New Brigitte Lin book

samhain · Post by **samhain** » 10 Apr 2005, 12:07

Hi,
I'm new, but figured some of you on the Bullets forum may find this of interest:

Japanese journalist Akiko Tetsuya is publishing a book on Brigitte Lin entitled 'The Last Star of The East: Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia and Her Films'.
8 years in the making, the book features interviews with many major Hong Kong and Taiwanese film stars and filmmakers.
Aside from Brigitte Lin herself, other interviewees include Tsui Hark, Yon Fan, William Cheung, Ronny Yu, Wong Jing, Ann Hui, Shu Kei, the late Leslie Cheung and many more.

Having read it, I can say that I found the book fascinating - reading Brigitte Lin's own opinion of her life and work is an intriguing, and very rare thing; indeed, I believe these are the only real interviews she's given since her retirement 10 years ago.

A website - www.akikospace.com - has been set-up to promote the book, which will be officially released on May 3rd.

the68monkey · Post by **the68monkey** » 10 Apr 2005, 16:23

Thanks for the heads up, samhain! Brigitte Lin was fantastic in her prime. Peking Opera Blues remains one of my favorites, and of course, I still love Deadful Melody since her co-star was the martial arts god known as Yuen Biao.

I wonder if the book explores her more recent political views? Or does it stay mainly to the topic of her film career?

samhain · Post by **samhain** » 10 Apr 2005, 17:22

the68monkey wrote:Thanks for the heads up, samhain! Brigitte Lin was fantastic in her prime. Peking Opera Blues remains one of my favorites....

No probs (Peking Opera Blues is my all-time favourite)

the68monkey wrote:I wonder if the book explores her more recent political views? Or does it stay mainly to the topic of her film career?

I'm afraid this is one area it doesn't touch on - perhaps because the interviews were conducted before the recent troubles.
However, the author does address other sensitive aspects of her private life, such as her affairs with co-stars Chin Han and Charlie Chin, and a supposed suicide attempt.

Most of the interviews are fairly easy on Brigitte - nothing too challenging usually. But this actually helps the book a great deal - Brigitte opens up to the author to a surprising degree, whereas a more pressing approach may have closed a lot of doors.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 10 Apr 2005, 17:40

Brigitte was a great actress and Peking Opera Blues is also a fave of mine. What's the political controversy about? (I don't really follow the private lives much).

samhain · Post by **samhain** » 10 Apr 2005, 22:11

Markgway wrote:What's the political controversy about? (I don't really follow the private lives much).

Well, assuming 'the68monkey' and myself are on the same wavelength, this refers to her support for Taiwan's 'Pan-Blue Coalition'. A fair amount of commotion was generated last year when she (allegedly) publicly displayed her ballot paper.
The Pan-Blue Party is in favour of closer links to Mainland China, rather than a more separatist policy.
It's obviously a great deal more complicated than that, but I'm no expert - all I know is it's an extremely hot topic at the moment!

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 11 Apr 2005, 00:30

I see.... Well even if I don't agree with her politics she's still a terrific actress and beauty.