Jimbo
02-13-2013, 04:35 PM
The Last Star of the East: Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia and Her Films, by Akiko Tetsuya, is the first (and only) book in English on screen icon Brigitte Lin. In addition, it was the first book ever written about her in which she actually participated and gave her approval. Akiko Tetsuya, a Japanese entertainment reporter living in Los Angeles, and a self-admitted fan of Brigitte, met with her here and there over the course of several years, beginning in 1997, each time the interviews conducted in English. A rare thing, since Brigitte Lin does not easily give interviews. It was finally published in 2005.
Since then, Brigitte has written her own book, but if and when an English version will ever appear is uncertain.
The book talks about her 22-year film career, where she tells how she was discovered, her opinions on her films, etc. There are also comments by other names, such Ronny Yu, Ann Hui, Christopher Doyle, Wong Jing, Nan Sun-Shi (wife of Tsui Hark), Tsui Hark himself, and many others.
Ms. Tetsuya does tend to gush a bit (well, a lot) over Brigitte Lin, but then she invested all her own money into making the book a reality, so I suppose it's her right to do so. She admits that since neither she nor Brigitte used a translator, and neither has perfect English, that some meanings may not be expressed as perfectly as they could have been in their own respective languages. I believe it's a unique and honest work that also describes the Taiwan and Hong Kong film industries from the '70s into the '90s.
Since then, Brigitte has written her own book, but if and when an English version will ever appear is uncertain.
The book talks about her 22-year film career, where she tells how she was discovered, her opinions on her films, etc. There are also comments by other names, such Ronny Yu, Ann Hui, Christopher Doyle, Wong Jing, Nan Sun-Shi (wife of Tsui Hark), Tsui Hark himself, and many others.
Ms. Tetsuya does tend to gush a bit (well, a lot) over Brigitte Lin, but then she invested all her own money into making the book a reality, so I suppose it's her right to do so. She admits that since neither she nor Brigitte used a translator, and neither has perfect English, that some meanings may not be expressed as perfectly as they could have been in their own respective languages. I believe it's a unique and honest work that also describes the Taiwan and Hong Kong film industries from the '70s into the '90s.