Return of the mystic voice

Gamlhamedog (which means snowy lotus in Tibetan), female director Dai Wei's debut musical, is based on a century-old legendary love story. A young Tibetan woman, a soon-to-be bride, becomes a household name in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, for her extraordinary mystic singing of an old song Gamlhamedog, which happens to be her name as well. But, she disappears mysteriously on her wedding night. Sixty years later, another singer, An Yu, wows audiences with the same song. But she suddenly loses her voice after she dreams of a holy lake in Tibet and a singer named Gamlhamedog. The girl then sets off on a journey to Tibet to regain her voice.

All the scenes from the musical are shot in Tibet in locations including Lhasa, Nam-Tso, and Linzhi as well as the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Gu-Ge in Ali (in far southwestern Tibet) which are shown for the first time in a feature film. The unique scenery of the Land of Snows is shown in all its glory. As a musical reflecting life in modern Tibet, Gamlhamedog draws its music from native Tibetan folk songs.

Action epic An Empress and the Warriors, the directorial debut of the famous martial arts choreographer Ching Siu-tung, centers on an exiled princess trying to restore her fallen country with the help of a traveling warrior. The film, which stars Leon Lai, kungfu star Donnie Yen and singer/actress Kelly Chan, features magnificent scenes from China's Inner Mongolia and pulse-racing action sequences.

Along with Hong Kong actor Francis Ng, mainland actress Yu Nan is in town to promote her latest film, the suspense thriller Deadly Delicious which hit city cinemas last weekend. In the Golden Bear winning film Tuya's Marriage Yu hides her beauty as a determined young woman in Inner Mongolia who rides horses and camels and herds sheep. But in Deadly Delicious, she plays a frustrated wife who discovers her husband's extramarital affair and wants him to pay for his infidelity. Yu says art house films have always been her favorites but these days there are also high quality Chinese commercial movies.

Based on a popular Manga series that began in 2002 (more than 600,000 copies sold), Le Grand Chef is an action-packed comedy about Sung Chan (Kim Gang-woo), a young South Korean chef who has lost his confidence after a terrible incident caused by his food. Nevertheless, he enters a national competition organized to find the true heir to the last royal chef of the Chosun Dynasty who will inherit a famous knife and restaurant. This movie has thrilling sets, humor, mouth-watering food and a skillful interweaving of heartfelt stories.

Other films in the cinemas including:

Mad Detective, that teams Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai, is about a loony cop who solves crimes through intuition rather than logic.

Atonement, co-starring James McAvoy opposite Knightley.

(China Daily 03/15/2008 page6)