Dance, Subaru!
Lee Chi Ngai
Given that this is supposed to be about the passion of dancing, the film feels disappointingly perfunctory.
Based on the best-selling manga of the same name, this overly familiar tale centres on a gifted dancer with a tragic past, Subaru (Meisa Kuroki).
There is also a competition that brings together and divides three friends and rivals as well as a last- minute development that threatens to derail the foregone conclusion.
Up-and-coming actress- model-singer Kuroki has striking good looks, courtesy of some Panamanian blood on her father’s side. But while you can envision her as a hip-hop street dancer, you do not quite buy her as a top-level ballet and modern dance performer.
And that is something you just cannot dance around.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunshine Barry And The Disco Worms
Thomas Borch Nielsen
Worms and disco. This could either be genius or merely fish-bait. Unfortunately, fish-bait is about all this bland and forgettable flick is fit for.
Barry is a young earthworm dreaming above his station in life and finds his calling when he chances upon an old disco record. Cue the boogiewoogie soundtrack, glitter ball and audacious afros.
The rudimentary animation throws up all kinds of icky questions about worm anatomy such as why do they wear tops but not bottoms? Really, female worms have breasts?
Wait a minute, aren’t worms hermaphrodites? These are animated wrigglers even the fish won’t bite.
(ST)
Thomas Borch Nielsen
Worms and disco. This could either be genius or merely fish-bait. Unfortunately, fish-bait is about all this bland and forgettable flick is fit for.
Barry is a young earthworm dreaming above his station in life and finds his calling when he chances upon an old disco record. Cue the boogiewoogie soundtrack, glitter ball and audacious afros.
The rudimentary animation throws up all kinds of icky questions about worm anatomy such as why do they wear tops but not bottoms? Really, female worms have breasts?
Wait a minute, aren’t worms hermaphrodites? These are animated wrigglers even the fish won’t bite.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Uninvited
Charles & Thomas Guard
She sees dead people. And that is never a good sign.
After her release from a mental hospital, Anna (Australian actress Emily Browning) returns home to find her father (David Strathairn as the distracted dad) canoodling with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), the live-in nurse who used to take care of her ill mother.
Having died in a mysterious fire, mummy dearest now appears in visions to Anna, warning her about Rachel. The increasingly distraught Anna’s only ally is her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel).
The British film-makers, the Guard brothers, pile on the cliches, from shadows flitting behind closed doors to the obvious use of minor-key music. Pretty soon, things get boring.
In the final act, the twists come fast and furious. But The Uninvited is never fully convincing.
An uneven remake of the award-winning Korean mystery thriller A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), it is notable only for Browning’s taut performance as the frightened and seemingly helpless Anna.
(ST)
Charles & Thomas Guard
She sees dead people. And that is never a good sign.
After her release from a mental hospital, Anna (Australian actress Emily Browning) returns home to find her father (David Strathairn as the distracted dad) canoodling with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), the live-in nurse who used to take care of her ill mother.
Having died in a mysterious fire, mummy dearest now appears in visions to Anna, warning her about Rachel. The increasingly distraught Anna’s only ally is her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel).
The British film-makers, the Guard brothers, pile on the cliches, from shadows flitting behind closed doors to the obvious use of minor-key music. Pretty soon, things get boring.
In the final act, the twists come fast and furious. But The Uninvited is never fully convincing.
An uneven remake of the award-winning Korean mystery thriller A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), it is notable only for Browning’s taut performance as the frightened and seemingly helpless Anna.
(ST)
Dive!!
Naoto Kumazawa
If boys in swimming trunks are your thing, then you need to read no further.
For those who need a less skimpy review, Dive!! is a little smarter than the usual sports drama.
At stake for the boys is the chance to represent Japan in diving in the Olympic Games. There is only one spot left and getting it would also mean saving their modest diving club.
The three archetypes of Japanese drama are all here: the conflicted one with the matinee-idol looks (Sosuke Ikematsu as Yoichi Fujitani, the coach’s son), the brooding rebellious one whose heart is in the right place (Junpei Mizobata as the wild card, Shibuki Okitsu) and the adorably earnest one (Kento Hayashi as the hardworking Tomoki Sakai).
This film is also a coming-of-age drama that covers ground such as doing things for the right reasons, young love and whether the pursuit of excellence is worth the sacrifices it entails.
The real question here, though, is who will be the one to break out as Japan’s next top idol.
(ST)
Naoto Kumazawa
If boys in swimming trunks are your thing, then you need to read no further.
For those who need a less skimpy review, Dive!! is a little smarter than the usual sports drama.
At stake for the boys is the chance to represent Japan in diving in the Olympic Games. There is only one spot left and getting it would also mean saving their modest diving club.
The three archetypes of Japanese drama are all here: the conflicted one with the matinee-idol looks (Sosuke Ikematsu as Yoichi Fujitani, the coach’s son), the brooding rebellious one whose heart is in the right place (Junpei Mizobata as the wild card, Shibuki Okitsu) and the adorably earnest one (Kento Hayashi as the hardworking Tomoki Sakai).
This film is also a coming-of-age drama that covers ground such as doing things for the right reasons, young love and whether the pursuit of excellence is worth the sacrifices it entails.
The real question here, though, is who will be the one to break out as Japan’s next top idol.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
The Ramen Girl
Robert Allan Ackerman
The story: Abby (Brittany Murphy), a young American, moves to Tokyo because of her boyfriend and is at a loss when he breaks up with her.
Dejected, she wanders into a ramen shop run by Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) and has an epiphany – she will learn to make the perfect bowl of ramen.
For those who love Tokyo, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation (2003) has always felt false. This is one of the most exciting cities in the world but if Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is content to just mope about in her hotel room, little wonder that she feels bored and trapped.
In this new movie, the capital is a city of possibilities, even for someone like Abby who is handicapped by her lack of Japanese. What she has in spades though is a gung-ho attitude.
Of course, it takes a while for that can-do spirit to surface since she does a slipshod job of washing pots and pans in the beginning and then gingerly, and ineffectively, cleans the toilet.
So far, this is pretty much par for the course. You think you have already seen this movie. Abby will learn the ropes, a bond will spring up between her and Maezumi, and by the time the end credits roll, she will be serving up that perfect bowl of noodles.
But this loose remake of director Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is a little smarter than that and has a few surprises in store.
Unlike the original, there is no eroticising of food here. Instead, there are sprinklings of magic realism, and there is a comical scene that takes place after Abby has cooked a pot of ramen noodles with her tears mixed into it.
Ramen Girl also offers the still unusual romantic pairing of an Asian man (Park So Hee) with a Caucasian woman. There is the mildest of culture clashes when Toshi is posted to Shanghai for a job he does not like and Abby urges him to quit instead. Between fulfilling one’s responsibility and being true to oneself, there is little doubt which way this argument will go.
Cast-wise, Murphy’s wide-eyed ingenue look is perfect for comedies. And if her onscreen persona never becomes annoying, it is because the wonderfully gruff Nishida does exasperation so well that you start feeling sorry for Abby instead.
While she and Maezumi do bond, in a nice touch, the language barrier that divides them remains throughout though it is by no means insurmountable.
Tsutomu Yamazaki, who appeared in Tampopo as a trucker who helps the titular character become a first-class chef, turns in a funny cameo here as a ramen master who can barely keep awake as he bestows his blessings on noodles which meet his exacting standards.
You wonder what he would have made of this movie.
(ST)
Robert Allan Ackerman
The story: Abby (Brittany Murphy), a young American, moves to Tokyo because of her boyfriend and is at a loss when he breaks up with her.
Dejected, she wanders into a ramen shop run by Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) and has an epiphany – she will learn to make the perfect bowl of ramen.
For those who love Tokyo, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation (2003) has always felt false. This is one of the most exciting cities in the world but if Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is content to just mope about in her hotel room, little wonder that she feels bored and trapped.
In this new movie, the capital is a city of possibilities, even for someone like Abby who is handicapped by her lack of Japanese. What she has in spades though is a gung-ho attitude.
Of course, it takes a while for that can-do spirit to surface since she does a slipshod job of washing pots and pans in the beginning and then gingerly, and ineffectively, cleans the toilet.
So far, this is pretty much par for the course. You think you have already seen this movie. Abby will learn the ropes, a bond will spring up between her and Maezumi, and by the time the end credits roll, she will be serving up that perfect bowl of noodles.
But this loose remake of director Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is a little smarter than that and has a few surprises in store.
Unlike the original, there is no eroticising of food here. Instead, there are sprinklings of magic realism, and there is a comical scene that takes place after Abby has cooked a pot of ramen noodles with her tears mixed into it.
Ramen Girl also offers the still unusual romantic pairing of an Asian man (Park So Hee) with a Caucasian woman. There is the mildest of culture clashes when Toshi is posted to Shanghai for a job he does not like and Abby urges him to quit instead. Between fulfilling one’s responsibility and being true to oneself, there is little doubt which way this argument will go.
Cast-wise, Murphy’s wide-eyed ingenue look is perfect for comedies. And if her onscreen persona never becomes annoying, it is because the wonderfully gruff Nishida does exasperation so well that you start feeling sorry for Abby instead.
While she and Maezumi do bond, in a nice touch, the language barrier that divides them remains throughout though it is by no means insurmountable.
Tsutomu Yamazaki, who appeared in Tampopo as a trucker who helps the titular character become a first-class chef, turns in a funny cameo here as a ramen master who can barely keep awake as he bestows his blessings on noodles which meet his exacting standards.
You wonder what he would have made of this movie.
(ST)
Claustrophobia
Ivy Ho
The story: Tom (Ekin Cheng, above left) suggests to his employee Pearl (Karena Lam, above right) that she quit her job and take up another one. Something seems to have happened between them but it is not clear what exactly.
The film then unfolds chronologically in reverse, revealing more information with each step back in time, but raising almost as many questions as answers along the way.
The Chinese title Intimate (Qin Mi) and the English title Claustrophobia both apply equally to this film.
Set in cars, lifts, a crammed office and a crowded restaurant, it is about the awkward proximity that urban living thrusts people into. It explores this enforced closeness with people you might have little in common with – and know little about – and how this can be either claustrophobic or strangely intimate, or even an ambiguous mix of the two.
The first time the audience sees Tom and Pearl alone, it is in his car after he has dropped off their colleagues. There is tension between them, but much is left unsaid and you are left to wonder what exactly passed between them. Was there an affair? Was there a moment when a line was crossed?
This is Ivy Ho’s directorial debut after penning award-winning scripts for the well-received dramas Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996) and July Rhapsody (2002).
The Hong Kong film-maker has chosen to tell a deceptively simple story in an unusual way as the narrative unspools backwards.
Is this a movie that calls for it? Memento’s (2000) fractured structure reflected its protagonist’s state of mind, while Irreversible’s (2002) reverse story-telling made a point about the fragility of happiness.
Here, the device serves to heighten dramatic tension in order to sustain viewer interest. But there is no denouement really.
The interesting thing, however, is that the state of Tom and Pearl’s relationship could conceivably have made no difference to how the story ends.
Ho also includes as a counterpoint the prickly relationship between two other colleagues, the earnest John (Derek Tsang) and the abrasive Jewel (Chucky Woo), reflecting another facet of claustrophobic intimacy.
With its elliptical silences and moody tone, you can absolutely envision this as a European film.
Karena Lam does a competent job reining her feelings in, but she is no Juliette Binoche or Irene Jacob, whose faces reveal hidden depths with the tiniest flickers of emotion.
Ekin Cheng’s take on the seemingly well-meaning and decent boss does not delve far beyond the surface. But it strikes the right note as you never quite get a grasp on him.
Claustrophobia might be too tentative and obtuse for some, but that is what life is like at times. Isn’t it?
(ST)
Ivy Ho
The story: Tom (Ekin Cheng, above left) suggests to his employee Pearl (Karena Lam, above right) that she quit her job and take up another one. Something seems to have happened between them but it is not clear what exactly.
The film then unfolds chronologically in reverse, revealing more information with each step back in time, but raising almost as many questions as answers along the way.
The Chinese title Intimate (Qin Mi) and the English title Claustrophobia both apply equally to this film.
Set in cars, lifts, a crammed office and a crowded restaurant, it is about the awkward proximity that urban living thrusts people into. It explores this enforced closeness with people you might have little in common with – and know little about – and how this can be either claustrophobic or strangely intimate, or even an ambiguous mix of the two.
The first time the audience sees Tom and Pearl alone, it is in his car after he has dropped off their colleagues. There is tension between them, but much is left unsaid and you are left to wonder what exactly passed between them. Was there an affair? Was there a moment when a line was crossed?
This is Ivy Ho’s directorial debut after penning award-winning scripts for the well-received dramas Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996) and July Rhapsody (2002).
The Hong Kong film-maker has chosen to tell a deceptively simple story in an unusual way as the narrative unspools backwards.
Is this a movie that calls for it? Memento’s (2000) fractured structure reflected its protagonist’s state of mind, while Irreversible’s (2002) reverse story-telling made a point about the fragility of happiness.
Here, the device serves to heighten dramatic tension in order to sustain viewer interest. But there is no denouement really.
The interesting thing, however, is that the state of Tom and Pearl’s relationship could conceivably have made no difference to how the story ends.
Ho also includes as a counterpoint the prickly relationship between two other colleagues, the earnest John (Derek Tsang) and the abrasive Jewel (Chucky Woo), reflecting another facet of claustrophobic intimacy.
With its elliptical silences and moody tone, you can absolutely envision this as a European film.
Karena Lam does a competent job reining her feelings in, but she is no Juliette Binoche or Irene Jacob, whose faces reveal hidden depths with the tiniest flickers of emotion.
Ekin Cheng’s take on the seemingly well-meaning and decent boss does not delve far beyond the surface. But it strikes the right note as you never quite get a grasp on him.
Claustrophobia might be too tentative and obtuse for some, but that is what life is like at times. Isn’t it?
(ST)
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story
Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Waltz With Bashir is the record of Israeli film-maker Ari Folman’s journey to shed light on a dark chapter of his life.
As a 19-year-old soldier, he was present at the killing of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, a revenge exacted by Christian militia for the killing of Lebanese president Bashir Jumayel, a Christian.
But for more than 20 years after that, he had no memory of that night in September 1982 and the role he played.
One’s instinct for survival and self- preservation is so strong that when faced with something unbearable, one either detaches himself from what is happening or blocks it out altogether.
As Folman speaks to fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to piece together the past, he recalls the ugly truth of the killing.
He also wrote and directed the animated feature film of the same name which has won more than 20 awards.
Here, the unflinching chronicle is accompanied by beautiful drawings by David Polonsky, who was the art director and chief illustrator for the movie.
He depicts grey and yellow nightmare scenarios, sepia-hued memories of war and full-colour contemporary life with equal aplomb.
While the sketches might distance one from the horror of what took place, the final two pages of photographs – of dead Palestinians sprawled in the streets and of a woman devastated by grief – close that gap.
If you like this, read: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (1999, US$10.20 or S$15.30, amazon. com). A harrowing portrayal of genocide which asks the piercing question: Why was nothing done to stop the killings in Rwanda?
(ST)
Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Waltz With Bashir is the record of Israeli film-maker Ari Folman’s journey to shed light on a dark chapter of his life.
As a 19-year-old soldier, he was present at the killing of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, a revenge exacted by Christian militia for the killing of Lebanese president Bashir Jumayel, a Christian.
But for more than 20 years after that, he had no memory of that night in September 1982 and the role he played.
One’s instinct for survival and self- preservation is so strong that when faced with something unbearable, one either detaches himself from what is happening or blocks it out altogether.
As Folman speaks to fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to piece together the past, he recalls the ugly truth of the killing.
He also wrote and directed the animated feature film of the same name which has won more than 20 awards.
Here, the unflinching chronicle is accompanied by beautiful drawings by David Polonsky, who was the art director and chief illustrator for the movie.
He depicts grey and yellow nightmare scenarios, sepia-hued memories of war and full-colour contemporary life with equal aplomb.
While the sketches might distance one from the horror of what took place, the final two pages of photographs – of dead Palestinians sprawled in the streets and of a woman devastated by grief – close that gap.
If you like this, read: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (1999, US$10.20 or S$15.30, amazon. com). A harrowing portrayal of genocide which asks the piercing question: Why was nothing done to stop the killings in Rwanda?
(ST)
Monster, 1959
David Maine
The humble B-grade monster movie has been transformed into a modern fable about America.
David Maine’s ambitious sci-fi novel tackles diverse themes such as the hubris of man, myth-making and identity, and the callousness of the entertainment industry. Yet, it never feels overstretched.
It is structured like a film, with the book divided into reels and the chapters given knowing titles such as Seen This Movie Before and Close-up. A genuine affection for 1950s flicks is mixed with a pointed commentary on the state of the world.
The mutant in question, K., is the unexpected and unlikely by-product of American tests on the effects of high- level radiation in the South Pacific.
“To the human eye, K. is an evolutionary absurdity. Nature couldn’t make up her mind what to do with him,” and so he has claws, residual butterfly wings, crimson feathers on his chest, and stands 40ft from crown to his seven- toed feet.
Maine’s audacity is to re-imagine the creature feature from the creature’s perspective and that has made all the difference in the world.
One of the most touching things about the book is how K.’s mind is dimly stirred into consciousness by the events around him.
Caught by humans and paraded as a travelling attraction, K. is portrayed as a fearsome monstrosity. In fact, he is a vegetarian and his innocence is contrasted with the tangled web of human affairs.
There is an irreverent tone to Monster, 1959, that meshes well with the monster-movie inspiration but anger and sarcasm are also never far from the surface.
This is an entertaining romp that leaves you with plenty to chew on.
If you like this, read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (2003, US$8 or S$12, amazon.com). The classic tale of a monster created by a medical student is about man’s arrogance and a warning against playing god.
(ST)
David Maine
The humble B-grade monster movie has been transformed into a modern fable about America.
David Maine’s ambitious sci-fi novel tackles diverse themes such as the hubris of man, myth-making and identity, and the callousness of the entertainment industry. Yet, it never feels overstretched.
It is structured like a film, with the book divided into reels and the chapters given knowing titles such as Seen This Movie Before and Close-up. A genuine affection for 1950s flicks is mixed with a pointed commentary on the state of the world.
The mutant in question, K., is the unexpected and unlikely by-product of American tests on the effects of high- level radiation in the South Pacific.
“To the human eye, K. is an evolutionary absurdity. Nature couldn’t make up her mind what to do with him,” and so he has claws, residual butterfly wings, crimson feathers on his chest, and stands 40ft from crown to his seven- toed feet.
Maine’s audacity is to re-imagine the creature feature from the creature’s perspective and that has made all the difference in the world.
One of the most touching things about the book is how K.’s mind is dimly stirred into consciousness by the events around him.
Caught by humans and paraded as a travelling attraction, K. is portrayed as a fearsome monstrosity. In fact, he is a vegetarian and his innocence is contrasted with the tangled web of human affairs.
There is an irreverent tone to Monster, 1959, that meshes well with the monster-movie inspiration but anger and sarcasm are also never far from the surface.
This is an entertaining romp that leaves you with plenty to chew on.
If you like this, read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (2003, US$8 or S$12, amazon.com). The classic tale of a monster created by a medical student is about man’s arrogance and a warning against playing god.
(ST)
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