ling resembles her a bit. This stirs up old feelings and puts him into a further depressed state.

RYY comes home and sends the nurse and her daughter away and takes care of LHC herself. She eventually nurses him back to health but is quite stricken by LHC's old feelings for YLS resurfaciing. LHC attempts to be cheerful but fails because he cannot drink to mask his melancholy feelings.

One morning several weeks later, LHC catches RYY crying softly in front of her qin. He realizes that its been a year since they last played any music together. He sits down and begins the tune for Smiling Proud Wanderer. RYY smiles and joins in. LHC realizes as he plays there could be no other like Ying Ying.

[music fade out]

[Wu Wudi]

smurf120

[Radken]

Nice one, smurf120. I hate depressing endings.

[The Khan]

A darkness covers the earth and all the people in the world are stunned at the sudden eclipse.

Then a giant meteorite crashes into the earth killing every living being on it.

THE END

[Extremer88]

A darkness covers the earth and all the people in the world are stunned at the sudden eclipse.

Then a giant meteorite crashes into the earth killing every living being on it.

THE END

Now, I would be curious whether Sweeper Monk can handle this.

[PJ]

By the way, the most art-house-centric idea I've heard from a fan about Jin Yong wuxia, is the proposition that Sweeper Monk = Li Qiushui's sister. The ending of that Fan-Initiated Speclation (FIS) document is especially enigmatic. It ended with something like this:

In a cave deeply buried under the valleys of Boundless [Wuliang] Mountain, under the beautiful moonlight, a shadow could be traced practicing exquisite swordplay. From far away the figure looks like a graceful young woman, but at the same time the movements seem to resemble an enlightened old monk.

[pannonian]

PJ, was your SPW ending lifted from In the Mood For Love?

[PJ]

PJ, was your SPW ending lifted from In the Mood For Love?

Yes, the suspicion part was.

The psychological thrilling part was probably semi-inspired by Battle Royale.

[999roses]

If you guys are realy looking for an artsy ending to a wuxia novel, please go watch "Ashes of Time". There is no better example of this lol.

[Wu Wudi]

Ashes of Time is a pretty bad film. The only enjoyable bits are the fighting sequences. There are too many meandering scenes of characters being depressed. I don't even know why they paid JY for the adaptation rights. It pretty much had nothing to do with JY's world.

[999roses]

Hahahaha. I read reviews like yours before. I heard the hardcore Jin Yong fans bashed Ashes of Time sooooo badly. But I like it, and PJ does too =D

I actually don't care much for wuxia and only got introduced to it through dramas. But Ashes of Time actually stirred up some of my interest (which died down pretty quickly).

[smurf120]

I liked Ashes of Time too - well, I am liking it more during the second viewing. I remember hating it when I first watched years ago. If the reviews are correct, it should become one of my top 10 by the 5th viewing and possibly top 3 by my 8th viewing, but I can only take so much Wong Kar Wei.

My favorite WKW is Days of Being Wild and I am still only into my 7th viewing. It might take another 15 years for Ashes of Time to get up there.

As for a portrayal of the LOCH characters - I thought it was an interesting interpretation.

Ouyang Fang - loner driven by cash trying escape memories of his tryst

Murong Yan - I got a chuckle out of this one b/c I finally understand some threads on this forum

Eastern Heretic - playful and heartbreaker

[Wu Wudi]

As for a portrayal of the LOCH characters - I thought it was an interesting interpretation.

Ouyang Fang - loner driven by cash trying escape memories of his tryst

Murong Yan - I got a chuckle out of this one b/c I finally understand some threads on this forum

Eastern Heretic - playful and heartbreaker

That's my main problem with the film. It's not even a reinterpretation, it's just a completely different story. Why even use the names of JY's characters if they aren't even the same at all? Not only that, the film failed to capture the essence of LOCH. Although LOCH might have a few heartbroken characters, it wasn't a story about unrequited love. Something's not a reimagination if it doesn't even preserve the spirit and ideas of the original. In contrast, Crouching Tiger is a perfect example of how a reimagination should be done. Despite having many plot changes to suit a 2hr movie, Crouching Tiger still managed to convey the original's themes such as loyalty, balance between love and tradition, fate, etc.

I'll like to go in more depth with this analysis but unfortunately I'm too busy this week. Also, I'd probably need to see Ashes again although I would rather not.

[PJ]

I find Ashes of Time to be very interesting (that's really an understatement). It feels like it's constructed out of a different mentality.

For me, it was essential that it used characters that I grew up to know and love, which made its universe all the more meaningful and magical. Obviously it doesn't work for a lot of viewers, but for me, I think it's the most perfect piece of work ever.

I find that I may have a similar mindset as Wong Kar-wai. For example (just one of MANY examples), I am interested in making a series on Chor Lau Heung, where Chor is uptight and depressed most of the time (due to some pre-determined circumstances), completely opposite of the original character. Where does my idea come from? Was it influenced by Wong Kar-wai, or did I always have this tendency to "re-envision" -- to gathering everything we can know about a character, then deconstruct the personality piece by piece, until nothing resembling the original is left? And, is that the TVBSWS: TVB Script Writer Syndrome? I don't know. But I do find myself naturally envisioning characters as far away from their original traits as possible.

[ChronoReverse]

I find it just to be Lazy Story Writer Syndrome. Since it's quite hard to create a compelling new setting and characters along with a story, they take pre-made popular stuff so that they can hook viewers into it cheaply. But they're too lazy to spend the effort to properly adapt (which requires a great deal of writing skill to do well) so they slap the characters into the "easy" archetypes often used in other shows.

Don't get me wrong, all that about deconstruction and so on has its place. But not in mass media. There it's just a grab for viewers.


(Adaptations are a curious variation. Although the components are present already, it's actually quite difficult to convert one form to another in a manner that is both true to the original as well as suitable for the new medium).

[PJ]

The interesting thing is that for me, I enjoy both faithful adaptions && as-far-as-you-can-get-divergences, as long as some thoughts have been put into those. I just like to use imagination and not stick to anything rigid or predictable. Maybe it's the rebel in me.

[smurf120]

My example of dubious adaptation would be Dicky Cheung's Duke of Mt Deer - gorgeous cast - but I hated it. When compared to the translation I read, it certainly has more fighting sequences (i.e. Wei Xiao Bao becomes top fighter but character does not use brain as much -- eerh? wasn't the whole point of DOMD to have atypical hero?).

Now - having WKW reimagining of WXB and his seven wives - that would be really interesting deconstruction. The lighthearted tone goes down the toilet.

Setting needs to claustrophobic - the island with cinematography by Christoper Doyle

Guilt - Heaven and Earth Society or Qing Emperor

Jealousy - Ah Ke and Cheung Hak song; all the wives at each other

Talking to inanimate objects - using dice to name children

[PJ]

OK, since we're talking about Art-house, and I've exposed my liking for DARS: Deconstructing And Revisioning Stories, please allow me to make an attempt to DARSify the basic premise of my version of Chu Liuxiang, as PJ envisions it.

--------------------------
Having lost Su Rongrong and all the other women he ever loved, Chu Liuxiang wanders the world alone. But this time, things are diffferent -- much different. He no longer has any hope. The Prince Fragrance (Xiang'shuai) has come to the conclusion that he was born under the star of death. Any woman who comes in close contact with him will suffer a horrible fate, as proven with all his previous women. He is convinced that he must live life by himself, never allowing another person to come close to his personal life again.

Prince Fragrance Chu Liuxiang is still performing chivalrous acts. But he is never happy. He is rarely seen smiling. People who knew him... have mostly died, but a few left shake their head in dismay as they see his hopelessness.\

Story will be built on top of this premise.
--------------------------

Challenge: Does this personality described above resemble any individual in Jin Yong universe?

[Tom]

Challenge: Does this personality described above resemble any individual in Jin Yong universe?

Easy, the answer is Yang Guo.