Painted skin 2008

[DEGE999]

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514937.jpg')$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514931.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514932.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514934.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514936.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514938.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514940.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514941.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514944.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514945.jpg')

[DEGE999]

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514946.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514948.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514950.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514951.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514952.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514954.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514955.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514956.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514957.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://photocdn.sohu.com/20080616/Img257514958.jpg')

[DEGE999]

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046734.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046727.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046419.jpg')


$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046413.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046415.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.qq.com/ent/pics/11046/11046417.jpg')

[DEGE999]

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://img1.mtime.com/pi/d/2008/20/2008515104855.85097366.jpg')

[ninavue]

Wow, after looking at all the pictures, it's definitly going to be different from the Liao Zhai story.

[Ms. Melonie]

I can't wait to see this movie. I love ALL of the cast, they're like my favorites, especially Vicki, Zhou Xun, and Chen Kun!! What do you guys think will happen in the story? I know the plot, but I'm not sure what will happen.

[bigbaby]

Any more of painted skin please ?

[bio]

more still from "Painted Skin"
source: sina/netfamily

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i0.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100925F326DT20080715095150.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i2.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100926F326DT20080715095151.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i0.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100928F326DT20080715095155.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i0.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100928F326DT20080715095155.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i3.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100934F326DT20080715095207.JPG')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i1.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100930F326DT20080715095201.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i0.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100931F326DT20080715095203.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i1.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100927F326DT20080715095153.jpg')
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i2.sinaimg.cn/ent/d/2008-07-15/U1584P28T3D2100935F326DT20080715095209.JPG')

[Ms. Melonie]

CRIENGLISH.com

An official Web site for Gordon Chan's new movie, "Painted Skin," opened Sunday night, in an effort to warm up the climate for its September release, Beijing Times reported Monday.

Gordon Chan started the launch ceremony with a group of spooky stills, representative of the elements of the breathtaking thriller.

Fans who log onto the site can view the plot, character analyses, video clips and other details on the star-studded production.
Actress Zhao Wei and actor Chen Kun were present at the launch. Zhao, who usually takes on strong characters, challenged a traditional feminine role in the film. She has tried hard to change her style, and said at the press conference that she felt good about her new image in the film.

"Painted Skin" is adapted from the ancient novel "Liaozhai Zhiyi," or "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," written by Pu Songling in the Qing Dynasty.

The movie will be released on September 28.

[bigbaby]

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449401_15.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449403_16.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449404_17.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449412_26.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449414_29.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/1217449416_28.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/13.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/14.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/18.jpg')

$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/02bigbaby/27.jpg')

[kandie]

heres the link to the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lr7mg_0PQc

[siryu]

whoaa.. this film looks so promising with all the great casts! And the plot is more complex from LiaoZhai.

the costumes are nice too though looks more Japanese to me

Can't wait for next month

[shellie]

First 2 reviews:

********

Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Director: Gordon Chan
Cast: Donnie Yen, Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Qi Yuwu, Betty Sun, David Leong
RunTime: 1 hr 35 mins
Released By: GV, Mediacorp Raintree Pictures & Scorpio East Pictures
Rating: PG (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Official Website: http://huapi.ent.sina.com.cn/
Opening Day: 26 September 2008

"Painted Skin"

Synopsis:

The story is adapted from the ancient Chinese classic ‘Ghost Stories’ (or Liao Chai).

During the Chin and Han era, Commander Wang Sheng (by Chen Kun) leads his troops in a raid on bandits in the desert, in the process he rescues a beautiful woman and brings her back with them. However he has no idea that this woman, Xiao Wei (by Zhou Xun), is in fact a fox spirit in human form. Xiao Wei needs a regular supply of human hearts to maintain her human form, and the task falls on her helper Xiao Yi (by Qi Yu Wu) – a chameleon who’s also taken on human form and has the special ability to camouflage into the environment he is in. To prove his love and devotion to Xiao Wei, he carries out a spate of murders in order to provide her with human hearts; this terrorizes the whole city.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wei has fallen in love with Wang Sheng, after being impressed with his gallant attempt in rescuing her. She keeps trying to seduce Wang in an effort to steal him from his wife Pei Rong (by Vicki Zhao).

Pei Rong finds out about Xiao Wei’s feeling for her husband; she also discovers that Xiao Wei is not human, so she secretly approaches martial expert Pang Yong (by Donnie Yen) and demon Catcher Xia Bing (by Sun Li) for help...

Subsequently a drama unfolds that delves into intricate emotions and relationships between man and demon, love and passion, loyalty and temptation, treachery and integrity, ending in a finale with surprising twist.

Movie Review:

Having braved countless supernatural movies, this reviewer can proudly say that there hasn’t been one that has managed to creep him out completely. However, since young, he has been intrigued by the famous Chinese story series “The Strange Tales of Liao Zhai”, a collection of supernatural folk takes written during the early Qing Dynasty. The colorful cast of characters includes vixen spirits, ghosts, humans and exorcists. And as eerily haunting some of these tales are, they often have a social message about human character. Naturally, these stories spawned numerous movie and television drama adaptations, and the latest one is directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Gordon Chan (Okinawa Rendezvous, A1 Headline).

The story tells of a vixen spirit who gets saved by a general, and he brings her home, only to create trouble and unrest amongst the townsfolk. The married man has no idea that the spirit eats the hearts of her human beings to maintain her good looks and her beautifully painted skin. Little does he know that the spirit is also falling in love with him, and chaos will ensue as a result of this human spirit love hate relationship.

If this is the first time you are hearing about this storyline, we don’t blame you if you find it creepy. The mental image of a spirit shedding and painting its human skin to beautify it is disturbingly spine chilling (cue the censorship board’s consumer advice of “Some Disturbing Scenes”). But the filmmakers know better than to make this marketing machine a horror fest. With the godsend cast of Mainland Chinese A-listers like Zhou Xun (Ming Ming, Perhaps Love), Vicki Zhao (Red Cliff, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt), Chen Kun (Playboy Cops, The Knot) and our very own Qi Yu Wu (The Leap Years, The Home Song Stories), you can be sure it’s going to be a box office hit. And with action super star Donnie Yen (An Empress and the Warriors, Flash Point) headlining this movie, you can be sure ticket sales will be going up, up, up.

But this is where viewers may be mistaken that this 95 minute picture is an action movie full of chop and schlock. Sure, there are some niftily choreographed action sequences that see the characters flying from rooftop to rooftop, but there aren’t any grit and blood which you’d normally expect from a movie starring Donnie Yen. In fact, this drama is rather dreary to watch in its first half, where the story sets itself up for the spirit to be introduced into the family.

The highlight here definitely isn’t Qi’s portrayal as a chameleon spirit, whose silver hair gel is more amusing than anything. It also isn’t Yen’s comic relief role as a martial arts expert, whose performance comes off as rather lightweight. Some may pay attention to Chen Kun’s brooding and gloomy performance as the emotionally undecided general, or Sun Li’s (Fearless) cute and prancing demon catcher, but these aren’t what really shine in this collaboration between Singapore, China and Hong Kong.

What audiences would be most impressed with are Zhou and Zhao’s impressive performance as the vixen spirit and the devoted wife respectively. With Zhou’s deep voice and illuminatingly stunning features, she plays her role perfectly. And who would have thought that Zhao (of the “Xiao Yan Zi” from My Fair Princess fame) could play the role of a loyal and dedicated spouse with such quiet steadfastness? In the hands of a less capable actress, this character would have come off infuriatingly irritating instead.

Watch out for the scene where the two women confront each other – the determination and relentless of the two characters are inaudibly explosive. This is what true drama is all about – characters which you empathize with, whether human or spirit.

(Watch this for the deeply moving drama, not the scuffling action sequences)

Review by John Li

http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/...aintedskin.htm


*********

Painted Skin: the good, the bad and the ugly

Written by Jorge Seow, on Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Published in : Culture, Flicks
From the ancient Chinese Classic Ghost Stories (or Liao Zhai) comes the new Asian film, Painted Skin.

Painted Skin stars Chen Kun as General Wang Sheng. While leading his soldiers in a bandit raid, he rescues a beautiful woman from the bandit’s lair. Little does he know that that woman, Xiao Wei, played by Zhou Xun, is actually a fox spirit that has taken on the form of a human.


The fox demon needs to consume human hearts to maintain this shapeshift and the job of finding her the supply lies with Xiao Yi, a chameleon spirit played by Qi Yu Wu.

Inevitably, Xiao Yi also falls for the beautiful Xiao Wei and carries out a series of murders to provide her with fresh human hearts in his futile attempts to prove his love for her. There's one slight problem: Xiao Wei has already fallen for the brave general and attempts to steal him from the general’s wife, Pei Rong (Vicki Zhao).

Meanwhile, Pei Rong suspects that Xiao Wei is not human and that she is in love with General Wang Sheng. She then approaches martial art exponent Pang Yong (Donnie Yen) and demon slayer Xia Bing (Sun Li) to help her find out the truth.

The Good…
The movie offers an exciting array of fighting scenes for the action packed lovers. Together with the brilliant plot that is propelled mostly by Pei Rong’s sacrificial love, these two elements created an exciting yet extremely touching film.

The film provides an intricate mix of lust and love in the relationships in the movie. It leaves you to wonder whether each relationship in the movie is one based on lust or love and often forces you to rethink as the story progresses.

No doubt, Painted Skin is a very good adaptation of Liao Zhai.

A little bit of magic, demons in love with humans, humans in love with other humans, good fighting scenes, a tear jerking storyline… these make up a perfect solution for a nice Liao Zhai adaptation.

I also loved how the movie did not use too many scenes with demons practising magic. This revolutionary style of execution is definitely a more modern and realistic story compared to other adaptations.

The story also had a good twist at the end.

The Bad…
Towards the end of the movie with the heartwrenching unveiling of the truth, the unfortunate timing of a few sadistically funny scenes prior to that killed the perfect moment. It was a real turnoff.

If not for the speed at which the seriousness was brought back, it would have spoilt the movie at the best parts.

Till the end of the story I still could not figure out why the English title is Painted Skin. Does it refer to the façades that the demons put on, or does its true meaning allude to the superficiality of the various characters’ love for one another?


I rest that case and leave you to decide for yourself.

The Ugly…
The scaly skin makeup on Qi Yu Wu’s forehead — self-explanatory.

Painted Skin opens in cinemas islandwide on Sept 26.

http://www.youth.sg/index.php?option...6123&Itemid=28

*******

i can't wait to see this too! i have a feeling the twist at the end will be zhao wei's character. we'll see.

[expression]

... Yeah I think I can guess what the twist is. But I don't care much about surprises or spoilers really, I'm more interested to see how a movie is executed holistically.

Highly promising movie.

[shellie]

Hong Kong gives Oscar nod to "Painted Skin" (Variety)

Written by Marcus Lim
Wednesday, 24 September 2008


HONG KONG — Hong Kong has selected the Donnie Yen starrer "Painted Skin" (Wa pei) as the territory’s contender for this year’s foreign-language Oscar.

Selection was announced Wednesday on the website of China Film Group and confirmed by Hong Kong's Motion Picture Industry Assn. at a later press conference.

"We think this film has something very special," MPIA chair Crucindo Hung said. "It is a very interesting portrayal of Chinese culture that is different to the usual."

Pic, an action-thriller centered on a vampire-like woman who eats the skins and hearts of her lovers, was helmed by Gordon Chan ("The Medallion.")

Pic was initially skedded for an Oct. 2 bow in Hong Kong, but had its release date moved forward to Sept. 24 in order to comply with Academy regs requiring a minimum seven-day local theatrical release before the nomination closing date of Oct. 1.

"The MPIA was asking us if we were ready to release 'Painted Skin' earlier," said Kathy Lan, head of Golden Sun Films, one of the pic's production companies. "At the same time, because the film will be released in China, Singapore and Thailand on the 26th, we thought it best to bring the Hong Kong theatrical release in line with these territories."

The nomination comes after a month-long guessing game between local press and the MPIA. In August, MPIA chairman Crucindo Hung indicated that the nomination would go to Chen Kaige’s upcoming "Mei Lan Fang." The claim was refuted by the director, who said that the pic would not be completed before the Oct. 1 deadline, and by Hong Kong's Emperor Motion Picture, which has a minority stake held in the film.

Nominated films from the region have had a history of cutting it close to the Academy deadline for foreign-language film submissions. In order to qualify for the Oscar nomination, Chen's "The Promise" was screened for a week in September 2005 in Chengdu ahead of its nationwide Dec. 15 release.

Other films on the MPIA's shortlist included last year's Jet Li starrer "The Warlords" and "Connected," the Benny Chan-helmed remake of the 2004 Hollywood thriller "Cellular."

http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/7006/1/

[valcee]

Just watched it.

A gripping,compelling,heartwrenching performance by Zhou Xun. But really Zhao Wei stole the show with her grasp of the nuances of the character.The scene where she cried tears of blood cut through my heart all at once.Chen Kun was amicable with his role, Donnie Yen provided some comic relief and Sun Li looked too modern for her role.Qi Yuwu needed more character development.

[CC]

Just watched it yesterday.

The whole thing hangs together only because Zhou Xun and Vicki Zhao both did excellent jobs.

The General Wang looked too clueless and boyband pretty face for me to take him seriously as a warrior.

Donnie Yen seems out of place acting as a comical guy.

But its still a good movie. All thanks to Zhou and Zhao.

[sehseh]

Was it only me who had toe-curling experience when watching this movie?

So cheesy that I'm staying off pizza for the next few months.

[beansprouts]

Just watched the show, I was pretty disappointed, the trailer looked so promising but the movie turn out to be rather bleh for me. The acting was pretty good, but even good acting can't turn a mediocre script into an excellent movie.

click to show/hide spoilers

I was expecting more horror but the show seems to focus on the relationships between the characters. Zhou Xun only did her moderately creepy taking off 'skin' thing once. There were some funny moments, but the pacing of the movie was too slow for my liking. The ending was way too happy, nobody really did die except Qi Yu Wu, who was a side character anyway.

[strawberry]

Just watched the show, I was pretty disappointed, the trailer looked so promising but the movie turn out to be rather bleh for me. The acting was pretty good, but even good acting can't turn a mediocre script into an excellent movie.

click to show/hide spoilers

I was expecting more horror but the show seems to focus on the relationships between the characters. Zhou Xun only did her moderately creepy taking off 'skin' thing once. There were some funny moments, but the pacing of the movie was too slow for my liking. The ending was way too happy, nobody really did die except Qi Yu Wu, who was a side character anyway.

I am surprised...the trailer made the movie looked really scary!