No one could ever accuse Dubai of doing things on a small scale.
The most populous city of the United Arab Emirates has the world’s largest man-made harbour and is building the largest airport as well as gunning for the title of tallest skyscraper with the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower).
Less well-known, though, is the fact that it is also a family-friendly destination with a water-themed park, an indoor ski trail, fun desert activities and massive malls with something for everyone.
The propensity for grandness and the family-friendly vibe come together in one splendid package at Atlantis, The Palm (atlantisthepalm.com).
The US$1.5-billion (S$2.2-billion) resort opened with a bang last November with a fireworks display described by the organisers as “seven times larger than the Olympic Games opening ceremony” in Beijing.
Pop star Kylie Minogue performed in front of 2,000 guests, who included talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and Oscar-winner Charlize Theron.
You can see for yourself what the fuss is about, with lodging available from 800 dirhams (S$316) until Sept 19. Clad in a coat of cheerful and whimsical pastel pink, Atlantis is located at the tip of the man-made Palm Jumeirah island. All of its 1,539 rooms and suites offer a view of the glistening sea.
Impressive as it is, Jumeirah is the smallest of the three Palm Islands being developed by the Dubai government-owned Nakheel company. Unfortunately, its palm-shaped glory can be seen only from the air.
There are over 30 dining and wining options offered by Atlantis. Gastronomes will be pleased at the prospect of enjoying the creations of famed chefs such as Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, Giorgio Locatelli, Michel Rostang and Santi Santamaria at its restaurants.
Expect to spend about 500 dirhams per person at Michelin-starred Santamaria’s Ossiano, which offers a modern take on Catalan cuisine and tapas. Or splurge US$150 for Nobu’s Chef’s Choice Omakase menu.
There are dining plans available and children six and under get to eat for free. They start at US$69 a day for adults and US$35 for children between seven and 11 for the casual dining plan.
As the grown-ups partake of culinary adventures, the young, and the young at heart, will be more excited by the 17ha Aquaventure, the region’s largest water-themed attraction. Guests staying at Atlantis enjoy free unlimited access to it. Otherwise, it costs 200 dirhams for a day pass and 165 dirhams for those below 1.2m.
The rides at the Ziggurat complex are the main attraction. The near-vertical Leap of Faith slide, which stands more than nine storeys high, is aptly named. Be prepared for an adrenaline jolt, particularly when you feel your body lifting off the slide.
For those who prefer less heart-pounding rides, try the Shark Attack, in which you sit on an air-filled tube and drift leisurely in a see-through tunnel which cuts across a shark-filled lagoon.
When the walkways start to burn the soles of your feet, it is time to hotfoot out of the sun and duck into the cool environs of The Lost Chambers aquarium. The Atlantis theme can get a little hokey but there is no denying the hypnotic effect of a colossal underwater display.
Every time you walk by the 11-million- litre marine habitat of the Ambassador Lagoon, you feel compelled to stop and stare at its denizens, among them graceful rays, circling sharks and slithery eels.
You can sign up for a session at Dolphin Bay to learn more about this intelligent mammal and, of course, to frolic in the water with it. It is located within Aquaventure but separate charges apply. The cost of dolphin interaction starts from 625 dirhams for resort guests and includes same-day access to Aquaventure.
After the watery attractions of Atlantis, head out to the desert, about an hour’s drive away, for a different range of experiences such as bashing through the dunes in a 4X4 vehicle.
But since bouncing around the shifting sands could induce carsickness in some people, settle down in the evening to watch Jumana – Secret Of The Desert, a multisensory extravaganza featuring lasers, pyrotechnics and water screens at the amp- hitheatre in Al Sahra Desert Resort (www. alsahra.com/jumanahome.htm). Tickets for adults start from 150 dirhams, 50 dirhams for children under 12.
If your little ones still have energy to spare, have them work it off at Ski Dubai (www.skidxb.com), the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East. It offers five runs of varying difficulty and a snow park for those inclined to give even the gentlest of slopes a miss. A two-hour session on the slope costs 180 dirhams for adults and 150 for children.
More importantly, the ski resort is conveniently located within Mall of the Emirates, whose enthusiastic tagline is “Shopping is just the beginning”. It features more than 460 international brands, from high-end labels such as Marc Jacobs to mass fashion names such as H&M.
The honour of the world’s largest shopping mall, however, goes to Dubai Mall, which opened officially last November. The US$20-billion project is part of the Burj Arab complex and has 1,200 shops, more than 150 dining outlets and cafes and an adjoining five-star hotel. Oh, and 14,000 covered carpark spaces.
For a taste of local culture, brave the heat and venture into the souks (Arabic for markets) clustered around the north bank of the Dubai Creek for some old-world shopping. The maze of alleyways offer everything from gold to exotic spices to fabrics in every colour and price range.
While some of the malls try to replicate the souk experience in air-conditioned quarters, the sights, smells and sounds are best experienced in the Deira old quarters.
Keep your eyes peeled for gems such as the world’s biggest ring, with over 58kg of gold used, with the certification by Guinness World Records proudly displayed next to it.
Then take a ride on the abra water taxi across the Dubai Creek to the Dubai Museum (3 dirhams for adults, 1 dirham for children, free for kids under five) at Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1787 and the city’s oldest building. Walk through dioramas depicting the lives of the people in bygone days and marvel at how far the city has come.
You can also take in the sights along the Creek in style aboard the Bateaux Dubai as the vessel’s interior is glass-encased. Enjoy your fine dining experience while the city lights up the night and chew over all that you have seen and heard. The four-course gourmet meal is available at 333 dirhams until Sept 30.
This thriving cosmopolitan emirate is constantly reinventing itself and audaciously ambitious projects abound. There is the ginormous entertainment complex Dubailand and The World, a collection of man-made islands shaped into the continents of the earth.
While the pace of construction has slowed as a result of the current downturn, most remain optimistic that Dubai’s onward march is unstoppable.
It would be fascinating to see what the place looks like in five years when the array of mega-projects is completed. But by then, the city could well be off chasing an even bigger, better and brighter vision of itself.
5 things to do
1 Protect yourself from the heat and glare with shades, sunscreen and headgear, and drink lots of water.
2 Take along some warm clothing if you plan to be out in the desert at night. The temperature can fall to a low of 15 deg C in January.
3 Be sensitive when taking photographs of people, especially Muslim women. Ask before you click.
4 Snap some pictures of the Burj Dubai. The world’s tallest skyscraper with 160 floors is expected to be completed by September, but it already dominates the city’s skyline.
5 Visit the iconic Burj Al Arab. Even if you cannot afford the US$1,000 (S$1,400) per night rate for the smallest suite at one of the world’s most exclusive hotels, stroll along the beach next to it to see gorgeous sunsets.
2 don’ts
1 Don’t stress out over changing Singapore dollars into dirhams. You can easily do so when you arrive at the airport in Dubai.
2 Don’t jaywalk. It carries a 500-dirhams (S$197) fine.
(ST)
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The Selected Works Of T.S. Spivet
Reif Larsen
Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet is a master mapmaker and he has just won the Smithsonian Institution’s prestigious Baird Award for the popular advancement of science. Based in North Dakota, he decides to undertake the long journey to Washington DC for the ceremony.
Oh, T.S. is also only 12 and he is sneaking off without his parents’ knowledge.
Thus begins a good, old-fashioned adventure yarn as T.S. embarks on an epic journey by train that has close shaves, musings on genealogy, geography and Newton’s laws of motion and a helpful hobo hotline.
Reif Larsen’s debut novel is distinguished by its unusual presentation. Almost every page has a lengthy aside with an explanatory drawing illustrated by T.S. The titles alone – Father Drinks Whiskey With A Sensational Degree of Regularity, When Did A Short Become A Pant? (And Other Modern Dilemmas) – give a sense of their entertaining quirkiness.
While they inevitably break the rhythm of the main narrative, they also offer insight into how T.S. thinks and how he deals with the world at large and with the death of his younger brother through his maps.
There is one grouse though. T.S. does not quite sound like a 12 year old, even if he is a precocious pre-teen. Lines such as “Even now I occasionally wet the bed, and I still maintained an irrational fear of porridge” sound jarring instead.
Larsen adds another voice to the novel by having T.S. read from his mother’s journal in which she imagines the life story of her great-grandmother-in-law. While the tale is compelling in its own right, the voices of T.S. and his mother are not distinct from each other.
The flaws, however, are not enough to derail this unusual, absorbing tale of a young man’s literal and figurative journey.
If you like this, read: Lost In A Good Book by Jasper Fforde. Fforde’s hilarious Thursday Next literary detective series uses footnotes as a communication device (the footnoterphone) between the main character’s universe and the fictional bookworld.
(ST)
Reif Larsen
Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet is a master mapmaker and he has just won the Smithsonian Institution’s prestigious Baird Award for the popular advancement of science. Based in North Dakota, he decides to undertake the long journey to Washington DC for the ceremony.
Oh, T.S. is also only 12 and he is sneaking off without his parents’ knowledge.
Thus begins a good, old-fashioned adventure yarn as T.S. embarks on an epic journey by train that has close shaves, musings on genealogy, geography and Newton’s laws of motion and a helpful hobo hotline.
Reif Larsen’s debut novel is distinguished by its unusual presentation. Almost every page has a lengthy aside with an explanatory drawing illustrated by T.S. The titles alone – Father Drinks Whiskey With A Sensational Degree of Regularity, When Did A Short Become A Pant? (And Other Modern Dilemmas) – give a sense of their entertaining quirkiness.
While they inevitably break the rhythm of the main narrative, they also offer insight into how T.S. thinks and how he deals with the world at large and with the death of his younger brother through his maps.
There is one grouse though. T.S. does not quite sound like a 12 year old, even if he is a precocious pre-teen. Lines such as “Even now I occasionally wet the bed, and I still maintained an irrational fear of porridge” sound jarring instead.
Larsen adds another voice to the novel by having T.S. read from his mother’s journal in which she imagines the life story of her great-grandmother-in-law. While the tale is compelling in its own right, the voices of T.S. and his mother are not distinct from each other.
The flaws, however, are not enough to derail this unusual, absorbing tale of a young man’s literal and figurative journey.
If you like this, read: Lost In A Good Book by Jasper Fforde. Fforde’s hilarious Thursday Next literary detective series uses footnotes as a communication device (the footnoterphone) between the main character’s universe and the fictional bookworld.
(ST)
The Vanishing Face Of Gaia
James Lovelock
Mother Nature knows best, but what is best for her is not necessarily what is best for humanity. This is the alarm bell sounded by the 90-year-old scientist James Lovelock in his latest book on Gaia.
He first proposed the Gaia hypothesis in the 1960s. It posited that the life forms and physical components of Earth form a complex interacting system that maintains conditions on the planet in a preferred equilibrium, one as favourable for life as possible.
In other words, Earth functions as a single organism.
Met with derision then, the theory has gained greater currency over the years. The Briton has been awarded various prestigious prizes, including being made a Companion of Honour in 2003 by the Queen for outstanding achievement in science. This is not some crackpot doomsday prophet.
Lovelock is now seized by the topic of global warming and takes issue with the straight-line projections of models which he says have failed to accurately predict current climate conditions, much less make useful forecasts for 50 years down the road. This includes the model used by the United Nations panel on climate change.
He argues that all these models are flawed because they do not take into account the fact that the Earth is a living thing with complex interacting systems that respond to changes.
At the current rate of global heating, he warns: “The Earth, in its but not our interests, may be forced to move to a hotter epoch, one where it can survive, although in a diminished and less habitable state. If, as is likely, this happens, we will have been the cause.”
He adds that the idea that we can reverse the impact of global heating and go back to our way of urbanised, industrialised living is erroneous. Modern life is not sustainable given the current global population, he proclaims.
Some of the writing can be a bit dense and technical at times but Lovelock’s arguments about climate change, nuclear energy and the green movement are worth reading and thinking about.
If he is right, we will soon have to make some very tough decisions about our survival.
If you like this, read: Gaia: A New Look At Life On Earth by James Lovelock. Lovelock introduces his radical idea that Earth functions as a single organism in this classic tract which was first published in 1979.
(ST)
James Lovelock
Mother Nature knows best, but what is best for her is not necessarily what is best for humanity. This is the alarm bell sounded by the 90-year-old scientist James Lovelock in his latest book on Gaia.
He first proposed the Gaia hypothesis in the 1960s. It posited that the life forms and physical components of Earth form a complex interacting system that maintains conditions on the planet in a preferred equilibrium, one as favourable for life as possible.
In other words, Earth functions as a single organism.
Met with derision then, the theory has gained greater currency over the years. The Briton has been awarded various prestigious prizes, including being made a Companion of Honour in 2003 by the Queen for outstanding achievement in science. This is not some crackpot doomsday prophet.
Lovelock is now seized by the topic of global warming and takes issue with the straight-line projections of models which he says have failed to accurately predict current climate conditions, much less make useful forecasts for 50 years down the road. This includes the model used by the United Nations panel on climate change.
He argues that all these models are flawed because they do not take into account the fact that the Earth is a living thing with complex interacting systems that respond to changes.
At the current rate of global heating, he warns: “The Earth, in its but not our interests, may be forced to move to a hotter epoch, one where it can survive, although in a diminished and less habitable state. If, as is likely, this happens, we will have been the cause.”
He adds that the idea that we can reverse the impact of global heating and go back to our way of urbanised, industrialised living is erroneous. Modern life is not sustainable given the current global population, he proclaims.
Some of the writing can be a bit dense and technical at times but Lovelock’s arguments about climate change, nuclear energy and the green movement are worth reading and thinking about.
If he is right, we will soon have to make some very tough decisions about our survival.
If you like this, read: Gaia: A New Look At Life On Earth by James Lovelock. Lovelock introduces his radical idea that Earth functions as a single organism in this classic tract which was first published in 1979.
(ST)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson
The story: Brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) are con men who are aided and abetted in their schemes by the laconic and capable Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). They set their sights on the wealthy Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz) for their last job, but things get complicated when Bloom falls for her.
This is quite a line-up of actors assembled here. They are not your typical blockbuster A-listers but instead, have won critical acclaim for memorable roles in feted films.
Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for the titular role of Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist (2002).
Rachel Weisz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as an activist who uncovers a pharmaceutical conspiracy in the political thriller The Constant Gardener (2005).
Mark Ruffalo won the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his portrayal of the ne’er-do-well brother in the family drama You Can Count On Me (2000).
Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as an alienated deaf teenager in the ensemble drama Babel (2006).
Inevitably, this creates certain expectations even before one steps inside the cineplex. It is a pity then that writer-director Rian Johnson’s second feature after the well-received teen crime drama Brick (2005) never quite pulls it together.
The elaborate con at the heart of the film is less than compelling and invites too many questions of the “Why?” and “How come?” variety.
Johnson’s ambitious attempt to craft a whimsical crime caper/romance anchored by the fraternal ties that bind and suffocate is let down by the lackadaisical pacing, uneven tone and the weak story.
Still, there are some pleasures to be had in observing Brody’s hooded eyes and sad-sack face and watching Ruffalo playing against type as the roguish elder brother. Weisz also raises some smiles as the awkward and eccentric heiress.
Kikuchi is mildly amusing as the enigmatic Bang Bang, but she will need to brush up on her English if she is to have a viable career in Hollywood that goes beyond niche roles.
As the film keeps telling us, in a perfect con, everyone gets what he wants. The Brothers Bloom draws you in with an intriguing set-up and a promising cast, but in the end, it is a con that turns out to be far from perfect.
(ST)
Rian Johnson
The story: Brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) are con men who are aided and abetted in their schemes by the laconic and capable Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). They set their sights on the wealthy Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz) for their last job, but things get complicated when Bloom falls for her.
This is quite a line-up of actors assembled here. They are not your typical blockbuster A-listers but instead, have won critical acclaim for memorable roles in feted films.
Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for the titular role of Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist (2002).
Rachel Weisz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as an activist who uncovers a pharmaceutical conspiracy in the political thriller The Constant Gardener (2005).
Mark Ruffalo won the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his portrayal of the ne’er-do-well brother in the family drama You Can Count On Me (2000).
Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as an alienated deaf teenager in the ensemble drama Babel (2006).
Inevitably, this creates certain expectations even before one steps inside the cineplex. It is a pity then that writer-director Rian Johnson’s second feature after the well-received teen crime drama Brick (2005) never quite pulls it together.
The elaborate con at the heart of the film is less than compelling and invites too many questions of the “Why?” and “How come?” variety.
Johnson’s ambitious attempt to craft a whimsical crime caper/romance anchored by the fraternal ties that bind and suffocate is let down by the lackadaisical pacing, uneven tone and the weak story.
Still, there are some pleasures to be had in observing Brody’s hooded eyes and sad-sack face and watching Ruffalo playing against type as the roguish elder brother. Weisz also raises some smiles as the awkward and eccentric heiress.
Kikuchi is mildly amusing as the enigmatic Bang Bang, but she will need to brush up on her English if she is to have a viable career in Hollywood that goes beyond niche roles.
As the film keeps telling us, in a perfect con, everyone gets what he wants. The Brothers Bloom draws you in with an intriguing set-up and a promising cast, but in the end, it is a con that turns out to be far from perfect.
(ST)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I Love You, Man
John Hamburg
The story: Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is getting married to Zooey (Rashida Jones) but he does not have a close friend to be his best man. He is not bothered by it until he overhears his fiancee’s conversation with her girlfriends who wonder if that is healthy.
In walks Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) to a house viewing held by Peter, and it proves to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
How did the male friendship end up in this fraught state?
Just because this movie’s protagonist Peter Klaven does not find gross-out porn hilarious or drink lots of beer – which the film insinuates are what most straight guys are like – he does not find it easy to make male friends.
After overhearing his fiancee’s conversation, he embarks on a determined search for a guy friend, which hilariously turns out to be not too different from looking for a girlfriend.
A big reason why I Love You, Man works is because of Paul Rudd. It has taken way too long but the likeable charmer who broke out in 1995’s Clueless finally makes it to leading man status with last year’s comedy Role Models and this film.
He bounced around in supporting roles after Clueless, including a turn on the sitcom Friends. More recently, he seemed to be in danger of being permanently cast as the funny sidekick in comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007).
He proves here that he can carry a movie on his own and he is helped by a smart, breezy script.
In his search for a friend, Peter goes on the Internet to check out prospects, gets referrals from his helpful family and has to figure out what to do on a man date.
Having had a lot more experience in this respect, his gay brother Robbie (Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg) advises him: “Casual lunch or after work drinks. You’re not taking these boys to see The Devil Wears Prada.”
If Hugh Grant was the master of the stammered apology, then Rudd is the king of cringe. When Peter gets nervous, he shoots off his mouth and says something stupid. Then comes the perfectly timed acknowledgement that it was a lame remark. Rudd never overplays it, so his reaction is endearing rather than annoying.
There is also a believably touching odd-couple chemistry between the straight- laced Peter and the sloppier, slobbier Sydney (Segel, most recently seen in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as they navigate the awkward waters of platonic male-male affection.
Considering the subject matter and the fact that Rudd and Segel have both worked with Judd Apatow previously, it is a bit of a surprise that this is not the latter’s enterprise.
After all, the writer-director-producer has had a hand in recent bromantic comedies such as Pineapple Express (2008), Superbad (2007) as well as Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin.
But perhaps the seeds of the film had been sown much earlier.
Co-writer Larry Levin also had a hand in two episodes of the classic TV series Seinfeld. In The Boyfriend: Parts 1 and 2 (1992), Jerry develops a man crush on baseball player Keith Hernandez after bumping into him at the gym.
From getting a man crush in the early 1990s to going on a man date in the late noughties, the friendship that dares not speak its name is slowly but surely coming out into the open.
(ST)
John Hamburg
The story: Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is getting married to Zooey (Rashida Jones) but he does not have a close friend to be his best man. He is not bothered by it until he overhears his fiancee’s conversation with her girlfriends who wonder if that is healthy.
In walks Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) to a house viewing held by Peter, and it proves to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
How did the male friendship end up in this fraught state?
Just because this movie’s protagonist Peter Klaven does not find gross-out porn hilarious or drink lots of beer – which the film insinuates are what most straight guys are like – he does not find it easy to make male friends.
After overhearing his fiancee’s conversation, he embarks on a determined search for a guy friend, which hilariously turns out to be not too different from looking for a girlfriend.
A big reason why I Love You, Man works is because of Paul Rudd. It has taken way too long but the likeable charmer who broke out in 1995’s Clueless finally makes it to leading man status with last year’s comedy Role Models and this film.
He bounced around in supporting roles after Clueless, including a turn on the sitcom Friends. More recently, he seemed to be in danger of being permanently cast as the funny sidekick in comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007).
He proves here that he can carry a movie on his own and he is helped by a smart, breezy script.
In his search for a friend, Peter goes on the Internet to check out prospects, gets referrals from his helpful family and has to figure out what to do on a man date.
Having had a lot more experience in this respect, his gay brother Robbie (Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg) advises him: “Casual lunch or after work drinks. You’re not taking these boys to see The Devil Wears Prada.”
If Hugh Grant was the master of the stammered apology, then Rudd is the king of cringe. When Peter gets nervous, he shoots off his mouth and says something stupid. Then comes the perfectly timed acknowledgement that it was a lame remark. Rudd never overplays it, so his reaction is endearing rather than annoying.
There is also a believably touching odd-couple chemistry between the straight- laced Peter and the sloppier, slobbier Sydney (Segel, most recently seen in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as they navigate the awkward waters of platonic male-male affection.
Considering the subject matter and the fact that Rudd and Segel have both worked with Judd Apatow previously, it is a bit of a surprise that this is not the latter’s enterprise.
After all, the writer-director-producer has had a hand in recent bromantic comedies such as Pineapple Express (2008), Superbad (2007) as well as Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin.
But perhaps the seeds of the film had been sown much earlier.
Co-writer Larry Levin also had a hand in two episodes of the classic TV series Seinfeld. In The Boyfriend: Parts 1 and 2 (1992), Jerry develops a man crush on baseball player Keith Hernandez after bumping into him at the gym.
From getting a man crush in the early 1990s to going on a man date in the late noughties, the friendship that dares not speak its name is slowly but surely coming out into the open.
(ST)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Mark Lee Rally 2009
Drama Centre Theatre
Thursday
You wonder what it would have been like to be in the shoes of Mark Lee’s wife Catherine as she watched the performance.
The undoubted highlight of the 100-minute stand-up show was when the comedian regaled the audience with the long and torturous odyssey the couple underwent in their attempts to have a child.
After several years of trying, he got advice from friends who were proud fathers of broods of tykes.
One proposed that he lift his wife’s legs up after sex, another advocated flipping the legs over the head using the wall as a support, and yet a third advocated an alternative position.
The 40-year-old’s delivery was well-paced and he punctuated his storytelling with generous gesturing.
The segment played to his strengths as a comedian and the fact that the material was personal helped to create a strong connection with the audience.
He knew it was the best part of the show, which was why he saved it for last. It earned the biggest laughs of the night.
That sketch was also the best answer to the prickly question that he himself had asked in an earlier interview with Life!: Why pay to watch him when viewers can see him for free on TV?
It was an opportunity to witness him sharing his private life in a cheekily entertaining manner.
Alas, the rest of the evening was fairly ho-hum.
As promised, he took on government policies on issues ranging from language education to the certificate of entitlement for cars. However, the writing by stage and TV writers Soo Wei Seng and Boris Boo was not particularly sharp.
One could also have done without the constant reference to the political Lees and a lame attempt to milk some laughs by calling himself Performer Mark Lee or PM Lee.
He fared better when riffing on Ah Beng culture and how that is different from the way gangsters behave, including an amusing bit on swearing with hand gestures.
Drawing on recent headline-grabbers, he also took some barbed digs at veteran show host Marcus Chin’s tabloid-worthy relationship with his much younger female assistant as well as the recent brouhaha over lip-synching in The Little Nyonya musical.
The show marks Lee’s 20th year in showbusiness and serves as a reminder of how far he has come with his Ah Beng persona. But it will not have new fans rallying around him.
(ST)
Drama Centre Theatre
Thursday
You wonder what it would have been like to be in the shoes of Mark Lee’s wife Catherine as she watched the performance.
The undoubted highlight of the 100-minute stand-up show was when the comedian regaled the audience with the long and torturous odyssey the couple underwent in their attempts to have a child.
After several years of trying, he got advice from friends who were proud fathers of broods of tykes.
One proposed that he lift his wife’s legs up after sex, another advocated flipping the legs over the head using the wall as a support, and yet a third advocated an alternative position.
The 40-year-old’s delivery was well-paced and he punctuated his storytelling with generous gesturing.
The segment played to his strengths as a comedian and the fact that the material was personal helped to create a strong connection with the audience.
He knew it was the best part of the show, which was why he saved it for last. It earned the biggest laughs of the night.
That sketch was also the best answer to the prickly question that he himself had asked in an earlier interview with Life!: Why pay to watch him when viewers can see him for free on TV?
It was an opportunity to witness him sharing his private life in a cheekily entertaining manner.
Alas, the rest of the evening was fairly ho-hum.
As promised, he took on government policies on issues ranging from language education to the certificate of entitlement for cars. However, the writing by stage and TV writers Soo Wei Seng and Boris Boo was not particularly sharp.
One could also have done without the constant reference to the political Lees and a lame attempt to milk some laughs by calling himself Performer Mark Lee or PM Lee.
He fared better when riffing on Ah Beng culture and how that is different from the way gangsters behave, including an amusing bit on swearing with hand gestures.
Drawing on recent headline-grabbers, he also took some barbed digs at veteran show host Marcus Chin’s tabloid-worthy relationship with his much younger female assistant as well as the recent brouhaha over lip-synching in The Little Nyonya musical.
The show marks Lee’s 20th year in showbusiness and serves as a reminder of how far he has come with his Ah Beng persona. But it will not have new fans rallying around him.
(ST)
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Blood: The Last Vampire
Chris Nahon
The story: Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half-vampire, half-human. She kills vampires for a shadowy organisation in return for their help in tracking down Onigen (Koyuki), the powerful demon who killed her father.
Sent to an American military base in Tokyo by her handler Michael (Liam Cunningham), Saya takes on the identity of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She protects a general’s daughter, Alice McKee (Allison Miller), from some nasty fiends and discovers a vampire nest.
Let the bloodbath begin.
If you have haemophobia, you would do well to stay away from this film as blood is undeniably a star attraction here.
Sharp gleaming swords slice through flesh with no resistance and blood spurts and erupts beautifully all over the screen, every last drop rendered in loving detail.
Yet, for all the blood-letting, the violence does not feel real and oppressive because of the stylised visuals. The aesthetics point to its source material, the 2000 hit anime film of the same name.
Like the anime, the film is primarily in English rather than Japanese. Gianna Jun (the actress previously known as Jeon Ji Hyun), best known for the Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), turns in a credible English-language debut, sounding more at home in the language than Zhang Ziyi did in the thriller Horsemen (2009).
In the fight sequences choreographed by go-to action guy Cory Yuen, she also makes for a believable killing machine, hell-bent on seeking vengeance and drained of all other impulses.
Actress Koyuki (who appeared in 2003’s The Last Samurai) fares less well linguistically. The final showdown between Saya and her character is marred by her thick Japanese accent. The dialogue was incomprehensible at points.
Plot-wise, monster-slaying schoolgirls are nothing new in Japanese anime. But it remains relatively rare in Western fare even after seven seasons of the hit TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it is nice to see the damsel in distress being rescued by another damsel.
The film also attempts to create some mystery over Saya’s parentage but the big reveal comes as no surprise.
And after all the build-up, the climactic battle falls short though the ending cannily leaves the door open for more blood to be spilled in a sequel.
(ST)
Chris Nahon
The story: Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half-vampire, half-human. She kills vampires for a shadowy organisation in return for their help in tracking down Onigen (Koyuki), the powerful demon who killed her father.
Sent to an American military base in Tokyo by her handler Michael (Liam Cunningham), Saya takes on the identity of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She protects a general’s daughter, Alice McKee (Allison Miller), from some nasty fiends and discovers a vampire nest.
Let the bloodbath begin.
If you have haemophobia, you would do well to stay away from this film as blood is undeniably a star attraction here.
Sharp gleaming swords slice through flesh with no resistance and blood spurts and erupts beautifully all over the screen, every last drop rendered in loving detail.
Yet, for all the blood-letting, the violence does not feel real and oppressive because of the stylised visuals. The aesthetics point to its source material, the 2000 hit anime film of the same name.
Like the anime, the film is primarily in English rather than Japanese. Gianna Jun (the actress previously known as Jeon Ji Hyun), best known for the Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), turns in a credible English-language debut, sounding more at home in the language than Zhang Ziyi did in the thriller Horsemen (2009).
In the fight sequences choreographed by go-to action guy Cory Yuen, she also makes for a believable killing machine, hell-bent on seeking vengeance and drained of all other impulses.
Actress Koyuki (who appeared in 2003’s The Last Samurai) fares less well linguistically. The final showdown between Saya and her character is marred by her thick Japanese accent. The dialogue was incomprehensible at points.
Plot-wise, monster-slaying schoolgirls are nothing new in Japanese anime. But it remains relatively rare in Western fare even after seven seasons of the hit TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it is nice to see the damsel in distress being rescued by another damsel.
The film also attempts to create some mystery over Saya’s parentage but the big reveal comes as no surprise.
And after all the build-up, the climactic battle falls short though the ending cannily leaves the door open for more blood to be spilled in a sequel.
(ST)
Monday, June 01, 2009
Aaron Kwok De Show Reel Live In Concert 09
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
That old chestnut from the musical Chicago – Give ’em the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle ’em – seemed to be Hong Kong entertainer Aaron Kwok’s mantra during his three-hour-plus concert last Saturday.
While the 43-year-old had been anointed one of the four Heavenly Kings of Chinese entertainment, putting on a concert today must still present a peculiar kind of quandary for him.
While acknowledged to be an excellent dancer, he is not the best singer. He has not had the most memorable hits and his album sales in the noughties are not what they used to be in the 1990s.
The solution? Put on a heck of a show.
Even though it is hard to figure out how it adds up to 450 degrees, the much-vaunted revolving stage was indeed a spectacular spectacle.
The rectangular five-storey-high block was set on a turntable platform. At the same time, the entire block could pivot 360 degrees vertically, flipping Kwok and the dancers within it through one revolution after another.
Earning a Guinness World Record for the largest revolving indoor stage, the contraption was imported from Hong Kong along with a 150-strong crew.
It even had another trick up its sleeve. The two faces of the five-storey block could be lowered like drawbridges, leaving the metal skeleton standing and was used for an effective role-playing segment with Kwok storming a castle.
And that was just part of the show.
Another highlight was the water dance in which he gleefully frolicked in a specially constructed four-sided water catwalk. Fans in the rows nearest the stage donned ponchos thoughtfully provided by the organisers, and they squealed in delight as their idol splashed them.
The razzle dazzle applied to the star’s shiny, shimmery outfits as well, each one more outlandish than the one before.
The opening costume flaunted Kwok’s taut and toned body as he danced in a cloud of glitter. In subsequent ensembles, he was the leader of an athletic alien race; a warrior king sheathed in silver; and also took the stage as what appeared to be a human-lobster hybrid.
The tireless showman confidently commanded the four-sided stage and the near-capacity crowd of over 9,000 showed its appreciation by applauding, screaming, whistling and stamping their feet.
Eighty per cent of the singer’s repertoire was in Cantonese. This was a wise move as he was clearly more comfortable in his native tongue than in Mandarin, and he sounded his best on the Cantonese ballads such as Why Did I Let You Go? and Divergence.
Engaging his fans at one point, he said that his costume was so heavy it was like lugging around two sacks of “mei” (beauty).The crowd delightedly chorused back the right word, “mi” (rice), at once.
His Cantonese accent was also apparent on numbers such as Endless Love To You. This was his first Mandarin single and while the huge hit had been given a makeover with a new remix, it was still performed with the same cheesy hand gestures from the 1990 music video.
Only towards the end of the concert did he seem to relax and enjoy himself. The first few numbers in particular were performed with a look of intense, almost grim, concentration.
Still, you cannot help but admire Kwok for his stamina and the sheer hard work put into the high-energy show.
By the time he sang his final song of the evening, Should I Leave Quietly?, the answer was a clear and resounding no.
(ST)
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
That old chestnut from the musical Chicago – Give ’em the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle ’em – seemed to be Hong Kong entertainer Aaron Kwok’s mantra during his three-hour-plus concert last Saturday.
While the 43-year-old had been anointed one of the four Heavenly Kings of Chinese entertainment, putting on a concert today must still present a peculiar kind of quandary for him.
While acknowledged to be an excellent dancer, he is not the best singer. He has not had the most memorable hits and his album sales in the noughties are not what they used to be in the 1990s.
The solution? Put on a heck of a show.
Even though it is hard to figure out how it adds up to 450 degrees, the much-vaunted revolving stage was indeed a spectacular spectacle.
The rectangular five-storey-high block was set on a turntable platform. At the same time, the entire block could pivot 360 degrees vertically, flipping Kwok and the dancers within it through one revolution after another.
Earning a Guinness World Record for the largest revolving indoor stage, the contraption was imported from Hong Kong along with a 150-strong crew.
It even had another trick up its sleeve. The two faces of the five-storey block could be lowered like drawbridges, leaving the metal skeleton standing and was used for an effective role-playing segment with Kwok storming a castle.
And that was just part of the show.
Another highlight was the water dance in which he gleefully frolicked in a specially constructed four-sided water catwalk. Fans in the rows nearest the stage donned ponchos thoughtfully provided by the organisers, and they squealed in delight as their idol splashed them.
The razzle dazzle applied to the star’s shiny, shimmery outfits as well, each one more outlandish than the one before.
The opening costume flaunted Kwok’s taut and toned body as he danced in a cloud of glitter. In subsequent ensembles, he was the leader of an athletic alien race; a warrior king sheathed in silver; and also took the stage as what appeared to be a human-lobster hybrid.
The tireless showman confidently commanded the four-sided stage and the near-capacity crowd of over 9,000 showed its appreciation by applauding, screaming, whistling and stamping their feet.
Eighty per cent of the singer’s repertoire was in Cantonese. This was a wise move as he was clearly more comfortable in his native tongue than in Mandarin, and he sounded his best on the Cantonese ballads such as Why Did I Let You Go? and Divergence.
Engaging his fans at one point, he said that his costume was so heavy it was like lugging around two sacks of “mei” (beauty).The crowd delightedly chorused back the right word, “mi” (rice), at once.
His Cantonese accent was also apparent on numbers such as Endless Love To You. This was his first Mandarin single and while the huge hit had been given a makeover with a new remix, it was still performed with the same cheesy hand gestures from the 1990 music video.
Only towards the end of the concert did he seem to relax and enjoy himself. The first few numbers in particular were performed with a look of intense, almost grim, concentration.
Still, you cannot help but admire Kwok for his stamina and the sheer hard work put into the high-energy show.
By the time he sang his final song of the evening, Should I Leave Quietly?, the answer was a clear and resounding no.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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)
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)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Horsemen
Jonas Akerlund
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports could consider promoting this movie. After all, the message here is: spend more time with your children.
But this message is hammered into the viewer in a sensationalistic manner with a series of horrific killings in which the victims are hung from assorted contraptions with industrial-strength meat hooks.
Seldom has the dangers of parental neglect been spelt out so gruesomely.
Dennis Quaid is the detective in charge of the case, oblivious to what is happening under his own nose, while Zhang Ziyi plays the adopted daughter of one of the victims.
Big-time Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund’s overwrought second feature piles on the religious associations. The movie title refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The effect, though, is hokey rather than genuinely unsettling.
He tries to dodge the tag of exploitation by turning this into a cautionary tale, but the moral lesson just feels hastily slapped on.
(ST)
Jonas Akerlund
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports could consider promoting this movie. After all, the message here is: spend more time with your children.
But this message is hammered into the viewer in a sensationalistic manner with a series of horrific killings in which the victims are hung from assorted contraptions with industrial-strength meat hooks.
Seldom has the dangers of parental neglect been spelt out so gruesomely.
Dennis Quaid is the detective in charge of the case, oblivious to what is happening under his own nose, while Zhang Ziyi plays the adopted daughter of one of the victims.
Big-time Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund’s overwrought second feature piles on the religious associations. The movie title refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The effect, though, is hokey rather than genuinely unsettling.
He tries to dodge the tag of exploitation by turning this into a cautionary tale, but the moral lesson just feels hastily slapped on.
(ST)
Traitor
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Magique!
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Monday, April 20, 2009
If There're Seasons...
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Taken
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Unborn
David S. Goyer
There is dialogue here to chill the spine. Lazy lines such as “I’m not crazy” and “Do you believe in ghosts?” are enough to send any self-respecting horror fan fleeing in terror.
Multi-ethnic babe Odette Yustman is the luckless Casey Beldon, targeted by a malicious spirit who likes to make strange thumping noises and possesses an eerie-looking four- year-old boy.
Her friends are even more unlucky since they get only second billing and primarily serve as sacrificial fodder.
Keep an eye out for Gary Oldman, who has gone from playing the undead in Dracula (1992) to exorcising the unborn here, in Hebrew no less.
The longer the movie plods on, the more ridiculous it becomes. And weren’t they already spinning heads around in 1973’s The Exorcist?
This does not bode well for X-Men Origins: Magneto, which writer-director David S. Goyer is attached to. The thought is enough to send another chill down the spine.
(ST)
David S. Goyer
There is dialogue here to chill the spine. Lazy lines such as “I’m not crazy” and “Do you believe in ghosts?” are enough to send any self-respecting horror fan fleeing in terror.
Multi-ethnic babe Odette Yustman is the luckless Casey Beldon, targeted by a malicious spirit who likes to make strange thumping noises and possesses an eerie-looking four- year-old boy.
Her friends are even more unlucky since they get only second billing and primarily serve as sacrificial fodder.
Keep an eye out for Gary Oldman, who has gone from playing the undead in Dracula (1992) to exorcising the unborn here, in Hebrew no less.
The longer the movie plods on, the more ridiculous it becomes. And weren’t they already spinning heads around in 1973’s The Exorcist?
This does not bode well for X-Men Origins: Magneto, which writer-director David S. Goyer is attached to. The thought is enough to send another chill down the spine.
(ST)
Fanboys
Kyle Newman
The story: Eric (Sam Huntington) has lost touch with his high school buddies and fellow Star Wars devotees Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel) after graduation.
When he finds out that Linus is dying from cancer, the gang, including Zoe (Kristen Bell), decide to embark on one last hurrah – to sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and steal a first peek at Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).
Fanboys is a reminder of a more innocent time when everything was still possible and Jar Jar Binks had yet to taint the Star Wars universe. In short, it was 1998.
A little background on the significance of the date. The original Star Wars was released in 1977 and re-released on its 20th anniversary in 1997 as a special edition titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
This heightened anticipation to fever pitch for the prequels, of which Episode I: The Phantom Menace was slated for release in 1999.
As card-carrying, or rather, lightsaber-wielding fanboys of the space opera, Eric and gang have fantasised from an early age about sneaking into Star Wars creator George Lucas’ workplace, Skywalker Ranch.
But life drives a wedge into their friendship after graduation, with Eric working at his father’s car dealership and drifting apart from his friends.
When he discovers that Linus is dying from cancer, he rallies the gang to realise their unfulfilled dream and be the first to watch The Phantom Menace in the process.
Actual fanboys will get the biggest rush from the film as the characters argue passionately about Star Wars and have their credentials as fanatics tested with obscure trivia questions.
They will also get a kick out of the cameos from Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), as well as William Shatner, best known as Captain Kirk in the rival sci-fi series Star Trek.
Even casual fans with some basic knowledge of the franchise will enjoy the flick, which includes references to lightspeed, Darth Vader and a funny showdown between the Star Wars enthusiasts and the Star Trek groupies.
Unfortunately, the force is not strong with the film and it has earned only US$600,000 (S$905,000) at the American box office after seven weeks.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that this is 2009 and not 1998.The film ends with the ironic question about The Phantom Menace: “Guys, what if it sucks?”
Knowing with the benefit of hindsight how disappointing the prequels were and how it soured fan expectations, it would take more than a Jedi mind trick to turn Fanboys into a big hit.
(ST)
Kyle Newman
The story: Eric (Sam Huntington) has lost touch with his high school buddies and fellow Star Wars devotees Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel) after graduation.
When he finds out that Linus is dying from cancer, the gang, including Zoe (Kristen Bell), decide to embark on one last hurrah – to sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and steal a first peek at Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).
Fanboys is a reminder of a more innocent time when everything was still possible and Jar Jar Binks had yet to taint the Star Wars universe. In short, it was 1998.
A little background on the significance of the date. The original Star Wars was released in 1977 and re-released on its 20th anniversary in 1997 as a special edition titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
This heightened anticipation to fever pitch for the prequels, of which Episode I: The Phantom Menace was slated for release in 1999.
As card-carrying, or rather, lightsaber-wielding fanboys of the space opera, Eric and gang have fantasised from an early age about sneaking into Star Wars creator George Lucas’ workplace, Skywalker Ranch.
But life drives a wedge into their friendship after graduation, with Eric working at his father’s car dealership and drifting apart from his friends.
When he discovers that Linus is dying from cancer, he rallies the gang to realise their unfulfilled dream and be the first to watch The Phantom Menace in the process.
Actual fanboys will get the biggest rush from the film as the characters argue passionately about Star Wars and have their credentials as fanatics tested with obscure trivia questions.
They will also get a kick out of the cameos from Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), as well as William Shatner, best known as Captain Kirk in the rival sci-fi series Star Trek.
Even casual fans with some basic knowledge of the franchise will enjoy the flick, which includes references to lightspeed, Darth Vader and a funny showdown between the Star Wars enthusiasts and the Star Trek groupies.
Unfortunately, the force is not strong with the film and it has earned only US$600,000 (S$905,000) at the American box office after seven weeks.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that this is 2009 and not 1998.The film ends with the ironic question about The Phantom Menace: “Guys, what if it sucks?”
Knowing with the benefit of hindsight how disappointing the prequels were and how it soured fan expectations, it would take more than a Jedi mind trick to turn Fanboys into a big hit.
(ST)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
malacca, eaten
we've only just begun
this is pit stop no. 1
went to the loo
at pit stop 2
satay spree
pit stop 3
we roared: 'give us more!'
it was only pit stop 4
gula melaka glaze does thrive
on the donuts at pit stop 5
cold drinks and verbal tricks
at pit stop no. 6
bite-sized snack heaven
is pit stop 7
it was a full meal that we ate
at memorable pit stop 8
rise and shine
pit stop 9
can we do it? yes we can!
forward march to pit stop 10
almost extinct but not quite forsaken
tai bak at pit stop no. 11
into teochew cuisine we did delve
it was penultimate pit stop 12
what a great trip this has been
made it to pit stop 13!
we've only just begun
this is pit stop no. 1
went to the loo
at pit stop 2
satay spree
pit stop 3
we roared: 'give us more!'
it was only pit stop 4
gula melaka glaze does thrive
on the donuts at pit stop 5
cold drinks and verbal tricks
at pit stop no. 6
bite-sized snack heaven
is pit stop 7
it was a full meal that we ate
at memorable pit stop 8
rise and shine
pit stop 9
can we do it? yes we can!
forward march to pit stop 10
almost extinct but not quite forsaken
tai bak at pit stop no. 11
into teochew cuisine we did delve
it was penultimate pit stop 12
what a great trip this has been
made it to pit stop 13!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Detroit Metal City
Toshio Lee
The story: All Soichi Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) wants to do is to sing his sweet, twee songs about love. But he ends up spewing dark fantasies about rape and murder as Johannes Krauser II, the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Detroit Metal City.
The increasingly frustrated singer runs away from Tokyo just before a hotly anticipated showdown with notorious death metal singer Jack Il Dark.
Music soothes the savage beast. But in the case of death metal, music is the savage beast.
Mild-mannered Soichi Negishi gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly ends up as the lead singer of Detroit Metal City in this comedy based on a best-selling manga. To his horror, the heavy metal band grows ever more popular while there is barely an audience for his cutesy romantic songs.
His monstrous boss (Yasuko Matsuyuki in a total about-turn from her role as the damsel in distress in Suspect X) gives him hell and is so tough that she puts out cigarettes on her tongue.
Wedged between his demonic alter-ego Johannes Krauser II and his unlucky- in-love troubadour self, Negishi ends up bolting for home.
Last seen as the title character in L: Change The World, a spin-off sequel to the popular Death Note big-screen adaptations (2006), Matsuyama carries the film here with his hilarious performance. He convinces you that he is both Negishi and Krauser, alternating between an awkwardly shy geek and a snarling devil spawn.
When the worlds collide, hilarity ensues.
There is the priceless sight gag of Matsuyama running down the chic shopping street of Omotesando in full death metal get-up. He comes to a stop in front of Cute Music Studio, beats his fists against the glass wall in frustration – and succeeds in scaring the little tots inside.
And in the final showdown with Jack Il Dark (Gene Simmons of the metal band Kiss, whose song Detroit Rock City inspired the title of Kiminori Wakasugi’s manga), Detroit Metal City fans stoically endure the melding of the worlds of twee pop and death metal.
Negishi comes to realise that his mantra of “No music, no dream” applies even to death metal. As his mother puts it: “No matter what you look like or how you say it, helping someone dream is amazing.”
Still, you have to ask, what kind of dream exactly?
The reconciliation between pop and metal might not be fully satisfactory, but director Toshio Lee has delivered a funny, riotous and sometimes riotously funny film.
Detroit Metal City is an adaptation that works because it preserves the out-sized drama of manga which death metal, with its make-up and pageantry, is tailor made for. And which Wakasugi would have you believe is all bark and no bite.
(ST)
Toshio Lee
The story: All Soichi Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) wants to do is to sing his sweet, twee songs about love. But he ends up spewing dark fantasies about rape and murder as Johannes Krauser II, the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Detroit Metal City.
The increasingly frustrated singer runs away from Tokyo just before a hotly anticipated showdown with notorious death metal singer Jack Il Dark.
Music soothes the savage beast. But in the case of death metal, music is the savage beast.
Mild-mannered Soichi Negishi gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly ends up as the lead singer of Detroit Metal City in this comedy based on a best-selling manga. To his horror, the heavy metal band grows ever more popular while there is barely an audience for his cutesy romantic songs.
His monstrous boss (Yasuko Matsuyuki in a total about-turn from her role as the damsel in distress in Suspect X) gives him hell and is so tough that she puts out cigarettes on her tongue.
Wedged between his demonic alter-ego Johannes Krauser II and his unlucky- in-love troubadour self, Negishi ends up bolting for home.
Last seen as the title character in L: Change The World, a spin-off sequel to the popular Death Note big-screen adaptations (2006), Matsuyama carries the film here with his hilarious performance. He convinces you that he is both Negishi and Krauser, alternating between an awkwardly shy geek and a snarling devil spawn.
When the worlds collide, hilarity ensues.
There is the priceless sight gag of Matsuyama running down the chic shopping street of Omotesando in full death metal get-up. He comes to a stop in front of Cute Music Studio, beats his fists against the glass wall in frustration – and succeeds in scaring the little tots inside.
And in the final showdown with Jack Il Dark (Gene Simmons of the metal band Kiss, whose song Detroit Rock City inspired the title of Kiminori Wakasugi’s manga), Detroit Metal City fans stoically endure the melding of the worlds of twee pop and death metal.
Negishi comes to realise that his mantra of “No music, no dream” applies even to death metal. As his mother puts it: “No matter what you look like or how you say it, helping someone dream is amazing.”
Still, you have to ask, what kind of dream exactly?
The reconciliation between pop and metal might not be fully satisfactory, but director Toshio Lee has delivered a funny, riotous and sometimes riotously funny film.
Detroit Metal City is an adaptation that works because it preserves the out-sized drama of manga which death metal, with its make-up and pageantry, is tailor made for. And which Wakasugi would have you believe is all bark and no bite.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Tale Of Despereaux
Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen
The story: Despereaux, a tiny mouse with oversized ears, is born into a kingdom which has been plunged into unhappiness ever since the Queen died of a heart attack. When the Princess ends up in the clutches of the dastardly rats, it is up to Despereaux to save the day.
Rats. After having their dubious reputation rehabilitated in the animated Pixar feature Ratatouille (2007), they once again have their name dragged into the sewer.
Even though the title points to Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) as the hero, the tale actually begins with the sea-faring rat Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), who finds himself in the kingdom of Dor where soup is revered.
His pursuit of fine dining lands him in hot soup when he drops into the Queen’s bowl and triggers a heart attack.
Driven by grief, the King outlaws soup and rats, and Dor is plunged into a grey pall of misery. This is the kingdom that Despereaux is born into but there is more to come.
And that is part of the problem with this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s award-winning children’s fantasy book. There are simply too many ingredients in the pot.
There is the lonely Princess Pea (Emma Watson); the piggish-looking maid who longs to be a princess (Tracey Ullman); Roscuro’s search for atonement; Despereaux’s search for his place in the world; and a race to save the princess from bloodthirsty rats in the finale.
Yet for all the plot developments, directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen cannot quite grasp the art of pacing and the film often feels draggy.
A pity really, for it has a few things going for it. The visuals are lovely and given a fairy-tale feel with soft lighting. The worlds of humans, mice and rats are all depicted with great details and are carefully differentiated.
There is wittiness in the use of a snarling cat in a Ratworld stadium as the equivalent of a lion in the Roman arena.
The film also deals with several themes, almost as many as there are plot strands.
One of the key ideas is that of identity. Despereaux’s parents worry that “he doesn’t scurry, he doesn’t cower” and want him to fit in with all the other mice. Yet, it is his fearlessness and his curiosity, which set him apart and lead to his encounter with the Princess and his subsequent adventures.
The film ends with a too-neat homily about the circle of pain that only forgiveness can break and, ultimately, it feels like a missed opportunity. Rats.
(ST)
Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen
The story: Despereaux, a tiny mouse with oversized ears, is born into a kingdom which has been plunged into unhappiness ever since the Queen died of a heart attack. When the Princess ends up in the clutches of the dastardly rats, it is up to Despereaux to save the day.
Rats. After having their dubious reputation rehabilitated in the animated Pixar feature Ratatouille (2007), they once again have their name dragged into the sewer.
Even though the title points to Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) as the hero, the tale actually begins with the sea-faring rat Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), who finds himself in the kingdom of Dor where soup is revered.
His pursuit of fine dining lands him in hot soup when he drops into the Queen’s bowl and triggers a heart attack.
Driven by grief, the King outlaws soup and rats, and Dor is plunged into a grey pall of misery. This is the kingdom that Despereaux is born into but there is more to come.
And that is part of the problem with this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s award-winning children’s fantasy book. There are simply too many ingredients in the pot.
There is the lonely Princess Pea (Emma Watson); the piggish-looking maid who longs to be a princess (Tracey Ullman); Roscuro’s search for atonement; Despereaux’s search for his place in the world; and a race to save the princess from bloodthirsty rats in the finale.
Yet for all the plot developments, directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen cannot quite grasp the art of pacing and the film often feels draggy.
A pity really, for it has a few things going for it. The visuals are lovely and given a fairy-tale feel with soft lighting. The worlds of humans, mice and rats are all depicted with great details and are carefully differentiated.
There is wittiness in the use of a snarling cat in a Ratworld stadium as the equivalent of a lion in the Roman arena.
The film also deals with several themes, almost as many as there are plot strands.
One of the key ideas is that of identity. Despereaux’s parents worry that “he doesn’t scurry, he doesn’t cower” and want him to fit in with all the other mice. Yet, it is his fearlessness and his curiosity, which set him apart and lead to his encounter with the Princess and his subsequent adventures.
The film ends with a too-neat homily about the circle of pain that only forgiveness can break and, ultimately, it feels like a missed opportunity. Rats.
(ST)
Race To Witch Mountain
Andy Fickman
The story: Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb), teenage visitors from another planet, have crashlanded on Earth and need help getting home. Enter cab-driver extraordinaire Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) and UFO expert Dr Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino).
Look out, Brendan Fraser, ex-wrestler The Rock is attempting to muscle in on your territory.
Fraser, the go-to guy for family-friendly adventure fare, racked up three movies last year alone: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and Inkheart.
But perhaps there is room for another player in this lucrative box-office genre. After The Game Plan (2007), about a football player bonding with his eight- year-old daughter, Dwayne Johnson is ready to step up and help shoulder the weight of PG-rated heroics.
In Race, he happens to be in the right place at the right time and reluctantly picks up Seth and Sara, whom he thinks are teenagers on the run.
Here, the plot police would like to pull over this vehicle for a serious infraction. Seth is able to manipulate his molecular make-up and pass through solid surfaces, and Sara is able to move objects, including controlling the steering wheel and shifting gears, just by thinking about it. And yet, they are happy to sit in the back of the cab until Jack Bruno turns up.
But Race has already sped on, leaving logic and reason behind in a cloud of dust.What follows is a standard chase movie as the government goons and an assassin from another world go after the conveniently telegenic aliens while Jack drives like a man possessed in the sturdiest cab known to man.
Then, as if having decided that, oops, some kind of female star is needed to serve as a foil to Johnson, Seth and Sara pinpoint Dr Alex Friedman as the one person who can help them locate their ship, which has been confiscated by the military.
You have to wonder if the budget ran out at this point, or if they overspent on that miraculous cab, because the flying saucer looks like a leftover prop from the 1970s. The ship in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) looked more impressive. So much for progress and advanced alien technology.
Johnson has a natural charisma and an easy grace, but he needs stronger material if he is serious about challenging Fraser.
As a reminder of the fickleness of the showbusiness, Tom Everett Scott pops up in a minor role as a government agent. Yes, that same actor from the candy-coloured musical That Thing You Do! back in 1996.
He is a stern reminder to Johnson that if the wrestling star wants to remain a contender in the entertainment ring, he will have to step up his game.
(ST)
Andy Fickman
The story: Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb), teenage visitors from another planet, have crashlanded on Earth and need help getting home. Enter cab-driver extraordinaire Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) and UFO expert Dr Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino).
Look out, Brendan Fraser, ex-wrestler The Rock is attempting to muscle in on your territory.
Fraser, the go-to guy for family-friendly adventure fare, racked up three movies last year alone: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and Inkheart.
But perhaps there is room for another player in this lucrative box-office genre. After The Game Plan (2007), about a football player bonding with his eight- year-old daughter, Dwayne Johnson is ready to step up and help shoulder the weight of PG-rated heroics.
In Race, he happens to be in the right place at the right time and reluctantly picks up Seth and Sara, whom he thinks are teenagers on the run.
Here, the plot police would like to pull over this vehicle for a serious infraction. Seth is able to manipulate his molecular make-up and pass through solid surfaces, and Sara is able to move objects, including controlling the steering wheel and shifting gears, just by thinking about it. And yet, they are happy to sit in the back of the cab until Jack Bruno turns up.
But Race has already sped on, leaving logic and reason behind in a cloud of dust.What follows is a standard chase movie as the government goons and an assassin from another world go after the conveniently telegenic aliens while Jack drives like a man possessed in the sturdiest cab known to man.
Then, as if having decided that, oops, some kind of female star is needed to serve as a foil to Johnson, Seth and Sara pinpoint Dr Alex Friedman as the one person who can help them locate their ship, which has been confiscated by the military.
You have to wonder if the budget ran out at this point, or if they overspent on that miraculous cab, because the flying saucer looks like a leftover prop from the 1970s. The ship in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) looked more impressive. So much for progress and advanced alien technology.
Johnson has a natural charisma and an easy grace, but he needs stronger material if he is serious about challenging Fraser.
As a reminder of the fickleness of the showbusiness, Tom Everett Scott pops up in a minor role as a government agent. Yes, that same actor from the candy-coloured musical That Thing You Do! back in 1996.
He is a stern reminder to Johnson that if the wrestling star wants to remain a contender in the entertainment ring, he will have to step up his game.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Oscar-bashing is a hobby for many at the start of every year. Nothing the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States do seems to please anybody.
Yet they have almost never found themselves in the conundrum of nominating a movie that enjoyed neither boxoffice success nor some sort of critical acclaim, even if they cannot always decide which they prefer.
Just like the people behind the Oscars, the organisers of the inaugural Singapore Film Awards cannot make up their minds either. Some of the odd choices on the nomination list suggest that neither popularity nor quality was a determining factor.
The nominees in the Best Film category are Royston Tan’s 12 Lotus, Han Yew Kwang’s 18 Grams Of Love, Cheng Ding An’s Kallang Roar The Movie, Tony Kern’s A Month Of Hungry Ghosts, Kelvin Tong’s Rule #1 and Lucky7 by Sun Koh, K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng.
Kallang Roar, which is about Singapore’s legendary football coach Choo Seng Quee in the 1970s, received middling reviews and earned only $90,000 at the box office. How exactly does the film fit into even the most generous definition of the word “best”?
You could also argue that there is a vast difference between Tong’s polished Rule#1 and the experimental Lucky7. To lump them together does neither film justice.
The new awards come under the umbrella of the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards, which were introduced in 1991 with an Asian feature film component as well as a local short film competition.
To qualify for the Singapore Film Awards, the films must be feature length (at least 60 minutes in duration), shot mostly in Singapore and with a Singaporean or permanent resident holding a major creative role as director, producer, writer or actor. They also have to be completed and screened in the previous calendar year.
The inaugural nominees competing in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance and Best Cinematography are a hodgepodge group that gives little indication as to what exactly the awards are meant to honour.
Are they an unabashed popularity contest along the lines of the MTV Movie Awards, whose categories include Best Kiss and Best Fight? Clearly not, since the experimental anthology Lucky7 received three nods for Best Film, Best Performance and Best Cinematography.
Maybe they are meant to reward quality? After all, they are associated with the Silver Screen Awards, which has tended to shower accolades on arthouse offerings such as Indonesian film-maker Garin Nugroho’s Ramayana-inspired Opera Jawa (2006).
In that case, one wonders if the bar has been set too low. Of the 20 entries the organisers received, six are being considered for Best Film. That 30 per cent of the local films released last year were deemed good enough for that category is just way too generous by any yardstick.
The powers-that-be should take a leaf from the committee behind the Singapore Literature Prize, which is held once every two years, to maintain the quality of the picks. Even then, there were only three nominees for the English writing section in 2006.
In fact, why have a separate category for home-grown films in the first place and risk having the Singapore Film Awards seem like a poorer cousin to the Asian Feature Film Competition?
Local films have been nominated and even won when going head-to-head against regional entries. In 2006, Tong was named Best Director for Love Story.
This year, Singaporean Alec Tok’s A Big Road, about the lives of three women in Shanghai, is among the Asian Feature Film Competition nominees. His film has not been released here, so it is ineligible for the Singapore Film Awards.
If the Singapore Film Awards are intended to encourage film-makers, then one has to ask: How much back-patting and hand-holding do aspiring film-makers need? The Singapore Short Film Competition’s list of past winners already reads like a who’s who of Singapore cinema today.
Eric Khoo won the main prize that first year for August; Tong, Sandi Tan and Jasmine Ng’s A Moveable Feast was named Best Short Film in 1996; Jack Neo won for Best Director for Replacement Killers in 1998; and Royston Tan’s Sons picked up two awards in 2000.
To their credit, the organisers of the Singapore Film Awards are not unaware of some of these pitfalls.
Ms Yuni Hadi, one of two new directors of the Singapore International Film Festival, said: “Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey and even Thailand have their own local film awards, but the question always is ‘Will a Singapore Oscars work?’ We don’t know.
“But I think we have to take a chance and begin this movie journey for Singapore cinema. The Singapore Film Awards is a chance for us to celebrate our local talent.”
Celebrating local talent is a laudable sentiment, but an award with questionable standards and one unclear about what it stands for does neither itself nor the films it is supposed to honour any good.
(ST)
Yet they have almost never found themselves in the conundrum of nominating a movie that enjoyed neither boxoffice success nor some sort of critical acclaim, even if they cannot always decide which they prefer.
Just like the people behind the Oscars, the organisers of the inaugural Singapore Film Awards cannot make up their minds either. Some of the odd choices on the nomination list suggest that neither popularity nor quality was a determining factor.
The nominees in the Best Film category are Royston Tan’s 12 Lotus, Han Yew Kwang’s 18 Grams Of Love, Cheng Ding An’s Kallang Roar The Movie, Tony Kern’s A Month Of Hungry Ghosts, Kelvin Tong’s Rule #1 and Lucky7 by Sun Koh, K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng.
Kallang Roar, which is about Singapore’s legendary football coach Choo Seng Quee in the 1970s, received middling reviews and earned only $90,000 at the box office. How exactly does the film fit into even the most generous definition of the word “best”?
You could also argue that there is a vast difference between Tong’s polished Rule#1 and the experimental Lucky7. To lump them together does neither film justice.
The new awards come under the umbrella of the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards, which were introduced in 1991 with an Asian feature film component as well as a local short film competition.
To qualify for the Singapore Film Awards, the films must be feature length (at least 60 minutes in duration), shot mostly in Singapore and with a Singaporean or permanent resident holding a major creative role as director, producer, writer or actor. They also have to be completed and screened in the previous calendar year.
The inaugural nominees competing in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance and Best Cinematography are a hodgepodge group that gives little indication as to what exactly the awards are meant to honour.
Are they an unabashed popularity contest along the lines of the MTV Movie Awards, whose categories include Best Kiss and Best Fight? Clearly not, since the experimental anthology Lucky7 received three nods for Best Film, Best Performance and Best Cinematography.
Maybe they are meant to reward quality? After all, they are associated with the Silver Screen Awards, which has tended to shower accolades on arthouse offerings such as Indonesian film-maker Garin Nugroho’s Ramayana-inspired Opera Jawa (2006).
In that case, one wonders if the bar has been set too low. Of the 20 entries the organisers received, six are being considered for Best Film. That 30 per cent of the local films released last year were deemed good enough for that category is just way too generous by any yardstick.
The powers-that-be should take a leaf from the committee behind the Singapore Literature Prize, which is held once every two years, to maintain the quality of the picks. Even then, there were only three nominees for the English writing section in 2006.
In fact, why have a separate category for home-grown films in the first place and risk having the Singapore Film Awards seem like a poorer cousin to the Asian Feature Film Competition?
Local films have been nominated and even won when going head-to-head against regional entries. In 2006, Tong was named Best Director for Love Story.
This year, Singaporean Alec Tok’s A Big Road, about the lives of three women in Shanghai, is among the Asian Feature Film Competition nominees. His film has not been released here, so it is ineligible for the Singapore Film Awards.
If the Singapore Film Awards are intended to encourage film-makers, then one has to ask: How much back-patting and hand-holding do aspiring film-makers need? The Singapore Short Film Competition’s list of past winners already reads like a who’s who of Singapore cinema today.
Eric Khoo won the main prize that first year for August; Tong, Sandi Tan and Jasmine Ng’s A Moveable Feast was named Best Short Film in 1996; Jack Neo won for Best Director for Replacement Killers in 1998; and Royston Tan’s Sons picked up two awards in 2000.
To their credit, the organisers of the Singapore Film Awards are not unaware of some of these pitfalls.
Ms Yuni Hadi, one of two new directors of the Singapore International Film Festival, said: “Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey and even Thailand have their own local film awards, but the question always is ‘Will a Singapore Oscars work?’ We don’t know.
“But I think we have to take a chance and begin this movie journey for Singapore cinema. The Singapore Film Awards is a chance for us to celebrate our local talent.”
Celebrating local talent is a laudable sentiment, but an award with questionable standards and one unclear about what it stands for does neither itself nor the films it is supposed to honour any good.
(ST)
Monday, March 02, 2009
Audition
By Ryu Murakami
Those who watched Takashi Miike’s hair- raising, nightmare inducing film adaptation (1999) would have had the experience seared into their brains.
The book is less showily creepy. Instead, it creates a sense of niggling unease, slowly letting the tension tighten and grow taut until it snaps in the horrific ending.
Since the death of his wife seven years ago, documentary film-maker Aoyama has not dated. A remark by his teenage son gets him thinking about remarriage.
His best friend Yoshikawa hits upon the idea of holding fake film auditions as the best way to meet prospective brides. He has reservations about taking advantage of a system where “the commodity an actor or model offered for sale was nothing less than her own being” but goes along with the idea.
When he meets the beautiful ballet- trained Yamasaki Asami, he falls head over heels in love. There are hints that there is more to her than meets the eye but he is too obsessed to see or care.
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that things end badly.
Early on, Murakami makes a point about modern malaise: “People were infected with the concept that happiness was something outside themselves, and a new and powerful form of loneliness was born. Mix loneliness with stress and enervation, and all sorts of madness can occur. Anxiety increases, and in order to obliterate the anxiety, people turn to extreme sex, violence and even murder.”
One could also read Audition as a feminist fantasy about wreaking vengeance on men who abuse their power. But Aoyama, while flawed, does not strike one as a bad or evil person. Does he deserve to be punished? Or was he culpable the moment he agreed to the auditions?
Whichever way you slice it, Audition has been executed with bone-chilling flair.
If you like this, read: Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami. His debut novel about a group of young people who dive headlong into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll won the country’s top literary accolade, the Akutagawa Prize, and established his reputation as the bad boy of Japanese fiction.
(ST)
By Ryu Murakami
Those who watched Takashi Miike’s hair- raising, nightmare inducing film adaptation (1999) would have had the experience seared into their brains.
The book is less showily creepy. Instead, it creates a sense of niggling unease, slowly letting the tension tighten and grow taut until it snaps in the horrific ending.
Since the death of his wife seven years ago, documentary film-maker Aoyama has not dated. A remark by his teenage son gets him thinking about remarriage.
His best friend Yoshikawa hits upon the idea of holding fake film auditions as the best way to meet prospective brides. He has reservations about taking advantage of a system where “the commodity an actor or model offered for sale was nothing less than her own being” but goes along with the idea.
When he meets the beautiful ballet- trained Yamasaki Asami, he falls head over heels in love. There are hints that there is more to her than meets the eye but he is too obsessed to see or care.
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that things end badly.
Early on, Murakami makes a point about modern malaise: “People were infected with the concept that happiness was something outside themselves, and a new and powerful form of loneliness was born. Mix loneliness with stress and enervation, and all sorts of madness can occur. Anxiety increases, and in order to obliterate the anxiety, people turn to extreme sex, violence and even murder.”
One could also read Audition as a feminist fantasy about wreaking vengeance on men who abuse their power. But Aoyama, while flawed, does not strike one as a bad or evil person. Does he deserve to be punished? Or was he culpable the moment he agreed to the auditions?
Whichever way you slice it, Audition has been executed with bone-chilling flair.
If you like this, read: Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami. His debut novel about a group of young people who dive headlong into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll won the country’s top literary accolade, the Akutagawa Prize, and established his reputation as the bad boy of Japanese fiction.
(ST)
Slumberland
By Paul Beatty
It's official. Berlin is hip.
It is not just that this year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that symbol of the Cold War. It is also the fact that the city has been steadily making its way into the cultural zeitgeist.
The New York Times picked it as one of the 44 places to visit this year, it was one of the key settings in the critically acclaimed 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange, and here it plays a central role in the story of a man on a quest while navigating the cultural burdens of being black.
Ferguson Sowell, or DJ Darky, has come up with the perfect beat. After listening to it, one of his mates declares that “anything I have heard on pop radio in the last five years feels like a violation of my civil rights”.
All he needs now is the kiss of approval from a credible and influential source. This leads him to seek out the mysterious Schwa, a little-known avant- garde jazz musician, so nicknamed because “his sound, like the indeterminate vowel, is unstressed, upside-down and backward”.
The only clue to his whereabouts is a videotape of a man having sex with a chicken featuring the elusive one’s music, mailed to DJ Darky from a German address. Which is how the DJ ends up at the Slumberland bar in Berlin as a jukebox sommelier.
More than just a setting, the city is a character. And the pivotal moment of the fall of the Wall is beautifully described from an outsider’s point of view.
The themes of identity and the weight of history culminate in the erecting of a new Berlin Wall, a wall of sound that is “inspiration, encouragement, and hope” heard from the western side, and a “wailing wall” when heard from the east.
Beatty’s razzle-dazzle prose-poetry is energetic and rhythmic, and it approximates a free-form jazz piece transcribed to the page. The writing can be dense with obscure name-dropping and slang but just hang on for the ride. It's an exhilarating one.
If you like this, read: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. A funny novel about heartbreak, growing up and music – listening to it, arguing about it and obsessing about it.
(ST)
By Paul Beatty
It's official. Berlin is hip.
It is not just that this year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that symbol of the Cold War. It is also the fact that the city has been steadily making its way into the cultural zeitgeist.
The New York Times picked it as one of the 44 places to visit this year, it was one of the key settings in the critically acclaimed 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange, and here it plays a central role in the story of a man on a quest while navigating the cultural burdens of being black.
Ferguson Sowell, or DJ Darky, has come up with the perfect beat. After listening to it, one of his mates declares that “anything I have heard on pop radio in the last five years feels like a violation of my civil rights”.
All he needs now is the kiss of approval from a credible and influential source. This leads him to seek out the mysterious Schwa, a little-known avant- garde jazz musician, so nicknamed because “his sound, like the indeterminate vowel, is unstressed, upside-down and backward”.
The only clue to his whereabouts is a videotape of a man having sex with a chicken featuring the elusive one’s music, mailed to DJ Darky from a German address. Which is how the DJ ends up at the Slumberland bar in Berlin as a jukebox sommelier.
More than just a setting, the city is a character. And the pivotal moment of the fall of the Wall is beautifully described from an outsider’s point of view.
The themes of identity and the weight of history culminate in the erecting of a new Berlin Wall, a wall of sound that is “inspiration, encouragement, and hope” heard from the western side, and a “wailing wall” when heard from the east.
Beatty’s razzle-dazzle prose-poetry is energetic and rhythmic, and it approximates a free-form jazz piece transcribed to the page. The writing can be dense with obscure name-dropping and slang but just hang on for the ride. It's an exhilarating one.
If you like this, read: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. A funny novel about heartbreak, growing up and music – listening to it, arguing about it and obsessing about it.
(ST)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Kung Fu Chefs
Wing Kin Yip
As the title implies, this combines chop-socky action with chopping board exploits.
Wong Bing-Yi (a solemn-faced Sammo Hung) is cast out from his village after his dish makes everyone at a banquet ill. It turns out that he was set up by his vengeful nephew, though it seems strange that a supposed master chef like Wong would not be able to distinguish salt from poison.
No matter, it creates the chance for Wong to cross paths with promising chef and martial arts fighter Jung Kin-Yat (a cheeky Vanness Wu), whose love interest is the cutesy spunky Shen Ying (Ai Kago, a Ryoko Hirosue lookalike).
Mix in a cooking competition whose outcome is never in doubt and cheesy lines such as “Cooking is easy. Being a man is hard”, and voila, a bland blend.
(ST)
Wing Kin Yip
As the title implies, this combines chop-socky action with chopping board exploits.
Wong Bing-Yi (a solemn-faced Sammo Hung) is cast out from his village after his dish makes everyone at a banquet ill. It turns out that he was set up by his vengeful nephew, though it seems strange that a supposed master chef like Wong would not be able to distinguish salt from poison.
No matter, it creates the chance for Wong to cross paths with promising chef and martial arts fighter Jung Kin-Yat (a cheeky Vanness Wu), whose love interest is the cutesy spunky Shen Ying (Ai Kago, a Ryoko Hirosue lookalike).
Mix in a cooking competition whose outcome is never in doubt and cheesy lines such as “Cooking is easy. Being a man is hard”, and voila, a bland blend.
(ST)
Marley & Me
David Frankel
The story: As readers of the 2005 best-selling memoir of the same name know, Marley is the world’s worst dog. Bought by American journalist John Grogan (Owen Wilson) soon after his marriage to fellow writer Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), the labrador retriever shares in the ups and downs of their lives and becomes an integral part of the family over the years.
They should have been tipped off when Marley was the only one in the litter of yellow labrador retrievers which came with a discount.
The Grogans soon find out why as the pup goes berserk during thunderstorms, chews through partition walls and does not understand the command “heel”.
Marley’s refusal to follow commands even gets him kicked out of obedience school after he shows up an uptight dog trainer (Kathleen Turner in a cameo).
At the same time, his shenanigans prove to be rich fodder for John’s increasingly popular newspaper columns for the Miami Herald.
As much as this is a story about a rascally dog, the film is also about John’s journey through life, from marriage to career developments to fatherhood.
While he has a good friend Sebastian (Eric Dane), whose swinging bachelor lifestyle is a pointed contrast to his own, Marley is often the one he would talk aloud to and is more of a constant companion.
Mostly, Marley & Me plods along in a not unpleasant, genial manner. The light-hearted tone, though, jars with parts of the film which delve into the bumps on the road that the Grogans face.
For example, John and Jenny do not have a perfect marriage. They go through a rocky patch when she has to deal with giving up her career for the sake of their children. And John, despite a successful column, is restless and wants a change in the direction of his career.
But somehow, watching the beautiful blonde and blonder movie stars deal with ordinary, real- people predicaments makes the issues less compelling.
One also cannot help but be distracted by the thought that this is the first film Wilson made after his suicide attempt in 2007, reportedly over the split from actress Kate Hudson.
To his credit, the actor, best known for his laid-back comic roles in films such as Wedding Crashers (2005), seems to have moved on from the incident and is amiably low-key as John.
There isn’t much for Aniston to do here in what is essentially a supporting role. Still best known for her turn as Rachel in the popular sitcom Friends, the actress has shown that she can do interesting work in offbeat films such as The Good Girl (2002). Too often, though, she seems to settle for more conventional wife/girlfriend roles that do not do her any favours, as is the case here.
As the film moves to its conclusion, the focus shifts back to Marley. Animal lovers, be warned, the ending is a teary one.
Perhaps what makes animal performances in films touching is the simple fact that animals do not act. You would not tell a dog to emote sadness, but instead you instruct it to paw at the door and whimper. In a way, that removes a layer of artifice from what we watch on screens.
Or perhaps here, it merely proves the old adage that a dog is a man’s best friend, even when the canine in question is the world’s worst.
(ST)
David Frankel
The story: As readers of the 2005 best-selling memoir of the same name know, Marley is the world’s worst dog. Bought by American journalist John Grogan (Owen Wilson) soon after his marriage to fellow writer Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), the labrador retriever shares in the ups and downs of their lives and becomes an integral part of the family over the years.
They should have been tipped off when Marley was the only one in the litter of yellow labrador retrievers which came with a discount.
The Grogans soon find out why as the pup goes berserk during thunderstorms, chews through partition walls and does not understand the command “heel”.
Marley’s refusal to follow commands even gets him kicked out of obedience school after he shows up an uptight dog trainer (Kathleen Turner in a cameo).
At the same time, his shenanigans prove to be rich fodder for John’s increasingly popular newspaper columns for the Miami Herald.
As much as this is a story about a rascally dog, the film is also about John’s journey through life, from marriage to career developments to fatherhood.
While he has a good friend Sebastian (Eric Dane), whose swinging bachelor lifestyle is a pointed contrast to his own, Marley is often the one he would talk aloud to and is more of a constant companion.
Mostly, Marley & Me plods along in a not unpleasant, genial manner. The light-hearted tone, though, jars with parts of the film which delve into the bumps on the road that the Grogans face.
For example, John and Jenny do not have a perfect marriage. They go through a rocky patch when she has to deal with giving up her career for the sake of their children. And John, despite a successful column, is restless and wants a change in the direction of his career.
But somehow, watching the beautiful blonde and blonder movie stars deal with ordinary, real- people predicaments makes the issues less compelling.
One also cannot help but be distracted by the thought that this is the first film Wilson made after his suicide attempt in 2007, reportedly over the split from actress Kate Hudson.
To his credit, the actor, best known for his laid-back comic roles in films such as Wedding Crashers (2005), seems to have moved on from the incident and is amiably low-key as John.
There isn’t much for Aniston to do here in what is essentially a supporting role. Still best known for her turn as Rachel in the popular sitcom Friends, the actress has shown that she can do interesting work in offbeat films such as The Good Girl (2002). Too often, though, she seems to settle for more conventional wife/girlfriend roles that do not do her any favours, as is the case here.
As the film moves to its conclusion, the focus shifts back to Marley. Animal lovers, be warned, the ending is a teary one.
Perhaps what makes animal performances in films touching is the simple fact that animals do not act. You would not tell a dog to emote sadness, but instead you instruct it to paw at the door and whimper. In a way, that removes a layer of artifice from what we watch on screens.
Or perhaps here, it merely proves the old adage that a dog is a man’s best friend, even when the canine in question is the world’s worst.
(ST)
If You Are The One
Feng Xiaogang
The story: Qin Fen (Ge You) places a personals ad for a wife, and to his surprise, the beautiful Xiaoxiao (Shu Qi) responds. They form a tentative friendship which grows into something stronger.
After a detour into the genre du jour of historical epics with The Banquet (2006) and Assembly (2007), director Feng Xiaogang is back doing what he does best – gently skewering modern society and making you laugh in the process.
The template here is taken from Taiwanese writer-director Chen Kuo-fu’s The Personals (1998), in which singer-actress Rene Liu was a single professional woman seeking a husband. This was the set-up for a wry look at love and life in modern Taiwan.
In If You Are The One, which Chen produced, it is a middle-aged man searching for a wife on the mainland.
Released in China on Dec 22 last year, the film struck a chord with audiences. It has earned 350 million yuan (S$78 million) at the box office, one of the highest-grossing Chinese films, and also set off a trend of people looking for spouses online.
The succinct, funny and poignant ad written by Qin Fen (a homonym of the Mandarin term for hardworking) is destined to be a classic circulated through e-mail messages and online forums.
He is realistic: “If you’re an angel, I won’t be able to handle you. I don’t expect you to look like that girl on the magazine cover, scattering souls with just one look.”
He is detailed: “I like a woman who knows how to fold clothes such that when you finish washing, ironing and folding them, they will look exactly like when you bought them from the stores. Specific enough?”
He is honest: “My character’s a 50-50 split and I’m not exactly an honest man. But I was born timid, even if it is not illegal to kill, I wouldn’t kill anyone. My conscience will be tortured by guilt if I do anything cruel to others.”
Yet who should walk into his life but the gorgeous Xiaoxiao, who responds to the ad for reasons of her own. Shu Qi downplays her natural sultriness and is a good foil to Ge, making it one of those rare odd couple pairings which actually seem plausible.
Feng and Ge have worked together in several films from the hit comedy Be There Or Be Square (1998) to the infidelity drama Cell Phone (2003) and the loose Hamlet adaptation The Banquet. They have a good thing going and Feng knows how best to showcase his leading man’s charms.
The genius of Ge’s performance is that he underplays the scenes, remaining unflappable and genial even when presented with increasingly unusual respondents to his ad.
The meetings with prospective partners are milked for laughs but are also a sly comment on society today. There is the grave plot saleswoman, the trader who likens picking a mate to betting on stocks and even a man who nurses a crush on Qin.
Feng riffs on anything and everything from China-Taiwan relations to materialism to the preferred frequency of sex in a relationship.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by the final act which takes place in Hokkaido.
Qin and Xiaoxiao, the not-quite-couple, go on the trip as she intends to make a symbolic clean break with her married lover where it had all started. Some forced dramatics are thrown in and derail the film.
But overall, this is an enjoyable film largely buoyed by Ge’s deft performance.
(ST)
Feng Xiaogang
The story: Qin Fen (Ge You) places a personals ad for a wife, and to his surprise, the beautiful Xiaoxiao (Shu Qi) responds. They form a tentative friendship which grows into something stronger.
After a detour into the genre du jour of historical epics with The Banquet (2006) and Assembly (2007), director Feng Xiaogang is back doing what he does best – gently skewering modern society and making you laugh in the process.
The template here is taken from Taiwanese writer-director Chen Kuo-fu’s The Personals (1998), in which singer-actress Rene Liu was a single professional woman seeking a husband. This was the set-up for a wry look at love and life in modern Taiwan.
In If You Are The One, which Chen produced, it is a middle-aged man searching for a wife on the mainland.
Released in China on Dec 22 last year, the film struck a chord with audiences. It has earned 350 million yuan (S$78 million) at the box office, one of the highest-grossing Chinese films, and also set off a trend of people looking for spouses online.
The succinct, funny and poignant ad written by Qin Fen (a homonym of the Mandarin term for hardworking) is destined to be a classic circulated through e-mail messages and online forums.
He is realistic: “If you’re an angel, I won’t be able to handle you. I don’t expect you to look like that girl on the magazine cover, scattering souls with just one look.”
He is detailed: “I like a woman who knows how to fold clothes such that when you finish washing, ironing and folding them, they will look exactly like when you bought them from the stores. Specific enough?”
He is honest: “My character’s a 50-50 split and I’m not exactly an honest man. But I was born timid, even if it is not illegal to kill, I wouldn’t kill anyone. My conscience will be tortured by guilt if I do anything cruel to others.”
Yet who should walk into his life but the gorgeous Xiaoxiao, who responds to the ad for reasons of her own. Shu Qi downplays her natural sultriness and is a good foil to Ge, making it one of those rare odd couple pairings which actually seem plausible.
Feng and Ge have worked together in several films from the hit comedy Be There Or Be Square (1998) to the infidelity drama Cell Phone (2003) and the loose Hamlet adaptation The Banquet. They have a good thing going and Feng knows how best to showcase his leading man’s charms.
The genius of Ge’s performance is that he underplays the scenes, remaining unflappable and genial even when presented with increasingly unusual respondents to his ad.
The meetings with prospective partners are milked for laughs but are also a sly comment on society today. There is the grave plot saleswoman, the trader who likens picking a mate to betting on stocks and even a man who nurses a crush on Qin.
Feng riffs on anything and everything from China-Taiwan relations to materialism to the preferred frequency of sex in a relationship.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by the final act which takes place in Hokkaido.
Qin and Xiaoxiao, the not-quite-couple, go on the trip as she intends to make a symbolic clean break with her married lover where it had all started. Some forced dramatics are thrown in and derail the film.
But overall, this is an enjoyable film largely buoyed by Ge’s deft performance.
(ST)
Suspect X
Hiroshi Nishitani
The story: The body of a man has been discovered, his face pulverised and his prints removed. Police officer Kaoru Utsumi (Kou Shibasaki) is assigned to the case and she enlists the help of brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa (Masaharu Fukuyama), also known as Detective Galileo. His suspicions come to rest on a former schoolmate, the highly intelligent mathematician Tetsuya Ishigami (Shinichi Tsutsumi).
Suspect X is a crime thriller but it is not one of the usual suspects.
It has an impressive pedigree, based on the award-winning mystery writer Keigo Higashino’s popular Detective Galileo series and it reunites the principal cast from the hit TV adaptation.
Like the compelling Korean hit The Chaser (2008), we know who the killer is from the start.
We are witness to an act of violence that takes place when former hostess Yasuko Hanaoka (Yasuko Matsuyuki) receives an unwelcome visit from her loutish ex-husband.
After she and her daughter Misato (Miho Kanazawa) unintentionally kill him, things take an unexpected turn when her neighbour Tetsuya Ishigami knocks on her door and offers to help her out.
Knowing whodunnit in no way diminishes the pleasure of watching Suspect X. We watch with rapt attention as the neighbour constructs an alibi for mother and daughter, coaching them on how to stay a step ahead of the police.
Too many Hollywood cop flicks have a fetish for stylish and glamorous violence, and it is deeply satisfying to have a back-to-basics thriller which is all about the battle of wits between two superior minds.
The film signals its intentions early on when Professor Manabu Yukawa delivers a lecture on cause-and-effect rationality to detective Kaoru Utsumi, who is seeking his help on another case. The kicker though is the seemingly throwaway comment that love is irrational and cannot be resolved in an equation.
Suspect X pivots on a few of these little scenes which take on greater significance at the end of the film.
Cast-wise, pop singer-actor Masaharu Fukuyama imbues the cerebral physicist Yukawa with a light touch of playfulness while Kou Shibasaki has less to do in the role of earnest cop Utsumi. As the beauty in trouble, Matsuyuki brings together vulnerability and a streak of steely defiance.
The revelation here is Shinichi Tsutsumi. As Ishigami, he is calm and collected throughout, his eyes droopy, his movements slow and deliberate, yet he is able to convince one that the mind of a genius lies behind that misleading facade. His performance only serves to increase the power of the emotional wallop that hits you at the end of the film.
Not only is Suspect X a fine thriller, retaining the ability to surprise even when it seems that the case is closed, it is also, movingly, about the small acts of kindness which can sustain someone’s life and how love can be both a redemptive and destructive force.
Police procedurals such as Crime Scene Investigation may wow you with technical wizardry but such gizmos are useless when it comes to plumbing the unfathomable depths of the human heart.
(ST)
Hiroshi Nishitani
The story: The body of a man has been discovered, his face pulverised and his prints removed. Police officer Kaoru Utsumi (Kou Shibasaki) is assigned to the case and she enlists the help of brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa (Masaharu Fukuyama), also known as Detective Galileo. His suspicions come to rest on a former schoolmate, the highly intelligent mathematician Tetsuya Ishigami (Shinichi Tsutsumi).
Suspect X is a crime thriller but it is not one of the usual suspects.
It has an impressive pedigree, based on the award-winning mystery writer Keigo Higashino’s popular Detective Galileo series and it reunites the principal cast from the hit TV adaptation.
Like the compelling Korean hit The Chaser (2008), we know who the killer is from the start.
We are witness to an act of violence that takes place when former hostess Yasuko Hanaoka (Yasuko Matsuyuki) receives an unwelcome visit from her loutish ex-husband.
After she and her daughter Misato (Miho Kanazawa) unintentionally kill him, things take an unexpected turn when her neighbour Tetsuya Ishigami knocks on her door and offers to help her out.
Knowing whodunnit in no way diminishes the pleasure of watching Suspect X. We watch with rapt attention as the neighbour constructs an alibi for mother and daughter, coaching them on how to stay a step ahead of the police.
Too many Hollywood cop flicks have a fetish for stylish and glamorous violence, and it is deeply satisfying to have a back-to-basics thriller which is all about the battle of wits between two superior minds.
The film signals its intentions early on when Professor Manabu Yukawa delivers a lecture on cause-and-effect rationality to detective Kaoru Utsumi, who is seeking his help on another case. The kicker though is the seemingly throwaway comment that love is irrational and cannot be resolved in an equation.
Suspect X pivots on a few of these little scenes which take on greater significance at the end of the film.
Cast-wise, pop singer-actor Masaharu Fukuyama imbues the cerebral physicist Yukawa with a light touch of playfulness while Kou Shibasaki has less to do in the role of earnest cop Utsumi. As the beauty in trouble, Matsuyuki brings together vulnerability and a streak of steely defiance.
The revelation here is Shinichi Tsutsumi. As Ishigami, he is calm and collected throughout, his eyes droopy, his movements slow and deliberate, yet he is able to convince one that the mind of a genius lies behind that misleading facade. His performance only serves to increase the power of the emotional wallop that hits you at the end of the film.
Not only is Suspect X a fine thriller, retaining the ability to surprise even when it seems that the case is closed, it is also, movingly, about the small acts of kindness which can sustain someone’s life and how love can be both a redemptive and destructive force.
Police procedurals such as Crime Scene Investigation may wow you with technical wizardry but such gizmos are useless when it comes to plumbing the unfathomable depths of the human heart.
(ST)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Chong Feng 7
Esplanade Concert Hall
Last Saturday
Chong Feng means “to meet once again” and this seventh installation of the popular concert brought together local and Taiwanese singers crooning hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
The event was in many ways like a school reunion. The pleasure of meeting old friends you grew up with was, at the same time, tinged with anxiety. How have they changed? Will they still be recognisable?
These questions were particularly, and poignantly, relevant to Hee, who had not performed live in Singapore in eight years. At the height of her popularity in the mid-1990s, she was out-selling albums by the Hong Kong heavenly kings but faded away from the music scene in the early noughties.
In June 2006, she hit the headlines when she was arrested for harassing two guests in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, yelling at them to “Call me God”. She was the final act in the three- hour-long concert.
The 34-year-old appeared in a dark pink top, patterned pants and a sequinned cap. She seemed a little nervous, but smiled widely, clearly happy to be back on stage again.
She did not say much, preferring to let her music do the talking. She performed three songs, Regret, Sunshine Always Follows The Rain and her best-known hit Moonlight In The City.
It was a pleasure to hear the mellow honeyed warmth of her voice once more though it seemed to have narrowed in range and the lowest notes on Regret were now a bit of a stretch for her.
If Hee played the role of comeback kid, then Jiang Hu was the one-time class heart-throb whose gentle, lilting tenor was tailor-made for ballads. He still had it but the voice was a tad more fragile.
He said: “I’ve lost 70 per cent of my prowess, only 30 per cent left to fool you guys with.”
The clean-cut boyishness of the 1980s had given way to a look that would not be out of place in a hip-hop outfit. Jiang sported a dog-tag and wore a sports zip-up over army fatigue pants.
Clad in matching black suits, high achiever Su Xinquan, a doctor of 18 years, and xinyao singer Hong Shaoxuan, entertained the audience with a specially arranged medley of four songs, switching with ease between Mandarin and English numbers.
The class clowns turned out to be the even more linguistically talented TCR Acappella. The five-member group was a crowd-pleaser, hamming it up in Cantonese-accented Mandarin, Japanese-accented English and Thai-accented English.
They delivered two Chinese hits back to back with their original versions in Japanese and Thai and even showed off some smooth moves on the Grasshopper track Shi Lian Zhen Xian Lian Meng (Broken Hearts Club).
Chong Feng 7 also featured Taiwanese acts Kay Huang Yun-ling, Tseng Shu-chin, Nan Fang Er Chong Chang (Southern Duo) and Mu Ji Ta (Wooden Guitar).
It was a treat to have Huang, these days a judge for singing competition One Million Star, playing the piano and delivering tracks she wrote in her slightly husky vocals.
It was even better to hear that she was working on an album of new material.
A reunion need not be about simply reliving the past, it can also be about forging new connections and looking to the future.
(ST)
Esplanade Concert Hall
Last Saturday
Chong Feng means “to meet once again” and this seventh installation of the popular concert brought together local and Taiwanese singers crooning hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
The event was in many ways like a school reunion. The pleasure of meeting old friends you grew up with was, at the same time, tinged with anxiety. How have they changed? Will they still be recognisable?
These questions were particularly, and poignantly, relevant to Hee, who had not performed live in Singapore in eight years. At the height of her popularity in the mid-1990s, she was out-selling albums by the Hong Kong heavenly kings but faded away from the music scene in the early noughties.
In June 2006, she hit the headlines when she was arrested for harassing two guests in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, yelling at them to “Call me God”. She was the final act in the three- hour-long concert.
The 34-year-old appeared in a dark pink top, patterned pants and a sequinned cap. She seemed a little nervous, but smiled widely, clearly happy to be back on stage again.
She did not say much, preferring to let her music do the talking. She performed three songs, Regret, Sunshine Always Follows The Rain and her best-known hit Moonlight In The City.
It was a pleasure to hear the mellow honeyed warmth of her voice once more though it seemed to have narrowed in range and the lowest notes on Regret were now a bit of a stretch for her.
If Hee played the role of comeback kid, then Jiang Hu was the one-time class heart-throb whose gentle, lilting tenor was tailor-made for ballads. He still had it but the voice was a tad more fragile.
He said: “I’ve lost 70 per cent of my prowess, only 30 per cent left to fool you guys with.”
The clean-cut boyishness of the 1980s had given way to a look that would not be out of place in a hip-hop outfit. Jiang sported a dog-tag and wore a sports zip-up over army fatigue pants.
Clad in matching black suits, high achiever Su Xinquan, a doctor of 18 years, and xinyao singer Hong Shaoxuan, entertained the audience with a specially arranged medley of four songs, switching with ease between Mandarin and English numbers.
The class clowns turned out to be the even more linguistically talented TCR Acappella. The five-member group was a crowd-pleaser, hamming it up in Cantonese-accented Mandarin, Japanese-accented English and Thai-accented English.
They delivered two Chinese hits back to back with their original versions in Japanese and Thai and even showed off some smooth moves on the Grasshopper track Shi Lian Zhen Xian Lian Meng (Broken Hearts Club).
Chong Feng 7 also featured Taiwanese acts Kay Huang Yun-ling, Tseng Shu-chin, Nan Fang Er Chong Chang (Southern Duo) and Mu Ji Ta (Wooden Guitar).
It was a treat to have Huang, these days a judge for singing competition One Million Star, playing the piano and delivering tracks she wrote in her slightly husky vocals.
It was even better to hear that she was working on an album of new material.
A reunion need not be about simply reliving the past, it can also be about forging new connections and looking to the future.
(ST)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
K-20: Legend Of The Mask
Shimako Sato
The year is 1949 and the place is Teito, Japan, in an alternate universe where World War II never happened. In this society with rigid class boundaries, K-20, The Phantom Thief with 20 Faces, steals from the rich to give to the poor.
Unwittingly, circus acrobat Heikichi Endo (an earnest, if slightly detached, Takeshi Kaneshiro) takes the fall for the real McCoy and is captured by detective Kogoro Akechi (a laidback, smirky Toru Nakamura).
The acrobat sets out to clear his name and finds an unexpected ally in the duchess Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu providing some comic relief), Akechi’s fiancee.
This period sci-fi flick borrows elements from movies ranging from Face/Off (1997) to the secret agent James Bond franchise. It cruises along pleasantly enough in handsomely rendered sets with an old-fashioned twist at the end.
Surprisingly, the film is not a manga adaptation. The characters were created by late author Rampo Edogawa, the father of the Japanese mystery novel.
(ST)
Shimako Sato
The year is 1949 and the place is Teito, Japan, in an alternate universe where World War II never happened. In this society with rigid class boundaries, K-20, The Phantom Thief with 20 Faces, steals from the rich to give to the poor.
Unwittingly, circus acrobat Heikichi Endo (an earnest, if slightly detached, Takeshi Kaneshiro) takes the fall for the real McCoy and is captured by detective Kogoro Akechi (a laidback, smirky Toru Nakamura).
The acrobat sets out to clear his name and finds an unexpected ally in the duchess Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu providing some comic relief), Akechi’s fiancee.
This period sci-fi flick borrows elements from movies ranging from Face/Off (1997) to the secret agent James Bond franchise. It cruises along pleasantly enough in handsomely rendered sets with an old-fashioned twist at the end.
Surprisingly, the film is not a manga adaptation. The characters were created by late author Rampo Edogawa, the father of the Japanese mystery novel.
(ST)
Forever Enthralled
Chen Kaige
The story: Beijing opera singer Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was one of the biggest stars of his time. This biopic covers several key periods in the female impersonator’s life, including his rise to prominence, his successful American tour and his refusal to perform in Japanese-occupied China.
Mention Chen Kaige and opera, and the first thing that comes to mind is the China film-maker’s Farewell My Concubine, winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
There are some surface similarities between the two films – the epic sweep, the elegant art direction – but unlike Farewell, Forever Enthralled is more concerned with events than characters.
In this sense, it would be more apt to compare it with martial arts biopic Ip Man (2008). Both story arcs are similar, portraying the protagonist at his peak, how he deals with challenges and finally his heroic defiance of the Japanese.
But Mei is less of a paper cut-out than Ip Man, even though it is hard to reconcile the spirited younger Mei played by real-life opera singer Yu Shaoqun with the older version, whom Cantopop Heavenly King Leon Lai portrays as languid and rather one-note.
At the beginning of his career, Mei challenges the strict rules of Beijing opera in order to inject a greater dose of reality into the art, going so far as to clash head-on with veteran actor Shisan Yan (Wang Xueqi in a poignant performance).
You get a sense of the artist as an iconoclast, and Yu does a marvellous job of conveying the steely reserve beneath the gentle exterior. There is then an odd disconnect when Lai takes over as Mei.
Making up for Lai’s underwhelming performance, the strong supporting cast steal the limelight in a number of key roles. Sun Honglei is impassioned and ultimately tragically sympathetic as Mei’s lifelong supporter Qiu Rubai, and Chen Hong, Chen Kaige’s wife, prevents Mei’s shrewd and protective wife from becoming a caricature.
However, the romance between Mei and male impersonator Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Ziyi, who can play sassy in her sleep) is less than convincing.
The relationship between a female impersonator and a male impersonator is tailor-made for an exploration of gender roles but Chen Kaige barely ventures there. This is a glaring omission since it is said of Mei that the peak of his artistry was that he was “more like a woman than the real thing”.
Forever Enthralled does not live up to its overwrought English title. Instead, it is a technically competent if emotionally distant by-the-numbers biopic whose stately pace starts to wear thin in the final act set during the Japanese Occupation.
Chen Kaige and opera still add up to Farewell My Concubine.
(ST)
Chen Kaige
The story: Beijing opera singer Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was one of the biggest stars of his time. This biopic covers several key periods in the female impersonator’s life, including his rise to prominence, his successful American tour and his refusal to perform in Japanese-occupied China.
Mention Chen Kaige and opera, and the first thing that comes to mind is the China film-maker’s Farewell My Concubine, winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
There are some surface similarities between the two films – the epic sweep, the elegant art direction – but unlike Farewell, Forever Enthralled is more concerned with events than characters.
In this sense, it would be more apt to compare it with martial arts biopic Ip Man (2008). Both story arcs are similar, portraying the protagonist at his peak, how he deals with challenges and finally his heroic defiance of the Japanese.
But Mei is less of a paper cut-out than Ip Man, even though it is hard to reconcile the spirited younger Mei played by real-life opera singer Yu Shaoqun with the older version, whom Cantopop Heavenly King Leon Lai portrays as languid and rather one-note.
At the beginning of his career, Mei challenges the strict rules of Beijing opera in order to inject a greater dose of reality into the art, going so far as to clash head-on with veteran actor Shisan Yan (Wang Xueqi in a poignant performance).
You get a sense of the artist as an iconoclast, and Yu does a marvellous job of conveying the steely reserve beneath the gentle exterior. There is then an odd disconnect when Lai takes over as Mei.
Making up for Lai’s underwhelming performance, the strong supporting cast steal the limelight in a number of key roles. Sun Honglei is impassioned and ultimately tragically sympathetic as Mei’s lifelong supporter Qiu Rubai, and Chen Hong, Chen Kaige’s wife, prevents Mei’s shrewd and protective wife from becoming a caricature.
However, the romance between Mei and male impersonator Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Ziyi, who can play sassy in her sleep) is less than convincing.
The relationship between a female impersonator and a male impersonator is tailor-made for an exploration of gender roles but Chen Kaige barely ventures there. This is a glaring omission since it is said of Mei that the peak of his artistry was that he was “more like a woman than the real thing”.
Forever Enthralled does not live up to its overwrought English title. Instead, it is a technically competent if emotionally distant by-the-numbers biopic whose stately pace starts to wear thin in the final act set during the Japanese Occupation.
Chen Kaige and opera still add up to Farewell My Concubine.
(ST)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
New In Town
Jonas Elmer
Even the romantic comedy is not spared the economic realities of the times.
The set-up here seems pretty straightforward at first.
Chic city executive Lucy Hill (Renee Zellweger, more reined-in from her Bridget Jones cartoon mode) from sunny Miami suddenly finds herself in wintry Minnesota on a work assignment.
The only attractive man for miles around happens to be union rep Ted Mitchell (a charming Harry Connick Jr who seems to have lost that weird sneer he had on TV series Will & Grace).
They get on each other’s nerves when they meet for the first time. And they clash at the factory too since she has been sent to retrench half the workforce.
No prizes for guessing what happens next.
But as much as this is a meet-cute fantasy romance, it is also a proletariat fantasy.
Factory workers who do not own the means of production get a boss who saves them from being kicked out into the cold, not just once, but twice. And then gives power back to them in a scheme to purchase the factory back from greedy capitalists.
A romantic comedy with Marxist undertones? That is certainly new in town.
(ST)
Jonas Elmer
Even the romantic comedy is not spared the economic realities of the times.
The set-up here seems pretty straightforward at first.
Chic city executive Lucy Hill (Renee Zellweger, more reined-in from her Bridget Jones cartoon mode) from sunny Miami suddenly finds herself in wintry Minnesota on a work assignment.
The only attractive man for miles around happens to be union rep Ted Mitchell (a charming Harry Connick Jr who seems to have lost that weird sneer he had on TV series Will & Grace).
They get on each other’s nerves when they meet for the first time. And they clash at the factory too since she has been sent to retrench half the workforce.
No prizes for guessing what happens next.
But as much as this is a meet-cute fantasy romance, it is also a proletariat fantasy.
Factory workers who do not own the means of production get a boss who saves them from being kicked out into the cold, not just once, but twice. And then gives power back to them in a scheme to purchase the factory back from greedy capitalists.
A romantic comedy with Marxist undertones? That is certainly new in town.
(ST)
White Palms
Szabolcs Hajdu
As a child, Miklos Dongo was a promising gymnast in Hungary but, somehow, he ends up coaching Canada’s medal hope for the 2002 world gymnastics championship.
It is interesting to look at a film like this and marvel at all the ways that Hollywood would have mucked it up.
Award-winning Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu is not interested in a rah-rah tale of athletic triumph and personal redemption.
Instead, he presents viewers with a non-linear story with portraits of Dongo at ages 10 (Orion Radies), 13 (Silas Wind Radies) and 32 (Zoltan Miklos Hajdu).
The harsh training conducted by coach Ferenc (Gheorghe Dinica) robs Dongo of the ordinary joys of childhood. At 13, the unhappy gymnast runs away to join the circus. As a coach, he has to find a way to connect with his trainees and come to terms with his past.
There is a telling bit of dialogue by Ferenc when the big top folks come by the gym to look for a replacement trapeze artiste: “Hey! This is not a circus! Hey! They are not monkeys!”
But the director juxtaposes the gymnastics competition with the trapeze performance, brilliantly linking the two scenes through the use of music and sound.
It is not always clear whether you are looking at the spectacle of a competition or a death-courting circus act, or both.
But there is no doubt that Hajdu has crafted a compelling and surprising film.
(ST)
Szabolcs Hajdu
As a child, Miklos Dongo was a promising gymnast in Hungary but, somehow, he ends up coaching Canada’s medal hope for the 2002 world gymnastics championship.
It is interesting to look at a film like this and marvel at all the ways that Hollywood would have mucked it up.
Award-winning Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu is not interested in a rah-rah tale of athletic triumph and personal redemption.
Instead, he presents viewers with a non-linear story with portraits of Dongo at ages 10 (Orion Radies), 13 (Silas Wind Radies) and 32 (Zoltan Miklos Hajdu).
The harsh training conducted by coach Ferenc (Gheorghe Dinica) robs Dongo of the ordinary joys of childhood. At 13, the unhappy gymnast runs away to join the circus. As a coach, he has to find a way to connect with his trainees and come to terms with his past.
There is a telling bit of dialogue by Ferenc when the big top folks come by the gym to look for a replacement trapeze artiste: “Hey! This is not a circus! Hey! They are not monkeys!”
But the director juxtaposes the gymnastics competition with the trapeze performance, brilliantly linking the two scenes through the use of music and sound.
It is not always clear whether you are looking at the spectacle of a competition or a death-courting circus act, or both.
But there is no doubt that Hajdu has crafted a compelling and surprising film.
(ST)
Monday, February 09, 2009
Crowd Lu
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Saturday
Mrs This
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Friday
Crowd Lu and Mrs This have each released an album, appealing mostly to students and those in their 20s and 30s, and both acts fall under the umbrella of Chinese indie pop. But their concerts proved to be very different experiences.
Lu, 23, delivered a mesmerising show, demonstrating why he is one of the most promising Taiwanese singer-songwriters to emerge in recent years. In contrast to his sunny demeanour and music, compatriots six-piece ensemble Mrs This mined a more melancholic vein of electronic pop-rock, a performance which sometimes threatened to slip into minor key monotony.
Lu’s songs about life and love from a young person’s point of view have resonated strongly with music fans and he sold out two shows at the 245-seat Esplanade Recital Studio.
Dressed in an orange T-shirt worn over another black one, bermudas, calf-high socks and white sneakers, and sporting his trademark black-rimmed glasses and mop top, he looked like an awkward, gangly, overgrown student.
But he captured one’s attention the moment he started playing the guitar and singing because he performed with his entire body. Eyes closed, fingers strumming, legs tapping and kicking away, he was completely into the moment.
He dove headlong into his songs with a passion that was palpable and his clear, bright voice, as open and direct as his personality, was a compelling and moving instrument.
His enthusiastic bursts of “Yeah!” punctuated the end of each song and were peppered all over his patter, which included anecdotes such as how his first single Yuan Ming, which appears to be about escaping from reality, was actually written when he was upset with a friend for not waking him up for class.
The female leads for Mrs This, A Mu and Hei Lang, also displayed a playful side in their banter, while to the crowd’s delight, bassist Fang Q showed off some Singlish phrases he had picked up.
Their music, however, was a tougher sell live. The vocals were in danger of being overwhelmed by the drums at times and the band could have been tighter as an outfit.
It did not help that the same few photo stills were recycled endlessly in the background and soon became annoying. Either add more photos or just do away with them entirely.
Mrs This were at their best on tracks such as And I and I See Many People, which were infused with a sense of much-needed drama.
There was no certainly no lack of drama in Lu’s gig and he kept the energy level high throughout.
He tackled the hard-to-reach notes on Really Feel Like Being Self-Indulgent, charmed his way through School Belle 2008, and got the audience to chorus “That’s right! That’s right!” on Good Morning, Beauty Of Dawn!
Lu’s gig was so entertaining, it did not even matter one whit that he skipped the chart-topping title track from his album 100 Ways For Living.
It is still early days for 2009, but you have the feeling that you have already seen one of the best concerts of the year.
(ST)
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Saturday
Mrs This
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Friday
Crowd Lu and Mrs This have each released an album, appealing mostly to students and those in their 20s and 30s, and both acts fall under the umbrella of Chinese indie pop. But their concerts proved to be very different experiences.
Lu, 23, delivered a mesmerising show, demonstrating why he is one of the most promising Taiwanese singer-songwriters to emerge in recent years. In contrast to his sunny demeanour and music, compatriots six-piece ensemble Mrs This mined a more melancholic vein of electronic pop-rock, a performance which sometimes threatened to slip into minor key monotony.
Lu’s songs about life and love from a young person’s point of view have resonated strongly with music fans and he sold out two shows at the 245-seat Esplanade Recital Studio.
Dressed in an orange T-shirt worn over another black one, bermudas, calf-high socks and white sneakers, and sporting his trademark black-rimmed glasses and mop top, he looked like an awkward, gangly, overgrown student.
But he captured one’s attention the moment he started playing the guitar and singing because he performed with his entire body. Eyes closed, fingers strumming, legs tapping and kicking away, he was completely into the moment.
He dove headlong into his songs with a passion that was palpable and his clear, bright voice, as open and direct as his personality, was a compelling and moving instrument.
His enthusiastic bursts of “Yeah!” punctuated the end of each song and were peppered all over his patter, which included anecdotes such as how his first single Yuan Ming, which appears to be about escaping from reality, was actually written when he was upset with a friend for not waking him up for class.
The female leads for Mrs This, A Mu and Hei Lang, also displayed a playful side in their banter, while to the crowd’s delight, bassist Fang Q showed off some Singlish phrases he had picked up.
Their music, however, was a tougher sell live. The vocals were in danger of being overwhelmed by the drums at times and the band could have been tighter as an outfit.
It did not help that the same few photo stills were recycled endlessly in the background and soon became annoying. Either add more photos or just do away with them entirely.
Mrs This were at their best on tracks such as And I and I See Many People, which were infused with a sense of much-needed drama.
There was no certainly no lack of drama in Lu’s gig and he kept the energy level high throughout.
He tackled the hard-to-reach notes on Really Feel Like Being Self-Indulgent, charmed his way through School Belle 2008, and got the audience to chorus “That’s right! That’s right!” on Good Morning, Beauty Of Dawn!
Lu’s gig was so entertaining, it did not even matter one whit that he skipped the chart-topping title track from his album 100 Ways For Living.
It is still early days for 2009, but you have the feeling that you have already seen one of the best concerts of the year.
(ST)
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Traffic
Tom Vanderbilt
Driving is “probably the most complex everyday thing we do”, and yet we barely pause to think about it.
So it is a good thing that we have someone like Tom Vanderbilt who decides to examine this phenomenon in great detail, unearthing nuggets of interesting information and fascinating insights into this quotidian activity.
He unpacks certain basic questions and assumptions including what it means to pay attention on the road. He points out that if we were to process every single piece of information out there, we would be overwhelmed.
After all, when driving, we are travelling at speeds for which we are not evolutionarily adapted to.
Some of his conclusions seem counter-intuitive at first. For example, that more seemingly dangerous roads might actually have lower rates of accidents. On such roads, drivers take greater care while so-called safer roads with a multitude of signs and safeguards could actually encourage drivers to drive more dangerously.
The paradox is that when drivers feel more at risk, they behave more cautiously, making the roads safer.
Vanderbilt backs up his assertions with lots of studies and research material. But he handles it with a light and humorous touch so you do not feel like you are stuck in a morass of information.
Apart from academic studies, he also dives headlong into the infamous road snarls of cities such as Beijing and Mumbai and draws upon historical situations from ancient Rome to mediaeval England to give a sense of perspective to this thing called traffic.
There is certainly plenty to mull over here. One question: If we are not evolutionarily equipped to move at driving speeds, what does this say about flying?
If you like this, read: Stiff by Mary Roach. Another topic we do not think about much, human cadavers, is explored in an unexpectedly funny and illuminating manner.
(ST)
Tom Vanderbilt
Driving is “probably the most complex everyday thing we do”, and yet we barely pause to think about it.
So it is a good thing that we have someone like Tom Vanderbilt who decides to examine this phenomenon in great detail, unearthing nuggets of interesting information and fascinating insights into this quotidian activity.
He unpacks certain basic questions and assumptions including what it means to pay attention on the road. He points out that if we were to process every single piece of information out there, we would be overwhelmed.
After all, when driving, we are travelling at speeds for which we are not evolutionarily adapted to.
Some of his conclusions seem counter-intuitive at first. For example, that more seemingly dangerous roads might actually have lower rates of accidents. On such roads, drivers take greater care while so-called safer roads with a multitude of signs and safeguards could actually encourage drivers to drive more dangerously.
The paradox is that when drivers feel more at risk, they behave more cautiously, making the roads safer.
Vanderbilt backs up his assertions with lots of studies and research material. But he handles it with a light and humorous touch so you do not feel like you are stuck in a morass of information.
Apart from academic studies, he also dives headlong into the infamous road snarls of cities such as Beijing and Mumbai and draws upon historical situations from ancient Rome to mediaeval England to give a sense of perspective to this thing called traffic.
There is certainly plenty to mull over here. One question: If we are not evolutionarily equipped to move at driving speeds, what does this say about flying?
If you like this, read: Stiff by Mary Roach. Another topic we do not think about much, human cadavers, is explored in an unexpectedly funny and illuminating manner.
(ST)
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