Hong Kong and international music lovers mourn the loss of a talented musician known for her impressive range and bright personality. On July 5th, 2023, renowned singer, dancer, and songwriter Coco Lee died at 48 following a long battle with depression. Her funeral service was held and met with tributes from mourning family, friends, and fans. In an article on CNN's website, writer Lau highlights comments from her sister Nancy Lee expressing her appreciation for the outpour of condolences: “Thanking guests for their support, Lee's older sister, Nancy, quoted the star. “My sister would often say this in her concert: ‘You could have chosen to go anywhere but today you chose to come here to be with me,'” Nancy Lee said during the memorial service, which was streamed online. “For that I thank you all,” she added, reminding visitors of the singer's “infectious smile and her kind heart.” A video tribute...
- 9/4/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
Hong Kong singer-songwriter Coco Lee died Wednesday after trying to take her own life at the weekend, according to a Facebook post by her sisters.
Lee sang the Mandarin version of the theme song “Reflection” from 1998 Disney movie Mulan, and also became the first Chinese American to perform at the Oscars, singing the Best Original Song-nominated “A Love Before Time” from Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee’s sisters, Carol and Nancy, said she had been in a coma since making the suicide attempt over the weekend. “With great sadness, we are here to break the most devastating news: Coco had been suffering from depression for a few years but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” the Facebook post stated.
“Although, Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her,” they continued.
Lee sang the Mandarin version of the theme song “Reflection” from 1998 Disney movie Mulan, and also became the first Chinese American to perform at the Oscars, singing the Best Original Song-nominated “A Love Before Time” from Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee’s sisters, Carol and Nancy, said she had been in a coma since making the suicide attempt over the weekend. “With great sadness, we are here to break the most devastating news: Coco had been suffering from depression for a few years but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” the Facebook post stated.
“Although, Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her,” they continued.
- 7/5/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
My At Meihodo
Michelle Yeoh, star of the globally acclaimed Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” will serve as guest of honor and advisor at the fifth Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival, a platform for young visual artists and one of the largest short film festivals in the world. The festival takes place in Fukuoka, Japan.
Other new guests include Maggie Q, film editor Gabriella Cristiani and Stephen Castor (“Spider-Man”), co-ceo of It’s Just Us Productions, Rocket Science 3D and Rocket Science Motion Capture Studios, franchise.
Returning guests include special advisor and composer Tan Dun and honorary chairwoman Yue-Sai Kan, an Emmy-winning television producer.
Since launching in 2018, Meihodo has become one of the largest and most popular short film festivals in the world. This year, the festival received a record 3,533 submissions from 122 countries and regions around the world.
“We’re so excited to welcome the incredible Michelle Yeoh,...
Michelle Yeoh, star of the globally acclaimed Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” will serve as guest of honor and advisor at the fifth Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival, a platform for young visual artists and one of the largest short film festivals in the world. The festival takes place in Fukuoka, Japan.
Other new guests include Maggie Q, film editor Gabriella Cristiani and Stephen Castor (“Spider-Man”), co-ceo of It’s Just Us Productions, Rocket Science 3D and Rocket Science Motion Capture Studios, franchise.
Returning guests include special advisor and composer Tan Dun and honorary chairwoman Yue-Sai Kan, an Emmy-winning television producer.
Since launching in 2018, Meihodo has become one of the largest and most popular short film festivals in the world. This year, the festival received a record 3,533 submissions from 122 countries and regions around the world.
“We’re so excited to welcome the incredible Michelle Yeoh,...
- 4/4/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Moscow, Nov 4: Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun has received the Shostakovich Award named after Russian musician Dmitri Shostakovich.
Tan, an iconic Chinese musician, said he was "honoured and touched". He said he got familiar with Shostakovich's works at an early age and held him in high regard.
"There is no territory in the world of music. On this common platform, we could connect past with future, share ideas and thoughts, dig into inner self and pursue our dreams," Xinhua quoted Tan as saying after receiving the award Saturday in Moscow.
Tan,.
Tan, an iconic Chinese musician, said he was "honoured and touched". He said he got familiar with Shostakovich's works at an early age and held him in high regard.
"There is no territory in the world of music. On this common platform, we could connect past with future, share ideas and thoughts, dig into inner self and pursue our dreams," Xinhua quoted Tan as saying after receiving the award Saturday in Moscow.
Tan,.
- 11/4/2012
- by Arun Pandit
- RealBollywood.com
Director Danny Boyle tapped Indian composer A.R. Rahman again to score "127 Hours" after the wild success they had together with "Slumdog Millionaire," for which Rahman won two Oscars (he took both of 2009's Best score and Best song).
Sheila Roberts interviewed the hot composer for Collider about this new found friendship with Boyle, and scoring his latest film -- staring James Franco as a man who must resort to the most drastic measures to survive alone in a Utah canyon.
Certain things are done intentionally opposite -- like there's no sound at the end or synthesizers or all that stuff. Anything that drowns the movie, no. Anything that makes you sit up and watch it, yes. So, some are expecting a very sad theme going on. We didn't want to do that. It would have been a beautiful moment in the movie but it would have brought the movie down.
Sheila Roberts interviewed the hot composer for Collider about this new found friendship with Boyle, and scoring his latest film -- staring James Franco as a man who must resort to the most drastic measures to survive alone in a Utah canyon.
Certain things are done intentionally opposite -- like there's no sound at the end or synthesizers or all that stuff. Anything that drowns the movie, no. Anything that makes you sit up and watch it, yes. So, some are expecting a very sad theme going on. We didn't want to do that. It would have been a beautiful moment in the movie but it would have brought the movie down.
- 10/29/2010
- by Brandon Kim
- ifc.com
British composer David Buckley began his career by writing television music and jingles in his homeland before he was introduced to Harry Gregson-Williams. After working on some of the composer's most recent projects (from the Shrek sequels to Gone Baby Gone), David gained enough experience to write his own full-length film scores. His most visible credits up to now include Joel Schumacher's Town Creek and The Forbidden Kingdom - the movie that united martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li. His latest movie entitled From Paris With Love once again teams up a mismatched couple - now in the form of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and John Travolta, who play characters getting on like a house on fire. Based on a story by Luc Besson, the French action picture gave its composer an opportunity to provide a high-energy, percussive score which is counterpointed by sensuous songs on the soundtrack. We...
- 3/26/2010
- Daily Film Music Blog
I chose my previous two film scores based on both their distinctiveness in both context and content, but also because they had certain weaknesses that, while important to their character, still kept them from being the kind of landmark works that are universally acknowledged as ground-breaking and important. The three scores I’m highlighting this week were chosen specifically for both their widespread popularity and critical success. Let’s begin with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This is a score that many, many people who are even remotely familiar with the film are aware of in terms of importance. Like the other films I’m focusing on here, the music of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon goes hand in hand with the other elements of the movie, but it could be said that, out of the three, this score is the most potent accompaniment. This is mostly because of the movie’s setting; feudal China.
- 12/18/2009
- by Chris
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Opera Boston announces the company's first commissioned work- the world premiere of Madame White Snake, a new opera based on a beloved ancient Chinese legend, by composer Zhou Long and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs. Co-commissioned with the Beijing Music Festival (Bmf), it is the first world premiere by the Bmf and an American company. Madame White Snake will have three performances (Feb. 26, 28, and March 2, 2010) at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston and two performances in Beijing in October 2010. Planning has begun to bring Madame White Snake to several Chinese cities following the Chinese premiere in Beijing; the proposed tour is the first by an American Opera Company in China since San Francisco's Western Opera Company in 1987. The education and outreach program of Madame White Snake is presented by State Street Corporation.
Madame White Snake is one of just four world premieres by U.S. opera companies in the 2009-10 season.
Madame White Snake is one of just four world premieres by U.S. opera companies in the 2009-10 season.
- 11/12/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Chinese musician Wu Man. Those looking to experience the diverse delights of Chinese music, dance, theater, and art would be well advised to look into Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture, a wide-ranging, bi-coastal, three-week-long exploration of Chinese artistic expression, organized by Carnegie Hall, which kicks off in New York Wednesday night and is already underway in Coast Mesa, California. Classical music superstars Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma will be among those performing works on both coasts from a variety of genres, including traditional Chinese music, contemporary Western classical music influenced by Chinese traditions, and new music by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame), as well as Chinese opera, marionette theater, and dance. (The festival will also feature film screenings, art exhibitions, and panel discussions.) The New York program will begin on a playfully authentic note, with a performance by the Quanzhou Marionette Theater,...
- 10/20/2009
- Vanity Fair
Chinese musician Wu Man. Those looking to experience the diverse delights of Chinese music, dance, theater, and art would be well advised to look into Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture, a wide-ranging, bi-coastal, three-week-long exploration of Chinese artistic expression, organized by Carnegie Hall, which kicks off in New York Wednesday night and is already underway in Coast Mesa, California. Classical music superstars Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma will be among those performing works on both coasts from a variety of genres, including traditional Chinese music, contemporary Western classical music influenced by Chinese traditions, and new music by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame), as well as Chinese opera, marionette theater, and dance. (The festival will also feature film screenings, art exhibitions, and panel discussions.) The New York program will begin on a playfully authentic note, with a performance by the Quanzhou Marionette Theater,...
- 10/19/2009
- Vanity Fair
#1 - Gladiator
(Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard)
There has been much heated discussion this week about whether Hans Zimmer can really be called an "influential" composer, but the proof seems to be in the pudding: Zimmer's output from 1999 until now is impressive, and includes first class film scores for thirteen of the highest grossing films of the past decade. It only seems fitting that he would take our #1 spot, and that SCOREcast readers would vote his score, co-written with Lisa Gerrard, to Ridley Scott's epic masterpiece Gladiator as the number one most influential score of the past decade.
But before we get into the analysis of why Gladiator took the top spot on our countdown, let's recap how we got to this point, starting with the beginning of the Top 10 list (click on any title to read SCOREcast analysis from each score, and comments from the SCOREcast readership):...
(Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard)
There has been much heated discussion this week about whether Hans Zimmer can really be called an "influential" composer, but the proof seems to be in the pudding: Zimmer's output from 1999 until now is impressive, and includes first class film scores for thirteen of the highest grossing films of the past decade. It only seems fitting that he would take our #1 spot, and that SCOREcast readers would vote his score, co-written with Lisa Gerrard, to Ridley Scott's epic masterpiece Gladiator as the number one most influential score of the past decade.
But before we get into the analysis of why Gladiator took the top spot on our countdown, let's recap how we got to this point, starting with the beginning of the Top 10 list (click on any title to read SCOREcast analysis from each score, and comments from the SCOREcast readership):...
- 10/7/2009
- by noreply@blogger.com (SCOREcast Admin)
- SCOREcastOnline.com
A feature that will incorporate graphical novels in its production is "Dark Oz," a feature from creator and film enthusiast Pearry Teo. From this director, producer, and writer Pearry Teo is "Dark Oz," which puts a dark spin on the classic tale of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. This time the chips are stacked in favour of the Nome King with many of Dorothy's comrades out of the picture through black magic. "Dark Oz," will take its influences from graphical novels and already several comic style stills are available to check out while the film moves farther along in production. Have a look at the first synopsis for "Dark Oz," here and check out the homepage for more information, including drawings, on this stylistic film project.
A synopsis for "Dark Oz," here...
Dorothy returns to Oz for another adventure, but this time what she remembers of Oz is not the same.
A synopsis for "Dark Oz," here...
Dorothy returns to Oz for another adventure, but this time what she remembers of Oz is not the same.
- 5/5/2009
- by Michael Ross Allen
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Munich -- The fourth Zurich Film Festival is flexing its muscles on the European circuit with its announcement of a jury led by Peter Fonda as well as master classes by and lifetime achievement awards for Sylvester Stallone and Costa-Gavras.
USA Today film critic Claudia Puig, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" producer Stephen Nemeth, "Superman Returns" screenwriter Michael Dougherty, "Amelie" editor Herve Schneid, Swiss director-producer Andrea Staka and Israeli filmmaker Dror Shaul round out the jury.
Zurich also is honing its brand by focusing on filmmakers who have made fewer than four movies. The master classes, held in public for the cream of the young German-speaking filmmaking crop, will be conducted by Stallone, Costa-Gavras, Palme D'Or winner Ken Loach, Norwegian director Bent Hamer, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" composer Tan Dun and German director Andreas Dresen.
The festival boasts two world premieres among its 70 films, including "Boy of Pigs," the debut feature by U.
USA Today film critic Claudia Puig, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" producer Stephen Nemeth, "Superman Returns" screenwriter Michael Dougherty, "Amelie" editor Herve Schneid, Swiss director-producer Andrea Staka and Israeli filmmaker Dror Shaul round out the jury.
Zurich also is honing its brand by focusing on filmmakers who have made fewer than four movies. The master classes, held in public for the cream of the young German-speaking filmmaking crop, will be conducted by Stallone, Costa-Gavras, Palme D'Or winner Ken Loach, Norwegian director Bent Hamer, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" composer Tan Dun and German director Andreas Dresen.
The festival boasts two world premieres among its 70 films, including "Boy of Pigs," the debut feature by U.
- 9/11/2008
- by By Bonnie J. Gordon
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BEIJING -- Director Feng Xiaogang will unveil his civil war film "Assembly" on Dec. 18 in the 10,000-seat Olympic boxing venue, Huayi Brothers Pictures said Monday.
The film's Chinese premiere will stretch to three hours and include a celebration beginning at 7 p.m. featuring the film's stars -- Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuen Wenkang and Tang Yan -- along with such celebrities as Zhang Ziyi, mainland China's most famous comic actor Ge You, Hong Kong director Stephen Chow and composer Tan Dun.
Beijing's Workers Arena will host the event, a warm-up for its turn next year as the site for boxing events during the 2008 Olympic Games.
The film's premiere marks the 10-year anniversary of China's so-called genre of New Year films. In China, where many cannot afford movie tickets, viewers long have been in the habit of going to the cinema only once per year.
Starting with "Dream Factory" in 1997, Feng has been the unrivaled king of the New Year film at the boxoffice, earning record-breaking sums from late December through the Lunar New Year in late January and early February.
The film's Chinese premiere will stretch to three hours and include a celebration beginning at 7 p.m. featuring the film's stars -- Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuen Wenkang and Tang Yan -- along with such celebrities as Zhang Ziyi, mainland China's most famous comic actor Ge You, Hong Kong director Stephen Chow and composer Tan Dun.
Beijing's Workers Arena will host the event, a warm-up for its turn next year as the site for boxing events during the 2008 Olympic Games.
The film's premiere marks the 10-year anniversary of China's so-called genre of New Year films. In China, where many cannot afford movie tickets, viewers long have been in the habit of going to the cinema only once per year.
Starting with "Dream Factory" in 1997, Feng has been the unrivaled king of the New Year film at the boxoffice, earning record-breaking sums from late December through the Lunar New Year in late January and early February.
- 11/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- What if someone threw a fabulous banquet and forgot the food? The mesmerizing but often empty martial arts epic The Banquet -- from China's most commercial director, Feng Xiaogang -- leaves you feeling that way. The cast includes top actors from the Chinese and Hong Kong film industries, headed by Ziyi Zhang. Oscar-winning designer Tim Yip weighs in with astonishing period costumes and art direction, making each sequence a strikingly beautiful painting. Renowned composer Tan Dun offers such a lush, complex score that you could close your eyes and listen joyously to this movie. Best of all, the world's best action choreographer, Yuen Wo-Ping, might have topped himself with fights that are more balletic than brutal.
But Banquet fritters away this opportunity with a cliched, long-winded, logic-busting, overacted film that at times seems like a parody of the martial arts genre. The film certainly will enjoy a high-profile ride on the festival circuit and win playdates the world over because of its embarrassment of production riches. Yet story and characters are virtually inert.
You can't fault the source material. The writers lift everything except the title from Hamlet. Motives and goals in some cases have been altered, but in general outline the film follows Shakespeare's play closely.
The backdrop is the ancient Chinese kingdom of 907, where treachery and palace revolts rule a cruel land so that dynasties seemingly last no more than a fortnight. The latest turmoil arises with the sudden death of the emperor. Suspicion falls on his ambitious brother Li (Ge You), who seizes the throne and takes his brother's young, beautiful wife, Empress Wan (Ziyi), as his wife. All he has to do now is eliminate his brother's son, Prince Wuluan (Daniel Wu), a melancholy lad who has a sexual thing for his stepmother so he has exiled himself from court in a dance and music colony in the wilderness.
When the new emperor's assassins reach the colony, the movie kicks into gear with its first and actually best fight sequence: Masked actor-dancers elude the swords of the assassins with acrobatic moves rather than weapons, and fighters magically appear from all quarters. Feng does like more blood than most Chinese directors, leaning more toward Quentin Tarantino than Zhang Yimou or Ang Lee. Still, the sequence is heavily stylized with much flying, athletic stunts, slow motion and bravura midair spins. Despite the spraying blood, the sequence is closer to a Gene Kelly dance number than a traditional fight scene.
The prince does escape his fate, however, and improbably turns up at the palace. Here he mopes around and picks fights with the empress and his intended, Qing Nu (Zhou Xun), who is willing to die for love. Dramatic action now shutters to a halt for extended, wheel-spinning scenes of scheming, counterscheming and suspect declarations of love. In other words, the martial arts epic turns into a soap opera.
The acting too grows strained except for Ziyi, who comes across as the most modern of the characters. Survival is the empress' game, and Ziyi lets you see the cunning beneath the coquette.
The dinner long promised by the film's title does finally bring blood and death but precious little action. Three deaths are by poison and another is achieved with a quick thrust of a knife. Talk about ending with a whimper rather than a bang.
As if to signal this is all a joke, a final death by thrown knife occurs with no perpetrator in sight. Perhaps a metaphysical murder? Or maybe the director himself did it.
THE BANQUET
Huayi Brothers Pictures/Media Asia Films
Credits:
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Screenwriters: Sheng Heyu, Qiu Gangjuian
Producer: Wang Zhongjun, John Chong
Executive producer: Yuen Wo-Ping, Wang Zhonglei
Director of photography: Zhang Li
Production/costume designer: Tim Yip
Music: Tan Dun
Action choreography: Yeun Wo-Ping
Editor: Liu Miaomiao
Cast:
Empress Wan: Ziyi Zhang
Emperor Li: Ge You
Prince Wuluan: Daniel Wu
Qing Nu: Zhou Xun
General Yin: Huang Xiaoming
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 131 minutes...
But Banquet fritters away this opportunity with a cliched, long-winded, logic-busting, overacted film that at times seems like a parody of the martial arts genre. The film certainly will enjoy a high-profile ride on the festival circuit and win playdates the world over because of its embarrassment of production riches. Yet story and characters are virtually inert.
You can't fault the source material. The writers lift everything except the title from Hamlet. Motives and goals in some cases have been altered, but in general outline the film follows Shakespeare's play closely.
The backdrop is the ancient Chinese kingdom of 907, where treachery and palace revolts rule a cruel land so that dynasties seemingly last no more than a fortnight. The latest turmoil arises with the sudden death of the emperor. Suspicion falls on his ambitious brother Li (Ge You), who seizes the throne and takes his brother's young, beautiful wife, Empress Wan (Ziyi), as his wife. All he has to do now is eliminate his brother's son, Prince Wuluan (Daniel Wu), a melancholy lad who has a sexual thing for his stepmother so he has exiled himself from court in a dance and music colony in the wilderness.
When the new emperor's assassins reach the colony, the movie kicks into gear with its first and actually best fight sequence: Masked actor-dancers elude the swords of the assassins with acrobatic moves rather than weapons, and fighters magically appear from all quarters. Feng does like more blood than most Chinese directors, leaning more toward Quentin Tarantino than Zhang Yimou or Ang Lee. Still, the sequence is heavily stylized with much flying, athletic stunts, slow motion and bravura midair spins. Despite the spraying blood, the sequence is closer to a Gene Kelly dance number than a traditional fight scene.
The prince does escape his fate, however, and improbably turns up at the palace. Here he mopes around and picks fights with the empress and his intended, Qing Nu (Zhou Xun), who is willing to die for love. Dramatic action now shutters to a halt for extended, wheel-spinning scenes of scheming, counterscheming and suspect declarations of love. In other words, the martial arts epic turns into a soap opera.
The acting too grows strained except for Ziyi, who comes across as the most modern of the characters. Survival is the empress' game, and Ziyi lets you see the cunning beneath the coquette.
The dinner long promised by the film's title does finally bring blood and death but precious little action. Three deaths are by poison and another is achieved with a quick thrust of a knife. Talk about ending with a whimper rather than a bang.
As if to signal this is all a joke, a final death by thrown knife occurs with no perpetrator in sight. Perhaps a metaphysical murder? Or maybe the director himself did it.
THE BANQUET
Huayi Brothers Pictures/Media Asia Films
Credits:
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Screenwriters: Sheng Heyu, Qiu Gangjuian
Producer: Wang Zhongjun, John Chong
Executive producer: Yuen Wo-Ping, Wang Zhonglei
Director of photography: Zhang Li
Production/costume designer: Tim Yip
Music: Tan Dun
Action choreography: Yeun Wo-Ping
Editor: Liu Miaomiao
Cast:
Empress Wan: Ziyi Zhang
Emperor Li: Ge You
Prince Wuluan: Daniel Wu
Qing Nu: Zhou Xun
General Yin: Huang Xiaoming
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 131 minutes...
HONG KONG -- Crime thriller Infernal Affairs and Zhang Yimou's extravagant martial arts epic Hero finished neck-and-neck at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards by winning seven awards each. Affairs had been the favorite going into the awards with 16 nominations, while Hero was nominated in 14 categories. But Hero surprised pundits by taking seven awards within the first hour of the ceremony. Hero started the night off sweeping aside all competition in the categories for best cinematography (Christopher Doyle), best art direction (Huo Tingxiao, Yi Zhenzhou), best costume and make-up (Emi Wada), best action choreography (Tony Ching), best original film score (Tan Dun), best sound design (Tao Jing) and best visual effects (Ellen Poon, Murray Pope, Richard Schlein and Luke O'Brien). But it was Affairs that ended up with the night's most coveted awards. Andrew Lau Wai-keung, who produced and co-directed the hit movie, was visibly emotional as he accepted the bronze statuette for best director as well as best film.
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.