Asian Movie Review: Diva (DIVA華麗之後,2012)

Finally got to see Heiward Mak's newest film "DIVA" starring Joey Yung and Chapman To.    What a brilliant move to put one of Hong Kong's biggest singing stars in the title role of a film about a big Hong Kong singing star!  A sure fire hit, right?  can't go wrong, all the drama and behind the scenes secrets of the entertainment world interspersed with the lead singer's dynamic and captivating performances on stage…. a perfect way to showcase of her singing and dancing talent on the big screen in a way that no concert DVD can!

Oh wait, what's that you say?  The "diva" in "DIVA" doesn't actually sing in the movie except for one song towards the end of the movie?  the rest of the movie, even the scenes taking place at her concerts don't showcase any of her actual singing??? what the hell!!!     this movie is called Diva,  not 'actress'!   Didn't anyone check out Whitney Houston's acting debut "Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner all those years back?  If they did, they would know that the best scenes in the movie are the ones of her singing… the acting parts are just the gravy.  

(I'm wondering if there was a rights permission issue that kept them from using Joey's existing songs from appearing in this film… but the movie was made by her management company (Emperor), so I don't know how that's possible.  (They didn't want to pay themselves to use their own song in their own movie?)

Just because the singer in the title role doesn't actually sing very much doesn't mean there isn't any singing in the film.  There's actually a lot of scenes with Mag Lam singing…. she plays a new singer who's signed by Chapman as the next generation "diva"….    that's great if this movie was called "a star is born" and not "diva"….  

But the parts with the not-singing Joey Yung are not that bad,  she does a decent job acting but of course Chapman is the best part,  stealing his scenes as the powerful manager who doesn't always have the artists' best interests in mind as he builds his entertainment empire.    

Working on the periphery of this industry here in HK,  I can say that to a good degree a lot of the stuff (negative and positive) is based in truth…   about how managers treat artists, how some artists treat their rivals,  the price of fame, etc…. but I'm wondering if this is interesting to the average fan or if its too "inside baseball" for them.

Anyway, I give it a 5/10.  that'd be a lot higher if Joey actually did some singing!

A movie starring a singer who doesn't sing = a proverbial knee to the groin