Southside With You
Richard Tanne
The story: Legal associate Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers) has been trying to get lawyer Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) to go out with him. Eventually she agrees, although she insists it is not a date. They spend a day together, going from a museum to a meeting at a church to a screening of Spike Lee’s drama, Do The Right Thing (1989).
Could this film – a portrait of the outgoing United States First Couple as they were in 1989 over the course of a summer day in Chicago, Illinois – be anything other than respectful and safely sweet?
After all, the subjects are none other than one of the most powerful men in the world and his wife.
And the fact that they ended up together is a matter of fact, not an issue that is open to speculation.
So the somewhat surprising answer to the question is yes.
First-time writer-director Richard Tanne made the smart decision to follow Obama and Robinson over the course of one day and not be overly ambitious.
The day-long set-up has been employed to great effect in films such as Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise (1995).
Here, viewers get the sense of the couple as two intelligent, idealistic people simply getting to know each other, and they are admirably fleshed out by the actors.
In his first leading role, Sawyers, who bears more than a passing resemblance to a young Obama, impresses with his ability to imbue the character with confidence and conviction.
Sumpter (Ride Along, 2014), who also produced the film, is very much his equal as the more wary and world-weary Robinson.
Instead of robbing the film of dramatic tension, knowing what we know now makes it fun when she describes her suitor as “that jive- talking stereotype from Good Times”, referring to a comedy about an Afro-American family that ran from 1974 to 1979.
Issues of race and mobility are addressed – Robinson sometimes feels like she is “going from Planet Black to Planet White” when she goes to work and the choice of film that they watch is deliberate – but Tanne avoids being heavy-handed about them.
There is also a scene of Obama winning over a group of doubters in a modest local church with his words, foreshadowing his rousing speeches in real life on the presidential campaign trail in 2008.
As Robinson remarks, that is a “pretty good setting to bring a girl”.
In the process, he wins over his date and the movie wins over the audience.
(ST)
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Journey
Nicky Wu
The title of this album harks back to one of Nicky Wu’s best-known solo hits, Wish You A Smooth Journey, taken from his 1992 debut solo album, Wind Chaser.
Of course, the Taiwanese was already a star before that as the best-looking member of the boy band trio, Little Tigers, and not their strongest singer.
Maybe this is a reason for the 19-year break between the new album and his last, 1997’s Hero.
Another is that he has been focusing on acting, including in the hit period television drama, Scarlet Heart (2011).
On Journey, the opening synthesizer strains of Lonely By Nature already sound dated and, unfortunately, Wu seems resolutely stuck in the past. Even the title track fails to muster much excitement.
Perhaps the song of greatest interest is Hand In Hand, a duet with Cecilia Liu, his co-star from Scarlet Heart and now his wife. The track itself is nothing too exciting, though it does end on a sweet note with the chiming of wedding bells.
(ST)
Nicky Wu
The title of this album harks back to one of Nicky Wu’s best-known solo hits, Wish You A Smooth Journey, taken from his 1992 debut solo album, Wind Chaser.
Of course, the Taiwanese was already a star before that as the best-looking member of the boy band trio, Little Tigers, and not their strongest singer.
Maybe this is a reason for the 19-year break between the new album and his last, 1997’s Hero.
Another is that he has been focusing on acting, including in the hit period television drama, Scarlet Heart (2011).
On Journey, the opening synthesizer strains of Lonely By Nature already sound dated and, unfortunately, Wu seems resolutely stuck in the past. Even the title track fails to muster much excitement.
Perhaps the song of greatest interest is Hand In Hand, a duet with Cecilia Liu, his co-star from Scarlet Heart and now his wife. The track itself is nothing too exciting, though it does end on a sweet note with the chiming of wedding bells.
(ST)
Each time you think the Hallyu wave is about to peak, a new South Korean television series comes along and crests to another high.
In 2013, romance drama The Heirs, starring Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, took South Korea and beyond by storm. Then sci-fi romance My Love From The Star, with Gianna Jun and Kim Soo Hyun, surged to new heights of popularity in 2014. Earlier this year, military romance Descendants Of The Sun blazed a different path and turned Song Joong Ki into a megawatt star.
What these three shows have in common are beautiful actors and actresses, but that is only half of the reason K-dramas are flourishing.
The fact that they all star different actors points to the depth of talent in the industry. There is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of actors and actresses who not only look gorgeous but can act as well.
This becomes even clearer when you go beyond the blockbusters – a star is seemingly born every few months on the small screen.
Nostalgia drama Reply 1997 (2012) was a cable show that came in under the radar, but grew to make a big splash as word of mouth spread. Singer Seo In Guk had a star turn as the high school hotshot with a sensitive side and Jung Eun Ji from girl group Apink had an auspicious acting debut as a feisty superfan of male idol popsters Sechs Kies.
The drama Incomplete Life (2014) heralded the arrival of Yim Si Wan as a new acting talent as he played the part of workplace greenhorn Jang Geu Rae to perfection. He picked up several accolades, including a Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Actor.
Interestingly, individuals who get lost within the confines of a boyband or girl group shine in the spotlight when they make the leap to television. Apart from Apink’s Jung and ZE:A’s Yim, there is also Lee Hyeri from Girl’s Day, who made a great impression in Reply 1988 (2015) as the bubbly high-schooler Sung Deok Sun. The ratings for the show’s final episode are the highest in Korean cable TV history.
The depth of talent in the acting pool extends to the creative pool.
A second reason for the thriving K-drama scene is the industry’s ability to come up with new concepts and to put a fresh spin on familiar ones.
The recently concluded W, written by Song Jae Jung and starring actor-model Lee Jong Suk and actress Han Hyo Joo, played mind games with its characters and viewers as the story unfolded across two parallel worlds – our world and the world of a hit webtoon, a comics title that is published online.
With a fresh and exciting premise, it kept viewers guessing throughout what was going to happen next.
You could say that it was an update of the concept Norwegian pop band A-ha used for their seminal music video for Take On Me in 1984, in which a woman enters the world of a comic strip she is reading.
Similarly, the crime thriller Signal (2016) borrowed a key idea from the American sci-fi thriller flick Frequency (2000) – two characters communicate with each other across time, using walkie-talkies in the former and a radio in the latter. To this it added an elaborate labyrinth of unsolved cases and personal connections. The result was gripping.
The ongoing period romance Love In The Moonlight is more than just a replay of the old chestnut of gender-bending – see Hong Kong rom-com He’s A Woman, She’s A Man (1994) or even the previous hit Korean series Coffee Prince (2007).
It’s a gender-pretzel as Kim Yoo Jung plays not just a girl in man’s clothing, but one who has to pretend to be a eunuch.
Moonlight is based on the Korean Web novel of the same name (in Korean) and it is proving to be popular enough that there are reports asking whether it could reach or even eclipse the ratings for Descendants Of The Sun.
Another reason shows from South Korea are thriving seems to boil down to a general tenet: no sequels.
Signal’s scriptwriter Kim Eun Hee has hinted at the possibility of a follow-up given the tantalisingly open-ended finale. But it would be an exception that proves the rule as none of the other titles mentioned above have yet had sequels.
Season 2 for Descendants Of The Sun is reportedly in the works, but it has also been said that stars Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo will not be returning and neither will director Lee Eung Bok and writer Kim Eun Sook. For fans of the show, that would be like getting a beautifully packaged gift, only to find that it does not contain what they want inside.
While the titling of Reply 1997, Reply 1994 (2013) and Reply 1988 suggests a continuity, they are best thought of as sibling series – recognisably part of the same family, but each with its own traits and quirks.
They share the same attention to period detail as well as a similar set-up – who will the female lead end up with among a large group of potential suitors. Yet each show is about different characters and stands alone on its own.
Keeping things contained to a single season forces a show to be compelling and complete in that timeframe.
And if a show fails to pique viewers’ interest, not to worry, the next one could well be the one to sweep you off your feet.
(ST)
In 2013, romance drama The Heirs, starring Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye, took South Korea and beyond by storm. Then sci-fi romance My Love From The Star, with Gianna Jun and Kim Soo Hyun, surged to new heights of popularity in 2014. Earlier this year, military romance Descendants Of The Sun blazed a different path and turned Song Joong Ki into a megawatt star.
What these three shows have in common are beautiful actors and actresses, but that is only half of the reason K-dramas are flourishing.
The fact that they all star different actors points to the depth of talent in the industry. There is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of actors and actresses who not only look gorgeous but can act as well.
This becomes even clearer when you go beyond the blockbusters – a star is seemingly born every few months on the small screen.
Nostalgia drama Reply 1997 (2012) was a cable show that came in under the radar, but grew to make a big splash as word of mouth spread. Singer Seo In Guk had a star turn as the high school hotshot with a sensitive side and Jung Eun Ji from girl group Apink had an auspicious acting debut as a feisty superfan of male idol popsters Sechs Kies.
The drama Incomplete Life (2014) heralded the arrival of Yim Si Wan as a new acting talent as he played the part of workplace greenhorn Jang Geu Rae to perfection. He picked up several accolades, including a Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Actor.
Interestingly, individuals who get lost within the confines of a boyband or girl group shine in the spotlight when they make the leap to television. Apart from Apink’s Jung and ZE:A’s Yim, there is also Lee Hyeri from Girl’s Day, who made a great impression in Reply 1988 (2015) as the bubbly high-schooler Sung Deok Sun. The ratings for the show’s final episode are the highest in Korean cable TV history.
The depth of talent in the acting pool extends to the creative pool.
A second reason for the thriving K-drama scene is the industry’s ability to come up with new concepts and to put a fresh spin on familiar ones.
The recently concluded W, written by Song Jae Jung and starring actor-model Lee Jong Suk and actress Han Hyo Joo, played mind games with its characters and viewers as the story unfolded across two parallel worlds – our world and the world of a hit webtoon, a comics title that is published online.
With a fresh and exciting premise, it kept viewers guessing throughout what was going to happen next.
You could say that it was an update of the concept Norwegian pop band A-ha used for their seminal music video for Take On Me in 1984, in which a woman enters the world of a comic strip she is reading.
Similarly, the crime thriller Signal (2016) borrowed a key idea from the American sci-fi thriller flick Frequency (2000) – two characters communicate with each other across time, using walkie-talkies in the former and a radio in the latter. To this it added an elaborate labyrinth of unsolved cases and personal connections. The result was gripping.
The ongoing period romance Love In The Moonlight is more than just a replay of the old chestnut of gender-bending – see Hong Kong rom-com He’s A Woman, She’s A Man (1994) or even the previous hit Korean series Coffee Prince (2007).
It’s a gender-pretzel as Kim Yoo Jung plays not just a girl in man’s clothing, but one who has to pretend to be a eunuch.
Moonlight is based on the Korean Web novel of the same name (in Korean) and it is proving to be popular enough that there are reports asking whether it could reach or even eclipse the ratings for Descendants Of The Sun.
Another reason shows from South Korea are thriving seems to boil down to a general tenet: no sequels.
Signal’s scriptwriter Kim Eun Hee has hinted at the possibility of a follow-up given the tantalisingly open-ended finale. But it would be an exception that proves the rule as none of the other titles mentioned above have yet had sequels.
Season 2 for Descendants Of The Sun is reportedly in the works, but it has also been said that stars Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo will not be returning and neither will director Lee Eung Bok and writer Kim Eun Sook. For fans of the show, that would be like getting a beautifully packaged gift, only to find that it does not contain what they want inside.
While the titling of Reply 1997, Reply 1994 (2013) and Reply 1988 suggests a continuity, they are best thought of as sibling series – recognisably part of the same family, but each with its own traits and quirks.
They share the same attention to period detail as well as a similar set-up – who will the female lead end up with among a large group of potential suitors. Yet each show is about different characters and stands alone on its own.
Keeping things contained to a single season forces a show to be compelling and complete in that timeframe.
And if a show fails to pique viewers’ interest, not to worry, the next one could well be the one to sweep you off your feet.
(ST)
A Chinese Odyssey Part Three
Jeffrey Lau
The story: Time-travelling with the help of Pandora’s Box, fairy Zixia (Tiffany Tang) realises that she will sacrifice herself for her loved one, Joker (Han Geng), the reincarnation of the Monkey King. She tries in vain to get him to fall in love with the demon, Bak Jing-jing (Karen Mok). Her plan B: marry the Bull King (Zhang Chao). On the day of the ceremony, the ersatz Monkey King (also played by Han) is sent to Earth to subdue the demons so that he can accompany Longevity Monk (Wu Jing) on his journey to the West, thus righting a mistake made by the Jade Emperor (Huang Zheng) in the heavenly annals.
A Chinese Odyssey sequel without Stephen Chow? This is a travesty.
The two-part A Chinese Odyssey (1995) was one of the key works cementing Chow’s reputation as a comic superstar and he will forever be associated with the dual roles of Joker and Monkey King.
The luckless stand-in here is singer-actor Han Geng, whose good-looking mug is no substitute for Chow’s priceless deadpan face.
Given the massive popularity of the earlier films in China, this new instalment was greenlit despite the absence of most of the original cast.
Apart from Mok, who reprises her role as a demon in what is essentially a cameo, the line-up of Hong Kong actors, including Athena Chu, Law Kar Ying and Ada Choi, has been replaced by names better known in China. For die-hard fans, this would be akin to returning to one’s childhood home, only to find it peopled with strangers – who are pretending to be one’s family.
At least Jeffrey Lau, who directed the classic two-parter, has returned to helm the sequel and also penned the script, which contains Chow’s signature mo lei tau style of nonsensical humour – Bull King’s sister (Zhang Yao) drools copiously at the sight of Joker and characters break into a Cantonese ballad to express their emotional conundrum.
Even then, these are recycled jokes. Nothing beats Law’s Longevity Monk earnestly massacring the oldie, Only You, as Chow’s Joker is pushed to the limits of his patience in Part Two.
Worse, while the earlier instalments were hailed for their special effects and high production values, this entry’s computer graphics look cheap and make things feel weightless and cut off from reality.
Of course, one can always make another film based on the literary classic, but even when Chow co-wrote, produced and directed his version without starring in it – Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (2013) – he did not tag it with A Chinese Odyssey.
Despite Lau’s involvement here, in the end, it is hard to shake off the feeling that this was made solely for a quick buck.
(ST)
Jeffrey Lau
The story: Time-travelling with the help of Pandora’s Box, fairy Zixia (Tiffany Tang) realises that she will sacrifice herself for her loved one, Joker (Han Geng), the reincarnation of the Monkey King. She tries in vain to get him to fall in love with the demon, Bak Jing-jing (Karen Mok). Her plan B: marry the Bull King (Zhang Chao). On the day of the ceremony, the ersatz Monkey King (also played by Han) is sent to Earth to subdue the demons so that he can accompany Longevity Monk (Wu Jing) on his journey to the West, thus righting a mistake made by the Jade Emperor (Huang Zheng) in the heavenly annals.
A Chinese Odyssey sequel without Stephen Chow? This is a travesty.
The two-part A Chinese Odyssey (1995) was one of the key works cementing Chow’s reputation as a comic superstar and he will forever be associated with the dual roles of Joker and Monkey King.
The luckless stand-in here is singer-actor Han Geng, whose good-looking mug is no substitute for Chow’s priceless deadpan face.
Given the massive popularity of the earlier films in China, this new instalment was greenlit despite the absence of most of the original cast.
Apart from Mok, who reprises her role as a demon in what is essentially a cameo, the line-up of Hong Kong actors, including Athena Chu, Law Kar Ying and Ada Choi, has been replaced by names better known in China. For die-hard fans, this would be akin to returning to one’s childhood home, only to find it peopled with strangers – who are pretending to be one’s family.
At least Jeffrey Lau, who directed the classic two-parter, has returned to helm the sequel and also penned the script, which contains Chow’s signature mo lei tau style of nonsensical humour – Bull King’s sister (Zhang Yao) drools copiously at the sight of Joker and characters break into a Cantonese ballad to express their emotional conundrum.
Even then, these are recycled jokes. Nothing beats Law’s Longevity Monk earnestly massacring the oldie, Only You, as Chow’s Joker is pushed to the limits of his patience in Part Two.
Worse, while the earlier instalments were hailed for their special effects and high production values, this entry’s computer graphics look cheap and make things feel weightless and cut off from reality.
Of course, one can always make another film based on the literary classic, but even when Chow co-wrote, produced and directed his version without starring in it – Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (2013) – he did not tag it with A Chinese Odyssey.
Despite Lau’s involvement here, in the end, it is hard to shake off the feeling that this was made solely for a quick buck.
(ST)
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Marauders
Steven C. Miller
The story: A group of men in kevlar masks carry out bank robberies in which they appear to be targeting specific people to kill. The FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation’s) Jonathan Montgomery (Christopher Meloni) is on the case along with hotshot Wells (Adrian Grenier). The signs point to a dead soldier – and a cover-up by banker Jeffrey Hubert (Bruce Willis).
After 12 seasons of playing a cop on the long-running television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Meloni plays another one in Marauders.
The sense of familiarity deepens with the spectacle of masked men pulling off bank robberies, seen in countless other heist movies.
But, at least, there is something of interest here. The perpetrators use a wireless mini speaker to broadcast their instructions, so there is the surreal scene of a soothing Siri-like voice intoning: “Remain on the floor or we will kill you.”
This could well be the most arresting detail of the entire movie.
As in the Hong Kong movie S Storm, which also opens this week, there are clashes over territory between different agencies. In this case, though, there is a lot more macho posturing as Montgomery snarls at officer Mims (Johnathan Schaech) for intruding on FBI jurisdiction.
Mostly, the story is as grim as the setting, a city grey with foreboding and unrelenting rain. There are cops who might or might not be crooked, a soldier who might or might not be dead and a financier who might or might not be guilty of hiding something.
It is hard to care when the entire thing feels like a tired rehash of stock elements. And, no, adding Bruce Willis’ smirk and a perfunctory twist at the end does not help matters.
(ST)
Steven C. Miller
The story: A group of men in kevlar masks carry out bank robberies in which they appear to be targeting specific people to kill. The FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation’s) Jonathan Montgomery (Christopher Meloni) is on the case along with hotshot Wells (Adrian Grenier). The signs point to a dead soldier – and a cover-up by banker Jeffrey Hubert (Bruce Willis).
After 12 seasons of playing a cop on the long-running television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Meloni plays another one in Marauders.
The sense of familiarity deepens with the spectacle of masked men pulling off bank robberies, seen in countless other heist movies.
But, at least, there is something of interest here. The perpetrators use a wireless mini speaker to broadcast their instructions, so there is the surreal scene of a soothing Siri-like voice intoning: “Remain on the floor or we will kill you.”
This could well be the most arresting detail of the entire movie.
As in the Hong Kong movie S Storm, which also opens this week, there are clashes over territory between different agencies. In this case, though, there is a lot more macho posturing as Montgomery snarls at officer Mims (Johnathan Schaech) for intruding on FBI jurisdiction.
Mostly, the story is as grim as the setting, a city grey with foreboding and unrelenting rain. There are cops who might or might not be crooked, a soldier who might or might not be dead and a financier who might or might not be guilty of hiding something.
It is hard to care when the entire thing feels like a tired rehash of stock elements. And, no, adding Bruce Willis’ smirk and a perfunctory twist at the end does not help matters.
(ST)
S Storm
David Lam
The story: There is something fishy about the betting on football matches taking place at the jockey club. To uncover the truth, investigator Luk (Louis Koo) from the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) and detective Lau (Julian Cheung) have to put aside their differences and work together. Thrown into the mix are a skilled assassin (Vic Chou) and Lau’s sister (Dada Chan), who is also the damsel in distress. The sequel to 2014’s Z Storm.
I had forgotten about Z Storm, as the generic crime thriller had not left much of an impression. And sadly, the sequel to that forgettable flick does not fare much better.
The public service element of educating the public remains, except that this time around, it is less about the noble work of the ICAC and more about the dangers of gambling and the fact that anyone can fall into its clutches, including the cop Lau.
Scriptwriter Wong Ho Wa and director David Lam try to add a new dimension by introducing another police department and highlighting the differences between the elite ICAC with high-tech resources at their disposal and the lowly crime unit headed by Lau. There is some fun in watching how fiercely they each guard their territory.
There is also a brewing bromance between Koo and Cheung as their characters bond over how no one understands how tough things are for them.
Too bad there is no time for this or anything else to be explored. In addition to Chou (unconvincing as a killer) and Chan, there is also Ada Choi as another ICAC officer, Bowie Lam as a former ICAC agent-turned-jockey- club-security manager, not to mention the required villains of the piece.
To tie together all the characters, the story is drenched in lazy coincidences and oh-so-convenient plot turns.
Not the kind of storm that makes for exciting viewing.
(ST)
David Lam
The story: There is something fishy about the betting on football matches taking place at the jockey club. To uncover the truth, investigator Luk (Louis Koo) from the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) and detective Lau (Julian Cheung) have to put aside their differences and work together. Thrown into the mix are a skilled assassin (Vic Chou) and Lau’s sister (Dada Chan), who is also the damsel in distress. The sequel to 2014’s Z Storm.
I had forgotten about Z Storm, as the generic crime thriller had not left much of an impression. And sadly, the sequel to that forgettable flick does not fare much better.
The public service element of educating the public remains, except that this time around, it is less about the noble work of the ICAC and more about the dangers of gambling and the fact that anyone can fall into its clutches, including the cop Lau.
Scriptwriter Wong Ho Wa and director David Lam try to add a new dimension by introducing another police department and highlighting the differences between the elite ICAC with high-tech resources at their disposal and the lowly crime unit headed by Lau. There is some fun in watching how fiercely they each guard their territory.
There is also a brewing bromance between Koo and Cheung as their characters bond over how no one understands how tough things are for them.
Too bad there is no time for this or anything else to be explored. In addition to Chou (unconvincing as a killer) and Chan, there is also Ada Choi as another ICAC officer, Bowie Lam as a former ICAC agent-turned-jockey- club-security manager, not to mention the required villains of the piece.
To tie together all the characters, the story is drenched in lazy coincidences and oh-so-convenient plot turns.
Not the kind of storm that makes for exciting viewing.
(ST)
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Kit Chan Spellbound Homecoming Concert 2016
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
What did the addition of Homecoming to the concert title mean for local singer Kit Chan’s show?
For starters, instead of the more intimate The Star Theatre, where she kicked off her regional Spellbound tour last June, the venue this time was the Indoor Stadium.
Production was ramped up with more lighting and stage effects, but they never swamped the star of the show and her luminous voice. She sounded great throughout the 21/2-hour show – the audience could hear every nuance of tone and emotion in her singing. Even her cover of David Huang’s You Make Me Drunk, a song that is in danger of being overexposed, felt fresh.
It had been 15 years since she last performed at this venue, yet she owned it as if she had never been away.
In between songs, she chatted easily with her fans like they were her old friends. At one point, she thanked celebrity hairstylist David Gan for his bird’s nest soup, quipping that he gave it away like complimentary coffee.
Since the previous Singapore gig, Chan has released her first album of original material, The Edge Of Paradise, in 12 years. Apart from the track Spellbound, she added three songs from it to the show, including the jazzy Don’t Ask Me Why I Love You, originally written for the late Leslie Cheung.
Quite a few things remained unchanged, though.
Her choice of covers to illustrate her ease in English and Cantonese remained largely similar. They included the Prince-penned Nothing Compares 2 U, Lana Del Rey’s Young And Beautiful and Cheung’s Left And Right Hands.
Nevertheless it was still a joy listening to Chan as she made the songs her own.
What could have done with some updating were portions of the scripted banter. The introductions to emo ballad Dazzle and Marilyn Monroe’s My Heart Belongs To Daddy would have been all too familiar to those who went for the previous show.
None of it mattered anyway, because Chan went into full chanteuse mode and turned the Hollywood bombshell’s number into a slinky and cheeky showstopper, earning a round of thunderous applause.
After the entire stadium surprised her with an early happy birthday song, she told the audience of 7,000: “Thank you for having been with me for such a long time. The scenery along the way has been beautiful.”
Ditto the accompanying soundtrack of her songs over the years.
(ST)
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
What did the addition of Homecoming to the concert title mean for local singer Kit Chan’s show?
For starters, instead of the more intimate The Star Theatre, where she kicked off her regional Spellbound tour last June, the venue this time was the Indoor Stadium.
Production was ramped up with more lighting and stage effects, but they never swamped the star of the show and her luminous voice. She sounded great throughout the 21/2-hour show – the audience could hear every nuance of tone and emotion in her singing. Even her cover of David Huang’s You Make Me Drunk, a song that is in danger of being overexposed, felt fresh.
It had been 15 years since she last performed at this venue, yet she owned it as if she had never been away.
In between songs, she chatted easily with her fans like they were her old friends. At one point, she thanked celebrity hairstylist David Gan for his bird’s nest soup, quipping that he gave it away like complimentary coffee.
Since the previous Singapore gig, Chan has released her first album of original material, The Edge Of Paradise, in 12 years. Apart from the track Spellbound, she added three songs from it to the show, including the jazzy Don’t Ask Me Why I Love You, originally written for the late Leslie Cheung.
Quite a few things remained unchanged, though.
Her choice of covers to illustrate her ease in English and Cantonese remained largely similar. They included the Prince-penned Nothing Compares 2 U, Lana Del Rey’s Young And Beautiful and Cheung’s Left And Right Hands.
Nevertheless it was still a joy listening to Chan as she made the songs her own.
What could have done with some updating were portions of the scripted banter. The introductions to emo ballad Dazzle and Marilyn Monroe’s My Heart Belongs To Daddy would have been all too familiar to those who went for the previous show.
None of it mattered anyway, because Chan went into full chanteuse mode and turned the Hollywood bombshell’s number into a slinky and cheeky showstopper, earning a round of thunderous applause.
After the entire stadium surprised her with an early happy birthday song, she told the audience of 7,000: “Thank you for having been with me for such a long time. The scenery along the way has been beautiful.”
Ditto the accompanying soundtrack of her songs over the years.
(ST)
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Talk About Eve
Eve Ai
Whenever The Sum Of Us plays on the radio, I feel like I should stop what I am doing to give it my full attention.
The ballad is written by Eve Ai and features a spare guitar arrangement. It does not scream for attention, yet is utterly compelling in its quietness. The lyrics beautifully sustain a metaphor about love and mathematics that is both unusual and poignant.
“No one has ever been able to perfectly expound on this and come to a conclusion/But to me, it’s still beautiful/Don’t dream of discovering the evidence/Of who loves who, published as a proof.”
You can cherish a relationship even when things do not add up.
The third album from the season five winner of Taiwanese television singing competition Super Idol in 2011 is Ai’s most beguiling yet. It lives up to the sobriquet of “Queen of Blues”, conferred by music producer Wang Chi-ping.
There is a soulfulness to her singing that lifts even more conventional material such as Harmless Loneliness, turning it into another highlight on the album.
She is also a versatile artist who can flit easily between balladry and other genres.
Talk, composed by talented newcomer singersongwriter Eric Chou, is a sultry R&B number tailormade for her lightly husky pipes. She promises: “When the crowd stops swaying/When the music starts getting softer/I say, I say, I say/Will be with you till the end?”
She rocks out on Escape Plan, chills on reggae-tinged Take Me To A Sunny Island and swings effortlessly on Dependence.
When she sings the refrain of “Then you come along” in English on the Mandarin track of the same name, packing a range of emotions into that repeated phrase, you can understand why she was once hailed as Taiwan’s Adele.
The comparison to the British star is meant to be flattering but, really, there is no question that Ai is her own woman.
(ST)
Eve Ai
Whenever The Sum Of Us plays on the radio, I feel like I should stop what I am doing to give it my full attention.
The ballad is written by Eve Ai and features a spare guitar arrangement. It does not scream for attention, yet is utterly compelling in its quietness. The lyrics beautifully sustain a metaphor about love and mathematics that is both unusual and poignant.
“No one has ever been able to perfectly expound on this and come to a conclusion/But to me, it’s still beautiful/Don’t dream of discovering the evidence/Of who loves who, published as a proof.”
You can cherish a relationship even when things do not add up.
The third album from the season five winner of Taiwanese television singing competition Super Idol in 2011 is Ai’s most beguiling yet. It lives up to the sobriquet of “Queen of Blues”, conferred by music producer Wang Chi-ping.
There is a soulfulness to her singing that lifts even more conventional material such as Harmless Loneliness, turning it into another highlight on the album.
She is also a versatile artist who can flit easily between balladry and other genres.
Talk, composed by talented newcomer singersongwriter Eric Chou, is a sultry R&B number tailormade for her lightly husky pipes. She promises: “When the crowd stops swaying/When the music starts getting softer/I say, I say, I say/Will be with you till the end?”
She rocks out on Escape Plan, chills on reggae-tinged Take Me To A Sunny Island and swings effortlessly on Dependence.
When she sings the refrain of “Then you come along” in English on the Mandarin track of the same name, packing a range of emotions into that repeated phrase, you can understand why she was once hailed as Taiwan’s Adele.
The comparison to the British star is meant to be flattering but, really, there is no question that Ai is her own woman.
(ST)
Monday, September 05, 2016
“The Invincible” Jay Chou Concert Tour 2016
National Stadium/Last Saturday
Since his last concert in Singapore in December 2014, Mandopop king Jay Chou has gotten married and is now the father of a little girl.
These are major life changes and they have clearly shaped his new album, Jay Chou’s Bedtime Stories (2016). But he made no mention of his wife and daughter and the only hint of domestic bliss was when he asked the sold-out crowd of 40,000: “Have I put on weight?”
Then he added teasingly: “If you listen to my songs, you’ll never get fat, I mean, old.”
Otherwise, the man himself was hard to pin down from his pat banter and it sometimes felt as if he was a little elusive during the gig, even if the production was top-notch.
Visually, this was a spectacular concert.
A suspended man in a spacesuit appeared to float through space as images of the cosmos were projected onto the screens on stage. Next, the concertgoers were plunging deep into a space vehicle and, finally, Chou himself appeared in a lit outfit which made him look like a walking pink skeleton. And this was just for the opening song, Hero.
The gothic segment for Bedtime Stories featured background visuals, which looked like they could have been outtakes from a Tim Burton animated film. The stage was transformed into the stained-glass interior of a cathedral for In The Name Of The Father and into an expansive underwater world for Mermaid.
But, sometimes, you wished that the excellent staging could have been in service of stronger material. The tracks from his recent albums tended to feel familiar where his songs were once fresh and exciting.
The excitement was palpable whenever he launched into his earlier hits, including Can’t Express Myself from 2001’s Fantasy and Peninsula Iron Box from 2002’s The Eight Dimensions. Unfortunately, Year Three, Class Two from 2003’s Ye Hui Mei – named after Chou’s mother – was merely filler for an interlude and not performed in full.
At least, the problem of murky sound that plagued his previous concert at the same venue did not resurface. From where the media were seated – centre and near the front – the sound was a little echoey at times, but not enough to be ruinous.
Chou was not at his best vocally. Had he been too busy taping the China reality television show Sing! China? He was too ready to point his microphone towards the audience members for them to chorus along and he seemed to be relying quite a bit on his back-up singers.
The concert was 21/2 hours long and one segment which could have been trimmed was the interaction with fans. It was great for those who were picked to sing with their idol, but it was largely a draggy affair for everyone else.
After all, it was Chou for whom the crowd came for and the extra time could have yielded a few more classic hits or maybe even a tiny peek into his life as husband and father.
(ST)
National Stadium/Last Saturday
Since his last concert in Singapore in December 2014, Mandopop king Jay Chou has gotten married and is now the father of a little girl.
These are major life changes and they have clearly shaped his new album, Jay Chou’s Bedtime Stories (2016). But he made no mention of his wife and daughter and the only hint of domestic bliss was when he asked the sold-out crowd of 40,000: “Have I put on weight?”
Then he added teasingly: “If you listen to my songs, you’ll never get fat, I mean, old.”
Otherwise, the man himself was hard to pin down from his pat banter and it sometimes felt as if he was a little elusive during the gig, even if the production was top-notch.
Visually, this was a spectacular concert.
A suspended man in a spacesuit appeared to float through space as images of the cosmos were projected onto the screens on stage. Next, the concertgoers were plunging deep into a space vehicle and, finally, Chou himself appeared in a lit outfit which made him look like a walking pink skeleton. And this was just for the opening song, Hero.
The gothic segment for Bedtime Stories featured background visuals, which looked like they could have been outtakes from a Tim Burton animated film. The stage was transformed into the stained-glass interior of a cathedral for In The Name Of The Father and into an expansive underwater world for Mermaid.
But, sometimes, you wished that the excellent staging could have been in service of stronger material. The tracks from his recent albums tended to feel familiar where his songs were once fresh and exciting.
The excitement was palpable whenever he launched into his earlier hits, including Can’t Express Myself from 2001’s Fantasy and Peninsula Iron Box from 2002’s The Eight Dimensions. Unfortunately, Year Three, Class Two from 2003’s Ye Hui Mei – named after Chou’s mother – was merely filler for an interlude and not performed in full.
At least, the problem of murky sound that plagued his previous concert at the same venue did not resurface. From where the media were seated – centre and near the front – the sound was a little echoey at times, but not enough to be ruinous.
Chou was not at his best vocally. Had he been too busy taping the China reality television show Sing! China? He was too ready to point his microphone towards the audience members for them to chorus along and he seemed to be relying quite a bit on his back-up singers.
The concert was 21/2 hours long and one segment which could have been trimmed was the interaction with fans. It was great for those who were picked to sing with their idol, but it was largely a draggy affair for everyone else.
After all, it was Chou for whom the crowd came for and the extra time could have yielded a few more classic hits or maybe even a tiny peek into his life as husband and father.
(ST)
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