Didn't think anyone on the west coast was going to screen MAD DETECTIVE and I was going to have to be content with the SF Int'l festival's pick of LINGER next weekend (a To entry of lesser interest to me). Will be nice to revisit the other films again and finally get the chance to see ELECTION on the big screen. By the way anyone know why Richie Ren is now always billed as Richie Jen?



Hong Kong Nocturne: The Films of Johnnie To

Hello,

Who knows why stars change their names? It’s pretty obvious why Shu Qi changed her name from "Shu Kei"--for the bombshell to avoid confusion with the filmmaker of the same name (and sadly, for males of a certain age, the phrase "I had dinner last night with Shu Kei" must have lost a considerable amount of envy-inducing glee in the transition.) I too am not sure when funnyman "Stephen Chiau" became mega star "Stephen Chow" (a linguistic transformation that post-dated the jump from policier heavy to mo lei tau scamp.) Or why "Aman" Chow--a fitting nom de guerre if ever there was one--eventually became "Donald" before reverting to the name we all revere him by today: Chow "Yun-fat." In the case of "Noodle Cheng," upward brand mobility to "Dior Cheng" was made before he settled on a simple transliteration of his forename "Ekin"--he of the ageless good looks and perfectly coifed hair.

The change from Richie "Ren" to Richie "Jen" suggests the sudden stirrings of linguistic patriotism--chuyin instead of pinyin--but for the fact the switch occurred sometime around Jen’s recent marriage points to less politically motivated intentions. Maybe simple issues of domestic bliss trumped perceived anti-CCP bias? For that matter, when did Ngai Sing become "Colin Chou?" Ai-yah, when did multi-lingual fandom become so complicated? I say "Brigitte Lin" to any of my aunts and they all give me a blank stare. Mention either "Lin Ching-hsia" or "Lam Ching-ha" and they chatter on for hours about their favourite Qiong Yao weepies

FWIW -- our family all enjoyed Linger. ;~}

Hi Jennifer, was going to tell you to stay far away from LINGER but after Michael wrote about how his family enjoyed it, maybe -- just maybe -- it might appeal to you too!

Moving on to name changes:-

Not really, since whether spelled as Shu Qi or Shu Kei, it's still pronounced as "Shoo Kay" in Cantonese. Also, I will stick to spelling her name as Hsu Chi -- i.e., minus the Q I associate more with Mainland Chinese name transliterations and more Mandarin sounding than the Cantonese Shu Kei -- since it seems more Taiwanese and that is what she is!

Agree re Brigitte Lin being better known in many parts of East and South-East Asia as Lin Ching-Hsia or Lam Ching Ha rather than Brigitte Lin. Also, it's funny that her Brigitte's pronounced -- including, I've been told on good authority, by herself -- the way one would Bridget rather than Bardot's Brigitte...B)

Yvonne -- did you hate Linger THAT much?

I didn't see much to hate there, even if it (admittedly) is not a "major" work of any sort.

Man can not live on action films alone (at least, this one can't). I liked this infinitely more than Perhaps Love.

Wow great take on name changes Lee! I had forgot about all the others who’ve changed or altered their names. It’s certainly less annoying when it’s just a spelling change like Shu Kei or Sing Jai did.

According to IMDB, “after July 1997, Collin Chou decided to use his real name instead of his stage name of Ngai Sing”, but I gather the “Collin” part is due to his interest in working internationally. Nicest guy on the planet btw – you’d never know from his tough guy roles how much he likes to make people laugh.

More annoying is changing placement of the last name like Wong Kar-Wai or Zhang Ziyi. From Wikipedia: “She has appeared in English language films under the name Ziyi Zhang. In an interview, she stated that the name change was her publicist's idea of a way to appeal to Western audiences.” Just don’t think I will ever be able to refer to them as such.

And I guess we have to be understanding of name changes due to matrimony. Apparently Asian American Ming-Na Wen removed the Wen after marriage. And of course there’s Michelle Yeoh…

As for using the English actor’s name when conversing with Chinese speakers it’s always been a problem save for a few big names. I could go into a local Chinese movie shop and ask for a film with Jackie or Sammo with no problems. Jet, and inexplicably Maggie, also got me responses so learning their Cantonese names turned out to be unnecessary even though 20 years later I still remember them. However, I quickly learned if I wanted to gush about Brigitte, which I often did, Lin Ching-hsia was the name to use. Funny story – when my domestic partner was looking for a Dou Wei CD at a shop about ten years ago she could not get across what she was looking for. Finally she said Faye Wong’s boyfriend and the whole place went “OH!! FAYE WONG’S BOYFRIEND!!!” and immediately located the disc. So I guess even better than knowing the proper name is knowing the gossip.

Thanks for the LINGER advise Michael and Yvonne. I’m guessing my opinion will lay somewhere between yours’. Sure hope it’s better than PERHAPS LOVE. I somehow doubt Yvonne’s problem with the film has anything to do with it not being an action film considering she has championed many dramas over the years but I too am curious why she disliked it so much.

Michael --

I don't hate LINGER but will say that I was very disappointed with it. It didn't feel like Johnnie To had directed it -- and this is the Johnnie To who has directing credits for wonderful dramas like WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES and comedies like NEEDING YOU as well as the actioners where his heart clearly lies. Also, I'm not sure whether it's the Mandarin version that will be showing where Jennifer is but Mandarin in Hong Kong just doesn't feel completely right...

For my review of the film -- which I've been told was by far the lowest Johnnie To grosser at the local box office in years:-
http://www.bcmagazine.net/hk.bcmagazine.is.../13-linger.html

And thanks much for remembering my championing of quite a few dramas over the years, Jennifer! B)

Whose name changes never were due to marriage. I.e., she never married a Khan (as in someone with that surname rather than a Mongol ruler!). And for those who still don't know, Yeung Chi King is the Cantonese version of her Hokkien Yeoh Choo Kheng for which the Mandarin version is, if I'm not mistaken, Yang Zhi Qiong? :blink:

Hello,

Just a few notes on names. First off, I have no idea why Richie Jen changed his name. Just keeping up with my ou-hsiang news, I noticed he changed the romanisation of his it sometime around his marriage to "Tina." Technically it's the exact same name--"Jen" is just another way of writing "Ren." Yvonne could probably get a definitive answer on a press junket and I'm hoping she asks this at some point.

Second, name changes aren't that customary for women. Although it depends by country, most Chinese women that I know including all my aunts retained their full names including their maiden after marriage. Although they might be referred to as Mrs. So-and-so or Mme. This-or-that at a banquet or in newspaper piece, everyone still refers to them by their maiden surname plus their original forename. Recorded names also stay the same on legal documents.

Third, regarding Shu Qi's surname. I never understood why anyone would render the character Shu as "Hsu." The character, which means "to unwind" or "to unfurl" (say, a large map or rolled up parchment) in whatever romanisation scheme you use can only be rendered as "Shu." Identify politics aside, it's even written that way in Taiwan.

Regardless, one thing that I like about internet fandom is that one can simply look something up on-line and then print it out. From my experience, a lot of people who I've talked to at stores over the years have no idea about people's English names or romanisation schemes. Although it's easy enough to describe the morphology of people's names or to write down the individual characters, if you have no Chinese ability this isn't an option open to you. Now with all this stuff on-line, though, you can just toggle between languages with Google and stuff. And then print out what you need before dropping by the store (though, to be honest, it's cheaper to buy on-line and the selection is bigger as well.)

Returning to Johnny To, I wish his "Sparrow" was getting more exposure. Kelly Lin is one of my favourite actress--and quite fetching too--and I'm glad Simon Yam has grown out of playing the evil heavy. Man's got a lot of charm and humour. It's a shame that he, much like Anthony Wong, spent so much of their early careers playing deviant maniacs.

Can't wait to see Sparrow. I assume I will have to see this on DVD (as soon as it comes out).

FWIW, thought the hs in Hsu came from a similar place as the hs in Brigitte Lin's Hsia. Anyways, who knows the whyfores of Hsu Chi/Shu Qi/Shu Kei's surname spelling. This especially it really is Lin rather than Hsu/Hsu... ^_^

Back to an earlier post on this thread:-

Another FWIW: Sammi Cheng gets called "Sammi" by Hong Kongers like Leslie Cheung's Leslie (as well as, of course, Gor Gor). At the HKIFF this year, when she made an appearance, suddenly all the press were shouting "Sammi, Sammi" in order to attract her attention.