Meteor Garden 1 & 2 (2001 - 2002)
Mars (2004)
Mars (2004)
Love Storm (2003)
Silence (2006)
Sweet Relationship (2007)
Wish to see you again (2008)
Wish to see you again (2008)
Linger
Linger (2007)
Black and White (2008)
Black and White (2008)Vic Chou Yu Min (周渝民) was discovered when he accompanied a friend who wanted to audition for a role in Meteor Garden 1. I am not too sure if the friend got to play any role but the producer felt that he was just right for the part of Huā Zé Lèi (花澤類). Initially, Vic turned down the role as he did not want to hurt his friend but after much persuasion he took on the role and the rest is part of Taiwanese entertainment history. Vic played the part of Huā Zé Lèi, a very silent and sensitive guy who becomes good friends with the heroine of the drama, Shān Cài, played by Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛). As an aside, he was later to enter into a three year relationship after they starred together in "Mars" with her but it did not last as they parted company towards the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008.
"Meteor Garden" [流星花園] was the drama that catapulted Vic to fame along with his three other co-stars. They were later to form one of the most popular boybands in Asia, F4. I had actually told Eric that I would do a review of Meteor Garden for him and his customers to read but I think that they can go to http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Meteor_Garden to read the synopsis and review of Chapters 1 & 2. To me, it is the usual idol drama, with a few good looking fellas playing at romance.
Besides the two chapters of "Meteor Rain" [流星夢幻楽園] that he acted in, I am also not interested to do a write-up on "Poor Prince" [貧窮貴公子], "Come To My Place" [来我家吧], and "Love Storm" [狂愛龍捲] that he starred in as they are again your usual idol dramas which needed the male and female leads to act pretty and just go about the motions of being themselves. The main lead actor of these type of dramas would usually be the tall and goodlooking type who are dripping in cash - just like a character out of Mills and Boons.
Honestly speaking, in the beginning I felt that Vic was just a pretty boy strutting his stuff I also guessed that he was just acting as himself and thus what we saw was actually an extension of the actor himself. In fact, I suspected Lei was Vic personified. When my mum and I watched Meteor Garden again, we felt that Lei was a better choice for Shan Chai than Dao Ming Si.
The role that he portrayed that caught my attention was in Silence [深情密碼] where he portrayed Qi Wei Yi [戚偉易]- a snobbish, hard-hearted businessman who after finding true love had to face his own mortality. He was great portraying the young man dying of stomach cancer. I watched him next in Sweet Relationship [美味哦关系] and was impressed that he took on something different (a genuis chef who was difficult to get along with). Yet, this was still a manga-type romantic comedy. His role in "Mars" (戰神) in which he acted with Barbie Hsu was interesting and also challenged his acting ability. In it he, did the double role of twins, one who put on a happy facade but was in actuality suicidal and the other struggled with mental illness and postraumatic stress syndrome. It was a refreshing change seeing him portraying such emotion packed and multi-faceted roles. The chemistry between the two leads was electrifying. Too bad they separated in real life. They make such a lovely couple.
But the role that really made me a fan of his was as "Xu Le" (許樂) in "Wish to See You Again" [這裡發現愛]. His portrayal of the 'autistic-like', eccentric best-selling novelist sort of blew me away. If I had not known that it was him acting in the drama, I would have thought it was a completely different actor altogether. No more pretty, effeminate boy who was soft-spoken and shy. Really and truly a departure from Hua Ze Lei. Here was a man who was as quirky and queer as they come. He sort of reminded me of "L" (the character in Death Note - so eccentric but at the same time a genius with a passion for what he was doing). Believe me, I cried when he was told that the publisher would not publish his books as the readers did not like it. This is personal as I have experienced writing and researching something for two years and then have people reject my work over and over again. Of course, there is also the romance bit but here it is not the pivot of the story. Issues like camaraderie, sacrifice and honour are also highlighted. I think that this particular drama also wanted to showcase the many interesting sights found in Taiwan since the members of JVKV (formerly known as F4) were Tourism Ambassadors of Taiwan at that time.
Let me say that the late Heath Ledger and the very much alive Johnny Depp also started off as teen idols worshipped by the girls for their pretty boy looks. Both men took on very diverse character roles which challenged their acting abilities and they managed to come up with sterling performances which earned them Oscar nominations. For your information, I have been a fan of Ledger and Depp for many, many years and watched many of their movies.
MARS (戰神) is THE drama that I recommend you to watch if you want to see some serious acting. Zai Zai and Barbie Hsu were awesome in it. The drama has dark undertones touching on themes such as rape, suicide, mental illness, violence and the frailty of the human pysche. It is not your typical idol fare and should actually be categorised as an adult drama. Both the main leads did a splendid job at portraying all the emotions of the young persons tormented and haunted by events in their past. Want to know more about the story, please click here.
Vic got his big break acting as Hua Ze lei but blew me away with his performance as Chen Ling (陳零) and Xu Le. Judging from the roles that he took on after Mars, it is obvious that he is slowly breaking away from the genre that he started out with. He is already into his late twenties and his fans too are growing older. There will be younger male stars to take on eye candy roles. Call it feminine intuition, but I feel that if Vic were to keep on honing his skills over the years, he too might one day be the Tony Leung Chiu Wai of his country. After all Taiwan has come up with a world famous musician Yo Yo Ma and an Academy Award winning director Ang Lee. It would not be long before an actor from that country would be added to that list. My money is on the Taiwanese pretty boy of Aborigines descent (原住民) who did not start out with the intention of becoming an actor in the first place.
The next role he will take on are that of a policeman in "Ruffian Hero/Black and White". I read the descriptions of the role and it seems to be a departure from the usual idol stuff - more mature and adult. I think I read that the beginning scene is of him in bed with his superior's daughter - a ruffian and a scoundrel, very unidol-like. I did not watch the movies Linger [蝴蝶飞] and Tea Fight which he acted in and so am not in a position to make any comments.
Quote:
Vic Chou: 'It was okay if I was young and raw seven years ago. But at every stage of your life, you must know what you should do. My work is maturing as I am. At the very least, I know I'm not repeating the same things that I have done when I was 19...My aim has been to establish my acting foundations in television first before I head towards movies'.
Source: The New Paper
References:
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