Jackie Chan's GORGEOUS (1999) Paired w/ The Odd, Magical, Pretty, and Sweet

This episode of Vintertainment is dedicated to Brad Allan, the stuntman and eventual action choreographer man who helped usher in Rush Hour, plays the most likeable antagonist ever in Gorgeous, designed the action for Scott Pilgrim, Shang-Chi, Kick-Ass, Wonder Woman, the Kingsman franchise, and more. Brad passed away in 2021 at the age of 48, from a sudden and unexpected heart attack. His charisma, talent, passion, and genuineness are all horribly missed.

And his action sequences with Jackie in this movie are unforgettable.

THE WINES:

CONCEITO 10yr Tawny White Port, Portugal

IDOL RIDGE "String of Pearls" Sparkling Rose of Saperavi, 2021 Finger Lakes, New York

Transcript

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I couldn't get over that you one phrase you said was it just ruined ruined me. It was like because I always thought the pronunciation was coke and you kept saying cock and then you said according you said according to cock and I just threw that through me I was done. was all hoes and cocks. know. mean, that's like there is a movie called Dirty Ho and it's a great movie, but it has nothing to do with Dirty Hoes. The name of the character, Gordon Liu, it's the main character. Hysterically, the point was they were playing off of Dirty Harry and they wanted, yep. So they made Dirty Ho not realizing what that would sound like in English. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. that beautiful? They're like, it's our dirty Harry, dirty hoe. And not wrong. mean, yeah, true. Yeah. OK, cool. It's a comedy at least. So it kind of works. a martial arts comedy, but it works anyway. Yeah, go for it. All right. Is He's Dave and I'm Dallas and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment, the wine and entertainment pairing podcast. In 1998, Jackie Chan conquered Hollywood. He'd attempted this before, all the way back in 1980, with the film's The Big Brawl, directed by Bruce Lee's Western director Robert Klaus, Cannonball Run, in which he only played a small role, but that film's outtakes during the end credits inspired Chan to include similar outtakes in his future Hong Kong films as well, in those outtakes of behind the scenes stunts, sometimes gone wrong, sometimes gone right, but you see the multiple takes. So you see them actually doing the stunt work and the fight choreography. And that became a staple of Hong Kong action movies throughout the 80s. And then most infamously, The Protector, directed by James Glickenhaus. Chan was so upset with his experience on The Protector, he had to say the word fuck. that he self-funded his own version of the same kind of story back in Hong Kong. Police story. And the rest is now history. Jackie Chan's popularity in Hong Kong exploded like the birth of an actual cosmological star. What followed was a golden age for Chan in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong action cinema in general. We got Armour of God, Project A2, Police Story 2, Miracles, Dragons Forever with his fellow seven fortunes, they all went to the same Peking Opera School in their youth, Sammo Hung and Yun Bao. They were called the three dragons and this was their that was their last film together, Dragons Forever. However, Chan's perfectionism eventually got the better of him. 1991's Armor of God II Operation Condor went so over budget and over schedule. The studio Golden Harvest, which had made all of Jackie Chan's major films since he became a massive star. Golden Harvest denied him the right to direct himself ever again. And this held until Jackie Chan, in fact, never directed himself again until 2012's Chinese Zodiac, AKA Armor of God 3. But what followed was an era where Chan was in charge of the action, but in films that were directed by a myriad of established Hong Kong directors. Wong Jing, Stanley Tong, Benny Chan, Gordon Chan, Lau Kar-Lung, and more. Chan had a certain amount of say in who directed his films. On a recent commentary track, he stated, without revealing the specific movie or director, that on one film he went in to watch the dailies of what had been shot without him and saw a scene where a couple had sex on a public escalator. Then he slapped her and left her and Chan fired that director. He said, quote, this is not what's supposed to be in a Jackie Chan movie. They're a very good director in their own way, but not for a Jackie Chan movie, unquote. In a Jackie Chan movie, there is no super serious violence, no sex. Apparently his female fans didn't like seeing him have sex with other female characters. So Chan made it a rule. Nothing like this in any of his films. However, is also on record as saying, quote, I don't know how to choose a director. I just ask them, what's the story? Unquote. As far as he's concerned, their job is to tell the story. Chan's job is the action and the director is there to figure out the rest, which is a fairly classic Hong Kong split. And these days, a more and more common Hollywood split between the director and a second unit director or action choreographer or stunt coordinator. who is often in charge of all the action. But this began really in Hong Kong, where the main director is there for dramatic beats and to direct the non-action actors. Then the action director is given full control over the action. Cinematography, number of takes, edits, sound design, everything when it comes to the action. During this time, Chan's Hong Kong film started to break through to America. Most notably, Rumble in the Bronx, followed by Supercop, AKA Police Story 3, and First Strike, AKA Police Story 4, then Mr. Nice Guy and Who Am I? And then in 1998, finally made the first True Blue Hollywood movie that he was proud to stand behind, Rush Hour. He and his stunt team were given carte blanche with the action sequences even better. During their time filming Mr. Nice Guy and Who Am I in Australia, Chan and his team had met Brad Allen. a Wushu and gymnastics expert who impressed them so much they brought him on board the Jackie Chan stunt team. Or more specifically, Brad wasn't union, so they couldn't hire him as a local, but they could hire him as one of their own. And they liked him so much they decided to do so. And this proved to be serendipitous as Alan was later able to come to America and speak fluent English and translate, allowing Chan and his stunt team a much more effective communication with the Hollywood crew on Rush Hour, a communication that Chan had never appreciated in his previous Hollywood endeavors. And in the middle of filming Rush Hour, Leonard Ho, Chan's godfather at Golden Harvest, the Hong Kong studio that had produced all of his films through the 80s and 90s, Leonard Ho passed away. This was a major loss for Jackie. But once the time of mourning had passed, it also was the beginning of a new era because Leonard was the only person at Golden Harvest that was adamantly against Jackie doing non action films. Rush Hour proved to be a smash hit and in its wake Chan wanted to finally branch out beyond his typical martial arts action flicks and prove that he was capable of even more. There was no more Godfather Leonard stopping him from trying. And so as Jackie states on the gorgeous Blu-ray commentary track, and I apologize for quoting him exactly here, quote, Before rush hour, I hesitate. After rush hour, why not? I can do anything. He had wanted to do this before, most noticeably with 1993's Farewell, My Concubine, an early film by Chen Kaiji. Chen had been sought for the leading male role, but Godfather Leonard had refused this idea. He believed Jackie should only do action, which is what the fans wanted. Leonard held firm to this belief until his dying day. So when Jackie initially took on the gorgeous project, and Leonard was still around at that time, it was only in the role as a producer. The original script was penned by Ivy Ho, a critically acclaimed writer who had just won awards for the romantic drama Comrades, Almost a Love Story, starring Lian Lai and Maggie Cheung. But then Jackie considered coming on board as a male lead. At the time, they were trying to secure Xu Qi as the female lead, and as her star was swiftly rising, putting Jackie in as an actor was being considered to help secure participation. Director Vincent Koch was approached with Ivy's script. Vincent was a new director in Hong Kong, having directed Stephen Chow in Forbidden City Cop, as well as one other romantic drama and one other romantic comedy. Now, according to Koch, when he was approached, he had two questions. First, you want me as a new director for this big of a project? Are you sure? And second, it's a romantic comedy and Jackie Chan? Are you sure? They were sure. According to Vincent Koch, Ivy Ho's script was a comedy comedy, a much more comedic script than the movie that was eventually made. Koch wasn't sure how to handle that style of over the top comedy. It wasn't in his wheelhouse. So he asked if he could take the structure of Ho's script, but write a new version, a version that was more 60-40 romance and comedy in that order instead of a 100 % comedy comedy. He especially wanted to make this change as he didn't think Jackie Chan was a true comedian. He did action comedy, of course, but he wasn't a comedian in the same way that Stephen Chow was. He met up with Jackie during the Taiwanese premiere of Rush Hour and they discussed what they wanted in the new script. Jackie was okay with being a rich businessman and not his usual underdog self, but he requested they include something about the environment as he was a very environmentally conscious dude, especially at that time. And so his character was turned into a recycling businessman. He also requested peppering in some action sequences and hysterically refused to have his character play golf. If he was gonna be a wealthy businessman, Jackie in real life didn't understand why anyone played fucking golf. So Vincent Koch wrote it the character to be a wealthy tycoon who played kung fu instead of golf and trained with modern equipment in his state of the art bungalow. Bradley Allen, hot off assisting Jackie with his Rush Hour success, was given the role of the action antagonist, though interestingly not quite a villain per se. He plays a Guaido white kickboxer who is equal to, and at first even better than, Jackie's skill set, but is also honorable and equitable and means no serious harm, which is one of the more fascinating aspects of Gorgeous. Being a romantic comedy first, a Jackie Chan action film second, it breaks a number of Jackie Chan formula tenants. Number one, Chan is almost not the main character. Shu Qi is introduced first as our protagonist, a lovesick country girl who talks to dolphins in search of a fantasy romance by traveling to the city because she found a one line message in a bottle in the ocean that promises her such a thing. We meet Chan 15 minutes into the film. And that brings us to point number two, Chan is not an underdog, kind of closer to real life. He's a self-made millionaire, once a decent fighter, but now more concerned with stock buyouts than training. He wants for almost nothing in life and simply takes Shu Qi's character on as another romantic fling than as a serious romantic relationship. Even more interestingly, point number three, there are no bad guys in this film. Chan has a frenemy fantastically played by Emil Chau Wakin. This Character is an old childhood best friend turned rival who competes at business and keeps testing chance athletic abilities by sending his flunkies to put Chan through his paces. It's all nonlethal, non life threatening attacks. It's all done in the spirit of fun for the most part, even when they bring in the inevitable Guaido fighter who is a true match for Chan. And point number four, that Guaido fighter is honorable and fair. while also being a Guilo and an authentically incredible fighter. This is of course Wushu master Bradley Allen, who has gone on to be a Hollywood choreographer in his own right. His character fights with an unswerving code of fair play. He's faster than Chan, especially at Chan's age in this movie and more nimble. They have two fights together. In the first, Chan gets his ass handed to him and he has to go back to training, which brings us to point number five. Almost like a return to old school drunken master style storytelling, there's a training montage, though now Chan's training involves lots of machines and expensive equipment. You get the sense this is all training Chan actually does in real life. There's a lengthy final rematch between Chan and Alan, and it's possibly the fastest paced Chan fight you've ever seen. It's really, really good. Gorgeous as a rom-com with a peppering of action was a box office success in Hong Kong. grossing Hong Kong 40 million during its theatrical run. The US release cut over 20 minutes of the romance story to make it more like a proper Jackie Chan movie, but the 120 minute international version has now been remastered and made available globally and is the true version of this film for better or for worse. So let's close out February by talking about whether we think Jackie Chan works or doesn't work as a romantic comedy lead and how this movie works or doesn't work for us. and which wines we think you should drink while sitting through the full international cut. Let's do our podcast opening, but we'll be right back with more about Gorgeous! oh everyone to Vintertainment. This is the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It is as simple as that. You don't need to understand wine, you just need to have fun with it, at least to start. Try to consider what kind of wine matches the tone, style and aesthetic of the wine show, album, book or comic you want to enjoy or vice versa. You have a wine on hand, now what kind of entertainment is going to match that wine? Does that not make sense to you? Don't worry, we're about to demonstrate. Just follow our leads and you'll see how there's never just one pairing that makes sense. The universe of wine and entertainment is vast, my friends, and both take years of a creator's life to make. So we highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing as much of both as time and health allows. And many thanks to our sponsor, Curated Wine Shop. No idea where to begin? Finding a wine that pairs with your movie? That's okay. Almost literally no one does outside of ourselves, so that's understandable. but Curated is here to help. They accept every entertainment-inspired challenge and will curate the selection to match your palette. Just tell them what you're trying to pair with, your budget, your preferences, and they will show you the way. Curated is a boutique wine shop on La Brea Avenue, mid city Los Angeles, founded and operated by peeps currently and previously part of the entertainment ecosystem. Johnny, Kelly, Allison, and Mia, they are all fantastic. Go meet them. Johnny is an inveterate liar and trickster god, so don't believe a single word he says, but he's nevertheless amazing. Kelly is the life of any party and incredibly knowledgeable, but also overworked, so go easy on her. And Allison and Mia are the worker bees who will likely make your wine and movie pairing happen. Go talk to them. They carry an ever-changing, wide-ranging selection of Smollatt artisanal wines from the known and comforting to the completely unique. Reds, whites, rosés, oranges, sparklings, dry wines, sweet wines, and everything in between. Go check them out if you're in the LA area. We love them so much, we constantly go there without each other. True. Constantly. all the time. oh All the time. Even when we have plans to go meet with, to go together, will go like three hours before me and then I'm like, hey, but I also need a ride. And then it's like, oh, I've already been here for two hours. I'm like, okay. He can't stay away. Dallas loves him that much. It's very true. It's very true. Go check them out. They're fantastic. And that is curated-wines.com, curated-wines.com. And while you're at it, you should also follow us on sub stack, ventertainmentstudios.com, where we'll keep you all up to date on our upcoming events, as well as bonus wine and entertainment pairings, collabs with other writers, filmmakers, and wine peeps. That's curated-wines.com for curated and ventertainmentstudios.com for us ventertainment bros. And now for our wine trivia question of the week. Dallas. oh One for me, a direct challenge. All right, buddy. You watch out here. You wait until the next episode. I've got one for you. Go for it. I'm Bradley Allen. Skipping around your Jackie Chan. OK, all right. So. Cabernet Grishnick. German for mixed Cabernet was introduced. This is a grape was introduced to China in the 19th century and has since been adopted so widely that it's considered the flagship wine grape. Red wine grape of China. DNA testing has proven that Cabernet Grishnick is which French grape variety? Is Cabernet Grichnik in fact A, Cabernet Sauvignon, B, Cabernet Franc, C, Merlot, or D, Carminere? That is A, Cabernet Sauvignon, B, Cabernet Franc, C, Merlot, or D, Carminere. I'm basing this off of one thing in particular, and that's a Chinese friend of mine, whom I actually haven't, a former Chinese friend of mine, who I actually haven't talked to in a very long time. ah By the way, hey Dave, his name is Dave as well. You're not listening, but if you are, hey. And he had a, historic sort of fascination with cabs of because of some familial connection to it. um So that's my first thought. And then of course, Cab Franc. um But Merlot was a kind of a core, you know, caps off. He's going with a cabs of that is in. oh It is Carmen. Yeah, the only one you weren't really considering. It is. So all four of these grapes are part of the Cabernet family. Right. They all come from a similar uh Cabernet parent grape. They created Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Frank uh or actually Cabernet Frank is the parent grape of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmen. um So they are all part of the Bordeaux grapes. Carmeigneur really isn't, you don't find it in Bordeaux anymore. You mostly find it in Chile and then in China as Cabernet Groschnik. interesting. All right. So have Renee is known to have that very green peppery. Yeah, it's known to have that very green bell peppery type of flavor that all the Cabernet grapes have and Carmonier is known for. But then also a little smoky and a little spicy, which is what Carmonier has that the other three tend not to have. um So but because China tends to be a very cold climate at certain parts of the year where when Cabernet Groschnik is grown there, it's even it's a little extra austere, a little more green bell pepper, a little more tart. and only a little bit, not as ripe and rich as you get in places like Chile. Gershniks carmineer, very popular in China. All right, good to know. And that was our one trivia question of the week. Next week, Dallas is going to challenge me. So he'll get even with me for that one. All right. So before we get started on our act by act discussion, what are our histories with this movie? Dallas, had you ever seen gorgeous before this viewing for the podcast? And if so, what did you think then? And did anything change on this latest viewing? Well, that is a very good question here, Dave. ah First of all, no, I had not seen this film. I've heard a lot about this film because, ah you know, fans of martial arts cinema and, you know, Eastern cinema in general love either Jack Jackie Chan or any of a number of people who feature in this film. Right. And they are staunch supporters. They are vehement. They are aggressive about their likes and dislikes. And I think a number of people who I know are fall into that category have discussed this film in passing. And like you said, there is a disgust almost in certain circles dislike about Jackie Chan's turn as a sort of quasi romantic lead. uh That's kind of all I knew about the film. ah It was like Jackie Chan being a romantic lead because he I guess he was like 40 at this point or in his 40s. um And it that's that's that's all I knew. I also knew about the dolphins. uh There was something that some some theme about dolphins. Makes sense. Apparently, I had no context for it at the time. ah But seeing it, I was like, Okay, yeah, this is clearly movie multiple times I still have no context for it. It like, this is clearly 1999. They've got some tech they want to try out, you know, and, but yeah, that that was my sort of experience with the film. I've heard about it in passing a number of times via you and one or two other friends over the years. And specifically sticking out being that Jackie Chan was taking a sort of romantic turn, which I had no interest in seeing if I'm honest, you know. But after seeing this film, I was like, OK, totally worth it. Totally worth the detour. Yeah. How about you? What's your history with the bill? Beautiful. So, I've seen it multiple times. uh I cannot remember when I first saw it anymore. Yeah. I I've seen virtually all of Jackie Chan's filmography at some point. There were a few blind spots I had. Some of them were even surprising blind spots. To be fair, I even still have a couple blind spots in his filmography. We mentioned earlier that this lady named Ivy Ho wrote the first draft of this script. And she actually, she only gets story by credit in the final version here because they rewrote her script like from like Vincent cock and a few other writers like rewrote this from scratch. And she went on to write this movie called the accidental spy and she's the sole writing credit on that one the jack Chan did in 2001 two years after this one. And I've still never seen accidental spy. So there are still a few that I'm Very curious about now there's a couple very late career ones. I haven't seen that I may never see just because they are Robin B hood and You know kung fu yoga and a couple of these where I'm like, you know, maybe I'm good. Maybe I'm good Maybe maybe Jackie Chan up to up to 60 years old. I think I was with him and then I'm like, no, no He's mainland China You know, it's all super safe super for local audiences type stuff. And he's not really doing much in terms of action anymore. And it's like, yeah, I'm okay. But I will say that during this time period when he was trying new things, some of my favorite films of him came out during this time. Shinjuku Incident as a crime thriller, um crime story, which was not one of the police story movies. It's by Kirk Wong, a guy who did a couple of crime movies. And I mean, it's kind of it's dark for a Jackie Chan movie. get the feeling Jackie has a hard time looking back at that movie because it's so not him. This is one. This is not the director because plainly he didn't fire this director on this movie. He did the movie as in that director stayed. But this is the kind of movie that Jackie's like, that's not a Jackie Chan movie and crime story is not a Jackie Chan movie. It's it's dark. It's violent. So it's a really interesting one. But then has his action though still kind of peppered in there. So I really, and sometimes Jackie Chan works beautifully in it. Now, gorgeous. I do remember the first time I saw it, I probably was one of those people that was like, you know what, you can watch the action scenes. There's like three, can watch them all on YouTube. Right? Don't worry about the rest of the movie. It's kind of fluff. It's kind of okay. You don't have to watch this. But in recent years, I've started rewatching and revisiting this movie and just been delighted. Just a delight with this movie. Yes. It's so charming. It's a ridiculous and absurd. Yes. The dolphins. You're like, why? Why the dolphins? There's no reason. There's none. There's zero. They're like these magical little imps that live in the water that talk to our heroine like a Disney princess. And you're like, okay. It's some local mythos that we don't have a connection to. has nothing to do with anything, adds nothing concrete to the story, is not a part of any plot point. The dolphins don't come in to do anything at any given point. They're just there and flipping and talking to her. And you're like, her ability to talk to them never has anything to do with anything. There are so many elements in this story that are just there and don't advance any plot, advance any character arc, advance any connection between two characters. You're just like, OK. But at the same time, it's done with such sincerity that you're just kind of like, OK, yeah, cool. I'm here for it. And the love story, especially to shoot she when she goes into the city, we're going to do this act by act. So I won't get into this. But like Tony Lung is one of the main actors in this as well. And her his rapport with Shu Qi and then the guy who's playing the love from her Taiwanese village who follows her into the city. That is all wonderful to behold. I love the Jackie Chan and Emil Chan. It's Jackie Chan and I'm sorry, Emil, Emil Chan or Emil Chung. Now I'm going to forget the Taiwanese star's name. Emil Chow. So Emil Chow plays his frenemy, plays his business rival. Every favorite thing in this movie. Yeah. He is so understated, yet pitch perfect in absolutely every moment like he displays every piece of sarcasm and emotion and tonal shift. And he can do it all beautifully. He's apparently he has not been in that many movies. He's a pop star predominantly. That is what he's known for. He's one of the biggest pop stars in all of Taiwan. But he did not do that many movies. But apparently he and Jackie were tight. And so he was in this movie, but he is, I think, the best thing in this movie. So now. This was my first time watching the full uncut Hong Kong cut at 120 minutes. I had only ever seen the 99 minute American cut before. And the 99 minute American cut, I still really appreciated that. I'd already come around to loving that one. I think I even kind of suspected I wouldn't like the 120 minute cut. It was one of the rare moments where I was like, I think I'm okay with America's casual butchery of Hong Kong films. because I think maybe 20 less minutes of the romance might actually make this work better. And probably for most people out there, yes, the first time you watch this movie, you might wanna watch the American cut just to ease yourself into it. But that said, I watched the 120 minute cut. I like it better. I do. It's a better total movie. It does make the romance work even better. There's so much missing. from the 99 minute cut that was trying to make it more like a proper Jackie Chan movie where there was more fights, less time in between the fights. And so they were like, this, we're not going to belabor the romance. But then the romance is so paper thin that there's just not much to hold on to. So I highly recommend the 120 minute cut, which is now the one that's been restored for everyone. Go watch that one, guys. It's great. All right. Shall we get into it? Let's do it. Alright folks, Act 1. oh Abu, played by Shu Chi, is a beautiful young girl from a small Taiwanese fishing village who talks to dolphins like a Disney princess. One evening, she discovers a romantic message in a bottle floating in the sea. Inspired by the message, she heads for Hong Kong to find its writer, only to learn that it was in fact written by Albert, played by Tony Lung Chiu Wai, a lonely gay man. While Albert plainly cannot return her affections, She convinces him to let her stay with him while she looks for love elsewhere in the city. She then meets a wealthy recycling company owner, CN, played by Jackie Chan. CN is constantly being threatened by a frenemy style rivalry by Howie Loh, played pitch perfectly by Taiwanese pop star Emil Chow. The two are rival childhood classmates and now rival businessmen. CN is in recycling while Howie is stuck in environmentally disastrous plastics. Amil sixes goons on CN. I'm sorry, Amil's the actor. Howie sixes goons on CN, only to have them handily taken care of, much to Boo's delight. CN brings Abu back to his rich person's bungalow and a romance begins to blossom. Abu is captivated by CN's lavish lifestyle while CN is charged by her country bumpkin naivety. All right. Thoughts on Act One, roughly the first 30, 40 minutes of this movie. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say this film started very... I had no idea where it was going. Yeah, honestly, the dolphins had a lot to do with that. uh for the point. You're waiting like, when's this magic stuff coming back in? It doesn't. But I do think the Dolphins did a bit of the heavy lifting in sort of adding a little mystery and sort of whimsy to the idea of this sort of very light, you know, romance because it is a romance in the mind more than anything else. Yeah, it is magical. It's very true to a magical sort of element and. You know, the other thing that Act one does really well is establish this character's shoes or boo boo's character as this naive young girl who was just asked for her hand in marriage. She you know, she's sort of looking at her parents marriage and trying to get a feel for what marriage actually is. You know, she even asks her mom before we move into Act two, like what what exactly is marriage? Did you marry dad? Right. Why did you? mean, I love dad, but I wouldn't marry him. You know, and mom's like, your dad was a hunk back in the day, you know, it's just like, okay, you say so, bro. But, you know, but I do think the act one is very pleasant. I had no real expectations. It just sort of seemed very dry to me. Those were the sort of textures or notes I was sort of getting something sort of this is a little dry, it's a little dry. I don't know where this is going. It's not terribly flowery. It's not terribly. you know, uh sweet. It was, you know, neutrally kind of sweet. So I was thinking, OK, interesting. I was I was getting dry notes, maybe a white, a dry white. That's where my mind was. It was something sort of sort of sort of, know, I think of dry white as sort of a baseline. um Don't fight me on this wine nerds, but you'll get over it. uh Dry white, sort of a neutral thing to me. um And that's kind of where I was with Act one. OK, honestly. Yeah. How about you? Yeah. So yeah, this was 100 % agree with you about the dolphins. Like there's something elevated, not in an intellectual way about this movie per se, but elevated in terms of like, this is magical realism. This is not realism. Right. so you've got that magical like that quality of like, it is like that Disney movie, but it's live action. So it's much more strange in this context where It completely works as a setup for an animated Disney movie, but then you have real people who are just supposed to be real people, not in a kingdom far, far away. They're just here on Earth on an island in Taiwan. And here are these dolphins and it's like a Disney opening. And you're like, okay, okay. Now, Abu is a little bit of like a manic pixie dream girl, but without the harsh edge. She doesn't have the crazy in a negative way per se. Yeah. But she does have that like, she's a little uncontrollable and a little, you she's gonna follow her passion, she's gonna follow her impulse at every step of the way in this way that is so blindingly naive, like just headstrong, but in, and of course it's not the kind of movie where anything too terrible is gonna happen to her because she's headstrong, but right. she is the girl that gets in the van from the guy who's offering her candy. Like she is clearly the kid who gets in Happily so. Yeah. Giddily so, right? So in a different movie, this is a war. This is a cautionary tale waiting to happen. in this movie, it's Manic Pixie Dream Girl without that harsh edge. It's magical fairy stuff. um So I was thinking like a magical wine, like a magical wine, something like what makes me think magic in a wine? What makes me think a little larger than life, a little like not grounded, not super earthy. not super, you know, so Sparkling was definitely in the cards because that's always gonna have that effervescence, that lift, that like, we're flying, you know, like there's a little something magical about this on top of whatever other notes you might be getting. It's a very sweet movie, but I wasn't sure about the sweetness. was 50-50, I could go there, I could not. I wasn't sure at this point. I agree with you that it doesn't scream sweetness, but at the same time, all the characters, again, there's no real threat. There's no real violence. Even with that little bit of action right at the end of Act one. Yeah. It's also silly that it's like, OK, this is sweet in its way as well. So maybe but nothing too heavy because this is such a light. um So and the other thing I was thinking of is maybe something for lack of a better way of saying this, a pretty. wine to look at. Like, OK, this is gorgeous. A gorgeous wine. Something you literally want to just look at and marvel over how fricking pretty the wine looks. Maybe something I had in mind. uh Rose, maybe also there are certain reds where just the depth of the color strikes you, where you're just like, like it kind of like looking into a flame. You can just like look at it. Whites tend to not be that it tends to need some color in there. So maybe an orange if it's got a very particular color, but honestly, probably not orange. I've rarely seen an orange where I just like think it's gorgeous to look at. So you're right. Rose or red was where my head was there. Take it. All right. Act two. To keep CN's interest, Abu pretends to be the girlfriend of a high profile Taiwanese gangster. She had seen the girlfriend's photo in the newspaper and they were lookalikes of each other. She then convinces Albert and his gay friends to pose as gangsters who want to threaten and kidnap her, allowing Sien to rescue her. During the fake assault, however, Howie Lowe's goons once again ambush the couple and an actual fight breaks out. Later, frustrated that his goons are no match for Sien, Howie brings in a Guilo White kickboxer, someone even shorter and smaller in stature than Sien. That way, if Sien loses to such a pipsqueak opponent, his confidence will be crushed. The two fight with boxing gloves to keep things more or less friendly. with thin gloves, the Guaido with full-sized thick boxing gloves to give CN more of a handicap. Even with this, CN loses handily to the kickboxer. His time spent trading stocks, having plainly bitten into his fight training, his kung fu training. CN returns home and trains. in his state of the art gym with Abu helping him out, usually adding her body weight to whatever Sien is trying to do. But before the rematch can occur, Abu surprises Sien at work and sees him at the desk with the actual gangster girlfriend Abu has been pretending to be all this time. Sien reveals that he's a friend of her father's, meaning he'd known her all along that Abu wasn't who she said she was. Mortified and upset, Abu runs away and returns home to Taiwan. Sien tries to shrug this off. tries to be the ladies man he's always been, but finds himself actually morose over the loss of Abu. All right, thoughts on the end on this whole act too. Yeah, this is a bit of uh a bit of an elevation I suppose um you know with the introduction of you know actually with Jackie Chan's sort of refined character presence and this very stately sort of presentation and everything yeah everything's done with a cute little Honestly, it's one thing that does kind of annoy me about this movie is that I'll get to that in my part. You keep going. Yeah, he's got this, this little sort of smirk, you know, at this point, Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan is very wealthy. And he has been, you know, deeply into sort of stock trades. So him playing 100 % he not admit that no one involved in this movie will come out and say that I was shocked. went through all the bonus material on the new Blu-ray release and the 4K release and all that fun stuff. No one will be like, this is just him in real life. And I was like, dude, you can tell it's him. In fact, Jackie Chan goes out of his way to be like, you know, I'm never this in a movie. So I thought, why don't I be this once in a movie? But not because I am that just to be totally different than I've ever been before. And I'm like, uh-huh. Anyway. Sure, Jackie. Sure. Jackie. um But this made, by the way, to a to a departure here detour. That apartment is everything I dream of in an apartment, in a condo. My God, just cement walls. ah Yes. oh it's a nightmare for me. Nightmare. Just lots of space, cement walls. fantastic. Oh, space, yes, but the pure austere whiteness of the whole thing. like, I'm like, no, I need color. I need texture. I do want the space. hate the, whenever there's like space, because I like to work, I like exercise and I like doing it at home, just like this guy does plainly. So I'm like, space to like, you know. get down and do different types of push ups and like different put my feet up against the wall and like where there aren't there isn't shit hanging and every inch of the wall. So like part of the wall is free and things like that. I absolutely love that. But this looked like such modern minimalism to the I was just like that kill me, kill me. Yeah, no, don't worry. would I the most of the house would be that minimalist thing. I would have one room where it's just full maximalism because that's just my personality. Just full just drawn out ridiculous, aggressive maximalism. Anyway, I do think Chan's character here is just a version of himself clearly, as you said, and there is an era of refinement. There's this debonair thing that Jackie Chan always possesses, even when he's kicking ass, even in his youth, when he was just this ball of fire. There's a sort of debonair kind of thing that happens because he does have this rise sort of simmering good look, right. And, you know, it plays really well here for him being in his 40s. He's, know, even with the fight with Bradley James Allen, who I think this is one of his earliest Hong Kong He had already done Mr. Nice Guy and Who Am I with Jackie. That's where they discovered him. And then went on to do Rush Hour with them. And then he came. But this was this is a to be a leading antagonist to Jackie is like as part of the Jackie Chan stunt team. That is the dream that it gets no higher. 100%. And you can tell he relished this. There's this they often give guys who are physical actors or stunt guys who then spend time as primary characters not to blink because you're on camera, so the camera's always on you. I learned this from, I forget the stunt guy's name, but you can see this guy does not blink once when he's on camera. He took that note and he ran with it. And it's beautiful because he looks like a young, he looks like the hybrid between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. He looks like a perfect hybrid between those two. I was like, who does this guy look like? It looks like both of them. Anyway, go check it out guys. It's so funny. I would have said a hybrid between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Martin Short. Oh, that's hilarious. That's hilarious. I don't see that, but I'd like to see that. Fongren is huge. this and Bradley Allen, he is he's very small. He's very, he's very lanky, very petite. But he moves like grease lightning because that reason, right? He's like, he's lighter than air in everything he does, which is crazy. Now he went on to become like a major action choreographer. He choreographed all of the Shang Chi movie, the Marvel movie. When that came out, he unfortunately he very sadly he passed away right before the movie came out. Um, and from a heart attack, it took him, took him, yep. In his sleep and he had passed away. Uh, the filming was done, but it hadn't quite come out yet. So he was 40 something. when he You know what I remember hearing that right before was like 2021. That's right. Well, here's here's to you, Bradley James Allen for a fantastic little gentlemanly fight, by the way. So I'll get back on track on track here. That was a fantastically little gentlemanly fight. And it also ties back into that frenemy relationship between chance character and his, you know, the frenemy character whose name I'm forgetting at the moment, because he doesn't want to see him dead. He doesn't want to see the guy just completely, you know, you know. um disembodied or anything. just wants to he just wants to one up him in a proper gamesmanship sort of way, which is beautiful. And he's OK with losing in the ultimate end. He wants to test himself against the best, which is what he says that first fight they have in this act, too. He's like, I like to test myself against the best. They said, you're one of the best. Let's do this, you know, kind of a thing. And it's even he's like apologetic when like chance like I don't want to fight. And he's like, look, these guys aren't going to let you go without fighting like just I'll wear the thick gloves. You won't get hurt. And let's just fight. You know, kind of a thing. It's so interesting how low the stakes are. And yet, they still suck you right in both of their fights where you're involved, you care how it's all going to come out and how it's going to play out. And part of it, I think, is because you kind of don't want either person to lose. I've been to a in both. You know, you want them to walk away. Absolutely. And it also made me think about, you know, in a lot of this sort of martial arts cinema, there is this I don't want to I don't know if it's sort of a thing that uh filmmakers try to give the audiences or a thing that the audiences audiences try to serve require but there's often this thing that happens where it's just about the most aggressive angriest most volatile fight possible. And it's just this sort of everything's on 10. But the idea of restraint that they use in this fight is so refined, and it's a little sexy. And it's, it's like, this is how I will this is how I want to fight. I want to, you know, I would love to, you know, with with the sort of an evenly matched sort of, you know, opponent who but we're both going to go back to our daily lives and enjoy one another. We might meet up for a sniffed or a brandy at some point, discuss the fight and fight again. You know that so so in terms of the wine, I sort of things graduated to a bit more sort of refined for me. So I started thinking about maybe, you know, a blend, a really dynamic sort of blend of some white grapes, you know, and then maybe with a little age, right? I started thinking about age. All right, where are we going here? So Then you start thinking, something a little fortified maybe, right? um So I like the convergence of that really sort of youthful, almost kind of flat, naive act one, and then act two being a bit more refined on all levels, honestly. And those two things converging. So I started thinking more sort of fortified and blendy. Yeah, how about you? So for me, this whole second act, so going back to that Devonair part of Jackie Chan, so act two did make me realize that like, as much as I like this movie, I think it's charming, I like watching it, I don't think Jackie Chan can pull off romantic comedy. I gotta say that very upfront. um He is really good. at being I've seen him in some serious dramas or action movies where the drama is much more serious. It's not him clowning around. It's not Shinjuku incident and crime story or two great examples of this. I think when he's not clowning, he's very good at severe sincerity. Yeah. And it reads as very beautifully dramatic. But romantic comedy is the halfway point between those two things to where. You're not clowning and you're not, can't be severely sincere. You've got to be that very gentle, charming, sincere that doesn't read as weirdly put upon. And for him, when he tries to be relaxed and but not a total clown, it's a little off putting. It's not quite, it doesn't quite work. And he's a little too like, everyone's at arm's length. His way of romancing, like they don't even. And he mentions this in the Blu-ray commentary where he's like, you know, Jackie Chan, we don't even kiss. No sex, no kissing with anyone. And I'm like, okay, well, the fact that you don't, he's like, you know, American movies always like wet kissing. it's like, I don't know. It's just, oh but the problem with it, without that, it all feels a little insincere. It's not, he's not really there and invested in fall. I don't buy, he's, falling in love, I only buy that she's either a conquest and then he's like, no, no, no. Okay, I I did a bad. I got to go make make that better. Yeah, but the love isn't felt, right? I don't feel that any passion from him in any way, or form. And I the romantic comedy wise, it's he's not he's sincere, or he's doing his action, where he gets to clown around a little bit with the action. There's no, there's no passion. And there's nothing funny. much in his performance with Shu Chi. Like he's just sincere and it's like, it's a little too and that's a little too austere. That's all. Yeah, yes, yes. And she's very over the top and he's like not over the top at all. And it's too much of a divide between them right there. So Act two starts to feel a little off to me, a little bit odd. um Although I will actually let me rephrase that. It feels odd, but not off. Because it works. I still really enjoy watching this movie. Whatever's happening, it works. But if you're like, is it a good romantic comedy? I'd be like, I don't know about that. I know about that. I've seen so you can watch so many better if you're really trying to scratch that romantic comedy. This is like a weird, magical. What would I even call it? It's like an experimental film. that doesn't quite land in any specific genre where you're just hybridizing too many things and you're like, you know what, every scene works as a scene and you end the movie kind of satisfied. But as a whole, do all these pieces actually stitch together? Well, kind of no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so for me, this is on top of the magical and the gorgeousness, the prettiness, something a bit odd maybe to go with what was throwing me off here to match with what an odd turducken of a movie this thing has become. But. Jackie Chan is going to see this this this and he's going to hear that phrase and he's going to call you personally and first he's going to ask you what the fuck a turducken is. But go on, go on. Yeah, I mean, that's what this is. It's like this inside of a this inside of a this. And you're like, OK, does it work? You'll eat. I mean, do you like eating it? Yeah, right. Sure. And it works. But is it like is it master gastronomic gastronomy? No, not remotely. Like no, you know, no three star Michelin restaurants going to serve you turducken. And there's a reason for that. And so you can enjoy it. But I. kind of doesn't work. something that's a little I'm like, okay, what's odd out there that still light magical and pretty. But now I've got that odd thing in there. Nope. Though that would work with the sweet, but you know, I'm still in the dry. And I think the reason for that is, again, the passion isn't there. Like the emotion is so dry in this movie that I'm like, I feel like that is keeping things very, very dry. Not not even semi sweet like for you. All right. Act three. While Cien sulks and pines for Abu at his paper recycling plant, Howie and his Guailo kickboxer return for the rematch. This time, Cien has trained hard and soon the Guailo abandons the handicap and wears the same gloves as Cien. The two seem evenly matched until Cien sees a piece of paper with the slogan, quote, smile and make it a better world, unquote. He's reminded of the times Abu had told him to just smile. And so he smiles and gets silly, throwing his opponent off and winning the rematch. CN later finds Howie trying to burn down his own plastics factory as his business is in shambles. And he hopes to commit arson slash suicide and go out in a blaze of glory. That sounds heavy, but it is not played that way. CN calms him down and the two rekindle a bit of their past friendship. and come to understand how they had drifted apart in the first place. Then Sien heads off to Taiwan to make amends with Abu as well. In Taiwan, Abu's friends and family stand in Sien's way, but he perseveres and reveals that he had tossed dozens upon dozens of bottles with messages into the water just for Abu to collect. Yikes. So much for Mr. Charmed herself, Abu hugs him and credits. Roll. Now, a couple of things I wanted to also mention because they didn't quite make it into our synopsis. First off, the love her, the guy who had a crush on her from Taiwan that follows her into the city. is a whole subplot we really didn't cover here, but that's actually kind of a great subplot. I really like it. Tony Lung plays so beautifully off each other. I also want to mention we're going to talk a lot about the Brad Allen and Jackie Chan fights there. The two of them, one for Mac two and one for Mac three. But there's also that scene where um Howie's goons, when Tony Leung and his gay friends are trying to stage a fake kidnap, they show up and actually start attacking. And there's also this great, very Charlie Chaplin Buster Keaton-ish thing with baseball bats that is just an amazing uh action comedy scene as well. So wanted to mention all of that because we're skipping over a lot of things, a lot of other side characters. Also shout out to Steven Chow who makes a surprise guest cameo as a policeman with dog. which is a great cameo. So stupid. And there's this great scene near the beginning also on this yacht where Abu is is with Tony Lung, who's like a slapstick. Slapstick. And one of the guys there is Stephen Fung, the guy with the little cap on. And he's a guy he would go on to become a director himself of Tai Chi Zero and Tai Chi Hero, amongst others. And eventually in, I think, 2016, he and Chu Chi would get married. they had met on a movie just prior to Gorgeous and they just kept meeting and they stayed friends all this time. And now they are still together to this day. So shout out to Stephen Fung and Chu Chi as a couple. They're adorable together. All right, act three, Thoughts Dallas. ah Yeah, let's see. I have to say the most interesting relationship about the in the entire film. uh And there's a part of me that was just they just restructured the entire film around this relationship because it's great is the relationship between Jackie Chan and how we it is the chance character and and how we that is phenomenal. Like, that's so that's almost How to describe this without sounding. You this sound there's no sounding like a psychopath. um That sounds like a really fulfilling lifelong friendship. It really really does like these two clearly have a friendship of some sort. But they're also there's also animus. There's also animosity. There's also, you know, in his lowest point, we're trying to commit arson and suicide Jackie Chan's like, calm down, buddy. You know what mean? It's like, it just is so It's such an interesting relationship to me um that I want to see an entire film uh about this trajectory of this sort of the lifespan of this relationship. uh So in terms of narrative, um I guess the film goes where you expect it to go. Although I didn't expect to go anywhere. You know I mean? uh was the destination? What are what are you get about two thirds into this film? You're like, wait, what are we doing here? I forgot. What's the what is the story here? 100 % you're like, wait, what? But it is it is one of those things where because of Jackie Chan's again, we talk about this all the time, or I do at least I wait the try and this film was trying to one, make a complete pivot or at least a significant pivot from Jackie Chan's body of work previously prior prior work and that alone, right, that's going to be heavy lifting. But you also have to understand that culturally. most of these audiences aren't really that interested in seeing gross sort of displays of sexuality, sensuality or love. So you have that limitation. And you've got sort of the local mythos because they are clearly making these films for, you know, local I'm to time out a little bit on that because if it I think the the assumption was that Jackie Chan's fans didn't want to see that. But when it comes to Chinese audiences, like they got some passion in their movies, like especially the ones that are dramatic romances and they're like and even the romcoms, like not just the category three, which is like their R rated thing. Yeah. But even the ones that are meant to be more um family friendly, they can they can get some like they're they're giving much more physical something. So you think it's more fans, Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And what he decided for himself. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I could see that. I could see that. I could see that actually. That makes sense. But it's what makes him not work as a romantic comedy lead. Right. It's like if you're going to do romance, my man, you have to get beyond the presentation of like almost it's almost like you're giving the silhouette of romance or you're giving the metaphor of romance. Like I do the you know, the almost Peking opera thing where it's like the character that does this thing is in love. And it's like, right. that's sort of Right. So we don't don't need the symbol of love. We need the actual love, not making love, but just actual. I. Right. I want to like throw. And the fact that they even in the very last moment, all they do is hug in the most platonic fucking way imaginable. I'm just like, oh, my God, this does not work. This does not work. And actually the most sexually explicit thing that happens between those two in the film is when she puts her hands in his pocket and at the last minute he gives the look of don't stay there too long. Oh, that's great. That was a great moment. That was a great. She's throwing herself all over him in a lot of scenes. he's just so like, but I will never, but I will never. and I'm like. I'm Jackie Chan playing Jackie Chan. uh Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, get it, but it keeps him so A, perfect, and B, um just, yeah, kind of inhuman in that way that doesn't register for a romance where you need people to be fallible in, not just in fighting, but you people to be fallible as people, and you need them to succumb to things. And he just never succumbs to anything. Yeah, so um I'm, you know, I started with that sort of neutral kind of dry white thing, because of Act one, acts to got a little more sort of, I wanted something a bit more refined or a bit more sort of, I don't know. interesting is for lack of a better term. um So I started thinking like maybe a blend of some sort with some interesting sort of notes all over the place and expressions. And uh I settled on what's technically is a blend with fortification. uh With a number of grapes, you see if you recognize some of these Dave, ah it is the guaveo, the rather gotto. uh the Don Zelenho Bronco and the Secia. It's a white port and a white port, you know well, my friend, tell the people about it. Oh, all right. So this is a 10 year tani white part and a tani part is going to be a part that's aged in very small barrels called brix where a lot more wine is touching the barrel. So and it oxidizes the barrel itself, browns the wine. Also, barrels are porous. So a little oxygen gets in over 10 years. It oxygenates the wine ever so slightly, which browns it. And what comes out is just this beautiful, like toffee flavored maple flavored just luscious wine. It's fortified with brandy. It's got the high alcohol. It's got the high sugar. yeah, it's so good. It's fortified with the clear brandy at the, I want to say the end, at the, in order to stop fermentation, correct? yes. Yeah, not the end. Just at the end of whenever wherever they want to stop fermentation, which in a port is really early. It's keeping the brandy is what's adding most of the alcohol and you're keeping most of the sugar from the original grape juice in there so that it becomes it stays a sweet wine. And then the brandy by the brandy keeps it from refurmenting with all that sugar in there. So that's how you wind up with high sugar and high. Right. It's lovely guys. If you haven't had a white port, as I said, I've been a bit of a fortification kick lady, fortified wine kick lately. um Check out the white ports. um If you can find one, if not order one from uh any lovely place you find on our, uh on our social. will just say white ports come in both dry and sweet. I recommend the sweet for most people. Dry white port is tough. It's something. Yeah. Unless you're going to cook or make cocktails with it, which are very good if you do that. But on its own, drinking straight, do the sweet. Trust me. You don't hate sweet wine. Have a good one. Have a good, well-made sweet wine. It's amazing. All right, I'm curious to see where you are now. Talk to me, what you got? so for me, you know, I had the odd, I had the magical, had the gorgeous. And this led me to, especially once I realized I wanted something odd, this led me back to our odd wine night that we did just recently, where we did a bring your own bottle, get together with a bunch of other people and we all brought unique slash rare slash weird. wines we hadn't tried before. Yes, now I have a specific wine I'm going to mention here. This is not going to be easy to get for most people because it is kind of rare and weird and not you're not just going to be to go into a wine shop and find this anywhere. But again, go for something that is beautiful, ah magical in your mind. Go ahead and tell the wine shop owner these things. They'll help you out. That's magical, weird and a little odd, at least a little odd, a little odd, a little something strange about the wine that's not your typical thing. So for me, it's the wine I brought, which is the Martin Family Wineries and Distilleries, Idle Ridge, quote unquote, string of pearls, sparkling rose of Saperavi. Saperavi being a Georgian red grape. But this one is from the Finger Lakes, New York. So sparkling rose of Saperavi from the Finger Lakes, New York. um The Martin family wineries, the family, two parents and their son, they ran a commercial beekeeping business up and down the East Coast. And they then began searching for new ways to utilize their honey. And that's when co-owner Bill Martin got creative after experimenting with home wine making, he began exploring making wine from honey. That's when the family knew this could be something really big. Little did they know where it would take them today. Now, what was once a family starting a new business out of their garage has now grown into established wineries and distilleries throughout upstate New York, including the Idol Ridge winery. If you go to the website for Martin family wineries and distilleries, there's like 10 of them. It's a crazy number that they have all in New York. In Idol Ridge, this is a dry rose. It's very, it's Saperavi is a very thick skinned dark grape. So the rosé is actually a deep dark for a rosé for sparkling rosé. It's not super light. It's actually got a little bit decent color to it. It's true. It's very pretty to look at. It's method traditional or champagne style, which means they do a secondary fermentation in the bottle just like champagne. So it's a rosé that has that champagne method has those champagne flavors in there, the breadiness, the yeastiness, it's got a decent amount of fruitiness from those thick Saperavi skins. And this wine just has a little bit of extra something something to the flavor that is that odd thing. Not only is it kind of an odd grape to find in America, um but the flavor profile, a little extra fruitiness, some earthiness, little extra earthiness, a little extra, um again, that bready, eastiness from the champagne style. And it's pretty to drink. It's pretty to look at. It's magical in its way. It's got that sparkling effervescence. They even make a sparkling Blanc de Noir of Pure Lemberger, aka Blaufranckish. Blaufranckish. So you can also get that them. A Blanc de Noir is a white wine made with red grapes. So that's one I would also consider that would fit the bill probably as well, if that's what you want to do. Maybe just go out to your local wine shop and ask them if they have any Blanc de Noir, sparkling or still, doesn't even matter. what they have. That would be kind of a little bit of odd, a little bit of something unique. Maybe a white wine made with Pinot Noir still would be even weirder, maybe sparkling Blanc de Noir. means it's all red grapes making the white wine. Now, the Idle Ridge Winery, unfortunately, no shipping to California. Boo. But so it goes. That is California's own law. I can't complain too much. We force wineries in other states, they have to buy the license to ship to us here. And if they don't think they're going to sell a lot to California, which why would they? They're not. It's not worth the cost of buying the stupid license. So dumb. It's so fucking dumb. Anyway, that is something by ever work in politics. It's a one thing. Or you remind me, get rid of that. No. But that is my that is my pairing for gorgeous. Get yourself something odd, magical and pretty, aka gorgeous. And to paraphrase Jackie in regards to gorgeous quote, If I made you cry, good. If you didn't cry, I'll try again next movie." Unquote. So if we entertained you with this episode, good. If we didn't entertain you with this episode, we'll try again next episode. So folks, we will be back in one week with another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment. But go watch gorgeous. Yes. No February. Yeah, no, no, no, this will post before February is done. Go watch Gorgeous. It's so good. It's fun guys. It's a lot of Later guys. oh The life the sea, wide wide. If only I meet you and use love to guide the way world. I I'm star, oh you yet, so I'm not going to be like, you know, because then it makes you salivate too much. And it's like really hard to like I've made that mistake before when I have the monologue and then I take a sip of wine and like, yeah, and I'm making all these noises while I'm talking and I'm like, that was a mistake. This is like highly acidic white. That's my version. breathing. That's me when I'm breathing when I'm reading. like, I didn't. And when you also have your well trained for like the exercise where you breathe in through your nose and then breathe out through your mouth kind of thing. But it's much better for oration to breathe. 100 % because it's so much quieter. And then it also flows into the words you're saying, like people hear it as part of your talking. Whereas with the nose, it winds up being just this cut off and you're like. Then you come back in and I'm like, So that's why I chopped those out at the beginning and I was like, Oh, that's, makes it flow. it keeps it even. Very good editing on that, by the way.