07-18-2020, 10:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-18-2020, 10:31 PM by Drunk Monk.)
I had to dig deep because I was scooped on my Veronica Ngo story (not my fault - I submitted the questions to her agent well over a week ago and if he had got back to me in a timely fashion, I would've nailed it...I'm still waiting). This is billed as a retelling of Cinderella, but it's an ancient Vietnamese tale that begins uncomfortably parallel. An evil step mom and step sister, an enslaved beauty, a fairy granting magic wishes, allowing the beauty to go to the ball, including a shoe that is lost and found by the prince, who agrees to marry the one who it fits. But that all happens in the first half hour or so of this story. The story of Tam and Cam (the names of the two sisters) takes a completely different turn after that - one of reincarnation, filial love, and magic.
Ngo plays Di Ghe, the evil stepmom. It's a sword & sorcery fantasy echoing the boisterous genre coming out of PRC - opulent over-saturated color schemes, lavishly embroidered silks, fantasy armor looking more like tokesatsu rejects than medieval Vietnam, golden dragon-wrapped thrones, CGI landscapes stitched to Nam's lush tropical landscapes. Overall, it's unimpressive. At one point, it almost turns Lovecraftian - it just needed tentacles. But it had a key point, which made it all worth it. Ngo directed it. And produced it. This is her baby on so many levels. Perfect fodder for that article should her rep every get those interview answers back to me.
That Insider reviewer took it from a completely Hollywood perspective, distilling info off wiki and imdb. He called her 'Van Veronica Ngo' which is an error of imdb trying to reconcile her Viet and English name - she's never credited that way. I can keep it fresh by coming at it from Vietnam. I have been following her for nearly a decade already, since I first turned on to Viet film, I just didn't put that together until now.
There are sword fights but they are mediocre. Lots of flying about. Lots of overblown slow mo swings and dodges. Not DOOM recommended.
Ngo plays Di Ghe, the evil stepmom. It's a sword & sorcery fantasy echoing the boisterous genre coming out of PRC - opulent over-saturated color schemes, lavishly embroidered silks, fantasy armor looking more like tokesatsu rejects than medieval Vietnam, golden dragon-wrapped thrones, CGI landscapes stitched to Nam's lush tropical landscapes. Overall, it's unimpressive. At one point, it almost turns Lovecraftian - it just needed tentacles. But it had a key point, which made it all worth it. Ngo directed it. And produced it. This is her baby on so many levels. Perfect fodder for that article should her rep every get those interview answers back to me.
That Insider reviewer took it from a completely Hollywood perspective, distilling info off wiki and imdb. He called her 'Van Veronica Ngo' which is an error of imdb trying to reconcile her Viet and English name - she's never credited that way. I can keep it fresh by coming at it from Vietnam. I have been following her for nearly a decade already, since I first turned on to Viet film, I just didn't put that together until now.
There are sword fights but they are mediocre. Lots of flying about. Lots of overblown slow mo swings and dodges. Not DOOM recommended.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse