As one of the world’s four largest casino cities, i.e., Monaco di Montecarlo, American Las Vegas, Macau and Atlantic City, Macau is a Chinese autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. In 1557, Macau was rented to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, when Macau, through a mutual agreement between the two countries, became a colony. Macau sovereignty over Macau was transferred to China on 20 December 1999, as Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.

Unlike Hong Kong, Macau is not so remarkable in the world. Of course, Macau is of less population, less economic gross, smaller area of the territory, smaller role in international affairs, and finally, less political significance. And there are few movies that are set in Macau, compared to Hong Kong. Some famous Hollywood blockbusters, Like Transformers: Age of Extinction, Battleship, Pacific Rim, are all set in Hong Kong. But now, Macau has the opportunity to turn over to show up in Now You See Me 2. Now You See Me 2 is a 2016 American heist thriller film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Ed Solomon. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. It is sequel to the 2013 film Now You See Me and follows the Four Horsemen who resurface and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off an almost impossible heist.

In Now You See Me 2, the Horsemen gather together, and they try to expose the unjust acts of a tech tycoon, but fail. And the supporter behind them, Dylan Rhodes, is in the depths of crisis. Behind all this is the science wizard, Walter Mabry. Walter forces the Horsemen to do the impossible job of theft task. The Horsemen have no choice but to perform an unprecedented magic show to prove themselves and expose the mastermind behind.

The Chinese Jay Chou parts show disorder.

When the Horsemen passing security check, Lula says that all ordered system tend toward disorder. Of course, what Lula says has nothing to do with second law of thermodynamics. But the word disorder is the best to describe all the Chinese elements in the film. Disorder!

Jay Chou plays as the boss of Iong’s Magic Shop, Li. When the Horsemen enter the shop, Li and his grandma show up. In my personal experience of American films, the least conspicuous characters and things determine the development of the plot and the ending of the story. So, I paid much attention to Li and his grandma about what they would do to influence the film. Right now, the Horsemen are in trouble, and they go into the shop for help. In the shop full of old offbeat antiques and strange things, an old woman with a wrinkled face and the young oriental face make the atmosphere very mystic, and this make us think that they will get help. And the Horsemen give a list of tools to order, but no pictures show that the tools and made and used. IN a word, Jay Chou in the film just passes by. As well as starring in the film, Jay Chou also composed and sung the ending theme “Now You See Me”.

When the Horsemen first show up in Macau in the Chinese restaurant, falling from the pipe and down to the container, the restaurant people immediately get them out, yelling in Cantonese. First, in common knowledge, something or someone unexpected suddenly appears, people around at least give a surprise look, or a sudden peace. But, in the film, the restaurant people seem to wait for them to get them out without hesitation. Second, the film deliberately shows the Chinese hostility. The Chinese people yell at the Horsemen, get them out impertinently, and push them forward. And the hat of the leader of the Horsemen is even taken, though he manages to get it back. In fact, China is the most friendly and safest country for the white people. The film wants to show the Horsemen’s dilemma that a man who loses position and influence may be subjected to much indignity. But it is unnecessary to make people misunderstand China and Chinese people in film which is a widely spread media.

And, the language disorder. First, when the Horsemen show up in the Chinese restaurant, the restaurant people yell at them in Cantonese. Second, when the Horsemen show up in the magic shop, Li and his grandma speak Chinese Mandarin. Third, when the Horsemen pass the security check, the guards speak Cantonese. Forth, the Horsemen, Li and his grandma all speak English in the end. It really is a language hodgepodge.

Finally, the film people give us the wave of flattery to Chinese market. The indescribable appearance of Chinese scene makes people feel that the film only wants to make money in China. Less appealing to Chinese audiences and more cool magic will make the film better.

The real home of magic in China is Zhaozhuang Town, Baofeng County, Henan Province.

The Iong’s Magic Shop, which is managed by Jay Chou in the film, really exists in Macau with dozens of years’ history. In the film, the director makes the shop more complicated to convey the history precipitation of Macau magic, and adds a sense of mystery.

But, the real home of magic in China is Zhaozhuang Town, Baofeng County, Henan Province. The source of Zhaozhuang magic is distant and the stream long, with a history of thousands of years. It dated back to the Chunqiu Period (770~476, B.C.), got great development in Tang and Song Dynasty (618~1129, A.D.), and widely spread in Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368~1912, A.D.), and gets prosperous nowadays. From 1579 A.D. to the present, Baofeng Magic Convention is held every year, on April 8th of the Chinese lunar calendar, lasting almost 400 years. There are 1400 performing art groups of 55,000 people that create an income of more than $57,783,500 every year. So, if the film people have done enough homework, they will make the Horsemen to travel thousands of miles from Hong Kong to Baofeng County to make custom tools, which will greatly further flatter the Chinese audiences.

Youth is the time of life when one is young, but the spirit of the heart is more important. Everybody gets old one day. How do we look upon life with a peaceful and graceful mind when we are old and we find the conflict between youth and old, desire and fear? Youth tries to tell a story of getting old and facing the concomitant loneliness, a story of the eternal struggle between age and youth, the past and the future, life and death, commitment and betrayal, but not to find the answer. It is a 2015 Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. It is the director’s second English language film. The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or and had a positive critical response.

Stars, Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as best friends, Fred Ballinger and Mick Boyle, who reflect on their lives while holidaying in the Swiss Alps. The two friends are old, and Fred is a retired composer and conductor, but Mick still works as a film director. Fred’s daughter and Mick’s son are of a couple whose marriage is on the breaking edge. Fred and Mick observe all guests curiously in the hotel, the beautiful Miss Universe, the enthusiastic young writer, the monk, and so on. From the beginning to the end, the film dexterously handles such strong comparison between young and old as the wrinkled and smooth flesh, the energetic and dispirited movement, the slim and fat posture, in the same place, at the same time, but never conflicting. Just in a quiet and luxury hotel, far from noisy cities, everything happens reasonably.

Stars skillfully use chopsticks for Chinese food.

There is a meal in the film, Chinese food. All stars, Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, and other actors and actress, skillfully use chopsticks for Chinese food. That is amazing. For most westerners, they seldom have the chance to use chopsticks at home or outside, so they can’t practice the skills. There is a saying that diligence redeems stupidity, but an almost useless skill is really not worth practicing. And, there’s rarely anyone who’ll take the time to teach them the correct form or motions. Even for Chinese people, they have to exercise for years from the childhood to master the profound skill.

The meal may be a breakfast. The film doesn’t mean to show what they eat, but show the atmosphere and mood, so it can’t tell what the foods are. But from the glimpse of the picture, some exquisite Chinese snacks are shown. Chinese snacks are of very important part of Chinese food. They may be made from flour, rice, meat, vegetables, and other unnamed eatable things to strengthen the flavor, which increases people’s appetite considerably. It is very pleasant for talking, and story goes smoothly to reveal the plot.

Western fare and Chinese food, a comparison of young and old?

The film brightly makes things of sharp contrast together to highlight the theme of the story, and something is dealt with metaphors, maybe. Take the Chinese food for an example. Located at the foot of the Alps Mountain, in Eastern Switzerland, the Waldhaus Flims hotel is the main location for the film, where is a splendid place for vocation. I have checked the hotel menu, and find that no Chinese food is served. Of course, further on-the-spot investigation might be required to confirm that. And the film directors rack their brains to arrange a Chinese meal, and why?

Well, the knife and fork for west meals has a short history. In the early stage, people just used a knife which was not exactly tableware but multifunctional. It was used to kill, anatomize or cut the prey. When the prey was cooked, the knife was used to eat meat. Until 15th century, because the knife was sometimes dangerous to take the meat into the mouth, the fork was invented to replace the knife to take food into the mouth. From then on, the knife and fork formed a dinner service. Until 17th century, England upper class began to use three-point fork, and modern four-point fork was used until 18th century.

The Chinese chopsticks have been in use for thousands of years. According to recorded history, the chopsticks history can be traced back to the11th century B.C., when the King used the ivory chopsticks which was first documented. The Chinese chopsticks which simply contain two small slender sticks are based on the lever principle. They can be made of bamboo, wood, plastic or metal, or luxury ivory, gold and silver.

In the film, the short-history knife and fork and the long-history chopsticks are just like a young man and an old man, just like the youth and the old. In one way, the comparison is part of the artistic conception in the film. The knife and fork and chopsticks have their path and experience, but along the way they meet somewhere to look up each other. They have different ways of doing things, where the conflict arises, and it’s part of life. On the other hand, the knife and fork and chopsticks were used in the past, are being used now, and will be used in the future. Just like that the conflict and comparison of the young and the old is always there. They exist, and they must be reasonable, but we have to look through the conflict and comparison to look into the future.