[Weekly Update] March 7, 2021

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Hope you like our last video on Uncle Tat's acting. This video was in the back burner for over a year. Originally I wanted to find as much interview footage as possible, as well as talk about his acting in a more general term, with more movie examples.
• Finding his films, however, are not easy. The Shaolin Popey series is ridiculously difficult to find due to it being in copyright limbo. The Cantonese version and the Mandarin version also has different edits. It's a mess.
• Having limited knowledge on acting is another hurdle. I only ever took one acting class in my entire life, so I'm in no way qualified to talk about the techniques. Doesn't help that a lot of acting techniques are very abstract to begin with, not something that's suitable for analytic video essays.
• In the end, I hope I did a good enough job in honouring his legacy. One day I'll settle down and make a proper video about Uncle Tat's life.

• On another note, our channel growth has been stable and slow for a while now. It seems like the novelty period has passed, and most subscribers aren't as interested in Asian cinema as before.
• This is usually when channels mix things up a bit, and expand their topics. So, what other related topics you'd want us to cover?

ABOUT MEDIA

• Let's talk about other Uncle Tat movies.
• A Moment of Romance is a big deal for Uncle Tat's career. It was the only time he received a Hong Kong Film Award for best supporting actor. In it, he plays a middle age, low ranking triad member, who's constantly being bullied. Many have said it is Tat's best performance. I personally think it is his second best, after Shaolin Soccer. Shaolin Soccer won for the simple reason that it gives him more screen time.
• Portland Street Blues is yet another big one. Playing as the father to two sisters living in a gang, Tat is a sympathetic father figure, who has little power in the crime world, yet still tries his best at protecting his two daughters. This is another film I really wanted to highlight in the video. Unfortunately I could not find a good quality copy of this film, and the idea is dropped.
• King of Beggars is another example of him playing a useless but sympathetic father figure. Playing as Stephen Chow's father, Tat doesn't have a lot of time to shine in this one, but when he does, it was genuinely touching. This is another one I couldn't find a good source to, beyond old VHS with burn in subtitles.
• Love on delivery is the one I actually have. Tat plays a scammer in this one, who eventually turned out to be an actual bad ass. This one gives Tat a lot to play with, he's both scummy and cool, wise and stupid. The conflicting personalities gives me whiplash in the best way possible.
• God of Cookery is... different. Tat plays against type this time, and plays a cunning, backstabbing business man. In hindsight, it was a great performance. The way he chomps on his cigar oozes that Bond villain look, it's great. But when this movie was new, it just confused the hell out of a lot of people. Our expectation is shattered a bit too much. When it's revealed halfway through that Tat is the villain, the emotional pay off just isn't there. Tat did a great job performing. But I think Chow underestimated just how much this twist can shock people.

And that's it for this week. Next video will be about Godzilla vs. Kong, which comes out later this month. So, there won't be a video for a bit. In the mean time, I'll be working on our April Fool's video. Expect a packed April!