Good Morning, Hard City
Adrian Fu
Hong Kong’s Adrian Fu makes his debut as a singer with this disc, but if you are someone who reads album credits, his name will certainly be familiar.
He has previously composed for top singers such as Eason Chan (We Are All Lonely) and Freya Lim (Wounded).
The vibe here is mellow with a touch of melancholy. This is a record about city life and as befitting a savvy urbanite, he switches easily between Mandarin and English on the songs.
His is no rose-tinted view though.
On the title track, which has lyrics by Lin Xi, he sings: “I’m searching and I’m also lost/Found the meaning of work and holidays/But I’ve lost myself.”
Some of the songs seem to be less metaphorical. He appears to be licking his emotional wounds on numbers such as Cutthroat Lover and What Do You Want.
City life is no breeze and yet his love affair with it lingers. He sings on the title number: “Waking here and sleeping here/Tired of here yet I can’t leave/Oh my hard city.”
Recommended for urban dwellers who have a love-hate relationship with their city.
(ST)
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
A performer who can act, sing and dance well is admiringly referred to as a triple threat. When the acting, singing and dancing come together in a well-executed piece of musical theatre, the result is a triple treat for audiences.
What works on stage, though, does not necessarily translate to the big screen. Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables (2012) divided opinions, while Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002) was less satisfying than the Broadway revival production of 1996. And word on Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys, opening here on Thursday, has been middling.
Often, the problem occurs as a result of casting. Instead of the triple-threat requirements, it is a fourth quality – Hollywood star power – that trumps the other three.
But the thing is, a case of two out of three will not do when it comes to a musical. In John Kander and Fred Ebb’s jazzy Chicago, first produced on Broadway in 1975, there is acting, singing and dancing to legendary choreographer Bob Fosse’s slinky moves. And there is no way you can shimmy your way through that with two left feet.
More often, though, it is on the singing front that actors fall flat.
Set against the backdrop of seething political discontent in France in the early 1800s, the musical Les Miserables is based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name and follows the travails of escaped convict Jean Valjean.
On stage, the part of single-minded inspector Javert has been played by theatre actors such as Roger Allam, Terrence Mann and Philip Quast. The role calls for a rich and authoritative baritone and the Australian Quast was regarded as a strong contender for the title of Javert, even taking on the role at the 10th Anniversary Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1995.
In other words, these were some mighty impressive shoes to fill.
But the big-screen casting of Russell Crowe was a major misstep.
Crowe might have an Oscar for Best Actor under his belt for the historical epic Gladiator (2000), but he simply cannot sing. It sounded as though he had either swallowed a frog or was trying to spit one out. What should have been powerful scenes as Javert swore to hunt down Valjean and later wrestled with his faith caused an outbreak of sniggering instead.
Things improved when it came to getting the right Valjean. The protagonist has been played, arguably most definitively, by Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson. He originated the role in London in 1985 and continued to play him when the musical transferred to Broadway in 1987.
Hugh Jackman took on the role in the film and it was a smart choice as he is one of the rarest of the rare – a triple threat with mainstream star power. When not slicing and dicing baddies as Wolverine, Jackman has done award-winning work on stage. His turn in Oklahoma! in 1998 earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, while playing singer-songwriter Peter Allen won him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2004 for The Boy From Oz.
One inherent disadvantage of the film medium is that you lose the sense of immediacy you get from watching a theatre production.
But let’s be honest here. Whether out of budgetary constraints or due to leave-it-to-the-last- minute impulse, it is all too easy to end up in the cheap seats in the second circle where you have to squint away at the action on stage.
So Hooper’s loving close-ups in Les Miserables meant you could see the actors emoting at close range without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for top-tier seats. There is something to be said for the egalitarianism of cinema.
All that emotional bombast was too much for some to take. But given Les Miserables’ epic and sprawling story, themes of love, revolution and sacrifice, and scenes of youthful passions boiling over, Hooper’s approach and treatment were a good fit.
Another stage-to-screen musical marred by casting choices was Chicago.
In the 1997 Broadway revival of the cynical musical about crime and celebrity, James Naughton won a Tony Award for his portrayal of the silvertongued lawyer Billy Flynn. Richard Gere is silver-haired. Close, but no cigar.
Also, there was a physical mismatch between the statuesque-looking Catherine Zeta-Jones and the smaller-sized Renee Zellweger. It meant the impact of numbers such as Hot Honey Rag, in which two performers move in perfect coordination and sometimes in unison, was diminished.
Most egregiously though, the wonderfully funny duet Class was dropped from the film.
The music component in a musical is key and messing with it rarely bodes well.
Which brings us to Jersey Boys, which is about the 1960s rock ’n roll group The Four Seasons. While Eastwood has had a life-long love affair with jazz, the film still seems a bit of an odd choice for him to direct. He is better known for gunslinging than anything to do with doo-wop singing.
While some gave the thumbs-up to his take on the musical, Time magazine’s Richard Corliss called it a “turgid botch” and Variety points to the
“relative dearth of prominent musical performances”. The emphasis on the mob links has also led to comparisons with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990).
One encouraging sign, though: Triple threat John Lloyd Young, who won the Tony Award in 2006 for playing Frankie Valli on Broadway, survived the switch from stage to screen.
It suggests the casting decisions were made without Hollywood star power skewing the equation. Not to make a song and dance of it, however, but that does not mean success is assured. Whether it works as a movie will depend on myriad other factors that sway the fate of every other film.
(ST)
What works on stage, though, does not necessarily translate to the big screen. Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables (2012) divided opinions, while Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002) was less satisfying than the Broadway revival production of 1996. And word on Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys, opening here on Thursday, has been middling.
Often, the problem occurs as a result of casting. Instead of the triple-threat requirements, it is a fourth quality – Hollywood star power – that trumps the other three.
But the thing is, a case of two out of three will not do when it comes to a musical. In John Kander and Fred Ebb’s jazzy Chicago, first produced on Broadway in 1975, there is acting, singing and dancing to legendary choreographer Bob Fosse’s slinky moves. And there is no way you can shimmy your way through that with two left feet.
More often, though, it is on the singing front that actors fall flat.
Set against the backdrop of seething political discontent in France in the early 1800s, the musical Les Miserables is based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name and follows the travails of escaped convict Jean Valjean.
On stage, the part of single-minded inspector Javert has been played by theatre actors such as Roger Allam, Terrence Mann and Philip Quast. The role calls for a rich and authoritative baritone and the Australian Quast was regarded as a strong contender for the title of Javert, even taking on the role at the 10th Anniversary Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1995.
In other words, these were some mighty impressive shoes to fill.
But the big-screen casting of Russell Crowe was a major misstep.
Crowe might have an Oscar for Best Actor under his belt for the historical epic Gladiator (2000), but he simply cannot sing. It sounded as though he had either swallowed a frog or was trying to spit one out. What should have been powerful scenes as Javert swore to hunt down Valjean and later wrestled with his faith caused an outbreak of sniggering instead.
Things improved when it came to getting the right Valjean. The protagonist has been played, arguably most definitively, by Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson. He originated the role in London in 1985 and continued to play him when the musical transferred to Broadway in 1987.
Hugh Jackman took on the role in the film and it was a smart choice as he is one of the rarest of the rare – a triple threat with mainstream star power. When not slicing and dicing baddies as Wolverine, Jackman has done award-winning work on stage. His turn in Oklahoma! in 1998 earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, while playing singer-songwriter Peter Allen won him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2004 for The Boy From Oz.
One inherent disadvantage of the film medium is that you lose the sense of immediacy you get from watching a theatre production.
But let’s be honest here. Whether out of budgetary constraints or due to leave-it-to-the-last- minute impulse, it is all too easy to end up in the cheap seats in the second circle where you have to squint away at the action on stage.
So Hooper’s loving close-ups in Les Miserables meant you could see the actors emoting at close range without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for top-tier seats. There is something to be said for the egalitarianism of cinema.
All that emotional bombast was too much for some to take. But given Les Miserables’ epic and sprawling story, themes of love, revolution and sacrifice, and scenes of youthful passions boiling over, Hooper’s approach and treatment were a good fit.
Another stage-to-screen musical marred by casting choices was Chicago.
In the 1997 Broadway revival of the cynical musical about crime and celebrity, James Naughton won a Tony Award for his portrayal of the silvertongued lawyer Billy Flynn. Richard Gere is silver-haired. Close, but no cigar.
Also, there was a physical mismatch between the statuesque-looking Catherine Zeta-Jones and the smaller-sized Renee Zellweger. It meant the impact of numbers such as Hot Honey Rag, in which two performers move in perfect coordination and sometimes in unison, was diminished.
Most egregiously though, the wonderfully funny duet Class was dropped from the film.
The music component in a musical is key and messing with it rarely bodes well.
Which brings us to Jersey Boys, which is about the 1960s rock ’n roll group The Four Seasons. While Eastwood has had a life-long love affair with jazz, the film still seems a bit of an odd choice for him to direct. He is better known for gunslinging than anything to do with doo-wop singing.
While some gave the thumbs-up to his take on the musical, Time magazine’s Richard Corliss called it a “turgid botch” and Variety points to the
“relative dearth of prominent musical performances”. The emphasis on the mob links has also led to comparisons with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990).
One encouraging sign, though: Triple threat John Lloyd Young, who won the Tony Award in 2006 for playing Frankie Valli on Broadway, survived the switch from stage to screen.
It suggests the casting decisions were made without Hollywood star power skewing the equation. Not to make a song and dance of it, however, but that does not mean success is assured. Whether it works as a movie will depend on myriad other factors that sway the fate of every other film.
(ST)
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Faces Of Paranoia – Only The Paranoid Survive
A-mei
That is one scary- looking mouthful of a title.
Add the highly stylised-looking cover art of a bleached-out-looking A-mei and one begins to wonder if the Taiwanese pop diva has gone all arty concept album on us.
Not to worry. Her first new offering in three years, since 2011’s R U Watching?, is one of her strongest ever. Every track here sounds like it could be a hit.
After collaborating with a wide range of musicians – from acclaimed rapper Soft Lipa to singer-songwriter Hsiao Yu to producer-songwriter Adia – at her own recording studio, she has released what you could call a best-of compilation distilled from the last three years.
Structurally, the album is split into two. The first half deals with emotional upheavals while the latter half takes a detour into clubland.
There’s a strong sense of rhythm on the opening number Both Right And Both Wrong with its syncopated beat as A-mei’s voice flits into falsetto: “We were both right and wrong, neither wanted to be wrong.” It’s a mature blame-free break-up, and yet a sense of regret lingers.
March is another poignant post-breakup song in which time is both literal and metaphorical: “No point in missing love when March has passed/Time will leave, I won’t.”
Self-Oppression finds her at her bleakest: “Would rather be entwined with a poisonous snake, refusing the dove outside the window.”
And passions run dark and deep on the electro title track: “This is a sickness, but there’s no cure/Partaking of each other’s scent, bodily fluids and blood.”
After all the draining emotional drama, she decides it is time to shed all that emotional baggage and just dance.
A-mei makes you want to samba on Fly High and disses male libidinousness on Booty Call to a thumping beat.
The music video for lead single March is out and some have zoomed in on the fact that only her face is shown, wondering if her weight has ballooned. No wonder A-mei is paranoid.
She asks on one track Will You Still Want To Love Me Like This. When the music is this good, the answer is a rousing yes.
(ST)
A-mei
That is one scary- looking mouthful of a title.
Add the highly stylised-looking cover art of a bleached-out-looking A-mei and one begins to wonder if the Taiwanese pop diva has gone all arty concept album on us.
Not to worry. Her first new offering in three years, since 2011’s R U Watching?, is one of her strongest ever. Every track here sounds like it could be a hit.
After collaborating with a wide range of musicians – from acclaimed rapper Soft Lipa to singer-songwriter Hsiao Yu to producer-songwriter Adia – at her own recording studio, she has released what you could call a best-of compilation distilled from the last three years.
Structurally, the album is split into two. The first half deals with emotional upheavals while the latter half takes a detour into clubland.
There’s a strong sense of rhythm on the opening number Both Right And Both Wrong with its syncopated beat as A-mei’s voice flits into falsetto: “We were both right and wrong, neither wanted to be wrong.” It’s a mature blame-free break-up, and yet a sense of regret lingers.
March is another poignant post-breakup song in which time is both literal and metaphorical: “No point in missing love when March has passed/Time will leave, I won’t.”
Self-Oppression finds her at her bleakest: “Would rather be entwined with a poisonous snake, refusing the dove outside the window.”
And passions run dark and deep on the electro title track: “This is a sickness, but there’s no cure/Partaking of each other’s scent, bodily fluids and blood.”
After all the draining emotional drama, she decides it is time to shed all that emotional baggage and just dance.
A-mei makes you want to samba on Fly High and disses male libidinousness on Booty Call to a thumping beat.
The music video for lead single March is out and some have zoomed in on the fact that only her face is shown, wondering if her weight has ballooned. No wonder A-mei is paranoid.
She asks on one track Will You Still Want To Love Me Like This. When the music is this good, the answer is a rousing yes.
(ST)
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Hungry Ghost Ritual
Nick Cheung
The story: After a failed business venture in China, Zonghua (Nick Cheung) returns home. He reluctantly takes over his father’s Cantonese opera troupe with help from lead actress Xiaoyan (Annie Liu). As the Hungry Ghost Festival approaches and opening day draws near, he starts seeing ghosts and strange things occur. What do they want and are they all linked to the flashback story of what happened with the troupe’s former star (Carrie Ng)?
Award-winning actor Cheung takes a stab at horror in his directorial debut. And the results are not pretty.
For horror to be effective, the film-maker needs to have a strong grasp of mood and pacing. It is a tall order for any director, much less a rookie.
So the scares here are of the generic variety, seen in every other horror flick out there and Cheung falls back on an irritatingly intrusive score to shout: “Watch out”.
The cribbing extends to Western works as well. After the success of the Paranormal Activity movies, it appears that closed-circuit television monitoring is now de rigueur when things go bump in the night. What happened to calling ghostbusters or the friendly neighbourhood exorcist?
Demonic possession rears its ugly head here as well, though for some reason, even when those afflicted act in an obviously robotic manner, no one seems to realise that something is seriously amiss.
Also, why is it that when someone gets possessed, the first order of business is to demonstrate some advanced yoga position?
The story does not make much sense either and even when a key piece of family history is revealed at the end, motivations remain unclear.
When not messing about with ghosts, the film makes use of the opera troupe setting to offer some tidbits on the traditions of the trade.
For example, when writing the character “ji” (luck) to put up as good-luck charms, the character is intentionally left incomplete. Otherwise, it is seen as sealing up the mouths of the performers.
The movie might well have been more interesting if it had simply explored what goes on in an opera troupe in detail. Or maybe it was a case of Cheung being spread too thin as he also plays the lead role here. The part of Zonghua is unlikely to result in additions to his trophy cabinet though.
Still, regardless of how the film does, he will always have his acting day-job to fall back on.
(ST)
Nick Cheung
The story: After a failed business venture in China, Zonghua (Nick Cheung) returns home. He reluctantly takes over his father’s Cantonese opera troupe with help from lead actress Xiaoyan (Annie Liu). As the Hungry Ghost Festival approaches and opening day draws near, he starts seeing ghosts and strange things occur. What do they want and are they all linked to the flashback story of what happened with the troupe’s former star (Carrie Ng)?
Award-winning actor Cheung takes a stab at horror in his directorial debut. And the results are not pretty.
For horror to be effective, the film-maker needs to have a strong grasp of mood and pacing. It is a tall order for any director, much less a rookie.
So the scares here are of the generic variety, seen in every other horror flick out there and Cheung falls back on an irritatingly intrusive score to shout: “Watch out”.
The cribbing extends to Western works as well. After the success of the Paranormal Activity movies, it appears that closed-circuit television monitoring is now de rigueur when things go bump in the night. What happened to calling ghostbusters or the friendly neighbourhood exorcist?
Demonic possession rears its ugly head here as well, though for some reason, even when those afflicted act in an obviously robotic manner, no one seems to realise that something is seriously amiss.
Also, why is it that when someone gets possessed, the first order of business is to demonstrate some advanced yoga position?
The story does not make much sense either and even when a key piece of family history is revealed at the end, motivations remain unclear.
When not messing about with ghosts, the film makes use of the opera troupe setting to offer some tidbits on the traditions of the trade.
For example, when writing the character “ji” (luck) to put up as good-luck charms, the character is intentionally left incomplete. Otherwise, it is seen as sealing up the mouths of the performers.
The movie might well have been more interesting if it had simply explored what goes on in an opera troupe in detail. Or maybe it was a case of Cheung being spread too thin as he also plays the lead role here. The part of Zonghua is unlikely to result in additions to his trophy cabinet though.
Still, regardless of how the film does, he will always have his acting day-job to fall back on.
(ST)
Monday, July 07, 2014
Stefanie Sun 2014 Kepler World Tour
National Stadium / Last Saturday
Home-grown singer Stefanie Sun, 35, was the first pop act to perform at the new National Stadium last Saturday night in front of about 20,000 fans.
It was an especially momentous occasion as her Kepler world tour marks her comeback after marriage in 2011 and childbirth.
Unfortunately, it proved to be something of a bumpy ride.
Her voice was sounding strained on the low and high notes of the fast-paced Infinite Possibilities.
She then asked: “What’s in season in Singapore now? Not me, I was popular 14 years ago.”
The answer turned out to be the flu.
And a few songs later, about midway through the concert, she announced after singing the hit ballad Angel’s Fingerprints: “This is a little awkward. My voice is almost gone.”
She added: “Let’s do our best, okay?” and showed her mettle by holding on for a full-length 2½-hour-long show.
It reminded one of the fact that she was recently rushed to hospital after her concert in Chongqing on June 21, though her subsequent gig in Chengdu on June 28 went off without a hitch.
The evening here had started on a strong note when Sun appeared on an elevated platform in a sparkly black outfit singing her breakthrough hit Cloudy Sky. She greeted the crowd with an enthusiastic: “Woohoo Singapore, I’m back. How, can speak Singlish or not?”
Still, she admitted that she was nervous and that she was nervous for every show because it is always a delicate balance to achieve. She said: “On stage, you need to relax and have fun. You need to be relaxed but not too slack.”
She was adept at engaging the crowd. At one point, she stage-whispered: “I’ve done about nine shows and this is the quietest one. Is this the Singapore I know?”
Right on cue, the audience erupted into cheers.
Sun, who has always kept her personal life private, even shared a little anecdote about her 1½- year-old son. She said he has a magic finger because whenever he points at a door, or milk or biscuits, the door will open and he will get his milk and biscuits.
“Can I feel what it’s like to be him?” asked Sun. She pointed at the crowd and her fans obliged her by raising the roof.
A concert highlight was the staging of the track Kepler, from her latest album of the same name.
As she stood on a lit doorway atop the planet Earth, the cosmos drifted leisurely behind her, all courtesy of nifty projections. This was the same staging done for the song when she kicked off her tour at Taipei Arena in February.
She had prepared something just for her Singapore stop though. It felt as though National Day had come early when she sang We Will Get There and One United People, the theme songs for the National Day Parade in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
As a venue for pop concerts, the National Stadium gets a mixed score. The overall sound had quite a bit of reverb to it and was rather murky though Sun’s distinctive timbre and evocative singing came through clearly enough.
It was also not the most comfortable viewing experience as with the retractable roof in place, it felt a little warm and stuffy. Thank goodness for the paper fans provided by the show organiser.
The large venue did mean though that more fans could be accommodated in one space and the atmosphere this brought about was great. After her announcement that she was losing her voice, her fans rallied around her, singing along with gusto and shouting out words of encouragement.
It might not have been the perfect homecoming but it was still a triumphant one for Sun.
(ST)
National Stadium / Last Saturday
Home-grown singer Stefanie Sun, 35, was the first pop act to perform at the new National Stadium last Saturday night in front of about 20,000 fans.
It was an especially momentous occasion as her Kepler world tour marks her comeback after marriage in 2011 and childbirth.
Unfortunately, it proved to be something of a bumpy ride.
Her voice was sounding strained on the low and high notes of the fast-paced Infinite Possibilities.
She then asked: “What’s in season in Singapore now? Not me, I was popular 14 years ago.”
The answer turned out to be the flu.
And a few songs later, about midway through the concert, she announced after singing the hit ballad Angel’s Fingerprints: “This is a little awkward. My voice is almost gone.”
She added: “Let’s do our best, okay?” and showed her mettle by holding on for a full-length 2½-hour-long show.
It reminded one of the fact that she was recently rushed to hospital after her concert in Chongqing on June 21, though her subsequent gig in Chengdu on June 28 went off without a hitch.
The evening here had started on a strong note when Sun appeared on an elevated platform in a sparkly black outfit singing her breakthrough hit Cloudy Sky. She greeted the crowd with an enthusiastic: “Woohoo Singapore, I’m back. How, can speak Singlish or not?”
Still, she admitted that she was nervous and that she was nervous for every show because it is always a delicate balance to achieve. She said: “On stage, you need to relax and have fun. You need to be relaxed but not too slack.”
She was adept at engaging the crowd. At one point, she stage-whispered: “I’ve done about nine shows and this is the quietest one. Is this the Singapore I know?”
Right on cue, the audience erupted into cheers.
Sun, who has always kept her personal life private, even shared a little anecdote about her 1½- year-old son. She said he has a magic finger because whenever he points at a door, or milk or biscuits, the door will open and he will get his milk and biscuits.
“Can I feel what it’s like to be him?” asked Sun. She pointed at the crowd and her fans obliged her by raising the roof.
A concert highlight was the staging of the track Kepler, from her latest album of the same name.
As she stood on a lit doorway atop the planet Earth, the cosmos drifted leisurely behind her, all courtesy of nifty projections. This was the same staging done for the song when she kicked off her tour at Taipei Arena in February.
She had prepared something just for her Singapore stop though. It felt as though National Day had come early when she sang We Will Get There and One United People, the theme songs for the National Day Parade in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
As a venue for pop concerts, the National Stadium gets a mixed score. The overall sound had quite a bit of reverb to it and was rather murky though Sun’s distinctive timbre and evocative singing came through clearly enough.
It was also not the most comfortable viewing experience as with the retractable roof in place, it felt a little warm and stuffy. Thank goodness for the paper fans provided by the show organiser.
The large venue did mean though that more fans could be accommodated in one space and the atmosphere this brought about was great. After her announcement that she was losing her voice, her fans rallied around her, singing along with gusto and shouting out words of encouragement.
It might not have been the perfect homecoming but it was still a triumphant one for Sun.
(ST)
Thursday, July 03, 2014
We Still Need To Believe In Love, Bastards
Waa Wei
How’s the title as a message for these cynical and complicated times? On her fourth album, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Waa Wei wrestles with the idea of love in the here and now.
She sings on the title track: “Although maybe I don’t love you at all/Although maybe I only love the imagined you/Completely in love before/With the thing called love.”
And on the Cheer Chen-penned In This Uncertain World, love is the only balm we have: “In this uncertain world/There’s still comfort, don’t speak, don’t speak, don’t speak/Just hold me, hold me, hold me.”
Wei dabbles in a variety of genres here, from the rhythmic rock of Bastards to the skittery electro-pop of Parisian Melancholy to the lightly breezy and jazzy Background. Her voice, too, is chameleonic as she beguiles and challenges, tenderly breathy one minute and then playfully defiant the next.
Love is indeed a multi-faceted, many- splendoured thing.
(ST)
Waa Wei
How’s the title as a message for these cynical and complicated times? On her fourth album, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Waa Wei wrestles with the idea of love in the here and now.
She sings on the title track: “Although maybe I don’t love you at all/Although maybe I only love the imagined you/Completely in love before/With the thing called love.”
And on the Cheer Chen-penned In This Uncertain World, love is the only balm we have: “In this uncertain world/There’s still comfort, don’t speak, don’t speak, don’t speak/Just hold me, hold me, hold me.”
Wei dabbles in a variety of genres here, from the rhythmic rock of Bastards to the skittery electro-pop of Parisian Melancholy to the lightly breezy and jazzy Background. Her voice, too, is chameleonic as she beguiles and challenges, tenderly breathy one minute and then playfully defiant the next.
Love is indeed a multi-faceted, many- splendoured thing.
(ST)
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Z Storm
David Lam
The story: Wong Man Bin (Gordon Lam Ka Tung) is a crooked cop in the Commercial Crime Bureau and William Luk (Louis Koo) is the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigator out to nail him. Wong’s backer, Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong), is a ruthless lawyer plotting an audacious financial ploy to defraud the Hong Kong government.
Why is Z Storm even on the big screen? It is barely distinguishable from the various cop dramas we see regularly on television. In fact, there is a long-running series of shows specifically about the work of the ICAC dating back to the 1970s. The productions are both a tool for public education about corruption as well as a public relations exercise for the agency.
The movie, too, has that same heavy-handedness about it, with dialogue about the crucial role of the ICAC. It is no surprise, then, to learn that director David Lam had shot many of the ICAC-themed mini-series.
As befits a public announcement service, the good guys are saintly and the bad guys are rotten to the core.
Luk is a principled cop who has only the best interests of the Hong Kong people at heart. Not only that, he is a caring boss who has the respect of his subordinates. Even his private life is faultless when a personal tragedy is revealed late in the film.
In other words, he is not particularly interesting. Why did the oh-so-busy Koo, with turns in drama Aberdeen and thriller Overheard 3 this year so far, even bother taking this role?
In contrast, Wong runs the Commercial Crime Bureau like his personal fiefdom and behaves more like a gang boss than a cop. Lam so relishes being deliciously evil that he will soon have you hating his guts.
Then the attention shifts to behind-the-scenes puppet-master Wu and the hold he has over the mysterious Angel Leung (an inconsequential Dada Chan).
Throw in the perfunctory financial shenanigans and the inevitably neat resolution and Z Storm skirts too closely to being a storm of Zzz’s.
(ST)
David Lam
The story: Wong Man Bin (Gordon Lam Ka Tung) is a crooked cop in the Commercial Crime Bureau and William Luk (Louis Koo) is the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigator out to nail him. Wong’s backer, Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong), is a ruthless lawyer plotting an audacious financial ploy to defraud the Hong Kong government.
Why is Z Storm even on the big screen? It is barely distinguishable from the various cop dramas we see regularly on television. In fact, there is a long-running series of shows specifically about the work of the ICAC dating back to the 1970s. The productions are both a tool for public education about corruption as well as a public relations exercise for the agency.
The movie, too, has that same heavy-handedness about it, with dialogue about the crucial role of the ICAC. It is no surprise, then, to learn that director David Lam had shot many of the ICAC-themed mini-series.
As befits a public announcement service, the good guys are saintly and the bad guys are rotten to the core.
Luk is a principled cop who has only the best interests of the Hong Kong people at heart. Not only that, he is a caring boss who has the respect of his subordinates. Even his private life is faultless when a personal tragedy is revealed late in the film.
In other words, he is not particularly interesting. Why did the oh-so-busy Koo, with turns in drama Aberdeen and thriller Overheard 3 this year so far, even bother taking this role?
In contrast, Wong runs the Commercial Crime Bureau like his personal fiefdom and behaves more like a gang boss than a cop. Lam so relishes being deliciously evil that he will soon have you hating his guts.
Then the attention shifts to behind-the-scenes puppet-master Wu and the hold he has over the mysterious Angel Leung (an inconsequential Dada Chan).
Throw in the perfunctory financial shenanigans and the inevitably neat resolution and Z Storm skirts too closely to being a storm of Zzz’s.
(ST)
Begin Again
John Carney
The story: Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a washed-up music producer who gets fired from the label he set up. Gretta (Keira Knightley) is a songwriter nursing the wounds of a break-up with singer boyfriend Dave (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine). They both get a second chance when Dan produces her album guerilla-style in and around New York City.
For all the doubters out there, take note: Knightley can sing.
The film begins in a small pub in the East Village where a reluctant Gretta gets up on stage to perform a song she wrote. She is defensively hunched over her guitar as, around her, conversation continues to flow and ebb. And then she begins to sing.
It is a pivotal scene to sell the movie and Knightley nails it, from the mix of vulnerability and defiance to her very credible singing voice. After blockbusters such as the Pirates Of The Caribbean films (2003-2007) and lush period dramas such as Atonement (2007), it is nice to see her in a captivating contemporary role.
The audience also gets to watch the scene from Dan’s point of view as he adds other instruments to the mix in his mind, turning a spare track into a lush number. He remains an idealist passionate about music even as his personal and professional lives get messy.
While Gretta and Dan share a connection, one is grateful that writer-director John Carney (Once, 2007) never shoehorns a romance into the proceedings. Unlike the recent drama-turnedunconvincing-romance Words And Pictures (2014), Begin Again recognises that life is rarely that neat.
Dan has an estranged spouse (Catherine Keener) and a prickly teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) in tow, while Gretta is still working through her break-up with Dave.
Adding to the authenticity, this music-industry drama features several music stars, including hip-hop artist Mos Def as Dan’s business partner and singer-songwriter-producer CeeLo Green as, well, a music star.
The coup here is definitely the movie debut of Levine, frontman of pop-rock band Maroon 5. Initially unrecognisable when he first appears as Gretta’s loving boyfriend with a pair of geeky glasses and his face clean-shaven, he eventually turns into a douchebag rock god in a sporting case of art imitating life.
But the movie is interested less in music superstardom than the first love of music. It mostly focuses on Gretta and Dan making music together, capturing beautifully the joy and excitement of creating something new as they record in alleyways and on rooftops, even roping in kids playing nearby to sing on a chorus.
While the conceit of Knightley as Gretta releasing an album is not carried over into real life, she does sing on several numbers on the soundtrack, like Gwyneth Paltrow did for the country music drama Country Strong (2010).
Despite the blandly banal title, Begin Again turns out to be an engaging musical treat.
(ST)
John Carney
The story: Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a washed-up music producer who gets fired from the label he set up. Gretta (Keira Knightley) is a songwriter nursing the wounds of a break-up with singer boyfriend Dave (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine). They both get a second chance when Dan produces her album guerilla-style in and around New York City.
For all the doubters out there, take note: Knightley can sing.
The film begins in a small pub in the East Village where a reluctant Gretta gets up on stage to perform a song she wrote. She is defensively hunched over her guitar as, around her, conversation continues to flow and ebb. And then she begins to sing.
It is a pivotal scene to sell the movie and Knightley nails it, from the mix of vulnerability and defiance to her very credible singing voice. After blockbusters such as the Pirates Of The Caribbean films (2003-2007) and lush period dramas such as Atonement (2007), it is nice to see her in a captivating contemporary role.
The audience also gets to watch the scene from Dan’s point of view as he adds other instruments to the mix in his mind, turning a spare track into a lush number. He remains an idealist passionate about music even as his personal and professional lives get messy.
While Gretta and Dan share a connection, one is grateful that writer-director John Carney (Once, 2007) never shoehorns a romance into the proceedings. Unlike the recent drama-turnedunconvincing-romance Words And Pictures (2014), Begin Again recognises that life is rarely that neat.
Dan has an estranged spouse (Catherine Keener) and a prickly teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) in tow, while Gretta is still working through her break-up with Dave.
Adding to the authenticity, this music-industry drama features several music stars, including hip-hop artist Mos Def as Dan’s business partner and singer-songwriter-producer CeeLo Green as, well, a music star.
The coup here is definitely the movie debut of Levine, frontman of pop-rock band Maroon 5. Initially unrecognisable when he first appears as Gretta’s loving boyfriend with a pair of geeky glasses and his face clean-shaven, he eventually turns into a douchebag rock god in a sporting case of art imitating life.
But the movie is interested less in music superstardom than the first love of music. It mostly focuses on Gretta and Dan making music together, capturing beautifully the joy and excitement of creating something new as they record in alleyways and on rooftops, even roping in kids playing nearby to sing on a chorus.
While the conceit of Knightley as Gretta releasing an album is not carried over into real life, she does sing on several numbers on the soundtrack, like Gwyneth Paltrow did for the country music drama Country Strong (2010).
Despite the blandly banal title, Begin Again turns out to be an engaging musical treat.
(ST)
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