The real folks of "You are the Apple of my eye" (那些年,我們一起追的女孩) - 柯震东,陳妍希

I think by now every Chinese person in the 15- 35 age bracket (even though it's rated 18SX) in Malaysia would have seen this movie.

I've heard of this movie name dropped on radio programmes and TV shows in Taiwan for the longest time now so it is with much anticipation that i dragged JH and my youngest brother along to watch the much hyped about in the Chinese entertainment world movie, 'You are the apple of my eye' (which i think is a rather cliche title as compared to the actual Chinese title which i very much prefer 'Na xie nien wo men yi chi chui de nu hai' -sorry for the play by ear han yu pin yin- i have never had a Chinese lesson in my life, or 那些年,我們一起追的女孩) . At this point i'm overwhelmed by the desire to actually read Chinese.

Anyhow, the movie was okay for me. JH and my baby brother thinks it's actually quite good. Perhaps i had months of anticipation and expectation for this movie that i expected a lot more? Anyhow, even though i felt the story line was a little too plain, the leads were charismatic and good looking, the movie was peppered with funny and vulgar parts (not that i liked the vulgar parts), and though it was basically a running commentary of a teenage boys love and lost of the girl he loved, it did not feel flat or boring as it could have been in the hands of lesser directors/producers. Most of all i loved the way the whole movie presented itself visually, with lovely camera angles, not too corny special effects and vibrant landscapes of Taiwan.

Now the whole point of this post is not to review the movie, (though i seem to have covered it somewhat in my above ramblings) but to reveal the identities of the protagonists in the movie.

Many may already know this movie was written and directed by a prolific Taiwanese author with 50 books under his belt call 'Jiu Ba Tau" loosely translated as 9 swords.

The story is based on his own personal experience and every character in the movie is real.

This is what the lead Ko Chen-Tung (柯震东) looks like. He's a 20 year old university student in his movie debut.

He plays the male lead, who is in real life the author of the story as well as the director, 'Jiu Ba dao' aka Nine swords and officially in English he's called Giddens.. and this is what he really looks like.

*Disclaimer: Don't read the rest of this post if you live in clouds and want to believe the real life protagonists actually look like those telegenic actors in the cinemas*

Probably not the most good looking , but as you can see definitely very mischievious and sentimental.Also rich after the success of the film, besides being a popular author.

The rest of his gang from the movie. Can you guess who is who?

I know, i can understand now why this bunch was described as childish by the female lead in the movie.This was probably taken at the actual wedding!

Ha ha ha, how nice it is to have your early adult years translated into a movie? I wonder if they get royalties  from it?

Anyhow, the most important question on everyone's mind is probably what does Shen Chia-Yi, the pretty and smart lead and object of many a young boys desire look like.

We know the actress who plays her, Michelle Chen Yan Xi (陳妍希), 28,who previously acted in many Taiwanese idol dramas, the most notable one being 'Miss No Good' with Rainie Yang and Wilber Pan,  is a really pretty girl. She's not the kind of pretty that other girls hate, cos it's more of a natural and simple type of beauty that sells beauty products.
Throughout the show, all i could think of was, 'Why is her skin like that? I want her skin!'. And this is why.

She looks good with even seemingly no make-up.

The popularity of the movie has lead to increasing public interest on who the actual 沈佳宜 is.

And the Taiwanese media gladly obliged as shown by the Youtube video above and the picture below courtesy of this site.

Now that that's done with, what have the main actors of the movie been up to since the phenomenal reception of the show?

Chen Yan-Xi has cut her hair into a cute bob and is gracing the cover of Taiwanese magazine, Choc which is now out in Malaysian newsstands.

Also, she has been nominated as Best Actress for the 48th Taiwanese Golden Horse Awards.

She hasn't actually won yet (she's just posing) but results will be out 26th November 2011.

The male lead, Ke Zhen Dong (柯震東) on the other hand,being the lucky fella that he is, (let me see, genetically blessed good looks and height -he looks 6 foot tall, enough luck to play the lead role in his movie debut, enough luck for the movie to break box-office earnings in Chinese cinema, can actually act) has now moved on to release his first music album!

Productive or what? And he can actually hold a tune!

Here you judge for yourself. Here's his duet with Chen Yan-Xi.


 
It's somewhat of a rarity to find a Taiwanese film that is so popular, so if you have not watched it, i would suggest you to watch it just to see what all the fuss is about.