The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mira Nair
The story: Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed) is part of the privileged class
in his native Pakistan. He graduates from Princeton, takes up a job as a hotshot financial analyst in New York and falls in love with Erica, a photographer (Kate Hudson). Then terrorists attack the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York on Sept 11, 2001, and his world begins to crumble. Based on Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 best-seller of the same name.

When the world sees a terrorist, does it end up creating one? This is the central teaser the film presents us with and director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, 2001) draws out the tension as the answer is revealed, little by little.
A decade after 9/11, Changez is back at home and giving fiery lectures at a university.
When an American professor is kidnapped in Lahore, journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) tracks him down and presses him for information.
Over the course of their conversation, Changez recounts the story of his life in the aftermath of the New York attacks.
The American dream he had been living began to sour and even though he is part of the moneyed class, he feels increasingly vulnerable.
He is targeted for intrusive searches and interrogations at an airport after a business trip and even when he is just walking on the street.
British actor-rapper Riz Ahmed (The Road To Guantanamo, 2006) does a credible job getting under Changez’s skin.
The character seems a bit inscrutable at first, but his growing frustration is palpable when he finds that he cannot even grow a beard without getting funny looks.
This is what a heightened security environment means for someone who fits a certain profile, regardless of whether he is a terrorist.
The film does not delve into the rights and wrongs of such a situation, but it shows the disillusionment and resentment it creates.
Changez is not merely a one-issue character, though. He is also grappling with the morality of what he does for a living – the recommended solution he offers corporate clients is often downsizing – and his torn loyalties between two countries.
Intriguingly, the film also draws a parallel between fundamentalist and reductionist religion and fundamentalist and reductionist capitalism, and Changez makes a definitive choice regarding the two.
Ultimately, the film does give a resolution to the question it poses but, to its credit, it does not presume to give easy answers.
(ST)

That Girl In Pinafore
Chai Yee Wei
The story: The year is 1993 and music-loving Jiaming (Daren Tan) forms a band with his buddies. When he meets student-singer May (Julie Tan), love blossoms between them but they have to overcome various obstacles, including her disapproving mother. Xinyao (Singaporean folk music) is the soundtrack to their coming-of-age story.

The xinyao movement flowered here in the 1980s and early 1990s and it was a heady time for those who grew up in that era. These Mandarin songs were penned by Singaporeans and reflected the concerns, feelings and dreams of Singaporeans.
At its best, writer-director Chai Yee Wei’s film captures the joy and excitement of the music and the feeling that this was something we could call our own. It is clearly a departure from his previous works, which included the supernatural thriller Blood Ties (2009) and the horror-comedy compendium Twisted (2011).
It is all the more apparent that he has great affection for xinyao and that particular era. Loving attention is paid to period details, from posters of the voluptuous Hong Kong bombshell Amy Yip plastered on a schoolboy’s bedroom wall to a Jack Neo comedy skit airing on television.
Care has also gone into the staging of the musical numbers, including an amped-up rock version of the youthful anthem Heart Of Dawn performed at a music competition. He also works the songs into the plot where possible, to give the film the feel of a cohesive musical rather than a movie with a music track as an afterthought.
Xinyao fans will have fun spotting singers and songwriters from the folk music movement such as Roy Loi, Wu Jiaming, Pan Ying and Deng Shuxian as parents of the young protagonists.
While the film works as an homage to a bygone era, it falters story-wise. Its mix of pubescent sexual behaviour (Jiaming’s buddies get into trouble for renting porn magazines to their schoolmates) and innocent teenage romance is jarring.
Chai is unable to emulate how Taiwanese writer-director Giddens Ko deftly pulled off raging hormonal behaviour alongside chaste romance in You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011).
More problematic is the melodramatic turn the film takes in the second half. One cliche after another rears its ugly head, from a hard and humourless parent to a terminal illness.
Rising star Julie Tan has natural charisma and Project SuperStar 2 (2007) champ Daren Tan tries his earnest best. But they are not helped by the material and the film runs out of steam towards the end.
Chai said he was inspired by the Taiwanese film The Golden Age (1977) and by paying homage to it, he has ended up with a period film that feels dated. It seems like a missed opportunity to really tell our own stories, when, after all, these are our own songs.
(ST)

21st December, Sunny
Bell Yu Tian
Sweetie pie Bell Yu Tian gazes pensively into the distance on the album cover. And a quick glance at the song offerings takes in titles such as Softly & Tenderly and I Honestly Love You.
While it might seem like a triumph of packaging, there is happily more than meets the eye on the Malaysian newcomer’s disc.
Opening track Sweetness In The Rain is a radio-friendly ballad that does well to introduce her clean and light vocals.
Faded Away is another slow track that showcases her pipes to even greater effect. Over a cello-and-piano arrangement, she sings tenderly: “If loving me is a form of torture/Why do you insist on enduring this bewilderment?”
She also ventures into rock territory with the title track and Tale Of The Red Bean. The latter even plays around with vocal effects for a slightly edgy effect.
Given that she can write and sing and is open to trying different things, the prognosis for her future is, in a word, sunny.
(ST)

Despicable Me 2
The story: By the end of Despicable Me (2010), Gru (Steve Carell) had gone from super villain to doting adoptive father of three little girls. In this sequel, Gru has to work with the Anti-Villain League’s Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig). They have to track down the baddie who has stolen a chemical that can transform the most innocuous life form into a vicious killing machine.

Welcome back, minions.
The title may refer to Gru, but the merry creatures of mayhem were the true breakout stars of the first film. The pint-sized yellow minions speak in a cross between a charming foreign tongue and toddler gobbledygook, and get up to no end of mischief and hi-jinks.
The trailer for this sequel had cleverly leveraged on their popularity and, in the flick itself, their role has been upsized.
Moviegoers get to see more of the minions in little throwaway gags: from balancing golf putts on one another to one dressing up as a French maid. They even feature prominently in the main plotline.
So where does that leave Gru? In a pretty good place, actually.
His turnaround from evil to good remains firmly in place. And his biggest headache is no longer cooking up some new crooked scheme, but cooking up jam with his old partner Dr Nefario (Russell Brand).
This time, Gru gets to go after the bad guy. The suspects are all helpfully located at a mall and include showy Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Perez (Benjamin Bratt) and shifty wig store owner Eagle-san (The Hangover’s Ken Jeong).
There are even two burgeoning romances worked into the movie – one between Gru and his admiring partner Lucy; and the other between Margo, the oldest of his adopted daughters, and Antonio, the son of the Mexican restaurant owner.
The screenplay, again by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, feels sharper and funnier this time around. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud have also done a better job overall with juggling the different story elements.
Over the closing credits, moviegoers get another serving of minion cuteness as three of them audition for the upcoming spin-off movie, Minions.
While the creatures are a blast in small doses, one is not sure if an entire movie built around them will actually work.
Well, maybe, if you think about it as akin to watching a foreign language farce.
(ST)