Inspired by a true controversial ritual of lying in coffins to get rid of bad luck and prolong lives, Thai creepy story “The Coffin” has broken the record for Best Opening Day for all other Thai horror films previously held by 'Shutter'. It’s written and directed by Singapore-based Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham (Beautiful Boxer, Pleasure Factory), the Karen Mok (Shaolin Soccer) and Ananda Everingham (Shutter) starrer has earlier topped the Box Office chart in Thailand when it opened in August last year. Described by Time Out Magazine as a "scream gem" and 8 Days Magazine as "a poised spine-tingler, 'The Coffin' tells a thrilling, mysterious and moving story of an architect and a dietician who decide to go through the ritual to cheat death only to be faced with a series of strange and terrifying incidents afterwards. Now, it’s up for your order in the DVD shelf, so you can watch this quite unique horror movie again which does not only give the spook factor, but to make us reflect and think about our life.
While “The Coffin” is not strictly a Thai film, but a co-production between Thailand's Live Inc. and NGR, Hong Kong's Global Entertainment Group and Singapore's Scorpio East Pictures, it once again showcased the unique style of Ekachai who’s quickly built a reputation as one of his country’s promised young director, thanks to his two previous films “Beautiful Boxer” and “Pleasure Factory”, a pair of films that combine sensational storylines - a transgender boxer in one, sex trade workers in the other - with sensitivity and serious dramatic chops.
The spine-chilling horror tells a story about a young man and a young woman who decide to go through the ritual in Thailand. Chris (Ananda Everingham), an architect who is extremely claustrophobic but with hope to lengthen his girlfriend’s (Aki Shibuya)life, Chris decides to overcome his fear by being in the coffin. Zoe (Karen Mok), a nutritionist, takes care of her health religiously. However, only 2 weeks before marrying her fiancé (Andrew Lin), Zoe finds out that she’s in the final stage of lung cancer. Zoe then runs away to Thailand and discovers the coffin ceremony and decides to participate in order to save her own life. Chris and Zoe are confronted by a series of paranormal and terrifying incidents. Both might have to sacrifice their lives to unfold the truth.
Product Title: The Coffin (DVD) (Taiwan Version)
Language: English, Thai, Chinese
Subtitles: Traditional Chinese
Picture Format: NTSC, 1.78 : 1
Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Release Date: 2009-01-26 (Save your copy)
Referred to in Thailand as "Non Loeng Sadorcro" which literally means Lie in Coffin, Rid of Bad Luck, the ritual involves participants lying in coffins while a group of monks perform death rites as if the participants are already dead. This is then followed by a chant of a new life. Many participants had said they felt as if they were reborn after the ritual with bad karma buried behind them. But this death rite for the living is not without its detractors. Some brand it as an occult practice while others consider it a bad omen to lie in a coffin when one is still alive.
Ekachai stumbled upon the idea for his new film after hearing about the mass funeral for the living where thousands turned up at a North Eastern temple in Thailand to lie in coffins and go through the ritual. "Personally, I find the ritual frightening yet intriguing", says Ekachai. "Can one really cheat death by confronting it? Can bad karma actually be reversed or gotten rid of by lying in a coffin?" Adds Ekachai, "The ritual became fodder for a story which deals with our fear of death – our own as well as the death of people we love." The film was shot over two months in Bangkok and five other provinces across Thailand. Filming locations include a 100-year-old Thai temple, an ancient meditation cave, actual cemeteries and inside active crematorium chambers.
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“The Divine Weapon” is another South Korean effort to have fun with risky historical fiction business and also a highly anticipated epic dramatization of the world's first multi-launch rocket system invented during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). It becomes one of the highest-grossing Korean films of 2008, fusion period epic "The Divine Weapon" conquered the box office with a spectacular tale of rousing battles and gritty heroics.
This war epic directed by Kim Yoo-Jin (Wild Card) will tell the story of an overmatched Korean army trying to develop an explosive arrow launcher to hold off the expansionist Ming Dynasty army. Now, the DVD version of the film is ready to purchase, available in 2 Discs English Sub First Press Limited Edition Korea Version DVD.
Have a promo screening at last Cannes Film Festival, “The Devine Weapon” has an all star cast of JUNG Jae-young, AHN Sung-ki, HUH Joon-ho, and HAN Eun-jung, the top actors on television also on the big screen. Set as a massive project that cost 10 billion won ($9.8 million) and took almost 6 years to produce, “Divine” somewhat will be more refreshing, particularly given that many people have stereotypes regarding the Joseon period. About the sophisticated military weapon that is not well known among Koreans, much less foreigners itself, it was called "singijeon," which means "ghost-like machine arrow" in Korean. Once out of the launcher, the fire-arrows were set to detonate automatically near the target area. Manufactured from the early 15th to mid-16th century, the singijeon was often used in the northern frontiers, and played a pivotal role in fending off invasions. The high-powered firearm was used in the southern provinces to keep the Japanese sea-borne marauders at bay. Historical documents show that the singijeon was capable of firing as many as 100 fire arrows or explosive grenades. Its long-range firepower tended to catch the enemy off-guard. The fire arrow contained a device equipped with gunpowder and shrapnel. Director Kim said the production team restored the original singijeon with the help of experts, but noticed that it was difficult to control the rocket-launcher system. "It was very challenging to run the restored rocket system, and my impression is that our forefathers had better technology in dealing with the timed detonation for the singijeon," Kim said.
Set in 1448, the 30th year of Sejong’s reign, the film begins when the Ming dynasty’s meddling into Joseon’s domestic affairs goes to extremes and Sejong secretly plans to develop Singijeon, a rocket weapon upgraded from Goryeo’s firearms technology. The Ming finds out and quickly dispatches assassins to attack the research lab, but CHOI Hae-san, the man in charge of the project, destroys himself along with the research materials to protect the weapon’s secret. His daughter Hong-li (HAN Eun-jung) barely escapes but loses the Chong-tong Records (Singijeon’s blueprints) to the Ming assassins. As the Ming’s diplomatic pressure increases on Joseon for making the Singijeon, Sejong commands Chang-gang, the chief royal guard warrior, to take the only person with the potential to complete the Singijeon, Hong-li, safely to Sul-ju (JUNG Jae-young), a peddler. The son of the top engineer of Hwa-tong-do-gam (place for making gunpowder and firearms–or a weapons factory in today’s language) at the end of Goryeo dynasty, Sul-ju is an exceedingly intelligent man with the top martial art skills in Joseon. He rejects Joseon as a descendant of Goryeo migrants and lives as the head of a merchant gang. He refuses Chang-gang’s command to help construct the Singijeon, but in order to save his gang from a fight with rivals, he is forced to join Hong-li in seeing the Singijeon completed. Desperate to understand the facts of Singijeon, the Ming sends an army disguised as a large envoy to intimidate Sejong and the court. Meanwhile, the Ming army sets out to find Sul-ju’s headquarters and completely destroy the slightest possibilities of developing Singijeon. After repeated failures in the project, Sul-ju risks his life to recover the Chong-tong Records for Hong-li. However, he starts to have second thoughts as his comrades are sacrificed in battles. At last, as they are moments away from the completion of Singijeon, the Ming and Yeo-jin alliance army of 100,000 heads for Eui-ju, Joseon. In order to stop the war, Sejong hands Hong-li and the Chong-tong Records to the Ming envoy and even Sul-ju is imprisoned by the court...
DVD Specifications:
Product Title: The Divine Weapon (DVD) (First Press Limited Edition) (Korea Version) (DVD)
Language: Korean
Subtitles: Korean, English
Screen Format: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, NTSC
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital 5.1 & DTS
Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Special Features:
Disc 1 :
- Commentary
Disc 2 :
- Making of
- Action Space
- Divine Weapon
- Real Story
- Trailer
Release Date: 2009-01-24 (Save your copy)
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The film which has won 12 awards to date, including 6 at the 2008 Golden Horse Awards, and It will also be Taiwan's entry to compete in the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, "Cape No. 7," now is up to purchase in a Hong Kong version with English sub DVD.
"Cape No. 7" is a last year Taiwanese romance comedic music-drama film which written and directed by Wei Te-Sheng as his first full-length motion picture, following his success with Seediq Bale, the tale of an indigenous Taiwanese hero.
Prior to this film, the two leading actors Van Fan and Chie Tanaka only had minor acting experience while some of the supporting roles were filled by non-actors. Even without a strong promotional campaign, the film had become so popular in Taiwan that on November 1, 2008 it became the 2nd top grossing film in the island's cinematic history, behind "Titanic" with final figure around NT$ 232 million. The film only made with a sizable NT$50 million budget and is one of only two Taiwanese entries into the International category. In fact, "Cape No. 7" just might be the highest grossing Chinese-language film ever in the Taiwanese box office (not adjusting for inflation, of course) -- higher that any film by Ang Lee, John Woo, Zhang Yimou, or Stephen Chow.
Critics attribute the film's box office success to its honest depiction of the rural southern Taiwan; the strong emotional resonance among older viewers; the humorous tone, optimistic characters, and musical performances.
The film also made its United States premiere on October 10, 2008 in Honolulu at the Hawaii International Film Festival, where it won the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Narrative.
The story set in the 1940s near the end of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, an unnamed teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to the southernmost town of Hengchun falls in love with a local girl with the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko (Rachel Liang). After the Surrender of Japan, the teacher is forced to return home as the Chinese has reoccupied Taiwan. On his trip home, he pens seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Kojima Tomoko, who originally planned to elope with him in Japan.
More than 60 years after the teacher left Kojima Tomoko, Aga (Van Fan) is introduced as a struggling young Hengchun-native rock band singer who could not find success in Taipei. After returning to his hometown, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arranged a position for him as a postman, replacing the senile Uncle Mao (Johnny C.J. Lin), on leave after a motorcycle accident broke his leg. One day, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the post office; the daughter of the now deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them. Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to discover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture can no longer be found.
Meantime a local resort hotel inside Kenting National Park is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari, but Aga's step father makes use of his official position to insist that the opening band be composed of locals. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Hengchun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather particular backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period, Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly begin a relationship. With some assistance from hotel maid Mingchu (Shino Lin), who is revealed to be Kojima Tomoko's granddaughter, Tomoko helps Aga find the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Tomoko then tells Aga that she plans on returning to Japan after the concert because of a job offering. After returning the seven love letters, a heartbroken but determined Aga returns to the beach resort and performs a highly successful concert with his local band alongside Kousuke Atari, during which he convinces Tomoko to stay.
DVD Specifications:
Product Title: Cape No. 7 (DVD) (2-Disc Limited Edition) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: Traditional Chinese, English
Picture Format: NTSC
Sound Information: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
Disc Format(s): DVD-9, DVD-5, DVD
Region Code: 3 - South East Asia (including Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan)
Release Date: 2009-01-22 (Save your copy)
Movie Review (By John Li):
You know whether a film’s got heart when you watch it. You know whether the filmmakers have injected their hearts into the film when you watch it. And your heart knows the answer to this when a film so deeply moving touches you in ways you never would have imagined. Sure, you may have read about all the promotional campaigns in the media about this Taiwanese film (the most outrageous one being the leading actor going for a skinny dip in the ocean after the film reported success at the local box office), but it is a film you have to experience yourself to understand how it managed to touch so many people’s hearts in this bafflingly perplexing times we live in.
Written and directed by up and coming filmmaker Wei Te-sheng, the well put together script narrates the stories of seven unlikely individuals who come together to form a local warm up band for a popular Japanese singer who will be arriving in the scenic town of Hengchun, Taipei, for a beach concert. Amongst them are interesting characters like a frustrated band singer, a Japanese model turned translator, a violent police officer and a talented, young but weird synthesizer player. There is also another storyline which involves seven unsent love letters from 60 years ago.
With a plot like that, we can already predict how romantic die-hards will be flocking to the theatres when the movie opens.
Imagine that it is the 1940s. There are seven penned but unsent love letters that expresses a Japanese man’s regret for leaving a Taiwanese woman, who originally planned to elope with him to Japan. Then picture magnificently filmed sequences at a ship dock where the two lovers are separated. Craning shots, romantic music, anxious expressions and a Japanese narration voiceover make these scenes feel atmospherically epic – How can anyone not be touched by them?
The above picturesque moments are nicely weaved in and contrasted with present day depictions of daily life where common folk go about their lives and have dreams. The hustle and bustle of a busy town, suddenly brought to life when a Japanese superstar announces that he will hold a concert, is vividly caught on lens in this film. Although there are many supporting characters along the way, you learn to care for them throughout the film’s 129 minute runtime. Each has a unique character which reminds you of someone you know, each has an aspiration that reminds you of what you want in life.
And this connectedness is possible because of the cast’s endearing and honest performances. Van Fan, who plays the angst ridden band leader, is a perfect personification of many young lost souls today. Chie Tanaka, who plays the Japanese correspondent, may appear unlikable at first with her feisty attitude, but the character grows on you gradually. The candid, sincere and entertaining portrayals of other characters by native Taiwanese artistes like Min-Hsiung, Ying Wei-min and Johnny C.J. Lin also add nice human touches to the film.
As the movie comes to a finale where music takes centre stage, you’ll be cheering the human spirit which celebrates love and hope.
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