#TongYao #童瑶 #SongYang #宋洋 #ZhouYiwei #周一围 #MarkChao #趙又廷 #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜 #FIRST训练营影片
I was wrong, #对立面 (Face's a Verb - click me to read why I have decided to go with this English title for now) is not region locked, at least Singapore isn't locked out. This makes things easier because it means that you don't need a VPN to watch this short film anthology. I took some time out two nights ago to figure out if I can buy a ticket to watch this anthology and I managed to do it. It did take me some time to figure it out but it also means that it's not impossible. I encourage those of us who are interested in Tong Yao, Song Yang and short films to buy this ticket if this is within your means and if you can figure it out. It's just 12 RMB unless you have a VIP membership for iQiyi's China site which would make this cheaper by 6 RMB.
By the way, in case some of you are wondering if you will be able to understand the film. Not to worry, there are both English and Chinese subtitles burnt in.
The Night Belongs to Us 属于我们的黑夜. I've not had the opportunity to watch the whole short just yet but because it's the first of the short films, currently the iQiyi website gives you a 6 min preview which means those of us who are Tong Yao and Song Yang fans can get to watch a section of the short film for free.
I have to say that the first 6 mins is pretty good and the acting, direction and pacing is very good. Sound is very well used in this film too. Tong Yao's expression in her eyes is really layered and complex and fans should enjoy this performance in this preview. It really whetted my appetite for more. Hopefully, I will have time to watch at least her section in this anthology tonight and hopefully I'll be able to write a short review of the film soon after that.
Zhou Yiwei and Mark Chao fans might be interested to know that the two actors served as acting mentors in the training camp and they appear on the image advertising the film's debut on iQiyi's streaming platform.
The other thing that might interest Zhou Yiwei fans is that he's also listed as one of the actors in the film. I haven't had a chance to confirm that yet but when I do watch it, which should be some time this weekend, I'll confirm it then. (amend: 2nd July - I can confirm that he has a cameo in the second short film.)
Now here's what you need to do in order to be able to watch this. You will need to sign up for an account with iQiyi (China site). I'm not sure if the method to obtain an account is the same. I forgot that I had obtained one a couple of years ago and haven't used it for a while. I used my WeChat account to sign up for an iQiyi account back then. There are several other ways to sign up for an account but if you don't have an account yet and if you already have WeChat then I do recommend using WeChat to get the iQiyi account for ease of payment.
It's notoriously hard to make online payments directly to quite a few of the exclusively China platforms and services because a lot of them don't accept foreign credit cards. For some time it was quite difficult for foreigners not residing in China to use Alipay and WeChat pay. Previously, we needed a bank account in China. That later changed to when they allowed you to use a foreign credit card. BUT they will need real name authentication. I tried to use Alipay first but failed because they wanted me to authenticate using my passport but my passport expired in May this year and I didn't bother to renew because I won't be travelling any time soon. I spent some time trying to see if I could try and get around it by reading the FAQs and trying to see if I could reach their customer service but I finally gave up.
I then tried WeChat pay but wasn't feeling hopeful because I thought that they would need my passport details too. BUT joy joy joy!! They only needed my credit card details and my billing address. They will send you an SMS on your phone to authenticate which is pretty standard stuff. So my advice is, if you're going to try and do this, just use WeChat pay.
Note that after you purchase the ticket to watch the film, you'll be given about a week to activate it. Then you will be given seven days unlimited access to the film. So make sure that you activate the ticket and watch it within those time frames. Unfortunately, you'll still be limited to a maximum resolution of 720p. 1080p is still reserved only for VIP members.
Okay!! I leave you with a screen grab of Tong Yao. I have some stuff I need to get done. Will write up something about the film after I watch it. 😁
(For links to interviews & other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)
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