Review of series “To Love With Love 水餃皇后” (1995)

This particular series recently came on TV and it so happened that I had never seen this series before, so I figured I’d give it a try. The premise of the story wasn’t bad and actually, the first half of the series was quite interesting, but near the second half, there was too much focus on parts that weren’t really necessary to the plot and were very obviously fillers. If the second half of the series was less draggy, I think I probably would have liked it more.

This series from the mid-90s is a modern series starring Nnadia Chan (陳松伶), Timmy Ho (何寶生), Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), Joyce Chan (陳彥行), Angie Cheong (張慧儀) and veteran artists So Hang Suen (蘇杏璇) and Wong Ching (王青). When I watched the opening theme video and also the first few episodes, I thought that this was perhaps another one of those typical ‘love story’ type series that TVB is famous for doing. Turns out that the series goes beyond that, as the message it tries to convey is not just about love conquering all, but also about perseverance, never giving up, and overcoming adversity in life. To be honest, there were definitely a lot of ‘predictable’ elements to the plot and I could see that the storyline does follow the ‘mold’ of the typical ‘tale of encouragement’ type series – so it definitely wasn’t unique and in fact some segments were too predictable to the point of being a bit boring -- if it weren’t for the cast (especially Nnadia and Wayne), I don’t think the series would have endured.

For the purposes of this review, I’m going to focus mostly on the characters, as I personally feel that this is the type of series where character development is important and it’s really the characters as well as the acting (rather than the storyline) that drives the series forward.


Main Cast / Characters

Nnadia Chan (Chu Yan Ping) – Nnadia’s character (nicknamed Ah Bien) is a poor village girl who lost her mother at a young age and so growing up, she had to take care of her 2 younger brothers while her father worked at a local restaurant. As the only female in the house, she was already cooking and cleaning and taking care of the household even before she reached her teens – though life was difficult, she still maintained a positive and optimistic attitude, as she believed that as long as one was willing to persevere and work hard, things would eventually get better. In the village, she didn’t have too many friends, but she was very close with the two best friends that she had grown up with (played by Timmy Ho and Wayne Lai). When she grows up, she eventually marries one of the ‘best friends’ (Timmy), but of course things happen in her life that test her marriage as well as her relationship with her family – at the same time, she needs to take care of her family and so makes a career out of what she knows best: making dumplings. Basically, the entire story revolves around Ah Bien’s trials and tribulations in life and how she eventually went from being a poor village girl to a well-known ‘queen of dumplings’.

Nnadia is definitely one of my favorite actresses. I love how her acting is so natural and convincing, to the point that no matter what roles she takes on, it never seems as though she is acting – rather, it always feels like she IS the character. Even with a lot of the difficult scenes such as crying or arguing, she does it so naturally (unlike other actresses where you can usually tell when they are faking it). I always enjoy watching Nnadia’s performances, even if I don’t like the series or the character that she may be portraying.

Once again, Nnadia did an excellent job with her performance in this series. If you think about it, the character is actually quite tragic and has to endure through a lot of difficult situations, yet throughout that time, remain positive and optimistic. She was perfect for the role and I honestly feel that no other actress would have been able to do as good a job as her in this series. Even though Nnadia’s character wasn’t my favorite in this series, I couldn’t help but admire and respect her. Interestingly, I think that part of the reason why Nnadia was so good in this series (aside from her natural born acting skills) is because in terms of personality and attitude, the character of Chu Yan Ping is very similar to how Nnadia is in real life. (After reading Nnadia’s interview with Mingpao that I translated back in August, this fact was made even more clear – looking back at that interview, I felt as though the woman being described was in fact Chu Yan Ping!).

It’s really too bad that Nnadia is no longer active in the HK TV industry – she is one of the few naturally talented actresses out there and it’s definitely the industry’s loss.


Timmy Ho (Yu Chi Fung) – Timmy’s character is a ‘young master’ of sorts from a well-to-do family in the village. His family owns the restaurant where Ah Bien’s dad works and for years, the family has run the establishment with an iron first. Timmy’s character in the series is actually quite stereotypical, as he is extremely smart and talented, highly educated (college grad who studied abroad overseas), and excels at pretty much everything he does – however he has a very compassionate personality and despite his status, he is very down to earth. He’s very independent and doesn’t let societal norms govern his life – also, he has no problems speaking out against injustice and rebelling against his overbearing, bossy, unreasonable mother (played by So Hang Suen) whenever her actions would get out of hand. For example, he ends up falling in love with Nnadia’s character Ah Bien and marries her against his mother’s wishes; then when his mother is mean to Ah Bien and her family, he is fiercely protective of her and even moves out with her to prevent her from being treated badly by his mother. With that said though, no matter how much he disapproves of his mother’s actions, he is ultimately still a filial son -- this will be an important fact later on, as it is precisely because of this filialness that he ends up going to jail for 2 years, which changes his life completely and also strains his marriage as well as his relationship with his family later on in the series.

Those who followed TVB’s series in the 90s will probably be familiar with Timmy Ho, as he was in quite a few series in the mid-90s (he was most active at TVB from 1995 to 1998 – in those 4 years alone, he participated in close to 15 series, with important roles in majority of those series). Timmy is actually from a very well-to-do family in real life, as his father is a rich bank tycoon with a net worth in the millions. His father was a skilled businessman who passed on his keen business acumen to his son – therefore, when Timmy returned to HK after studying abroad in Canada, he started his own business (in a completely unrelated field) and without any help from his father, was able to become extremely successful. He actually entered the entertainment industry by chance, as he was out singing with some friends and because he had good singing skills, he was ‘discovered’ and signed by a record company. When he joined TVB in the early 90s, he actually wasn’t part of the drama department – he had hosting talent, so he was chosen to host various variety shows as well as entertainment news show such as 娛樂新聞眼 (yes, the same entertainment news show that Leo Ku started in as well). It wasn’t until a few years later that he was chosen to participate in drama series and eventually in movies as well – it sounded like TVB had high hopes for him, as he was very heavily promoted in the mid-90s, with involvement in all three disciplines of music, television, and movies. I’ve actually never heard Timmy sing, so I can’t pass judgement on that piece, but I have seen quite a few of his series and must admit that he definitely had a lot of potential in terms of acting – plus he also had the advantage of being tall and relatively good-looking, so I think that if he had stayed in the industry, he probably would have been able to have a decent career.

So where is Timmy Ho now? Well, some time in the late 90s, he started studying Buddhism and became fascinated with the religion. I had read that prior to Timmy finding the religion, he was actually a bit of a spoiled rich kid (though not as extreme as some others in his same position) with a very bad habit – gambling; but after he started studying Buddhism, his personality changed completely, becoming more low-key and foregoing a lot of the excesses that were once a part of his world (for example, he moved out of the luxury hilltop mansion he had lived in for years and instead moved into a small rented apartment in the city). Timmy once said in an interview that he really felt a great affinity with Buddhism and really wanted to pursue it more in-depth – based on this, I guess it was really not a surprise then that he chose to enter the monastery and become a monk in 2005. Interestingly, he was very low-key about it – to the point that a lot of people (including the Media) did not know that he became a monk until 2 or 3 years ago.


Wayne Lai (Teng Nai Keung) – Wayne’s character Ah Nai is the other childhood friend that Nnadia’s character Ah Bien grows up with – in their childhood, he and Ah Bien along with Chi Fung were very close and had a ‘Three Musketeers’-like friendship. Ah Nai is actually a very interesting character: his father and grandfather were both the head of the village when they were alive, so naturally, he inherited the position after his father died (he was only in his twenties, yet he was already in such a highly respected position overseeing the entire village) – however he was not the typical village head, as he was neither stern nor strict nor did he put on airs or act self-important. Instead, he had a very ‘happy-go-lucky’ personality and was pretty much a kid at heart – he always took an optimistic and cheerful approach to things, no matter how difficult or tragic the situation was. He loved to hang out with the local kids and play video games, or hang out with his friends or help the villagers solve problems / disputes (the scenes where he went around looking for problems to resolve because he was so bored out of his wits – to the point that he had to resort to talking to the floor in his living room and imitating a sitting Buddha statue – were SO HILARIOUS, I was practically on the floor laughing!). Even with his playful personality though, he understood his responsibilities as village head and always made sure things that needed to get done were done. Despite having a crush on Ah Bien since childhood, he was genuinely happy for her when she married Chi Fung, as he knew that Chi Fung was better than him in many ways (talent, education, smarts, etc.) and was a better match for Ah Bien than himself. And throughout the entire series, no matter what situations occurred or what challenges arose, the 3 of them remained very close – their friendship never got affected. Later on, Ah Nai ends up falling in love with Chi Fung’s sister Ah Huo (played by Joyce Chan) and they eventually get married.

Ah Nai was definitely my favorite character in this series. He provided a lot of comic relief in an otherwise tragic story – in my opinion, his character really kept the series lighthearted and uplifting and actually really complemented the theme of the series quite well. For example, even when Ah Nai is diagnosed with a terminal illness (brain tumor) and knows that he doesn’t have long to live, he still remains true to his personality by remaining upbeat and spending whatever days he had left living life to the fullest. I love how the character was able to balance the comedic and tragic so perfectly, to the point that all of the scenes with him in it were thoroughly enjoyable. This was true even up until the end, when Ah Nai eventually dies from his illness – this part of the story was handled extremely well, as it wasn’t overly tragic yet still effectively got the point across.

To be honest, I don’t know who I should give credit to for the great job with the character of Ah Nai – I’m sure some of the credit goes to the writers for the well-written character, but in my opinion, a lot of the credit should also go to Wayne for his brilliant portrayal of the character (and I’m not just saying this because Wayne is one of my favorite actors). Just like with Nnadia’s character, no one else could have portrayed Wayne’s character better than him….which of course brings me back to the point that even back then, Wayne’s great acting skills were apparent and I really feel that once again, he ‘stole the show’ (that seems to be a pattern with many of the series where he is in the supporting role – even with series where I like the main leads, I still thoroughly enjoy Wayne’s role way more). Wayne is definitely ‘the best of the best’ when it comes to acting and so far, with all the series that I’ve seen of his (there are still some out there I have yet to watch), I have never been disappointed by his performance! (And once again, shame on TVB for taking more than 20 years to recognize him for his brilliant acting skills!).


So Hang Suen (Chi Fung’s mother Mrs. Yu) – So Han Suen’s character Mrs. Yu is one of those characters that we as audiences love to hate. For the first half of the series, she is pretty much the typical overbearing mother – bossy, unreasonable, constantly yelling at people for no good reason and never lets them get a word in edgewise, doesn’t trust anyone, etc. – pretty much, her attitude is that everything has to go her way no matter what. I would have to say that her character was downright annoying. Of course, in the second half of the series, after her family loses everything (their restaurant business and all their money), her son goes to jail because of her, and her older daughter betrays her, she becomes humbled and changes her tyrannical ways. She moves in with her daughter-in-law Ah Bien (Nnadia’s character) and after awhile, she realizes how wrongly she had treated Ah Bien in the past. Even though Mrs. Yu still has somewhat of a fiesty personality in the second half of the series, she actually becomes more likable due to her transformation from an overbearing tyrant to a reasonable mother who finally realizes how much her family means to her.

So Hang Suen is one of my favorite veteran female actresses. I pretty much grew up watching her series and to me, her acting always comes across so natural. Throughout her career, she has played numerous ‘mother’ characters – from the ‘benevolent’ type to the ‘overbearing’ type – and each time, her portrayal is very convincing. I mean, who can forget So Hang Suen’s many ‘classic’ mother characters: Kwok Jing’s (Felix Wong) mother Lee Ping in 1983’s “Legend of the Condor Heroes”, Cheung Wah Kit’s (Tony Leung) mother in all 3 installments of “Police Cadet”, Ding Yau Kin’s (Felix Wong) and Ding Yau Hong’s (Deric Wan) adoptive mother Auntie Wan in 1989’s “Looking Back in Anger”, etc. (just to name a few). If I were asked to give a list of actresses who do the best ‘mother’ roles, So Hang Suen would definitely be number one on my list!

So Hang Suen is retired from the industry now, but she does participate in the occasional series or two when she feels like it (primarily ATV series though). The latest I read was that last year, she and a group of fellow veteran ‘green leaf’ artists opened up an Acting School and she currently teaches there.


Joyce Chan (Ah Huo) – Joyce’s character Ah Huo is the younger sister of Yu Chi Fung. As the youngest daughter in the family, it was expected that she would be the most loved or spoiled, but actually, things were quite opposite for her – even though her dad and brother were good to her and treated her well, her mother always seem to be annoyed with her and yelled at her no matter what she did. She later finds out the reason why her mother treats her this way is because she is actually not her biological daughter – her father had an affair many years ago and she was the ‘result’ of that affair. When she finds out, she becomes depressed and runs away from home – not surprisingly, Ah Nai (Wayne) talks to her and eventually helps her get back on track, which is how they end up becoming a couple.

To me, Joyce’s role in the series wasn’t tremendously important, as it seemed that her function was mainly as a love interest for Wayne’s character. This could be why the writers didn’t spend a whole lot of time developing the storyline involving her.

As far as Joyce’s acting is concerned – well, I pretty much don’t have an opinion either way. I’ve always been neutral towards Joyce, as I don’t watch enough of her series to really be able to formulate an opinion. If you were to ask me what her ‘representative work’ is, I would have to say “Virtues of Harmony”, but that’s only because that series was on for close to 4 years, so it’s hard not to remember that series somewhat. I had read that at one point in the 90s, TVB was planning on heavily promoting her – but I’m actually not sure if they did or not because most of the series that I’ve seen of hers, she only had minor or supporting roles….even when she left TVB (to go to ATV), I really don’t feel she had any type of breakthrough role (maybe that’s why TVB gave up on her?).


Angie Cheong (Cheng Si Nga) – Angie’s role is a supporting one, as she plays Timmy Ho’s ex-girlfriend (coincidentally also named Angie) who breaks up with him, but then regrets it later because she still has feelings for him – but it’s too late because he had already married Nnadia. Even though on the surface, she appears to have gotten over it and even becomes good friends with the couple, she is actually deeply jealous of them on the inside and ‘predictably’ spends most of the series trying to sabotage the couple. (Ok, to put it bluntly, she is once again the ‘bxxch’ in this series). Needless to say, she doesn’t succeed in the end, since Timmy and Nnadia remain together.

Honestly, I really didn’t see the point in having Angie’s character there. Sure, they tried to make the storyline more interesting by putting in the ‘third wheel’ element to the relationship and such, but I feel they could have still gotten the same effect without her character – or perhaps still keep her character, but reduce her screentime (not that she had a lot of screentime to begin with). Some of the draggy scenes in the series were actually between her and Timmy and honestly, they really weren’t necessary to further the plot – I mean, how many scenes do we need to tell us that she still has feelings for Timmy and wants to get back with him, despite him no longer loving her? Not a whole lot, to be honest – they should have just cut out a lot of those ‘filler’ scenes instead of boring the audiences with them.

Those of you who watched “A Kindred Spirit” (which ran from 1995 to 1999) should be VERY familiar with Angie. In fact, for me, that was the first series of hers that I saw – prior to that, I had no clue who she was. Not surprisingly, she came out of a beauty pageant (Miss Asia International?) and actually did not participate in a whole lot of series if you really think about it. I’m actually neutral towards Angie because I honestly can’t tell whether she has acting potential or not – yes, she did well in “A Kindred Spirit”, but in that series as well as almost every other series she did, she had pretty much been typecasted as a ‘sex symbol’ actress (probably because of her good looks and figure) who is always ‘second fiddle’ to the main female leads…all her roles are actually pretty similar.


Honorable Mentions

.—Veteran actress Lai Suen (actress Gigi Lai’s aunt) played the role of Wayne’s grandmother in the series. Not surprisingly, her portrayal was excellent, but what I loved most though was actually her chemistry with Wayne – the two of them portrayed the grandmother / grandson relationship so well that if you were to tell me they were really related, I would probably believe it (of course, we know they aren’t related in real life though). I must say that whoever did the casting for the 2 characters did a great job!

.—Veteran actor Wong Ching played the role of Nnadia’s dad. His character was loud and obnoxious at times and had a big temper, but at the end of the day, he truly did love his children – it’s just that he wasn’t good at expressing it (or, more likely, he didn’t have time to, since he pretty much worked nonstop day and night in order to put food on the table). I enjoyed Wong Ching’s portrayal of the dad – he was funny at times (though he didn’t mean to be funny) but still did all the serious scenes quite well.

.—A very young Ruco Chan was also in this series (I’ve started to notice him in a lot of the older series that I’ve been watching lately). He played one of Nnadia’s younger brothers in the series. I will tell you that I definitely didn’t recognize him at first, as he looked so tremendously different back then. His role was actually a minor one and he didn’t have a whole lot of screen time – but I felt that he still did a good job nonetheless.


Concluding Thoughts

Overall, this series wasn’t bad in my opinion…BUT because of the genre and the message that it tries to get across, this series may not necessarily suit the tastes of all audiences. This is definitely one of those series where there is a big focus on ‘inner emotion acting’ (內心戲), which means that the series is a bit slower pace than most audiences would like (especially the second half, which was very draggy). I would still recommend this series (Nnadia and Wayne’s performances alone are absolutely worth watching) to those interested in the genre – BUT just make sure that you have plenty of patience to sit through the second half.

Nnadia Chan's (陳松伶) Interview with MingPao

Here's another great interview from Mingpao (I'm a huge fan of their interviews!)...I actually translated this interview a few days ago for AF and figured I'd post it here as well.

It's been awhile since I've heard anything about Nnadia Chan, since she pretty much left the HK entertainment industry. And from the looks of it, she isn't going to be returning to the industry any time soon -- therefore, interviews such as this one will probably be few and far between.

Not sure how many people reading this are Nnadia fans (I have to admit that I'm not a fan, but I really like Nnadia as an actress and a singer), but regardless, I'm sure that you will enjoy this article. The message it conveys is a very positive one as well (one that everyone can learn from)!

Enjoy!

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Mingpao Interview: Nnadia Chan forgives and forgets

Source: HKChannel (Original source: MingPao)

Translation: llwy12

Many years ago, Nnadia Chan sang a children’s song called《烏卒卒》[loosely translated as ‘Dark’], which became so popular that it was known and sung by everyone ‘from the streets to the alleys’. She had also participated in many of TVB’s ‘classic’ series such as《Songbird》, 《Instinct》,《Cold Blood Warm Heart》, etc. in which she got the chance to collaborate with such ‘cool’ guys as Leon Lai, Ekin Cheng, and Louis Koo, and also became one of TVB’s fa dans. Behind all the fame and fortune however, Nnadia had to endure some painful experiences: she once ran away from home and broke off all relations with her family for 20 years, plus her relationship with her former manager ended unhappily due to a misunderstanding – within a day, she was left to fend for herself, with barely a penny to her name. Despite going through so many peaks and valleys in her life, Nnadia continued to hold steadfastly to her belief in the ‘2Fs’ – Forgive and Forget – believing that as long as one is alive, there is always a chance to start over again. In the end, she was able to achieve this – not only had she made amends with her family and now has a great relationship with them, but she is currently a happy housewife, as she recently revealed that she married Mainland actor Zhang Duo and the couple are living a wonderful life together.

In recent years, Nnadia has virtually disappeared from the Hong Kong entertainment industry; even in the Mainland, she is barely seen in any recent series – her last Mainland series was 2008’s 《Single Mother》. Recently, Nnadia returned to HK and while attending the Book Fair in July, she announced that she and her boyfriend, Mainland actor Zhang Duo, married already and so she is officially ‘Mrs. Zhang’. In addition, she has agreed to film the new ICAC series for RTHK,《ICAC 2011》, in which she will participate in one story. Nnadia expressed: “The main reason for my return to HK this time around is to oversee the remodeling of my mother’s house and also to sort out my massive book collection; because of the huge number of books, there is no way to ship them to the Mainland, so I decided to donate most of them to the library. I also checked my emails online and discovered that a lot of people had contacted me, including RTHK. Apparently, ICAC had chosen me for an upcoming collaboration and I also was interested in the role, so the agreement was made almost immediately. Actually, I’ve been wanting to give back to society for quite some time, so this is a great opportunity to do so.”

In between a foolish person and a nice person

Nnadia has high praises for the ICAC, saying that the bureau is one of the most righteous agencies in government. Asked whether she had ever encountered a situation involving corruption in real life, Nnadia replied: “I never encountered a real corruption situation, but I’ve seen people give small gifts – in my opinion, that’s not considered bribery, but just a normal human act, usually as an expression of gratitude…the most important thing is that it doesn’t cross the line. It’s just like in life, when people take things to the extreme – helping someone too much can lead to spoiling that person, while reprimanding too much could push the person over the edge. In all matters, it’s necessary to find the proper balance – I’m actually still learning this right now, don’t know if it’s too late.” (Could it be that you are relating your own experience of helping someone to the point of spoiling them?) Nnadia responded: “Of course I’ve experienced it, which is why I would think that way. Actually, all along, my personality has always been one that is very tolerant and forgiving of others, to the point that I can’t even tell whether I’ve become a foolish person or an extremely nice person – I feel that I’m probably somewhere in between.” (Are you referring to your former manager?) “I’m just relating experiences that I’ve had, it doesn’t matter whether it was with my former manager or with someone I may encounter again in the future – what has happened is already in the past.”

Fell painfully, picked herself up quickly

With regard to the breaking off of her relationship with her former manager, it had actually resulted in Nnadia losing all of the money that she had put in much ‘blood and sweat’ to earn during her 20 years in the entertainment industry. Despite such a huge setback, Nnadia did not give up and instead, bravely picked herself back up again and continued to persevere. Her actions set a great example for today’s youth and demonstrate that in the face of defeat and despair, don’t give up easily.

Nnadia expressed: “During that time, I held onto my belief in the ‘2Fs’ -- no, not curse words, but rather the words Forgive and Forget. I chose to forgive the person and also forget the bad experience – as long as I’m still alive, there is no doubt that I will be able to start over again, plus when I came into this world, I had nothing anyway.” Nnadia also revealed that back when she first entered the industry, she was still a student, so she would bring her homework with her on the set – having to balance school and work was no easy task: “I understand that sometimes, one’s dream can be in conflict with real life. My advice to the younger generation is to not give up on education so easily. If there is financial burden, then work part time while continuing to go to school – in fact, that’s how my sister completed her Masters program. Sometimes, no matter how difficult it may seem, if you are able to properly manage your time, it’s definitely possible to accomplish.”

For now, no plans for a baby

Nnadia admits that she is very much enjoying her current life with her husband and the couple mutually decided that they do not want to have children as of yet. “Currently, we are not concerned about carrying on the family name. My parents were never rich and had to work hard for most of their lives to raise their children. It’s the same for many parents – they have to make so many sacrifices and take on a lot of responsibility for their children, so having children is not an easy decision and shouldn’t be taken lightly. For us, another reason we chose to put off having kids is because I want to spend more time with my mother and properly handle the issues in my family. That’s why I say that after getting married, I sometimes feel like a ‘social worker’, since I seem to be resolving family issues most of the time. Actually, my family definitely needs someone to handle various issues that occur – if a small issue isn’t taken care of, it could quickly escalate into a big issue. Every family has their own share of difficulties and problems, but no matter how hard it may be to handle, it’s still necessary to face it head on.”

Ran away from home, broke off ties for 20 years

During the interview, Nnadia revealed that she had run away from home many years ago and as a result, was not in contact with her family for 20 years. It wasn’t until Nnadia bumped into her younger sister on the streets of Central District one day while she was filming a series that her relationship with her family started to change. In the end, she was reunited with her family and the misunderstandings they had eventually dissolved with age. Nnadia indicates that currently, she has a very close relationship with her family: “Whether it’s members of my own family or other people, I’ve developed better understanding of them and wholeheartedly want to be involved in resolving issues. In reality, sometimes the smallest issue could be of the utmost importance and many small issues added together could become a big issue. Actually, the concept of being the primary problem solver in the family is not difficult to learn, but you need to understand your own abilities and see if you’re capable of handling it – otherwise, you could potentially create even more problems and the relationship could get worse instead of better. When I say ‘ability’, I’m referring primarily to the ‘time’ factor – some issues can’t be resolved in 1 day or even 1 week – even if it takes a few months or a few years to resolve, you have to be willing to invest the time and face the situation as a family. If your family happens to be elsewhere, in another country for example, then constant communication via phone is necessary.” Nnadia indicated that she sets aside 1 day every week as family day, also called ‘settling accounts day’, during which each member of her family spends time together talking and communicating honestly with one another.

Her husband is her ‘third eye’

Nnadia admits that her personality is still the same as before and hasn’t changed much despite everything she has experienced. She deeply believes that her personality will never change, so all she can do is constantly learn and improve: “In my heart, I try to keep a ‘scale’ that helps me measure whether things are fair or not – the most important thing is making sure that there is fairness. I’m very open to advice from my husband Zhang Duo as well as other people – my husband is actually a lot more rational than I am, probably because he has been very independent since he was young; therefore, I listen to his advice very objectively and with an open mind. He is my ‘third eye’, as he is very thorough when it comes to weighing the pros and cons of a situation.

Her most unforgettable pain

Nnadia reveals that the situation that has affected and changed her life the most is losing both her father and grandfather within 2 years of each other. Watching both of them struggle so hard to stay live is something that she will never forget: “Compared to everything I experienced in the past, none of it mattered anymore! Watching your loved ones leave you and realizing that there was still so much that you hadn’t done for them yet and so many things you haven’t told them – it’s difficult to find words to describe that type of feeling, especially knowing that you can’t make up for those lost times! That’s why now, I don’t care about what others may think of me. For example, when I was asked about why I didn’t return to work after getting married and when I will be filming series again, my only response was to smile – because that’s my own personal issue and as long as I feel happy and am enjoying the moment, that’s all that matters.”

Talent can’t keep negative trends away

Nnadia can be considered a multi-talented artist – in addition to singing and acting in TV series, she also starred as the female lead in God of Songs Jacky Cheung’s acclaimed stage musical 《Snow Wolf Lake》, plus she has also written books and essays related to beauty and also served as the spokesperson for a beauty salon. Possessing such a perfect blend of skill and talent, it is definitely the entertainment industry’s loss that Nnadia is semi-retired from the industry and has decided not to return to filming series.

“I don’t have plans to film any more series in the near future and don’t have much interest in singing again either. Right now, I want to concentrate fully on my job as ‘social worker’ for my family. In the future, if I encounter a good script, I may consider it, but it also depends on what type of message the series intends to convey. In the current entertainment industry, I see a lot of people working hard to fulfill their dreams, but unfortunately, the atmosphere is not that good – people like me are too fragile, so it’s necessary to leave, only strong people can continue to stay.” (Is it because of the ‘leng mos’ [young models] that are causing such a negative atmosphere in the industry?) “I’m the fragile type and would probably ask them why they are like that – I also would probably tell them to put more clothes on.”

Nnadia indicated that the reason why she agreed to participate in 《ICAC 2011》was because of the opportunity to interact with the ICAC and learn more about them – plus she felt that she has reached a certain age that is suitable for the type of character that she will be portraying; in the past, most of the characters she played were ones that always needed to be ‘saved’.

Assistant director for Ekin Cheng

Throughout her career, Nnadia collaborated with many male artists – including Leon Lai, Jacky Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Julian (Chilam) Cheung, Louis Koo, Roger Kwok, Adam Cheng, etc.

“One time, I started thinking about Ekin Cheng all of a sudden, probably because I collaborated with him the most in the past. I remember back when we were filming《Instinct》, Ekin once said that he wanted to be a director and told me to be his assistant director. I believe that if he were to become a director today and asked me to be assistant director, I would help him! Back then, Ekin was always very passionate about his work, but I was never able to match his enthusiasm, as I really wanted to pursue an education. Knowing that I was more interested in school, Ekin even told me back then that I should stop filming series and go back to school, as the knowledge I would obtain is mine and is something I could always use.”

.---.

Chinese Version:

陳松伶寬恕忘仇

陳松伶早年憑兒歌《烏卒卒》唱到街知巷聞，演過《天涯歌女》、《笑看風雲》及《天地男兒》等無綫經典劇集，分別與黎明、鄭伊健及古天樂等型男合作過，成為當年無綫的當家花旦。可是名利雙收的背後，她亦遭遇過慘痛的經歷；曾經離家出走，與家人斷絕來往20年；與前經理人因誤會決裂，一夜之間變成身無分文。陳松伶經歷人生起跌，幸好她多年來堅守「2F」信念，即Forgive and Forget（寬恕及忘記），認為人只要有生命，總可以重新站起來。結果，她做到了，現在與家人感情要好，亦已下嫁內地藝人張鐸，過幸福生活。

陳松伶（松松）近數年絕迹香港娛樂圈，就連內地也罕有她的作品，對上一齣劇集，要數到2008年的內地劇《單親媽媽》。松松最近重返香港，在書展上宣布已成為張太，與內地男藝人張鐸已結為夫婦，又答應港台客串《廉政行動2011》其中一個單元。松松說﹕「今次回港，主要是想為母親的物業作裝修，並整理自己一批藏書，因有太多無法運去內地，唯有送去圖書館。其間上網看電郵，發現有很多人找我，當中包括港台，原來廉署選角揀中我，自己亦有興趣參演，於是一拍即合。其實我一直想回饋社會，今次都算是一個機會。」

傻人與好人之間

松松大讚廉政公署是最正派的政府部門。現實生活中有否遇見貪污事件？她說﹕「真正的貪污未見過，只見過有人送少少禮物，但人情不等同賄賂，可能是表示感謝，最重要是不要踩過界線；等於做人一樣，過多幫助會變成溺愛或寵壞，太過嚴厲責備，就似將一個人推到盡頭！凡事要中庸，不過我仍是學習階段，不知道會否學得遲。」

是否曾經過分溺愛身邊人，所以有感而發？

「當然是經歷過，才會有這想法。其實一直以來，我做人寬容性好大，大到自己是否變成一個傻人或過分好人，自己都搞不清楚，感覺是兩者之間。（所指的是否前經理人？）只是代入自己一直以來遇過的事，不論以前經理人，還是會再接觸的人，過去的都過去了。」

跌得傷 起得快

提到與前經理人決裂一事，記得松松當年因此失去在圈中打滾20年、辛苦掙回來的血汗錢。但松松遇上挫折並無放棄，還勇敢地站起來，足以給年輕一代借鏡，不要遇上少少挫折便輕易放棄，甚至尋死。

松松說：「那段時間心中抱住兩個F的信念，但不是粗口，是Forgive and Forget，選擇寬恕及忘記，不要記着慘事，只要自己仍有生命、仍然健全，就一定可以重新站起來；况且，來這個世界時，亦是什麼也沒有。」松松自爆入行初期，不時帶功課到片場做，要兼顧學業及事業，甚感吃力，「生活同理想會有衝突，年輕人不要輕易放棄學業，如經濟沒能力，可以半工讀，我的妹妹也是這樣完成碩士課程，有時如何艱難都好，只要好好分配時間就可以。」

暫時未想生BB

松松坦言享受現時的生活，夫妻二人已有共識暫時不要小朋友。她說：「我們這刻沒有傳宗接代的想法。我的父母不是有錢人，要經過大半生辛勞，才將子女養育成材；為人父母要為子女負出及承擔，所以不是隨便話生便生。另一個原因是我想多留一點時間陪母親，以及處理家人的問題。所以，有時感覺自己婚後變成『社工』，化身『家庭事務所』去處理問題。其實家中真的需要一個人去處理所有問題，一些小事沒人理會可能會化為大事，每一家都有本難唸的經，但如何難唸都總要去面對。」

離家出走20年

原來松松昔日曾離家出走，與家人沒聯絡20年，最後在中環街頭拍劇時遇上胞妹，情况才得以改變，之後與家人重聚後，箇中誤會隨年紀長大而化解。松松指現時與家人關係是最親密的，她說：「無論自己的家人或外家，都多了了解，願意坦誠解決眼前問題；其實芝麻綠豆小事也很重要，加起來也是一件大事。其實『家庭事務所』理論不難學習，但要看清自己的尺度，本身也要有能力，否則會製造更多事端，關係愈搞愈差。能力是指時間，有些問題不是一日或一星期可以解決，要一起面對，一兩個月甚至一兩年都要付出。如果分隔兩地，要多點電話聯絡。」松松指每周會有一天作為家庭日，也叫作清算日，互相傾訴慰問，認真的溝通，說出心事。

丈夫是第三眼

松松自嘲性格依舊，沒有因任何事醒覺，深信亦沒有「醒」來的一天，唯有繼續學習及改進，「我心中只會抱持一個秤，最重要是大家公平。我會聽取丈夫張鐸及其他人的意見，丈夫較我理性很多倍，可能是他自小已很獨立，我會採取客觀態度聽取他的意見。他是我第三隻眼睛，對好與壞看得更透徹。」

最難忘的傷痛

松松透露影響及改變自己最大的，是兩年內先後目送爸爸及外公離世，兩人如何不想過身及掙扎過程，是她一生人不可以忘記的事，「相對以往自己種種經歷，已是不再重要，因為最愛的人在你面前離去，原來自己還有很多事未為對方做、有很多說話未跟對方講，那種難過感受是難以形容的，亦無法彌補！。所以我現在不會理會別人的看法。例如被問到為何婚後不工作、不再拍戲？我只會笑一笑，因為這是自己的事，這一刻感覺享受就可以。」

才藝難擋歪風

陳松伶不單止唱兒歌出色，曾擔正做張學友經典音樂劇《雪狼湖》女主角，實屬演得唱得之人，加上曾出版美容書及散文集，又為美容院任代言人，可謂聲色藝俱全，如今半退休不再拍劇，實是娛樂圈一大損失。

「暫時不會再拍劇，對上一套劇集《單親媽媽》是兩三年前的事，現在對唱歌的興趣不是太濃厚，只想專心做好『家庭事務所』這份工。日後若遇到好劇本才想，也要看主題是宣揚什麼信息。現在的娛樂圈，我看到有不少藝人為理想而努力，但風氣不是太好，我這類人太脆弱了，所以要走；堅強的人才可繼續留低。（是否指o靓模的風氣不太好？）我很脆弱的，會問她們點解，也會忍不住叫她們著多件衫。」松松指今次為港台拍攝《廉政行動2011》，是想借機會接觸廉署，加上去到一個適合的年齡去演這類角色，以往自己演的，多是被人拯救的人。

松松當年扮鬼扮馬唱兒歌。

做伊健助導

松松合作過的男星不少，四大天王有黎明及張學友，其餘鄭伊健、張智霖、古天樂、郭晉安及鄭少秋亦在不同劇集合作過。

「有次突然想起鄭伊健，因過往合作最多的男星是他，記得當時拍《笑看風雲》，伊健說想當導演，叫我做助導。如果今時今日真的叫我做助導，我會幫他做的。當初伊健是滿腔熱誠去工作，而我就很想讀書，伊健也有叫我不要拍劇，回去上學，讀多一點書，得着是自己的。」

Review of "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai 新上海灘 "

This series is currently airing on TV and even though it will be a couple weeks before it finishes, I am going to proceed with my review of the series, since I've already seen it several times (obviously, I own this series on DVD).

This series is actually from 1996 and is a remake of the classic series "The Bund". For those of us who are old enough to remember, "The Bund" was the immensely popular TVB series from 1980 that made Chow Yun Fat, Ray Lui, and Angie Chiu household names. In fact, the series had such an impact that for alot of us, whenever we hear about Shanghai in the early 20th century, this is the series we think about. Plus the powerful theme song for the series (sung by veteran songstress Francis Yip) is so famous in Asia, even people who can't speak Cantonese know how to sing this song (and Francis has mentioned in interviews that even now, 30 years later, this is still the most requested song of her career -- in fact, it's even been translated into several different languages!).

So anyway, with the overwhelming popularity of "The Bund" and its 'legendary' status in terms of TV series, attempting to do a re-make of the series is definitely no easy feat, especially since the original artists were so memorable in their roles. And for me personally -- well, I've never really been a fan of re-makes, since most of the time, they are not able to live up to the original. That's why when I first watched "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" years ago, I didn't think I would actually like it, since 1) "The Bund" was one of the first series that I watched as a girl and it had a lasting impression on me, 2) I'm a huge fan of Chow Yun Fat and he pretty much immortalized the role of Hui Man Keung (the lead character in the series), so it's hard for me to imagine anyone else in that role, 3) the Chow Yun Fat / Ray / Angie trio was so classic that even now, many audiences -- including me -- still associate them with the characters they played (Hui Man Keung, Ting Lik, and Fung Ching Ching, respectively).

I guess you could say that "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" was already at a disadvantage from the beginning, since it had big shoes to fill as a re-make. But, if you watch the series, you'll find out that it is not actually a true re-make of the original series -- I would say that only about 50% of the series can be called a remake because the rest of it is a completely different storyline that is ‘blended’ in with the original storyline (plus alot of characters were added that were not part of the original series)....the result is a series that is similar, but different.

Let's start with a quick run-down of the main characters....

These are the main characters that were also in the original series and the artists who portrayed them in the current series (I also listed the artists who portrayed the original character in "The Bund" as well, just as a point of reference):

>> Hui Man Keung (Sunny Chan) / (Chow Yun Fat)
>> Ting Lik (Gordan Lam) / (Ray Lui)
>> Fung Ching Ching (Nnadia Chan) / (Angie Chiu)
>> Fung King Yiu (Pat Poon) / (Lau Dan)
>> Cheung Kwai (David Lui) / (Liu Kai Chi)
>> Fong Yim Wan (Florence Kwok) / (Victoria Lam Kin Ming)
>> Wang Yuet Kei (Shirley Cheung) / (Chong Man Ching)
>> Chan Hon Lam (Patrick Tam) / (Kent Tong)
>> Kong Tsi-Kwan (Noelle Leung) / (King Toi Yam)**
**Note that Noelle's character had a different name in the original series (more on this later)

These are the 'added' characters in "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai" (I only listed the main ones)

>> Yu Chun Hoi (Adam Cheng)
>> So Tsat Hau (Carol 'Dodo' Cheng)
>> Lok Tin Yau (Dickson Lee)
>> Henry (Law Kar Ying)
>> Koo Ching Wah (Maggie Cheung Hor Yee)
>> Tse Dong (Bowie Lam)
>> Chin Lai Hei (Emily Kwan)
>> So Chor Ng (Eric Tsang)*
>> Kwok Sei Wai (Gallen Lo)*
*Eric and Gallen only appeared as cameos in the series, as they were only in the first few episodes

I took the time to list out the cast because for me, this was an important element as to why I decided to watch the series for the first time years ago -- if it wasn't for the appealing cast, I probably would not have bothered to watch the series, since so much of the original story was changed.

After watching this series, I have to say that I still love “The Bund” and it will always be a classic in my book, but I also like “Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” as well, primarily because of the performances of the main leads (of course, the performances pale in comparisons to the original actors / actresses, but each have their own “flavor” and I like both). True, I definitely have an issue with some of the plot differences between the 2 series (which I will complain about later in this review), but overall, I still think the series was well made.

Obviously, there is a lot to talk about this series (I could go on forever about the plot differences alone), but for the purposes of this review, I am just going to cover some of the highlights, with a primary focus on a few of the main characters and the various relationships.

.—

The characters / casting / relationships

Sunny Chan as Hui Man Keung – First off, I have to applaud whoever did the casting for this series because Sunny is absolutely PERFECT for this role. Sunny is one of my favorite 90s actors and it wasn’t until I watched this series that I realized why I like him so much – he totally reminds me of Chow Yun Fat and I really feel that he has the potential to be the next Fat Gor in terms of his acting (plus their mannerisms and personality are very similar)! He definitely has that ‘look’ that fits ‘pre-modern’ series such as this perfectly, but regardless, he did an excellent job in this series, especially in the emotional scenes – he gave a very convincing performance as Hui Man Keung and IMO, you can’t help but fall in love with his character in here.

There is this one scene I always talk about when discussing this series where Sunny’s demeanor and mannerisms (and even his voice) is SO similar to Chow Yun Fat that if you were to tell me Fat Gor filmed that scene, I would totally believe it. It’s hard to describe the scene (I probably wouldn’t do justice to it), but when it comes up again, I’ll make note of what episode it’s in so that those who get a chance to watch this series can see what I’m talking about.

Gordon Lam as Ting Lik – Not sure how I feel about Gordon’s performance in this series. He did a pretty good job actually, but I think Ray Lui was way more suited to play this role -- in the original version, Ray’s performance really stood out at the time (he almost stole the show from Fat Gor). I actually found Gordon’s character a bit annoying at times with his impulsiveness, but I understand that it was supposed to be part of the character’s personality, so it makes sense. I found it interesting that in the series, Ting Lik constantly lives under Hui Man Keung’s shadow (because honestly speaking, Keung is a natural leader) and in real life, Gordon’s acting was overshadowed by Sunny’s. I honestly feel that the writers were trying too hard to make Gordon’s Ting Lik different from Ray’s version of the character (right from the start, the biggest sign was the signature mustache that Ray had in the original series, which was conspicuously missing on Gordon)…..to the point that they overdid it and the character ends up being almost ‘bland’ and not memorable (in my opinion at least).

Nnadia Chan as Fung Ching Ching – Nnadia is just an overall great actress and casting her as Fung Ching Ching in this series was another perfect choice…but to be honest, I just don’t like the character of Ching Ching that much (nothing to do with the acting though). Even in the original series (where Angie played Ching Ching), I would get annoyed at how wishy-washy the character is – I mean, if she truly loved Hui Man Keung, she should have just defied her dad to be with him – especially since she knows that her dad is a bad guy. Instead, she marries someone else and when that relationship doesn’t work out, she goes running back to Hui, only to leave him for good when she finds out he killed her dad. I personally think that the character of Ching Ching is quite weak and a bit naïve (and we all know how much I dislike those types of characters) – I got so annoyed at the end that I actually wanted Hui to be with someone else instead.

Adam Cheng as Yu Chun Hoi – Um, ok, what was the point of Adam’s character? I know they were trying to “beef up” the series by adding more characters and different storylines and such, but really, how necessary was it? I disliked Adam’s character from the get-go because he’s just way too ‘gullible’ and doesn’t have that ‘leadership’ element that I expect from a character that is supposed to have huge influence and power in Shanghai. And goshdarnit, I hated how his character kept trying to protect and ‘reform’ Dickson Lee’s character – whom he viewed as a ‘nephew’ of sorts because Dickson’s father was his close friend / brother and mentor – even though he knew how bad the dude is. I mean, really – after all the bad things Dickson does, Adam keeps forgiving him over and over again and keeps trying to make him into a ‘better person’, even sacrificing his relationship with Dodo and his friendship with Sunny….and what does he get in return?....Dickson backstabs him of course and causes him to lose his memory as well as everything he has (not to mention a lot of innocent people die in the process). Sorry, but Adam’s character totally brought all of that upon himself – I felt no pity for him whatsoever!

To be honest, I’ve never really liked Adam (both as an actor and on a personal level) and I generally refrain from watching his series because he just bores me to death – unless I like the rest of the cast, in which case I’ll usually watch and just try to ignore him. This was definitely one of those situations, as his performance was so-so in this series (and it’s not just because I didn’t like the character either). Throughout the series, I felt that Adam looked tired and worn out, plus his voice sounded really weird – for some reason, it sounded really soft (there were some scenes where I could barely hear what he was saying) and hoarse (like he had a throat issue the entire time)….it felt like he lacked energy and was constantly out of breath. I think this is why Adam’s performances usually bore me – but I have to say that I only noticed it in the last few series that he did (like from the mid-90s and on)….it seems to me that he doesn’t have the “fire” and the passion that he used to have in the 70s/80s (and even early 90s) and it’s really affecting his performances.

Dodo Cheng as So Tsat Hau – now here’s a character that I’m glad they added because she is actually one of my favorite characters on the female side. Of course, it helps that Dodo has always been one of my favorite actresses from the 70s/80s (it’s such a shame that she doesn’t do series anymore – awesome actress!). Dodo’s character is actually the ‘strong woman’ type who is independent-minded and assertive, but at the same time, still able to be feminine. The thing I like most about her character is that she is strong-willed (and so able to pull through adversity) but not rigid or stubborn. This is definitely another great role for Dodo – true, it’s very obvious she has aged in this series and she no longer looks as pretty as she did back in the 70s/80s, but that’s ok because her acting is still awesome – in fact, I really feel that Dodo is the type of actress whose acting gets better with time (that’s why I say it’s too bad that she doesn’t film series anymore because she can definitely still give Liza Wang a run for her money – plus I absolutely prefer Dodo’s acting over Liza’s).

Bowie Lam as Tse Dong -- Bowie plays one of the workers at Dodo and Eric’s shipping company (Eric has a cameo as Dodo’s older brother in the series). He is a good friend of Dodo’s and is also her closest confidante – he’s very devoted / loyal to her and the family and also has a crush on her. I have a lot of respect for Bowie’s character because he is always by Dodo’s side no matter what happens and even though he has feelings for her, never once does he try to cross the line with their relationship being anything more than good friends (even though there were certainly opportunities when he could have, such as when her fiance – played by Gallen – leaves her or when she and Adam break up later on in the series). So in essence, he is perfectly happy with just being by her side and protecting her, even until the end when he does the most admirable thing by sacrificing his life in order to save her and the man she loves (Adam). Bowie was my second favorite character on the male side (after Sunny’s Hui Man Keung of course).

Noelle Leung as Kong Tsi Kwan – One of the biggest differences (other than the obvious added characters and storylines) in terms of existing characters in the series is Noelle’s character. In the original series, Noelle’s character is actually called Ah Tai and is played by 80s actress King Toi Yam – if I recall correctly, the character had a very minor role in the series at the time (she is the woman Hui Man Keung marries when he flees to Hong Kong after a fall-out with Ching Ching’s dad Fung King Yiu). That’s why I don’t have much memory of her character in that series because she pretty much shows up, marries Hui, then is killed by Fung King Yiu’s people (ok, that’s a very streamlined version of what happened, but you get the picture)….I’m ok with this in the original series because I’ve never been fond of King Toi Yam (she used to always play those annoying, bxxchy roles in the 80s) and plus she had zero chemistry with Chow Yun Fat anyway. Interestingly though, Noelle’s character has a bigger role in the re-make – she’s supposed to play the same character, but I think they changed the character’s name on purpose because technically, it’s not the same person (the background of the 2 characters is different).

Though Noelle technically does not have a whole lot of screen time (if you compare to the other female artists in the series, such as Dodo, Nnadia, and even Maggie), it’s actually pretty significant taken on it’s own (her role would definitely qualify as supporting). I totally prefer Noelle’s character in this series over Nnadia’s character because even though she is poor and less educated than Nnadia, she is a lot more noble and respectable in that she was true to her feelings but also understood that things won’t always go according to what she wants – IMO, she was a much better match for Sunny (in terms of character) than Nnadia was. I was absolutely rooting for Sunny and Noelle as a couple in this series – to the point that I was actually a bit bummed out when Noelle’s character dies (even though I already knew it would happen based on the plot from the original series).

Maggie Cheung as Koo Ching Wah – Maggie’s character is another example of an unnecessary character added just for the heck of it. The storyline involving her is really dumb first of all and second the character does not appeal to audiences because of the way it is written. Pretty much, Maggie’s role in the series is that of Pat Poon’s mistress and Adam Cheng’s former girlfriend. Not sure if her role was added to ‘further’ the rivalry between Pat and Adam in the series, but to be honest, it wasn’t really necessary because there is already enough animosity between them, even without her. Plus the whole ‘love triangle’ thing they tried to do in the beginning was dumb because honestly, no one really cares (we already know Adam is going to end up with Dodo anyway and I would much rather they have spent more time on the relationships between Sunny, Noelle, Nnadia, and Gordon). They definitely should have just taken Maggie’s character out completely and used all those scenes with her in them to further develop the plot instead!

Pat Poon as Fung King Yiu – As far as older veteran actors go, Pat isn’t really one of my favorites, but he is a good actor, so I don’t mind watching his series. In most of the series that I’ve seen of his, he usually plays the villain role (maybe because he has that ‘look’?), so not really surprised that they gave him the big villain role in this series. To be honest though, I prefer Lau Dan in this role because Pat just wasn’t convincing enough – in a way, it’s sort of hard for me to blame Pat though because the way the series was written, so much ‘stuff’ was added and changed that in a sense, the role of Fung King Yiu was greatly diminished…for example, in the original series, he was the only ‘villain’, but in this one, Dickson’s character is also a villain. This is significant because some of the ‘evil’ things that Fung King Yiu does in the original series, he doesn’t do in the remake (perhaps because there were more characters and so they had to give some of his ‘tasks’ to someone else?). I’ll talk more about this later….

Dickson Lee as Lok Tin Yau – Dickson plays the son of Adam’s friend / mentor / business partner, who entrusts his wayward son (and his casino) to Adam’s care when he dies. Though on the surface, Dickson’s character is obedient to Adam and appears to respect him and such, on the inside, he actually hates Adam and is upset that his father would rather give the casino to Adam to look after instead of himself (um, that’s because his father is smart and knows how his son is like). So throughout the series, Dickson is pretty much trying to chip away at Adam’s power and get his casino back (most of the time behind Adam’s back) – which is why he becomes the other ‘villain’ in the series, since he does a lot of bad things in order to meet his selfish needs.

I totally think that it was a bad idea to add Dickson’s character into the series because it completely takes away the significance of Pat Poon’s character Fung King Yiu. Fung was central to the original series but in the remake, his character was less significant because they had to make room for Dickson’s villain character. As I will talk about later on in this review, most of the stuff that I feel ‘doesn’t make sense’ actually revolves around Dickson’s character….basically, this was another pointless character that was totally unnecessary in furthering the plot.


Though there were way more characters than the ones I described above, the rest of them are not really worth talking about because they have such insignificant roles in the series (either their original roles were reduced or the character ends up dying near the beginning anyway).

One last thing regarding the characters – I really think that when TVB made this series, their point was to get as many ‘big name’ people in the series as they could, even if they play small roles in the series because half the characters in there were really insignificant…such a total waste of talent! Even though I like this series overall, I definitely think they should have done something with some of the characters (either take them out or develop them further)…this is probably why this series is only a ‘like’ for me and not a more enthusiastic ‘really like’….


The ‘inconsistencies’ and ‘What the Heck?’ moments….

With so many characters and additional storylines added, of course there is going to be a lot of inconsistency with the original series. Even though most of the summaries I read about the series ‘claim’ that the plot involving the original characters is pretty much the same and the primary difference is they ‘added’ stuff (implying that they didn’t really ‘change’ anything relating to the original characters / storyline), this is obviously NOT TRUE – they definitely CHANGED a lot of stuff because they had to find a way to work the new characters and storylines into the original ones….

I’m not going to talk about all of the differences, since there are too many, but I do want to touch on the one that I had the most issue with….

One of the ‘differences’ (between the original series and remake) that I had the most issues accepting was Dickson’s role. If they had just added his character and kept his storyline limited only to the parts that involve Adam and Dodo (since their characters were also ‘additions’, so it would not have affected the original plot), I probably would be ok….but unfortunately, they mixed the storyline involving Dickson’s character into the ones involving the original characters (namely Sunny, Noelle, and Pat), which changes things significantly.

In the original series, the character Fung King Yiu is the ‘root of all evil’ and the ‘battle’ is really between him and Hui Man Keung. In order for Fung to maintain power and control over his area of Shanghai, he does everything possible and ‘removes’ anyone or anything that gets in his way. In the original series, one of the significant justifications for Hui Man Keung to kill Fung King Yiu at the end was to avenge the death of his wife and unborn child (whom Fung had mercilessly killed just because she was Hui’s wife). This was also the primary reason why Hui decided to return to the triad society again after he had been set on getting away from that type of life in the beginning. This part is also significant because near the end of the series, Hui knows that by killing Fung, he would probably lose Ching Ching (since it would be hard for her to forgive him for killing her father), but he was willing to make that sacrifice to seek justice for his innocent wife and child.

In the remake, Fung King Yiu is not the one who kills Hui’s wife and family – it’s actually Dickson’s character Lok Tin Yau who does it. This is the part that doesn’t make sense because we know that Hui is still going to kill Fung at the end (just like in the original) – so what is the justification going to be then, since Fung isn’t the one who kills Hui’s wife? Even though the writers ‘try’ to pull Fung into it (by saying that Fung was the one who put the idea into Lok’s head), it was too much of a stretch if you ask me….Fung may have ‘suggested’ the idea, but if Lok didn’t already have a bone to pick with Hui (and there was already animosity between the 2 based on the way the storyline develops in the remake), it would not have made a difference (plus let’s not forget that Fung wasn’t the one who ‘told’ Lok to do the evil deed, so in a sense, we can’t really say he was the one conspiring behind the scenes).

This was really the WTH moment for me because it really ‘negates’ the second half of the series then (it was like a domino effect – for instance: they are no longer able to ‘properly’ justify why Hui is reluctant to get back in a relationship with Ching Ching and has to watch as she marries someone else, why he becomes so ‘conflicted’ when he has to choose between being with a woman he loves or avenging his wife’s death, etc.)….

So in conclusion (sorry for the LOOONG review), even though “Once Upon A Time in Shanghai” was a fair attempt at remaking “The Bund”, it definitely falls short of the original series in many ways. I think that if they had not added so many characters and changed the storyline so significantly, TVB probably would have had a decent shot of the remake living up to the original’s standards (I, for one, totally buy Sunny Chan as Hui Man Keung and am ok with Gordon and Nnadia as the ‘newer generation’ Ting Lik and Fung Ching Ching as well).

My honest opinion – some of the new stuff is ‘cleverly’ worked in, but some of it isn’t and it actually causes some parts of the series to not make sense….I would have much rather they stuck with a pure remake and use the added characters / storyline to make a completely different series -- that way, it’s less confusing for the audiences.

I still recommend this series to anyone who is interested in that particular genre (early 20th century Shanghai + theme of triad gangs fighting for power) and I actually liked the series (as I mentioned earlier) primarily because of stellar performances from some of the cast…but for die-hard “The Bund” fans, this may not be a good choice – all the changes that they make will probably annoy fans to no end….

My Thoughts on “Trimming Success 飛短留長父子兵”

I happened to re-watch this series when it came on TV a little while ago so figured I would write up a blog post / review on it.

This is actually one of the few Kevin Cheng series that I like (well, come to think of it now, it might be the ONLY one of his that I like) – not because of him of course (since I still feel his performance in this series was very bland) but rather, because of the supporting cast and the script. The female lead in the series is Nnadia Chan and supporting cast includes Wayne Lai, Halina Tam, Lau Dan, Ching Hor Wai, Sharon Chan, etc.

What I liked most about this series: Wayne's performance -- he definitely stole the show!!! I loved Wayne's witty character Johnny, an extremely nice, sensible guy who returns to his hometown of Stanley after years of taking care of the family business elsewhere. Once again, Wayne puts his awesome acting skills to great use, as the character of Johnny is very 'mysterious' at first, with the residents of Stanley thinking that he may have a possible hidden motive for returning due to the actions of his now deceased father (who stole from the residents to pay off gambling debts) many years ago but then later revealing that he is actually an extremely generous and likable guy with no hidden motive -- except to fulfill his dad's dying wish of being buried with his mother. His character also has a great sense of humor but Wayne portrays the humor in a way that isn't the traditional 'comical funny' type -- it's almost like he doesn't try to be funny on purpose, yet you can't help but laugh at his actions. I guess the closest way I can describe it is that his character possesses a 'witty charm' that is at times sarcastic but balances it with just the right amount of seriousness -- plus his personality is always very optimistic and upbeat without going overboard.

Surprisingly, I found myself very much attached to the pairing of Wayne and Halina in this series. I say 'surprisingly' because 1) general audience reaction would be to become attached to the main leads rather than the supporting ones, so I definitely parted from 'tradition' in this case, and 2) I'm not a particular fan of Halina's and have not watched enough of her series to like or dislike her, so normally, I would not have any 'reaction' so to speak with her performances. Wayne and Halina actually complemented each other quite well in the series, even though their personalities were so opposite (he is honest, generous, humble, nice, constantly helping others, etc. whereas she is selfish, brash, and constantly 'pretending' to charm people in order to cheat them out of their money). From the beginning, it looked like they would never get together because they are constantly bickering and Halina even tries to deceive Wayne and cheat him out of his money -- yet she does it in a way that makes it 'funny' rather than 'hateful' (and Wayne 'pretending' to fall for it is absolutely hilarious). I loved the interaction between these two and found almost every scene they were in very enjoyable (special mention goes out to the restaurant scene early on in the series where Halina is trying to 'seduce' Nnadia's uncle so she can cheat him of his money and Wayne purposefully ruins it because Halina's son asked for his help to keep an eye on her -- the way that Wayne 'pretends' to be Halina's boyfriend and his facial expressions during that scene really cracked me up!)

I actually could go on some more about Wayne and Halina, but I don't want this post to go on forever, so I'll move on to the next highlight.....

Though I liked Nnadia's character and with the fine actress that she is, I definitely enjoyed her performance overall, however I wasn't too keen on her pairing with Kevin. For some reason, I just didn't feel any chemistry with their pairing -- in fact, I would have to say that I found some scenes of theirs very boring. I'm thinking that perhaps it's because of Kevin's bland acting that affected things for me because I've always felt that Kevin's acting is very 'wooden' and unnatural (that's why I don't like to watch his series because I get bored to death)....I actually did try to put my bias aside and give him a chance when I first watched the series way back when (as well as when I re-watched it just now), but he still failed to impress me. It could be perhaps that the rest of the supporting cast in this series is so strong that it makes Kevin look particularly weak compared to them -- but whatever the reason, I would much rather have preferred that they cast someone else in that role (on a side note: I can't help but think that perhaps TVB put a strong supporting cast in there on purpose to try to 'cover up' his weak acting and then use it as an excuse to promote him, since the series itself was enjoyable overall).

To cite an example that supports the above (the weakness of Kevin's acting and strength of the rest of the cast) -- and so that people reading this can't say that I'm biased against Kevin without merit -- the scene at the hospital where each of the main characters react to the death of Kevin's mom in the series (Ching Hor Wai) really provides a good comparison/contrast. Kevin's reaction was very bland -- it's not that he didn't look sad or cry or anything, but it just came across very fake to me-- like he was trying to force a reaction to a situation that has nothing to do with him. (After watching that scene for the first time, I remember thinking to myself -- wait, that's it? that's how you react when someone so close to you who raised you and protected you and loved you all your life dies?) In comparisons -- being the veteran 'green leaf' actor, of course Lau Dan's reaction over the death of his wife in the series was perfectly expressed -- and very touching. Nnadia's reaction was very natural and you could really feel how saddened she was even though she is not related to Ching at all in the series. And Wayne's reaction – I mean, you would think that Ching was his mother rather than Kevin's! To sum it up -- Kevin really looked like he was trying too hard to act that scene (that's why it came across as fake) whereas the other 3 had such natural reactions that they were able to make the scene moving and emotional for the audience.

Again, I could come up with more examples as well, but I'll leave it at that, since it already gets my point across...

Overall, I liked the series' heartwarming storyline and the lessons that it teaches. Of course, there is the typical TVB lack of originality and so the formula is not much different from their other run-of-the-mill light-hearted yet serious family-oriented drama series -- but somehow, I was still drawn to the series and enjoyed it, even with the 'cheesiness' of some of the scenes and the predictability of the plot. I also disliked the Nnadia/Kevin/Sharon love triangle thing and thought that it was sort of pointless, especially in the second half of the series (maybe it was done as 'space-filler'?)....I would much rather they had spent more time developing Wayne's storyline instead.