This movie was about a local bad boy/gang member (Wah) who gets the visit of a second cousin (Ngor), he is used to living alone but since she is sick his auntie decided that it would be best for her to stay with him until she got all of the exams she needed. He lives in a big city and she came from the country. While she is staying with him she realizes that his friends are always calling him and looking for him.
He turns out to be a local bad boy who is always in trouble or is always trying to get his friends out of trouble. His best friend picks a fight with the wrong gang and ends up almost dead a few times and Wah always ends up rescuing him. His friend is trying to make it big so he can help his parents back home and anything else is not acceptable for him. Wah strikes up a romance with the cousin after he goes looking for her and she breaks up with her Doctor boyfriend. Ngor is always waiting for him and not knowing if he will come back or not because of the lifestyle he has always rescuing his friends from trouble. Towards the end his friend decides to kill a high profile criminal, since he is unsuccessful Wah ends up finishing the job for him. His friend gets killed and he ends up dead which is the ending I prefer.
The theme of this movie is loyalty and determination. His friend was determined to be someone even if it mean him having to die to get it. The main character remains loyal to his friends even though he screws up a lot of times, he is always there to "save" him.
I enjoyed watching this movie, it was sad but I think it mirrors the life of many people who move to a big city and try to make it big. This particular character chooses the wrong way of getting recognition but usually when people move to another city they will try everything until they have made a name for themselves.
Touch of the Light is a movie about Siang, a blind pianist who plays himself in the movie. The movie starts in the country where Siang is getting ready leave, he is with his little sister and his mom who accompanies him to university to settle down. He had so far grown up in a rural area where his family made their best attempt to made him feel comfortable despite of his disability, he had learned to beautifully play the piano and that was what he would study. Once the got to the city he ran into some difficulties with other students who weren't as understanding about his disability and were not willing to help him get around the school campus. Siang's roommate is a wild musician who never saw Siang differently and they clicked right away. Together with some other of their friends they form a band and their goal is to play at a festival. While all of this is happening Siang first hears the voice of Jie while she is delivering cold drinks in his school campus and says that he likes it. Jie is a delivery girl for a local tea shop and is always around campus making deliveries, she dreams to become a dancer but because of the things around her life it makes it difficult for her to make that decision. Siang eventually runs into Jie when he was attempting to go to a nearby school to help other kids who have a disability and gets confused when crossing the street and she helps him. They instantly become friends and start hanging out together. Jie becomes encouraged by Siang's story and decides to go try out her dream and go an audition to another city, with the help of her boss who lends her the money to travel. While Siang and his friends have decided to go a festival and play their music, last minute they go to an audition so Siang can play the piano and they accompany him as a band playing other instruments. Going to that audition was his dream and his friends helped him with it.
The theme of the movie was courage as well as the passion Siang had to follow his dream and how he never gave up no matter what the obstacles were. That courage and passion is shared as well as learned from his colleagues.
I enjoyed watching this movie and see how the main character faced all of the challenges he was faced with. It was especially emotional because the story that was being portrayed had happened to the actor in real life.
jie
Shanghai Triad takes place in the course of & days, a young boy (Tang Shuisheng) from the country moves to the city with his uncle to start working. His uncle tells him that this way one day he will be someone, his job is to serve the "mafia's" boss mistress (his name also Tang) and her name Xiao Jinbao. Xiao can be described as a brat who is used to getting her way because of her position, she is always nicely dress and can be mean to people. Right after they arrive to the city there is a fight and someone dies, his uncle is involved in it.
The only reason why he was chosen was because of his family name, it was the same as Tang and therefore it meant that they were related. Xiao has her doubts about the kid but she accepts him and tells him that he will learn. After her show, since she is also the singer for the club that Tang owns he goes home with her and is given a room where he will stay unless she needs him. While living in her house he learns that she is having an affair with Tang's right hand man Song. It is implied that Tang has no time for her since he is always busy with his business and that has given her the liberty/time to look for a lover. In the next few days Song breaks up with her and she goes crazy by breaking everything in her room. All of this time Tang has just tried to adjust to the new living and how she wants things done. There is also a fight between gangs and Tang's uncle dies defending the boss as well as a lot of his other men. Tang got wounded but because of Tang Shuisheng who defended him he didn't die, Tang promises him that they will find who did that and avenge his death.
After that Tang's men wake Xiao and Tang Shuisheng in the middle of the night to tell them that they are moving to a island close to the city because the other gang's member are looking for the boss and he needs to hide so they won't kill him and no one shall know where they are going because they can't trust anyone. When they arrive to the island they are told that the only two people there are widow and her daughter, no one shall go to the island without Tang's approval and knowledge. Xiao befriends Cuihua who is the widow and Xiao starts asking about her business which leads to her boyfriend getting killed since the was not supposed to be going in the island without Tang's knowledge. By this time Xiao is getting better along with Tang Shuisheng and starts liking Cuihua's daugher Ajiao who tells Xiao she wants to be like her when she grows up.
On the last day Song arrives to the island with another of the boss's main man. At this time Xiao's infidelity is made known, letting her know that they knew about it since it started and knowing that now Song will be killed. But before this Tang S arrives to the boss's cabin to let him know that he overheard a conversation and some men were planning to kill Xiao. Song is killed and soon after so is Xiao, Tung S tries to defend her but he is held back. Xiao asks for the boss to please leave the widow and the little girl alone but the movie ends with them leaving on a boat with the little girl who will be the next Xiao and Tang S who is being hanged upside down because of what he did. The boss took Tang S back because of his loyalty and also because his uncle had saved him from being killed.
The theme of the movie is power and loyalty. The power the boss has makes him do as he wishes, like having Xiao as a mistress and killing people who are not loyal to him. Towards the end Xiao also comes off as more humble and human when she shares that she also comes from the country and befriends the little kids.
This has been my favorite movie so far, I enjoyed how towards the end Xiao changed from her previous behaviors and learned to like the kids and the current environment she was currently living in. I did not like the part where the little girl was taken back to the city to probably be the next Xiao once she becomes older. The scenery in the movie was also breathtaking and I really enjoyed watching it.
