Crystal Liu’s WWII Film “The Chinese Widow” to Open in U.S.
The Chinese Widow <烽火芳菲> starring Crystal Liu Yifei (刘亦菲) and American actor Emile Hirsch is slated for a fall release in the United States. The film has already premiered in China last November.
The war film, previously titled In Harm’s Way, is based on a true story about an American soldier and his Chinese wife. It is set in World War II, soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After a failed mission in Tokyo, an American air force pilot emergency lands in a small village in Zhejiang and is rescued by a young Chinese widow. The two fall in love, but their story ends tragically.
Check out the trailer below:
Source: Sina.cn
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Wow….the title character is chinese. What a breakthrough!
@jimmyszeto Nah…a true breakthrough would be the title character is a Chinese/Asian male actor. Sadly, Asian male actors are at the lowest in the totem pole in Hollywood.
I haven’t watch her perform, but she will also play Mulan.
Wow! Yan Yikuan!
It’s always good to see more Asian representation in the media. I am a little wary because I hope this isn’t like Madam Butterfly or Miss Saigon. I never liked the meek Asian female sacrificing herself and her children for the white savior who betrayed her.
@potatochip Wouldn’t be surprising in white dominated Hollywood. You rarely see Asian male leads in Hollywood productions (not saying this movie is a Hollywood production).
@pocky It really is unfortunate that we never see male Asian leads unless they are in a kung fu movie. John Cho sometimes but not really the main lead. I am looking forward to Crazy Rich Asians. Their Red Carpet Premiere was gorgeous.
@potatochip I am also looking forward to Crazy Rich Asians! The last Hollywood movie I remember seeing that had an all Asian cast was The Joy Luck Club and that was 25 years ago! There’s a lot riding on the success of Crazy Rich Asians and what it will mean for Asian / Asian-American representation in Hollywood so I’m definitely supporting the movie as much as I can. So far, early reviews have been mostly positive so that’s good.
@llwy12 Joy Luck Club was ahead of its time. It was such a heart warming story about strong minority women fighting cultural stigmas through generations. I think American audiences appreciated it, but it wasn’t a blockbuster because they couldn’t identify with the cultural differences and that it was not a straight forward linear story. I loved Amy Tan’s writing and hope more would be made into movies.
Definitely going to support Crazy Rich Asians. It’s getting a good amount of publicity. It’s unfortunate that with minorities, we must succeed the first time or else few other opportunities whereas the majority can have flops after flops. I believe this movie is also based off a book series and need to find some time to read those.
@potatochip Yes, it’s definitely unfortunate. Actually, the fact that it took 25 years for another movie with an all Asian cast to come along is downright shameful – but that’s the reality of Hollywood unfortunately. I love Amy Tan’s works too – read her memoir that came out last year and it’s quite good…highly recommend it!
Yes, Crazy Rich Asians is based on the book written by Kevin Kwan (first book in a trilogy). I recommend reading the books, as all 3 were quite good (though of course, original one is always the best, lol). I’ve been reading practically everything I’m able to get my hands on about the movie version and I heard that this is one adaptation that actually complements the book perfectly (Kevin Kwan worked very closely with director Jon Chu as well as the 2 scriptwriters on the script). Rumor has it that Michelle Yeoh’s portrayal of the matriarch of the family Eleanor is absolutely exquisite and Constance Wu’s portrayal of the main character Rachel is near flawless (and there is actually a “tribute” of sorts to The Joy Luck Club in the movie, as the grandmother is played by Lisa Lu, whom fans of the movie will remember played one of the 4 sisters An-Mei Hsu). I can’t wait to watch!
@llwy12 I’m also waiting on crazy rich asians but my reason is for Michele yeoh. Really fall in love with her after reign of assassin! Glad to hear the books are good, is it the same name? I will try n see if I can get it to!
@littlefish If you’re a Michelle Yeoh fan, you will love her in this movie! I’ve been reading through the early reviews for the movie and every single one of them praise her performance. She really took the character of Eleanor and put her own unique spin to it.
The first book is called Crazy Rich Asians (came out in 2013). Book 2 is called China Rich Girlfriend (came out in 2015) and Book 3 is called Rich People’s Problems (came out last year, 2017). I would recommend at least reading the first book, since that’s what the movie is based on (no doubt that if the first movie does well, the other 2 books will probably get optioned for movie versions as well). I’m actually going to cram in a re-read of book 1 over the weekend, since I read that one back when it came out 5 years ago and with the movie coming out, I need to refresh my memory, lol.
@llwy12 Thanks, I really need to read those books. Yay! Good promotion and reception so far!
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Already Has 100 Percent Score On Rotten Tomatoes
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/crazy-rich-asians-rotten-tomatoes-score_us_5b6c8a1ae4b0ae32af965fcb