Latest news with #PegO'MyHeart
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Peg o' My Heart review – Hong Kong's disordered dream life is focus of Lynchian thriller
An immolated teenager flailing in a run down tenement. A doubledecker bus suspended above a calm sea bay. A dishevelled middle-aged couple frolicking down a high street, caught in their own private musical. There's an irrepressible fountain of dream imagery erupting out of Nick Cheung's fourth feature, which imagines Hong Kong after the 2008 financial crash as a nightmarish inland empire awash in outrage, anguish and guilt. 'Other people's money!' crows one investor – but the real business here is other people's dreams. Loose-cannon psychiatrist Dr Man (Terrance Lau) is under censure from his bosses for investigating his patients' private lives. Maybe it's his own uneasy dreams that motivate him to trespass, though a new bizarre case gives him added cause to go the extra mile. A narcoleptic taxi driver admitted to hospital after nodding off and veering into the opposite lane, Choi (Nick Cheung) is trapped in a twilight between reality and reverie. Prying into the circumstances once again, Dr Man discovers something even more disturbing at the man's home: his wife Fiona (Fala Chen), an obsessive shut-in who monitors financial feeds. A Hong Kong industry veteran and Johnnie To bit-player, Cheung has inherited some of that master director's way with fine-milled visuals; his lambent and baffling headscapes also feel very reminiscent of another maestro, the dear departed David Lynch. Initially presenting these visions in fragmentary fashion, threading between Man, Choi, Fiona and a former psychiatrist (an Andy Lau cameo) who claims to enter people's dreams, the irrational is the city's governing force – surfacing both in the nocturnal unconscious and stock-market eddies. The transition to a more conventional narrative shadowing Dr Man's shrink-cum-gumshoe is a little abrupt, dissipating the film's oneiric kick. And a stylist though he undoubtedly is, Cheung doesn't invest heavily enough in a single character to bring the story home. That's especially clear in the case of Choi and Fiona's supposedly fateful love affair, wafted along, in a Wong Kar-Wai-esque touch, on the old-timey strains of Broadway standard Peg O' My Heart. Instead, somewhat disingenuously Cheung pushes Man's credo of emotional honesty to the fore. This powerfully textured psychological warren he has lovingly created says otherwise. Peg O' My Heart is released in cinemas on 9 May.
South China Morning Post
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Fala Chen's Chanel 2025-26 cruise collection adventure at cinematic Lake Como: the Marvel star hung out with Sofia Coppola and Lupita Nyong'o – and did a photo shoot by the lake
Just three hours after attending the Hong Kong Film Awards clad in a shimmery dress from Chanel, actress Fala Chen jumped on a flight to Italy. A close friend of the French maison, Chen was headed to Lake Como for the unveiling of Chanel's 2025-26 cruise collection Fala Chen was staying at historic Villa d'Este for Chanel's cruise 2025-26 show at Lake Como. Photo: Handout The actress, who starred in Hollywood blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) – and more recently, in the psychological thrillers Peg O' My Heart (2024), a Hong Kong production, and the upcoming The Ballad of a Small Player , set in Macau – stayed at the magnificent Villa d'Este, the legendary hotel and former royal residence where the show was held. Advertisement Here are some highlights from a whirlwind 48 hours in Lake Como for the Chinese-American star. Cinematic Como Fala Chen (second from right) with (from left) French-Romanian actress Anamaria Vartolomei, Indian actress Ananya Panday, Singaporean actress Tasha Low and Thai actress Achiraya Nitibhon, at Villa d'Este by Lake Como the day before Chanel's 2025-26 cruise show. Photo: Greg Williams 'This felt very different from previous visits to Lake Como because even though it has always felt like a holiday place for me, this time I felt like I would love to shoot a film here; it would be a really beautiful backdrop for some mysterious story, like a film noir. Yesterday we did a photo shoot in black and white by the lake, and even though everything is in bloom and colourful right now, with the trees and lots of flowers, it's actually very beautiful in black and white because there are so many shades of light – shimmery and misty in the morning. Chanel held a dinner at Villa Erba on the shores of Lake Como the night before the cruise show. Photo: Handout 'It's so beautiful, and then in the afternoon the light is so soft. Like any girl, I love soft light because it makes you look beautiful. Yesterday we went to a villa for dinner and the light was just gorgeous, with this golden hue to it.' Dressing the part
South China Morning Post
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Nick Cheung reinvented himself during a 4-decade career
This is the 49th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Advertisement Hong Kong users of the social media platform Threads recently might have encountered a certain Choi San-keung, a sleep-deprived, middle-aged taxi driver who regularly engages with other internet users and shares his nightmares with them. Choi, who has been active since March, has also been spotted on in the Hong Kong subway on an MTR train, on the streets and in cinemas. This eccentric influencer is the alter ego of veteran actor and filmmaker Nick Cheung Ka-fai, who plays Choi in new horror thriller film Peg O' My Heart , which he directed and co-wrote. It is the fourth movie Cheung has directed. Nick Cheung as Choi San-keung in a still from the film Peg O' My Heart, which he also directed and co-wrote. Photo: Handout Cheung's activity on Threads may just be part of promotion for the film, but his social media fame represents yet another achievement in a successful career that has seen him repeatedly reinvent himself. Advertisement Born in 1964 in Hong Kong, Cheung grew up poor with his mother and three sisters in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, after his father abandoned the family when he was around five years old.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fala Chen prioritises motherhood over TV return
4 Apr - Despite making her Hong Kong comeback, Fala Chen has no plan to do any TV series for the time being due to her motherly duties. The actress recently appeared at the premiere, "Peg O' My Heart", where she was asked whether she will make a small screen return following her last TVB drama, "Will Power". To that she responded, "It's really difficult to film a drama. I had received an offer for some American and Canadian dramas earlier but I had to turn them down because my second child is just one year old and really needs his mother." Fala said that filming a drama takes a long time that she can't afford to have as a parent of young children. "Although I can take the children with me and hire a teacher to teach the children like Nicole Kidman did, I thought it might be better to wait until the children are older. Filming movies has more flexible schedules, and I hope to return to acting more often," she said. It is noted that the actress' last TV drama was the HBO miniseries, "Irma Vep". (Photo Source: Fala IG)
South China Morning Post
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Patrons bid farewell as Hong Kong's Newport Theatre closes down after 20 years
Patrons are bidding farewell to Hong Kong's Newport Theatre as it prepares to close its doors after 20 years in business, with only one of the 12 screenings for the cinema's last day having sold more than half of its tickets by the afternoon. Advertisement Some patrons said on Monday that they planned to watch two films back-to-back to support the venue's operator, as the cinema in Mong Kok became the latest to shut down amid a wave of closures. 'It is a place full of collective memories for Hongkongers. It is hard to let it go,' said Sophia Au, a teacher in her forties and a neighbourhood resident. She watched Peg O' My Heart, a recent thriller directed by Nick Cheung Ka-fai, at 11.20am, before attending a screening of Ne Zha 2 with her mother. 'In those old days with no mobile phones, people were happy to go to theatres to watch a movie. Now, we have so many other entertainment options and distractions, plus a bad economy. I feel like it is inevitable,' Au said. Advertisement She described Newport Theatre as a 'down-to-earth' cinema, noting that it was relatively cheaper compared to other venues, with tickets priced at around HK$80 (US$10.2), while the staff there were 'friendly and helpful'.
