ahhhh initial d...
written: 6:04 p.m. on Thursday, Jun. 23, 2005

A movie infested with extraneous freeze frames; a miscast lead actor; and very, very bad background music.

If only Jielun had written the original score.

If only he'd thought twice before taking on the role.

If only!

Honestly, it was an average movie at best. I expected a lot more out of it, but. Edison Chen was seriously wasted. Shawn Yue might as well not have existed in the film at all. And Jielun? He sleepwalked through the entire movie with exactly one facial expression.

Okay, so it's his debut. For a first-time foray into acting, I suppose it wasn't entirely disastrous. For instance, his crying scene at the end almost had me in tears too - not quite sure why, if it's because of his acting or because of his beautiful, melancholic song (Yi Lu Xiang Bei) playing in the background, or if it's a combination of the two. Whatever it is, that scene rescued his acting from eternal Suckdom.

But still. I didn't really expect a lot, but I expected more than what he delivered onscreen. His Mandarin dub, although done by him, sounded extremely unnatural as well. And whoever did Shawn Yue's Mandarin dub should find another occupation because that person sucked beyond belief. (If it's Shawn Yue himself...bwahahaha.)

The problem with Jielun was that I never quite felt like he really opened up and embraced the character. It was like watching Jay Chou trying to fit into the shoes of Fujiwara Takumi, feeling out the edges but still being unable to fully immerse himself into the role. You could tell he was trying very hard but it just didn't work, you know?

And that's a large part of why the movie wasn't that great. It was style over substance; the ending was too abrupt; and it was just a generally poor adaptation. There were some gripping moments, and that's in spite of me already knowing the outcome of the race (any idiot will know who'd eventually win the final race - like, duh, of course it's Takumi)...but still. The freeze frames. What the fuck was up with the over-usage of those things? Instead of facilitating the flow of the movie, whenever the directors froze an actor's expression (or lack thereof, in Jielun's case), it only served to constipate the pacing of the movie.

Sigh. I expected more from the directors of Infernal Affairs. Tsui Hark was supposed to direct this; I wonder if it would've been better with him helming the project.

Having said all of that, despite the movie being quite a let-down, I wanna watch it again. Why, Yelen, why? I really have no freaking idea. I'd probably watch it a few more times too, like I'd initially planned. Maybe it's my headache talking. Or maybe I've really losted it.

Anne Suzuki and Anthony Wong were great, the former in spite of her horrendous Mandarin dub, and the latter, merely because he's awesome. Chapman To, the dude who played Takumi's best friend, was as annoying as his character was in the anime/manga though, and I mean annoying as in UNfunny. I hated his stupid speech about god or whatever.

Oh well. Jielun looked super hot in it. I loved the scene at the beach (expected it to be longer though!), as well as the scene in which Anne Suzuki's character kissed him - hilarious reaction! Also liked the fight scene with Anthony Wong. He didn't display cliche, typical rage, but a more controlled and subdued kind that was very much in character if you ask me. That last bit where he threw a framed picture of a young Anthony Wong was a nice touch as well.

Okay, Jielun wasn't entirely shitty. He was very, very raw - which is both good and bad. Good, because he's able to display naked emotions in an original fashion, a la that argument scene I mentioned above which was wholly convincing; and bad, because there are other scenes in which you expect him to open up somemore to drive home certain feelings and thoughts, but he never does. But still, for a newcomer, it was okay.

Apparently this is not his last on-screen role. Hopefully he'd get better in the future.

For now, I'd just await his sixth album with bated breath. I love Jielun.

**

I bought Edison Chen's album. Sorry dude, didn't steal it.

Bo Bice's single is nowhere to be found. Singapore is a piece of crap.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010