Written by Deborah Lau-Yu

IMAGES: COURTESY OF Selena Lee 李施嬅

Acting and Singing the Love of Ten Thousand Years

Many fans of TVB’s supernatural drama 金宵大廈 can still hear the tune of theme song 今宵多珍重 in their heads from the blockbuster in 2019. Drama creator Ruby Law was inspired by the song, originally in Mandarin, to pen a story about a man and a woman who see each other in their dreams, which was the basis of the romance of the first series. This was also the song that Selena performed in 2020 on the stage of our Fete Chinoise Signature Event at the Royal York Hotel. Selena Lee not only plays the main character in this sequel, she also released her new single 相愛萬年, her first individual solo piece which she also had a part in writing. The title translates to "Being in Love for Ten Thousand Years," and is poetic in describing the longing of love over the ages — a musical nod to the mesmerizing chemistry between her character, Ella, and Maurice (played by Joel Chan). They left a lasting impression on audiences in the first drama, where they loved through different eras and parallel universes. Interweaved between meaningful lyrics, audiences will enjoy the light and airy rifts of the original song (今宵多珍重) which is hauntingly beautiful. The song can be streamed on Spotify if you want to listen to it and enjoy the thoughtful arrangement before watching the drama to experience it.

Selena shared some of her thoughts about this long-awaited sequel with us, which helps us to appreciate the performances even more. “For me, this one is a lot more challenging to do than the first one,” she explained. And the challenge makes Barrack O’Karma 1968 one of the most interesting projects that Selena has worked on in recent history. What made for such a challenging experience? Is it the pressure of success of the first drama or were there technical differences in this round? Selena shared that the roles that her character plays are really different and unique from the previous storyline, and in dealing with parallel universes and spanning different time periods, it is very diverse. On top of that, many scenes she acts in are done alone and yet each scene demands a need for emotion and mystery that is difficult to summon without a partner on screen. We look forward to seeing the culmination of her, Joel and the entire cast and crew’s imagination and talent at play as the plot draws us into multiple parallel universes.

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover… or a Drama by its Title

Though Hong Kong as a city is the main audience for which TVB dramas are made, many audiences worldwide who watch TVB dramas are also not fully fluent in Chinese, and in some cases might even watch with subtitles. The original drama series has a relevant Chinese name that relates to the actual Twilight Mansion in the drama, 金宵大廈, which was easy to understand by those fluent in Chinese and also tied into the theme song's lyrics. In contrast, the English title, Barrack O'Karma (you did not misread that) is a sad blunder that misled many to think that perhaps it was a comedy when it was first released. Unsure of why it got such a poorly chosen English name that has nothing to do with the main plot or short stories, we were waiting for three years with great anticipation for an improved English title that would do the drama's phenomenal storyline and acting some due justice. Why it simply couldn't be titled by a literal translated English title, such as Twilight Mansion, is a mystery to all.

At the time when the drama was released in 2019, it was the most original and imaginative piece of work that year from TVB, and went on to be nominated against some tough competition at the Television Awards that year in six categories. For the first time in almost a decade, there were three female lead actors vying for and deserving of the top award and each had delivered spectacular breakthrough performances that year, making it hard for judges to decide: Selena Lee in Barrack O'Karma 金宵大廈, Miriram Yeung in Wonder Woman 多功能老婆, and Kara Wai in The Defected 鐵探 which also happened to be the first TVB drama to be shown on Netflix. Selena Lee clenched the tie for co-winner of My Favourite Female Character Award with Miriam Yeung; Kara Wai took home the award for Best Actress that year, which was largely seen as a three-way tie for the top honours. Many fans were nonetheless happy with the milestone award to mark one of Selena's most remarkable performances in a lead role. The concepts of parallel universes, the Mandela Effect and the Butterfly Effect were all at play in this supernatural story that was all at once bone-chilling, heart-warming, and reflective of many important societal themes that spoke to audiences that year — we hope that if you may have missed it because of its hokey English name, that you will not miss it again this time with the sequel. This is one of those instances where the cover and contents are completely incongruent. As the old saying goes, 'don't judge a book by its cover!'

Will you be watching Barrack O'Karma 1968? Share your thoughts with us at Fete Chinoise's instagram feed where we will have sneak peeks and behind the scenes photos this week.

About the writer, Deborah Lau-Yu

DEBORAH LAU-YU IS THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF FÊTE CHINOISE MAGAZINE & PLATFORM, AND THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF PALETTERA INC. SHE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT VISUAL CULTURE AND DESIGN, THE ARTS, AND THE CHINESE CANADIAN DIASPORA.

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