Lee Ang - A Great Storyteller

One of my favourite movie Directors, Lee Ang clean up big @ the recent Oscars again with his film, "Life of Pi". 

One thing I like about Lee Ang, is that I find that he's constantly up to challenges, directed diverse set of films like the early "Eat Drink Man Woman" to "Sense & Sensibility" to martial arts film "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" (which later set the trend of other similiar gongfu films that followed suit). Later he went on to direct "Hulk", "Brokeback Mountain" & the his most recent "Life of Pi". 

I remembered when I first watched "Sense & Sensiblity" years ago, I was most surprised to learn that Lee Ang was the director. A chinese directing an 'ang moh' film, not common. I totally enjoyed the movie (partly because it starred two of my favourite actresses - Kate Winslet & Emma Thompson). It really sparked an interest in me to read Jane Austen's novels. :)

I read an article of Lee Ang's interview after his win @ The Oscars of his struggles in his early days before his success as a film director - His father was against him studying film making, he described that its just like hundreds of actors vying for the same role in a Broadway Musical, only one person gets the role. Despite that, Lee Ang went ahead to the U.S to study @ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he completed his bachelor degree in Theater. There, he met his future wife, Jane Lin, also a Taiwanese student. He was unemployed for 6 years & became a full-time house-husband. His wife was the sole breadwinner of the family. Everyday after finishing the housework, he & his son would wait for the "hunter" (his wife) to bring home the "prey" (money, food). His in-laws were very concerned & offered to give him money to open a restaurant, but his wife refused to accept her parents' money. Lee Ang decided to 'face reality' & secretly decided to enroll in a computer course & his wife, Jane saw him filling the application form. The next day, before off to work, Jane reminded him not to give up on his dreams. She told him - "There are so many people who are studying computer courses & it will be fine without you. You only need one skill, that is making films & you have it. Concentrate on bringing that to good use." Lee Ang was touched upon hearing what Jane has said. With her support & understanding, he continued to generate new ideas from movies & performances & wrote several screenplays during this time. Later on, he managed to get fundings for his films & the rest is history. 

Lee Ang is truly blessed to find such a good wife! "He who  finds a wife finds a good thing." -Proverbs 18:22. & in Lee Ang's case, He who finds a good wife finds a very good thing, I suppose! :) 

But not everyone is so lucky & blessed like him. For men who are not working, let alone for so many years, Some women would look down on their husbands & put them down. :( That's a sad reality. 

For my case, I would wish that I'm married with an understanding spouse, & not the sole breadwinner of the family as I am now. It's so tiring & taxing to constantly worry about $$$. :( 

However, after reading about Director Lee's story, it just encouraged me to not give up on my dream - opportunity in having a career in the Media industry.(From young, I enjoyed all things media, be it listening to music or watching dramas, movies. I also like to get in touch with the latest entertainment news. My church mate, Angeline said that I can consider to apply as a celebrity's personal assistant! Haha! I don't mind @ all, if there's such opportunity. Best is I could be my favourite Siwon's PA....:P)) I wish to have a job in censorship, qc-ing of dramas, movies etc. :) Subtitling & translation work is interesting too. I recently had the chance to try on freelance subtitling - I got to watch dramas, doing translation & doing time-coding. Perfect combination! 

Aspiration - I hope to be given a chance to write, to work as an intern or something in a publishing company or under an accomplished author like Catherine Lim or something, to learn ropes, to improve on my writing. But I reckon the closest I could get now is via my blog. :-S But oh well, better than nothing! 

Keep Going! By God's Grace, it will happen!