MICHELLE YEOH AT TIFF 2011 WITH "THE LADY"

Michelle Yeoh at TIFF 2011

Growing up in a Family which watched a lot of Chinese Cinema and Television, I have always adored Michelle Yeoh so it is with great privilege and honour that I can say that I've now met her.  The stunning Actress is gaining a fair amount of buzz for her work in Luc Besson's The Lady, which has her starring as controversial Burmese Politician Aung San Suu Kyi, who was slated to make a surprise appearance at the Roy Thomson Hall Gala for the Film.

Yeoh looks unchanged since hitting the height of her career in the early '90s and although many of us know her work in 2005's Memoirs of a Geisha and 2000's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Lady should not be discounted come Awards season.  Sporting a Snake-embroidered Dress earlier in the day at the Press Conference for the Film, Fans and Autograph Collectors alike were impressed by her generosity!  Heck, I even went in for an Autograph.  Love that Woman!

After having screened The Lady, I can say that both Yeoh and Co-star David Thewlis as Ang San Suu Kyi's Husband Michael Aris, despite spending much time apart, are extremely convincing as that famous Couple.  Yeoh steps up the to challenge of learning Burmese for her role and is superb in her portrayals, especially in Speech scenes, shifting from diplomacy to devastation.  Where the Biopic falters is its verbose and overly-romanticized Script which at times reads clumsily.

The Lady will be released tentatively at the end of November.

See more of Yeoh below:

CONFIRMED TIFF 2011 TITLES

Still from Moneyball

So the first TIFF 2011 Press Conference was held at 10:00 AM today with various Galas and marquee titles announced.  Although weekly announcements still are to come over the next month, here are some of the more buzzed Movies we will be seeing in Toronto come September:

Trishna – directed by Michael Winterbottom – The tragic love story of a Property Developer’s Son and an Auto Rickshaw Owner’s Daughter; stars Freida Pinto.

The Lady – Luc Besson’s Biopic about pro-Democracy Activist Aung San Suu Kyi played by Michelle Yeoh, who was blacklisted in Burma after filming this one

W.E. – Madonna’s directorial debut. A film which criss-crosses a modern day love story with the romance between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.