Director Wilson Yip keeps things moving briskly, and collaborates with cinematographer Arthur Wong to create a spruced-up vision of that old Hong Kong Cinema feeling. The film recalls the original with a number of solid reverential nods the filmmakers reuse Leslie Cheung’s classic song, and the film possesses the same costumes, character designs, and even the same "feel" as the original. Truthfully, there’s nothing terribly wrong with this remake of A Chinese Ghost Story. Eventually, everything and everyone will collide in a winner-take-all battle for love, destiny and box office earnings. Meanwhile, the Tree Demon still exists, and it’s none-too-happy. Unwilling to let Ning become food for her evil spirit sisters (Lin Peng and Gong Xinliang), Siu Sin hides him, and the two slowly begin to bond. Yin Chek Ha shows up to rout the other evil spirits, but the presence of the amnesiac Siu Sin causes his face to contort with great emotional pain (Louis Koo calls this “acting”). Tasked with finding water for a drought-suffering village (led by Hong Kong Cinema veteran Tsui Kam-Kong), Ning heads into the mountains where he meets Siu Sin in a loving slow motion shot stolen straight from the 1987 film. Siu Sin is freed back into the forest while the tortured Yin continues in his quest to bring down the evil 10,000 year-old Tree Demon (Wai Ying-Hung).Ĭue the beginning of the 1987 Chinese Ghost Story, with the arrival of Ning Choi-Shan. The film opens with Yin and Siu Sin falling in love before duty impels Yin to remove Siu Sin’s memory. Previously, Yin Chek Ha was played by a unibrow-sporting Wu Ma, but here he’s embodied by the much hunkier Louis Koo. Yip’s new version modifies the love story between klutzy scholar Ning Choi-Shan (Yu Shaoqun) and forest spirit Siu Sin (Liu Yifei, playing a fox demon and not a ghost, as SARFT would require), creating a love triangle between those two and ghostbusting Taoist monk Yin Chek Ha. Unless you’re completely cinema illiterate, you should know that Wilson Yip’s 2011 fantasy adventure A Chinese Ghost Story (called A Chinese Fairy Tale in mainland China) is a remake of the 1987 Ching Siu-Tung classic A Chinese Ghost Story. Really, putting together a satisfactory remake of A Chinese Story was probably an impossible proposition. Wilson Yip's remake of the 1987 Chinese Ghost Story is OK for big budget audience fare, but it's impossible to forget that the original film exists and was also a whole lot better. Louis Koo Tin-Lok, Crystal Liu Yifei, Yu Shaoqun, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Louis Fan Siu-Wong, Wang Danyi Li, Gong Xinliang, Lin Peng, Li Jing, Tsui Kam-Kong, Fung Hak-On Yuk-Sing, Alan Chui Chung-San, Fan Chin-Hung Sources:, Crystal-yifei.Liu Yifei and Yu Shaoqun make like Joey and Leslie in A Chinese Ghost Story. The following guests appeared in the event: Liu Yifei, Yu Shaoqun, Louis Koo, Louis Fan, Kara Hui, Elvis Tsui, Miumiu Gong Qian Nyu You Hun “A Chinese Ghost Story” Press Release ConferenceĪ press release conference was held at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing on July 1 2010. The story has been adapted to the big screen many times before, with probably the most well-known version to date being the Tsui Hark production which featured superstars Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong. The original story, written by 17th-century Chinese author Pu Songling, tells a love story between a tax collector, Ning Caichen, and a ghost named Nie Xiaoqian. It will not be a sequel, but rather a brand-new story, employing new elements such as computer-generated special effects. Yip says he aims to put his own spin on the familiar story.
Other cast members include Hong Kong actor Louis Koo who will be playing Yin Chek Ha, and Chinese mainland actor Yu Shaoqun the young Peking opera master, ‘Mei Lanfang’, from the film “Forever Enthralled.” “The Forbidden Kingdom” actress was originally reported to play ‘Nie Xiaoqian’ as early as last year. Liu Yifei’s agent has confirmed the information. Chinese actress Liu Yifei will play the lead female character ‘Nie Xiaoqian’. Hong Kong actor Fan Shaohuang (Louis Fan) revealed on his mini-blog that director Wilson Yip is currently shooting his new film “ A Chinese Ghost Story” (Qian Nyu You Hun) in Shanghai.