Writer: Peter Chai

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Watch this if you liked: “Lives In Flames" & “Love In A Puff”

When a diva rises onto the stage with tens of thousands of people watching, all that's heard is; "She's look so glamorous!", "The Queen!", "Sexy and beautiful!" or something along the likes of it, but nobody, including her die-hard fans know what lies backstage especially with the tears, pain and psychological toll it can take upon the artiste. Director Heiward Mak sheds the light on the ugly and tedious truth of one making her destination to prominence on the world's biggest stage with "Diva".

Joey Yung stars as J in "Diva" as she struggles to keep her private life aside since reaching diva status in the Hong Kong music scene after 10 years of backstage hardwork. Wrapping herself amongst her busy schedule and the protection under her very controlling agent Man (Chapman To), J has no freedom at all including hanging out on the streets like any other ordinary citizen. However, things start to change when the veteran singer meets a blind massager in China. She falls in love with him without Man's knowledge and decides to fight for her relationship while facing the dilemma of being a celebrity and an ordinary woman. Meanwhile, Man has spots Red (Mag Lam), an ambitious bar singer who wants to be in the same place as J. During the process to gain fame, Red must choose between her relationship with her bartender-painter boyfriend or a rising career.

Casting Joey as the protagonist is an understandable choice made by the director, as in reality, the 32-year-old have been conquering the Asian music scene with her brilliant singing skills and blazing concert performances for more than a decade. She is definitely the right person to define the meaning of diva through her role, but, you will not be coining her acting skills in the drama as outstanding or great. The performance she delivers in her scenes are just worth an average grade. Her voice with her dialogues are not as convincing as her beautiful rendition of her chart-topper hits on stage.

For Joey's followers, one might find complain on her singing parts in the entire film. Ironically, it seems like Mag Lam has sung more than the lead character even though the main spotlight is still on Joey. The director should include more concert scenes along the story to let one feel the grand atmosphere of a diva's event.

Mag Lam's portrayal of Red reminds us a little bit of her previous singing role in "Lives In Flames" and she has no problem in handling such a character in "Diva", but that makes us wonder whether she can truly pull herself out from music-related movies and head to another genre instead.

Chapman To's mean attitude in the story gives us a real look on how the celebrities' agents hand in their dirty work to the entertainment business. His straightforward humour never fails to make us laugh out loud especially when he blends it in the plot with his mild language.

Perhaps one of the reasons that will attract one to watch the movie is Wilfred Lau, who plays the temporary assistant of J. If you are still gossiping of Lau's relationship with Joey in real life, watching this film is another way to see the interaction between the two real life lovers on the big screen.

Everything has a different side to be seen. Go catch "Diva" and you will see how the divas' go through their painful experiences under the harsh reality of being under and behind the limelight.

Cinema Online, 23 August 2012