A Song To Remember
Various artists

Sing It Out Of Love
Tanya Chua

Just Say So
Tanya Chua

Lost N Found
JJ Lin

The local music scene’s biggest names have recently released new works, including a welcome return by Mavis Hee.
Apart from appearing occasionally to sing a song or two at concerts, she has been keeping a low profile after a public meltdown in a hotel in 2006.
Her voice is still a richly soothing balm after all these years. While she has not released a new studio album since 2002’s Spreading, there is no question that she is the star of the soundtrack to the Media- Corp drama A Song To Remember.
She lends her pipes to four songs here including the wistful title track, the tender Your Tears and the gorgeous ballad Remembrance (Travelling Together).
China’s Jade Liu and Taiwan’s Ring Hsu perform other tracks which evoke the drama’s music hall setting in Singapore in the 1930s and 1940s.
While Hee’s output has been sporadic, singer-songwriter Tanya Chua has to be the most hardworking artist around – she released a Mandarin and an English album on the same day.
Sing It Out Of Love is her eighth Mandopop release and features her trademark ballads about love sensitively interpreted in that lightly husky voice.
She states in the liner notes, though: “I don’t want this to be just a sad love ballads album.”
While she seemed to be perpetually unlucky in love on her previous albums, there is a more optimistic vibe to the songs this time around. She sings on Adorable: “On my own, life actually has more possibilities.”
Musically, the jaunty Don’t Bother Me makes for a nice change of pace as she sings drolly about a day in which everything goes wrong: “Black clouds, black clouds, quick go away/Feels like you are challenging my optimism.”
There is also more on her mind than romantic love as the title track is about her father who died last year. On it, she sings about cherishing loved ones: “Life has too many regrets, every minute and second, I will hold on tightly/Speaking of love, when you need me by your side/Let’s sing it out of love.”
But for those who have been her fans since her first release, the English- language Bored (1997), Just Say So could well be the more eagerly awaited album.
While she works with lyricists for hire on her Mandarin discs, it is all Tanya on her English records. And it is clear that she is right at home making music in English.
Just Say So has a looser and more laidback groove to it compared to Sing It Out Of Love. It also feels a little tighter as it charts the trajectory of a relationship from desire to love to break-up.
One gets to see a sexier Chua here as she sings about physical chemistry on Let’s Get Together: “Bet your lips are sweet/When you kiss me deep.” While on the elegiac Carousel, she mourns the end of a relationship: “Oh this love/Took a thousand rides/On a big spinning carousel/We took our final ride on the carousel.”
The lyrics can sometimes seem a little plain and even awkward – “To find some unordinary words” in Back Into My Life – but the melodies, by turns sunny and doleful, and her evocative voice keep the album compelling.
Unfortunately, singer-songwriter JJ Lin’s debut album on his new record label Warner Music feels more safe than vital.
The first single Never Learn is a made-for-radio ballad with a soaring chorus: “Still haven’t learnt, to be a little more clever/Remember to protect myself, and tell some white lies when necessary.”
The album has done well in Taiwan, topping the G-Music album chart in its week of release.
But featuring China pianist Lang Lang on Variation 25: Clash Of The Souls just seems gimmicky. Also, We Together cannot quite trump previous hip urban tracks along the lines of X and Go! from Hundred Days (2009).
Good thing that Dear Friend, with barbed lyrics by Lin Xi, and Streets Of Old Shanghai, with its striking arrangement using traditional Chinese instruments, offer points of interest.
With his milestone 10th studio album looming, one hopes that Lin’s music journey takes more intriguing turns.
(ST)

I Love Hong Kong 2012
Chung Shu Kai, Chin Kwok Wai

While last year’s I Love Hong Kong was an affectionate celebration of the ties that bind, this year’s follow-up is a more generic comedy with a mixed bag of jokes.
Of the cast from last year, Stanley Fung, Bosco Wong and Eric Tsang are among the few who return. Tsang plays the eager-to-please husband of a shrewish lawyer (Teresa Mo).
Her tomboyish younger sister (Denise Ho, looking as though she had just walked off the set of 2011’s Life Without Principle) is dating a fey salesman (Bosco Wong). The youngest brother (Luk Wing) is chasing a gorgeous girl.
Stanley Fung plays the curmudgeonly patriarch who manages to drive away his loved ones but, never fear, the theme of family togetherness will eventually prevail against the backdrop of the world possibly ending this year.
Look out for the sight gags of Tsang in a leotard, Ho and Wong made up to look like ghosts for their wedding pictures and a human domino chain toppling in a supermarket.
Best of all is a geriatric spoof of the hit Taiwanese youthful romance You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011) as veterans Fung and Susan Siu gamely ham it up for yuks.
(ST)

One For The Money
Julie Anne Robinson
The story: Broke and jobless Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) turns to bail enforcement to pay the bills. Even though she knows nothing about being a bounty hunter, she sets her sights on Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), a former vice cop who is wanted for murder. Along the way, she gets help from Ranger (Daniel Sunjata) in learning the ropes of her new profession. Based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Janet Evanovich.

Perhaps One For The Money is Katherine Heigl’s bid to break away from romantic comedies.
The actress, best known for her turn in the TV medical drama Grey’s Anatomy (she was in it from 2005 to 2010), has appeared in a string of them, including 27 Dresses (2008), Life As We Know It (2010) and New Year’s Eve (2011).
Maybe she wants to broaden her appeal. If so, she needs a better vehicle.
This film has some action, some comedy and some romantic sparks between Heigl and Jason O’Mara (from TV’s sci-fi adventure series Terra Nova).
Unfortunately, it is let down by a lazy ending which has major characters conveniently congregating in one location so the story can be neatly wrapped up with a bow on top.
The set-up here actually feels like a romantic comedy. It turns out that Morelli and Plum had a thing back in high school – they slept together and he later dumped her.
The dynamics of a small-town setting where everyone knows everyone else is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the film.
And it also makes the relationship between hunter and hunted more complicated, particularly when Plum finds out that the case against Morelli is not so simple.
Luckily for her, there is the cool and somewhat mysterious Ranger to get her out of tight spots at a moment’s notice.
Though he seems attracted to her, it is never quite clear why he is so eager to help out a competitor.
Since this is meant to be more than a romantic comedy, there is also the murder mystery part of things to get through and this is where the movie feels pedestrian.
With so many crime procedurals on the small screen, a big screen outing needs something extra to set it apart. Otherwise, why bother?
Novelist Evanovich has also penned Two For The Dough (1996) and Three To Get Deadly (1997) all the way to Explosive Eighteen (2011).
The book franchise may be thriving but as for hopes of a film series, one might say that the buck stops here.
(ST)

Past performance is the best indicator of future results. This old human resources saying could well be applied to how movies fare at the box office.
So before Life! peers into the murky depths of the crystal ball to pick the top-grossing films of 2012, it would be instructive to take a quick look at the box-office champs for last year.
Film franchises overwhelmingly dominated the top 10 list with sequels and prequels taking up nine of the 10 spots, including champ Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.
Mr Rudy Marianto, vice-president of film marketing at Shaw Organisation, notes: “When the first instalment performs well at the box office, there will be this certain level of expectation created and the audience will definitely look forward to the subsequent films.”
This bodes well for the latest entries of popular franchises including The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the new James Bond movie Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises and Wrath Of The Titans.
Superhero films had a strong showing with X-Men: First Class, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. This makes Marvel’s The Avengers a no-brainer pick for the 2012 hit list, given that its super cast includes Thor, Captain America and Iron Man, from other successful movie franchises.
No Asian film cracked the overall top 10, although in past years, there has usually been an entry or two. In 2010, the period action flick Ip Man 2 made it to No. 6, while in 2008, Jack Neo’s Money No Enough 2 was No. 4 and Stephen Chow’s comic fantasy CJ7 was at No. 10.
Considering the strong hold that the supernatural continues to have in Singapore – three of the top 10 grossing Asian films last year had ghostly themes – a dark horse contender for the 2012 chart would be Sadako 3-D, featuring the creepy long-haired character from the Japanese horror classic The Ring (1998).
While The Hunger Games and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are not sequels, neither are they unknown entities as both are based on popular novels. In addition, The Hobbit is a return to the realm of Middle Earth that was the setting for the massively popular The Lord Of The Rings film adaptations.

THE HUNGER GAMES
When: March 22
Who: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson
What: This is the film adaptation of the popular 2008 young adult adventure sci-fi novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. In a post-apocalyptic world, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) is forced to take part in a nationally televised tournament in which life and death are the stakes.
Why:
According to a poll by MTV’s Nextmovie.com, The Hunger Games is the most anticipated movie of 2012. Here in Singapore, the book emerged as the winner in the Senior category of the 2010 inaugural Red Dot Awards organised by the International Schools’ Librarians Network.
So while it might not be a franchise yet – there are two more novels in the trilogy – there is plenty of awareness and anticipation for the movie.

WRATH OF THE TITANS
When: March 29
Who: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson
What: Demigod Perseus (Worthington) has to journey to the underworld to save his father Zeus (Neeson) from the clutches of the Titans.
Why:
Despite being lambasted for its 3-D conversion which was done after filming was completed, the remake of the cheesy 1981 flick of gods and monsters was still a big hit in Singapore. It earned $5.29 million and was the third highest-grossing movie for 2010.
Clash memorably featured the Kraken sea creature and the immortal line “Release the Kraken!”. The law of sequels dictates that Wrath will have to feature a meaner and more awesome monster.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
When: May 1
Who: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth
What: It takes a team of superheroes – Iron Man (Downey), Captain America (Evans), Black Widow (Johansson), Thor (Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) – to save the world when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.
Why:
Iron Man is already a successful franchise in its own right. Iron Man 2 was the top-grossing film here in 2010, while Iron Man was the No. 2 movie for 2008. In addition, both Captain America and Thor can also lay claim to having their own hit movies.
The macho posturing of the cocky superheroes should be fun to watch while Johansson injects some womanly wiles into the testosterone-heavy project.

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED
When: June 7
Who: Voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith
What: Alex the Lion (Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Rock), Melman the Giraffe (Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippopotamus (Pinkett Smith) set out to return to New York from Africa by way of a circus travelling through Europe.
Why:
In the battle of the animated sequels – Madagascar 3 versus Ice Age 4 – the zoo animals might just edge out the prehistoric ones. Madagascar: Escape To Africa was 2008’s No. 5 movie while Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs was 2009’s No. 7 movie.
Besides, a longer absence could well make the heart grow fonder.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
When: July 3
Who: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone
What: It is the fourth Columbia Pictures film about the web-slinging hero and the first one with Garfield stepping into the shoes Tobey Maguire had previously filled. Instead of the familiar Mary Jane Watson, the reboot has Stone in the love interest role of high school classmate Gwen Stacy.
Why:
The earlier three Spider-Man films (2002, 2004, 2007) only made about US$2.5 billion (S$3.2 billion) worldwide. Spider-Man 3 grossed an impressive $7.82 million to top the box office charts here in 2007.
The brand of the series is so strong that the new movie will survive the change of lead actor. Whether it can scale new heights at the box office will be the bigger question.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
When: July 19
Who: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy
What: Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight (2008), Bruce Wayne/Batman returns to Gotham to face down Selina Kyle (Hathaway) and Bane (Hardy) – two villains from the Batman mythology.
Why:
This is the concluding chapter to Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed take on Batman. Batman Begins was the No. 8 movie in Singapore in 2005 and its sequel, The Dark Knight, moved up to the No. 3 position in 2008.
The poster is clever and the trailer promises awe-inducing action and destruction as well as Hathaway whispering that “there’s a storm coming”.

SADAKO 3-D
When: Aug
Who: Satomi Ishihara, Koji Seto
What: The Japanese horror classic The Ring (1998) was based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki. He has reportedly scripted a completely new story for Sadako, who is the creepy long-haired character who appeared in The Ring.
Why:
The scene of Sadako crawling out of a television remains indelibly etched in the minds of those who saw The Ring. Now imagine this in 3-D. Just the thought is enough to induce goosebumps.
The story of a cursed videotape proved irresistible and it led to two Japanese sequels as well as American and Korean remakes.

SKYFALL
When: Nov 1
Who: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem
What: Superspy James Bond’s (Craig) loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. Bardem plays the baddie.
Why:
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman might get more critical acclaim but this action-packed spy thriller is likely to accomplish the mission at the box office. The last Bond outing, Quantum Of Solace, was No. 8 on the 2008 box office chart here.
Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond film and Craig is back for his third outing as the suave spy. Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe are the latest in a long line of sexy Bond girls.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2
When: Nov 22
Who: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner
What: The conclusion to the romantic fantasy films based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels as vampire Edward (Pattinson) and human Bella’s (Stewart) child threatens both the werewolf pack and the vampire coven.
Why:
While Part 1 did not crack the top 10 list in Singapore last year 2011, Part 2 might given that it is the concluding chapter to a popular series, and it is the last chance for Team Edward and Team Jacob (Lautner plays the werewolf Jacob) to show their love.
After all, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the final salvo in that wizarding fantasy, was the third highest-grossing film for 2011.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
When: Dec 13
Who: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen
What: The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) is approached by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (McKellen) to reclaim a lost treasure from the fearsome dragon Smaug.
Why:
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was turned into a critical and popular hit by Peter Jackson. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King won 11 Oscars including for Best Picture and Best Director in 2004. It was also the top-grossing film in Singapore in 2003.
The Hobbit is also set in the universe of Middle Earth and helmed by Jackson. This is as sure a bet for box-office gold as one can imagine, short of a superhero sequel.
(ST)

?
Eason Chan

The Adventures Of Bernie The Schoolboy
Joanna Wang

Dream A New Dream
Selina Jen

Far too often, Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s Mandarin releases have seemed like the poorer and less sophisticated cousins of his Cantonese albums.
It is hence a pleasant surprise to find that the elegantly titled ? is his most cohesive Mandarin effort to date, one which holds up well in any language.
There are highlights aplenty on this disc probing the mysteries of love and life.
See Through, written by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Shadya Lan, features incisive lyrics about human interaction paired with a bouncy piano melody.
Chan sings: “Everyone, is used to, meeting someone, to act all surface/Everyone, is not used to, seeing someone, to place sincerity first.”
Guilty, to which Singaporean Hanjin Tan contributes music and lyrics, is a love ballad with a morose protagonist: “I used to know that not sleeping, was bad for me/You were my sleeping pill” and “Every time I turn around, guilt is an executioner, destroying everything in my memory.”
There are also two Cantonese tracks and one English song, all interpreted by one of the most compelling voices in Chinese pop music today.
While Taiwan’s Joanna Wang also lays claim to a gorgeous set of pipes, she has not been too adventurous in her Mandarin releases.
That is not a criticism that can be levelled at her English concept album The Adventures Of Bernie The Schoolboy which delves into a richly imagined world of fantasy and whimsy.
The harpsichord features prominently in the instrumentation, and while it takes some getting used to, it helps in creating that fairy-tale mood and giving the disc a distinctive identity.
This is not some cheery rainbowcoloured tale, however, but one shot through with darkness and paranoia. The lyrics for The Bug go, “Now that we’ve bugged your phone/We hear even your dial tone/We hear your every word/You didn’t know could be heard.”
The EP from Selina Jen, one-third of Taiwan’s popular girl group S.H.E, has its share of darkness as well. She suffered third-degree burns in a filming accident in 2010 and the accompanying DVD has shots of her at the hospital and undergoing physiotherapy.
The ballad Everyone Who Loves Me, composed by local singer-songwriter JJ Lin with lyrics by Daryl Yao, touchingly conveys her gratitude to those who stood by her through those dark days: “Thank you everyone who loves me for accompanying me in the most nightmarish journey of my life.”
Jen wrote the lyrics for the track Dream and she yearns: “Like fish swimming leisurely in the sea, as natural as the deer running/If my world could be redone, these dreamscapes, will happen now.”
With her recent wedding to lawyer Richard Chang and return to music, one hopes that Jen’s nightmare is finally fading away.
(ST)

Dance Dance Dragon
Kat Goh

The Chinese title Long Zhong Wu, which is a rough translation of the English title, is the homonym for the Hokkien phrase, which means everything is available.
That, unfortunately, is what director Kat Goh and scribes Kelvin Tong and Marcus Chin try to do: overstuff this Dragon.
There is the archetypal Hong Kong family comedy set-up: A spinsterish eldest daughter (Dennis Chew, in drag as his popular alter-ego Lucy, below right), tomboyish second daughter Ah Bee (Kym Ng) and an immature son Ah Long (Melvin Sia).
Eric (Adrian Pang, below left) is the irascible gambler/chef who turns out to be a potential love interest for Lucy and Ah Bee, while the matriarch (Lai Meng) fervently prays for a grandson.
Then these other elements are thrown into the mix: a baby (Nigel Yeo) who magically appears on the first day of Chinese New Year, heaven as a corporate bureaucracy run by children speaking in clipped tones, a clash between two lion dance troupes, scheming relatives, bumbling villains and comic-book style visual flourishes.
The actors try their best, but apart from some fleetingly funny moments, mostly from Pang, the cutest performance here is from the baby. At one point, it seemed that Eric might use the magic baby as an aid at the casino. Too bad the chance for a funny scene is lost as the politically correct film opts for an anti-gambling, pro-family stance.
So this Dragon does not dance. Mostly, the bloated creature just drags its feet.
(ST)

The Viral Factor
Dante Lam
The story: Police special agent Jon (Jay Chou) goes to Malaysia to track down his estranged father and elder brother. There, he gets entangled in a bio-terrorist plot involving the smallpox virus. Medical specialist Rachel (Lin Peng) is kidnapped for her expertise by none other than Yang (Nicholas Tse), Jon’s brother.

The Viral Factor is not particularly festive in subject matter (who would like a dose of smallpox to go with their bak kwa?), but it might just be the flick to turn your Chinese New Year holidays into a blast.
The thriller’s US$17-million (S$22-million) budget shows in the globe-trotting story and big-scale action sequences. It was filmed in China, the Middle East and South-east Asia and even used “real military weapons”, boast the production notes.
Things get off to a pacey start when an operation to protect some key personnel in Jordan goes horribly wrong. Agent Jon and his fellow team members are betrayed by a traitor in their midst and he takes a bullet in the head.
Granted, The Viral Factor can be preposterous as big-budget action thrillers are wont to be, but director Dante Lam makes it entertainingly so.
Lam – known for his taut police thrillers including Beast Cops, which won for Best Picture and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1999 – knows his action and given the opportunity to work on a bigger canvas, he runs with it. There are rocket launchers and bombs in the streets of Jordan, car chases and helicopter chases in Malaysia and a fiery gunbattle finale that is set on a container ship.
This is top-notch carnage and wreckage and one marvels at the level of cooperation that must have been extended to the production crew in Malaysia in shutting down roads and a train station, and even allowing for choppers to weave between skyscrapers. It seems unlikely this could have been filmed in Singapore and certainly there is no way our cops would have been allowed to look this incompetent.
Mandopop superstar Jay Chou, looking all grungy and scruffy, is clearly gunning for more grown-up appeal, even as he indulges his inner child on his latest album, Exclamation Point (2011).
His co-star Tse, though, is the one who stands out. As the tattooed “righteous thief” with a bad perm job and his daughter’s life on the line, he is the guy you end up rooting for.
In 2010’s The Stool Pigeon, he had gamely endured being knocked about and becoming increasingly bruised and battered, physically and emotionally. Here, he is shot at, beaten up, flung off and flung down a building. Someone give the man an award for dedication to his craft already. And comprehensive insurance coverage.
(ST)

We Not Naughty
Jack Neo
The story: Polytechnic students Weijie (Shawn Lee) and Jianren (Joshua Ang) are best friends who are sucked into the world of loansharks. New teacher CK (Daniel Chan) is determined to be there for them. However, he unwittingly helps the boys to create a remote-controlled flying machine, called Ah Long No. 2, for which the bad guys have more nefarious uses than just collecting debts.

Local film-maker Jack Neo is a familiar fixture when it comes to the Chinese New Year box-office sweepstakes. His past entries have included Love Matters (2009), Ah Long Pte Ltd (2008), Just Follow Law (2007) and I Not Stupid Too (2006), stretching all the way back to 1999’s Liang Po Po – The Movie.
We Not Naughty, his latest festive entry, is also familiarly unpalatable.
For starters, director and co-writer Neo tackles way too many issues here.
Apart from the topical loansharking plot, Weijie’s younger sister (Cheryl Yeo) learns about the real-life consequences of Internet bullying the hard way, his younger brother (Ivan Lo) struggles with being good, and gambling debts lead to an explosive confrontation between his father (Jacky Chin) and mother (Xiang Yun). And that is just Weijie’s family.
Jianren has a mother, Cynthia Phua (Dawn Gan), who is more interested in her career than her family, and an Americanised younger brother (Amos Yee) who looks down on his elder sibling.
There is also teacher CK’s attempts to bond with his students and an ill-conceived bet in which the loser has to run through the school naked.
Predictably, Neo ends up making not a cohesive social drama but a scattershot series of skits with much moralising. His messages are as subtle as having a ton of bricks dropped on one’s head before being totalled by a steamroller.
Pointed digs about foreigners taking over HDB estates and loansharks following gerrymandered electoral boundaries are essentially punchlines in these skits, not political satire.
Shawn Lee and Joshua Ang are the most natural among the younger bunch of actors and they have a chemistry that dates back to Neo’s I Not Stupid (2002). But the poignancy of two frustrated teenagers left with few choices is almost buried with everything that is going on.
And then a theme song blares: “We are a group of hopeless people, bound to get hurt and fall sooner or later/No one will care whose responsibility this is, we are just like drifting motes of dust.” Obvious much?
The characters rarely feel like flesh-and-blood creations. And because they do not, moments of forgiveness and redemption, underscored by sad-sounding musical cues, are mawkish, not moving.
In the final half-hour or so of this overlong movie, Neo decides he has had enough of social drama and puts on his action director hat instead.
So all the major characters are willy-nilly assembled in a jungle setting: Weijie and Jianren with their remote-controlled flying device, the blustery bad guys, the feckless and reckless CK and his heavily pregnant wife in pursuit and the maddeningly upbeat Madam Phua who manages to find her way into the melee as well.
The payoff? One of the most ludicrous and unnecessary birth scenes committed to film. There was a point about the bond between mothers and their children, but I had long since hitched a ride on the steamroller out of there.
(ST)

Jam Hsiao World Tour 2012
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday

Can a human jukebox be a music star?
Somewhat surprisingly, Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao proves that the answer is yes.
With three albums of original material released since he burst into fame in 2007 on the TV singing competition One Million Star, he could put together a show without covers.
Yet, over the course of a three-hour concert, he performed his own songs less than half the time. Other artists’ hits dominated right from the get-go.
No matter. Both his concert on Saturday and his last show here in 2010 were sold-out affairs.
Hsiao, 24, made his entrance dressed like a matador touched by Midas and opened the gig with Wild Dreams, the title track from his 2011 album. Then followed a string of covers from Michael Jackson’s Black Or White to Tanya Chua’s Beautiful Love.
His setlist, while showing good taste in music, threatened to upstage some of his own songs such as I Really Want To Say.
The fans were happy to hear their idol sing pretty much anything though it did seem that Forgive Me, a hit from his 2008 debut album, was greeted with louder screams of excitement.
He is a most competent and versatile singer, with a richly resonant and emotive voice and a raspy edge perfect for both rock and pop.
A slowed-down, jazzed-up take on Teresa Teng’s classic The Moon Represents My Heart mixed well with the fast tunes. The only problem was the overloud music which sometimes threatened to bury his more tender moments, such as on Faye Wong’s The Very Last Blossom.
And how he turned up the energy with fast-paced numbers, including Jay Chou’s Cowboy On The Run and Show Lo’s One Man Show, before going all out in a Mando-techno segment climaxing with Sammi Cheng’s thumping Mei Fei Se Wu (Overjoyed).
His outfit here was appropriately over-the-top and cheesily dramatic. He was dressed in a get-up of black and fluorescent yellow with lights over his crotch and buttocks. It looked like he was wearing electric underpants.
It hardly mattered whose songs Hsiao was singing at this point. He was simply putting on a good show and his musical talent extended to the piano as well as a pimped-out drum set.
Even his inability to banter tickled his fans as he repeatedly hollered, “Da jia hao! (Hello, everybody!)”.
Just when you had accepted the curious lack of Hsiao’s own songs, he proceeded to reel them off, especially in the two encores, including the hit ballad Collection and the heartfelt You. Believers, this reviewer’s personal favourite off his second album Princess (2009), did not make the cut.
By the time Hsiao ended the night on a high with the raucous Princess, he had shown that he was no run-of-the-mill jukebox: He was one who could push our emotional buttons.
(ST)

Magical Shop
Peggy Hsu

Just The Way I Am
Genie Chuo

Taiwan’s Peggy Hsu and Genie Chuo both made their debuts in 2001.
Both celebrated a decade in music last year, and both have come up with new releases to mark the milestone.
It has been a sometimes rocky road for Hsu. The 30-year-old was mired in a contractual dispute for years, after her song Balloon (2001) flew out and became a hit, and it was not until 2007 that her sophomore effort Peggy’s Wish Box was released.
On her fifth disc Magical Shop, the singer-songwriter continues to whip up whimsy, a mood that was most effectively sustained on the winter-themed Snowman (2009) and the circus-inspired EP Le Cirque I (2010).
This time around, she draws on magic and fairy tales. Sometimes, she seems content to be twee and cutesy even when the subject is sadness. She sings in the track Venice: “Tears are water that’s been seasoned with salt/falling drop by drop, bit by bit/cooking a bowl of noodles.”
One wishes there were more songs such as the poignantly observed The Fool Who Sells Smiles: “The fool is singing, the sky is adrift with dazzling perfect snow/The grand ball starts like this/The matches all burnt out, leaving behind cold air.”
While not quite wondrously magical, it remains worthwhile to poke about in this Shop.
On album No. 5, Chuo’s shrill voice still takes a little getting used to. To her credit, the 25-year-old is trying to shake up her sweetie-pie image with the catchy dance-pop of Villain and Don’t, Don’t.
But while she reportedly drew on her own failed romance for the lyrics for Enough, the results feel fairly generic: “Don’t want to love any more, don’t want to not let go, don’t want to become the one who admits defeat at the end/Want to cry, want to go crazy, want to forget, you were the person I once loved.”
Chuo might declare that this is who she is with the album title, but it is Hsu who has the more distinctive musical personality.
(ST)

On The Way Home
Penny Tai
On her milestone 10th album, Malaysian singer-songwriter Penny Tai sounds refreshed and revitalised.
She apparently wrote the songs while taking a break in the United States and there is a relaxed vibe to the material here.
On the jangly opener On The Way Home, she has an epiphany: “On the way home, I realised I hate the bustle of the city/During these free-and-easy days, I kissed the earth”.
Bare My Feet continues in this breezy folksy vein: “I want to bare my feet and dance on the streets/Counting the faces in love, moving step by step”.
Another highlight here is the mid- tempo Beautiful Times which finds Tai in a reflective mood: “There’s a stretch of road I’ve walked that I won’t forget/A person I’ve loved still in my heart/Although I’ve fallen along the way, that’s growing, too/I’m not afraid, it’s not just bravado”.
It all points to a renewed sense of purpose, which bodes well for her journey as a singer-songwriter.
(ST)

Let's Not Fall In Love Again
Nicholas Teo

Just when you had Malaysian balladeer Nicholas Teo firmly pegged as a B-lister, he has you thinking again with the irresistible Let’s Not Fall In Love Again, one of the best karaoke-ready hits to come along in a while.
Written by fellow Malaysian Zyan Chen, the number is tailor-made for Teo’s soothing emotive voice and a great comeback vehicle for him. He has been lying low since 2009’s The Moment Of Silence.
The song is about the complicated feelings for an old flame sparked by a chance meeting: “As harmonious as ordinary friends/Be polite and let’s not startle love anymore.”
It builds into an epic chorus of longing and self-denial which tugs at the heartstrings: “These few days, these few months, these few years/I don’t miss/This moment, this minute, this second/You’re in front of me... I’ve been doing very well, don’t disturb me/Let’s just be quiet this moment.”
The album has a mix of ballads and faster-paced songs but it is undoubtedly the slow numbers which play to Teo’s strengths.
Tracks such as Why Cry, the Mandarin theme song to the Korean drama Lie To Me, and the Wu Jiahui-penned Not Much are memorable, if still in the shadow of the title track.
Finally, Teo is no longer a one-hit wonder best known for covering When You Are Lonely, Who Will You Think Of? in 2004.
Perhaps when you are lonely now, you might think of Let’s Not Fall In Love Again.
(ST)

Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate
Tsui Hark
The story: At the end of New Dragon Gate Inn (1992), which Hong Kong’s Tsui Hark produced and co-wrote, the infamous desert outpost of lawlessness was razed to the ground. Three years later, the new inn in its place is once again bustling as an array of characters with different motives and motivations gather there: A concubine (Mavis Fan) on the run from the powerful eunuch Yu (Chen Kun) is being protected by a masked woman (Zhou Xun), righteous hero Zhao (Jet Li) wants to take down the eunuch, and treasure hunters are drawn there as a massive storm is about to reveal a buried palace.

Do not buy into the hype that this is the first 3-D martial arts movie.
The technology is far from being the highlight of the film. Some of the showcase 3-D scenes look rather fake and the epic showdown between Jet Li’s Zhao and Chen’s eunuch Yu could have done with a little less CGI and more oomph.
Not that it lacks visual flair, though. Indeed, one gets swirling capes, flying swords and twirling ropes in an early fight scene between Jet Li and Gordon Liu, the action star of the 1970s and 1980s who cameos as another powerful eunuch.
More importantly, Flying Swords is an absorbing work. Clearly, there is a lot going on here. Part of the fun is working out exactly what is going on since people are not quite who they say they are and almost everyone is hiding something.
Complicating things is the fact that the eunuch Yu and the opportunistic treasure-hunter Wu are dead ringers for each other. They are both played by China actor Chen Kun, recently seen in Jiang Wen’s excellent Let The Bullets Fly (2010). He does a great job playing the silkily villainous Yu as well as the quick-thinking Wu. Of course, Tsui sets it up so that Wu ends up impersonating Yu. To add to the subterfuge, both camps realise that the two look alike and Yu comes up with a passcode to prove that he is the real McCoy. Sit back, pay attention and enjoy how it all plays out.
While those who have watched Tsui’s earlier work in films such as Peking Opera Blues (1986) and Shanghai Blues (1984) would be familiar with these devices of mistaken identities and use of code words, they still feel fresh and funny when executed with verve.
Aside from Chen’s performances, Tsui’s famed ability to do surprising work with actors is also evident here. Taiwan’s Guey Lun-mei is often cast as the elegantly genteel city girl in films such as Taipei Exchanges (2010). Here, she is clearly having a ball of a time, swaggering and spitting as a tattooed tribal princess.
Although the interplay of some of the relationships could have been drawn out a little more, there is more than enough here to entrance viewers. If last year’s Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame suggested that Tsui was back on form, Flying Swords seals the deal.
(ST)

Chinese Gigs
Best & Worst
Faye Wong 2011 concert
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Oct 29
It has been a long wait for fans of the Chinese pop diva who left the music scene six years ago to get married and have children.
True, she started off a little shaky and her voice was not quite as pristine as before, but she could still sing beautifully. The production was also top-notch, with seasonally themed tableaux unfolding on stage. At one point, she even soared over the audience in a contraption that seemed to be made of light and air.
The enigmatic ending divided fans but love it or hate it, the famously reticent Wong definitely made quite a statement there.

Rock 30 Singapore concert
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Jan 22
Iconic music label Rock Records marked its 30th anniversary with one big bash after another. The celebratory gig in Singapore was shorter than the five-hour-long festivities in Taipei in November last year, but it was still an exhilarating treat. The stellar line-up included past and present stars such as the sexily confident Tarcy Su, the raspy-voiced Wa Wa and the crowd-pleasing Wakin Chau.
Also, a finale twice thwarted in Taipei as they ran out of time was happily completed in Singapore as the performers returned for a mass singalong of Happy Paradise.

Kit Chan The Music Room Concert 2011
Grand Theater at Marina Bay Sands, Oct 13 to 15
Singapore’s own Kit Chan made a welcome return to the music scene. It was an all-out comeback with a covers album and not one, but two concerts.
While she had to share the stage with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at her show at the Esplanade in February, the spotlight was all hers at her second gig.
Here was a performer who was totally comfortable in her own skin and her vocal and emotional maturity was evident from her take on songs such as Stephen Sondheim’s Send In The Clowns.

What I Want To Banish
The inconsistent sound quality at the Singapore Indoor Stadium marred one’s enjoyment of the Faye Wong concert and did not help the largely underwhelming experience that was local singer-songwriter Tanya Chua’s gig.
(ST)

Music: Asian
Best & Worst
Who is Hanjin Tan
Hanjin Tan, BBS Records
The Hong Kong-based Singaporean singer-songwriter Hanjin Tan is not likely to remain unknown much longer with records such as this one.
Here are compelling stories about his life and his philosophy of happiness, dressed up with insistent melodies, groovy beats and even joyous scatting. This is 100 per cent Tan’s vision as he composed the music, wrote the lyrics, did the arrangements, recording, mixing and also played the instruments.
Impressively, this is his second brilliant record in a little over a year after Buy 1 Get 1 Free, a Mando-Canto-jazzy-hip-hop collaboration with rapper MC Jin, came out last July.

Moonlight
Soft Lipa & Jabberloop, AsiaMuse Entertainment
Giving musical cross-pollination a good name is this collaboration between Taiwanese rapper Soft Lipa and Japanese jazz quintet Jabberloop.
It is an ambitious album that simply works as Soft Lipa’s smooth rapping flows along with the brassy brew of music on tracks such as Classic!. Add the elegantly elegiac She Waltzes With Time and the clear-eyed Process which both ponder life and living, and what you have is a richly layered album which warrants repeat listening.

Perfect Life
Yoga Lin, HIM International Music
The third album from Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin proves that being part of mainstream need not be a bad thing. The popular champ of the singing contest One Million Star in 2007 once again serves up an album with songs which appeal to different tastes and yet feels remarkably cohesive.
From the energetic jolt of Wake Up to the soothing balm of Good Night, Lin’s distinctive voice ties it all together to make this a near flawless pop record.

What I Want To Banish
Image is not everything when it comes to music albums. So Amber An and Show Lo, do note that the focal point should be the music CD – and not the fussily lavish photo album.
(ST)

Movies: Asian
Best & Worst
Let The Bullets Fly
Writer-director-star Jiang Wen’s hugely entertaining take on classic spaghetti westerns was both a critical and box-office hit. Even if some of the dense symbolism went flying over one’s head, there was much to enjoy here from the top-notch performances from Jiang, Ge You and Chow Yun Fat to the exciting action sequences to the zip and zing of the humour.
The two-hour-plus running time could have been trimmed but there is no denying that this was an exhilarating cinematic experience from a film-maker with a singular vision.

Poetry
Thanks to the Lee Chang Dong retrospective organised by local distributor Luna Films in July, audiences here finally had a chance to watch this drama on the big screen more than a year after it wowed the Cannes Film Festival.
The quietly devastating Poetry juxtaposes lyrical beauty with an ugly crime and is anchored by an unforgettable performance by Yun Jung Hee, a major star of Korean cinema in the 1960s and 1970s.

You Are The Apple Of My Eye
A simple story of first love is turned into a fresh, affecting and uproariously funny movie by first-time feature director Giddens Ko.
The casting is perfect with winning performances from newcomer Ko Chen-tung as the rascally and immature Ko Ching-teng and actress Michelle Chen as the sweet-but-not-saintly Shen Chia-yi. For his endearing portrayal, Ko was named Best New Performer at the Golden Horse Awards last month.
The ending will break your heart and then have you laughing heartily. An all-round charmer.

What I Want To Banish
The misuse and abuse of CGI in films such as Legendary Amazons, The Sorcerer And The White Snake and Mural. Also, Taiwan-born actress Shu Qi needs to stop acting drunk pronto. Her most recent episode of inebriation was in the sappy melodrama A Beautiful Life.
(ST)

Over The Cloud
Chyi Yu

Taiwanese diva Chyi Yu’s timing has improved since her last English album The Voice.
That semi-yuletide-themed offering came out in the unseasonal month of February, while Over The Cloud drifts by just in time for Christmas.
Deadlines aside, the song selection here is stronger, though the disc could have done without Sarah McLachlan’s schmaltzy Angel.
The Hank Williams-penned I Saw The Light is a rollicking spiritual that Chyi joyously embraces: “I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin/I wouldn’t let my dear Saviour in/Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night/Praise the Lord, I saw the Light”.
Her buoyant lilting voice also lights up the traditional numbers In The Sweet By And By and The Wayfaring Stranger.
Holiday chestnuts such as Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town and White Christmas are also included, and the sound of sleigh bells adds to the festive mood in her take on Jingle Bells.
There are not too many options when it comes to having an Asian pop singer spread the Yuletide cheer, so it’s a good thing that Chyi gets the job done.
(ST)

We Bought A Zoo
Cameron Crowe
The story: Widower Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) gets a fresh start by buying a new house – one with a rundown zoo attached. While trying to connect with his sullen teenage son and looking after his young daughter, he also has to get the animal park ready for its opening with the help of head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson). Based on the 2008 memoir by Benjamin Mee.

We Bought A Zoo wants to be a warm-hearted feel- good offering for the holiday season but it ends up feeling a tad calculated instead.
The Hollywood treatment begins by transplanting the story stateside, turning the Dartmoor Zoological Park of the book into the film’s Rosemoor Animal Park.
Then it adds star power courtesy of Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.
After a busy year of high-concept dramas such as the sci-fi thriller The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and the medical thriller Contagion (2011), Damon relaxes with a supporting voice part in the animation Happy Feet Two and a not-too-taxing role as a widower-father trying to cope.
Even as a rather unlikely zookeeper, Johansson manages to up the movie’s glamour factor. The bigger problem is the cliched attraction between Kelly and Benjamin, conveniently available here, though in the book, he was taking care of his sick and dying wife.
Meanwhile, sullen Dylan Mee (Colin Ford) has innocent rural girl Lily (a charmingly gauche Elle Fanning) to draw him out of his emotional shell.
And Rosie Mee (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is yet another cute moppet who spouts lines that are meant to elicit an “Oh, isn’t that adorable?” reaction.
Given that the park had 50 varieties of animals ranging from tigers to snakes to zebras, one was hoping for some entertaining interactions between them and the humans.
But even with a runaway creature and a last-minute problem with the lion’s cage on inspection day, there is not enough engaging animal drama.
Writer-director Cameron Crowe proved that he knew how to work with cute kids in the comedy drama Jerry Maguire (1996) and that he could tell a compelling story in Almost Famous (2000) but he is decidedly less assured here in his grasp of the tale.
If you are looking for a funny and entertaining story about animals, pick up a copy of Gerald Durrell’s classic My Family And Other Animals (1956) instead.
(ST)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
Guy Ritchie
The story: The brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is investigating a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. With Europe’s peace at stake, he has to figure out – and stop – the game plan of the shadowy Dr Moriarty (Jared Harris) with the help of his trusted sidekick Dr John Watson (Jude Law) and
Sim, a gypsy fortune-teller (Noomi Rapace).

The sequel to the 2009 hit Sherlock Holmes reunites director Guy Ritchie with stars Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.
It sticks to the same tone of the earlier movie, essentially a buddy-cop pairing of two men of very different temperament in an action-thriller. Think, say, Lethal Weapon (1987) set at the end of 19th- century Europe.
This being a sequel, everything, including the stakes, has to be grander and bigger.
The action is not just confined to London, as a building gets blown up in Paris, and Holmes and gang have to run for their lives through a forest in Germany as bullets zing and bombs explode around them.
The stakes are both political – peace in Europe – and personal, as Moriarty goes after Watson and his new wife Mary (Kelly Reilly).
Things get off to a quick and boisterous start with Holmes in disguise tracking former-lover-turned- Moriarty-associate Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).
There is a dust-up and an assassination, followed by a stag party for Watson which turns into a messy brawl as Holmes tries to save Sim from a killer.
There is a lot happening and it feels rather disjointed as the film lurches from one set-up to the next.
Good thing that the movie remains grounded by the Holmes-Watson relationship even as it is being tested by Watson’s marriage.
Downey’s manic and wild-eyed Holmes plays off Law’s more sensible and uptight Watson, and Ritchie handles their bromance with a light comic touch.
Jared Harris, from TV’s acclaimed drama Mad Men, is not quite menacing enough as the world’s greatest criminal mastermind though.
But it was a nice touch that when the nefarious plot is finally uncovered, Moriarty points out that Holmes is fighting forces that are beyond him and that the audience knows would eventually lead to world war. There are limits to what even the great Sherlock Holmes can accomplish.
Unfortunately, the female characters get short shrift here.
Noomi Rapace, so compelling as Lisbeth Salander in the 2009 Swedish/Danish film adaptations of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, has little to do besides glower and flounce in her skirt as Sim. And Reilly and McAdams essentially have cameo roles.
What is lost in this busy film is the cerebral nature of Holmes’ detective work. This is something that Benedict Cumberbatch coolly nails as Holmes in the recent critically acclaimed BBC series Sherlock, which returns for a second season next month. Which is why the TV show is, for me, the more eagerly awaited sequel.
(ST)

You Are The Apple Of My Eye
Various artists

Be Yourself
Kai Ko Chen-tung

Still hankering for more after watching the Taiwanese youth drama You Are The Apple Of My Eye for the nth time?
Replay favourite moments from the hit film in your head, with the help of its original soundtrack which comprises a hodgepodge of featured songs as well as instrumental tracks. Fans would also be happy with the behind-the-scenes featurette included in the accompanying DVD.
The best numbers here are the poignant hit theme song Those Bygone Years by China singer Hu Xia, as well as lead actress Michelle Chen’s touchingly raw rendition of Childish.
Impressively, she wrote the music and lyrics for the track as well: “Tender childishness accompanied those years, like the gentle sun warming my heart”, and later, “Stubborn childishness pulled us apart, I dried my tears and left without turning back”.
Male lead Kai Ko Chen-tung also contributes his vocals to one track here, Lonely Caffeine. He has a pleasant enough baritone, but the song is not as memorable. Still, the 20-year-old newcomer’s upward trajectory is unstoppable at the moment with a Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer and also a debut record.
Even though the disc is titled Be Yourself, Ko seems to be taking on the persona of his character from the film – schoolboy-in-love Ko Ching-teng.
It is a smart move, as the album works as an unofficial soundtrack to the film.
The title of the opening number, Rang Wo Ji Xu Ai Ni (Let Me Continue To Like You), is a key piece of dialogue from the film and the official translation is actually You Are The Apple Of My Eye. The two leads are even reunited on the love duet Message In A Bottle.
One could also easily imagine the sentiments of Can’t Get Her Back and Let Me Love You Again being expressed by the character Ko Ching-teng.
The material here ranges from ballads to light pop-rock and does not overtax the neophyte singer. The question is whether he can follow up with a record that does not lean on the success of Apple. So, when is Michelle Chen releasing an album?
(ST)

Exclamation Point

Jay Chou

Singers such as Mavis Fan started out doing children’s songs and then spent years trying to be taken seriously as artists. Meanwhile, Mandopop king Jay Chou has decided to move in the opposite direction.

He has described his 11th release as being “more for the kids”.

And from the nautical cartoon-inspired CD cover design to the music video for the title track which unfolds like a frenetic videogame, one is left in no doubt whom this record is aimed at.

It is a strategy that has paid off as Exclamation Point debuted on top of the Mandarin albums chart in Taiwan, with the lion’s share of 48 per cent of sales.

The opening title track kicks off with siren wails and a rock swagger that leads to a chorus which sounds as though he is swearing. How fun for the kids, how lame for the grown-ups.

Princess Syndrome is like a warmed-over version of Sunny Otaku off 2007’s On The Run album, and the lyrics even include “sunny otaku”.

Hydrophobic Sailor is kind of cute, but he has sailed these waters before with tracks such as Cowboy On The Run (also from On The Run) and Mr Magic from Capricorn (2008).

So where does that leave the rest of Chou’s fans?

Head for the catchy dance beats of Enchanting Melody and check out its music video inspired by the cerebral Hollywood thriller Inception (2010).

And Shadow Puppetry shows that he is still capable of combining different elements – rap, falsetto, a sinuous synth line, Taiwanese comedian Tang Tsung-sheng’s lyrics about the folk art – into an irresistibly heady brew.

Taken as a whole, however, the album might be titled Exclamation Point but feels more like ellipsis as he treads water instead of aiming for new shores.

Deja Vu

Hacken Lee

Deja Vu indeed.

This feels like a return to the 1980s when big-name Cantopop stars would deign to release a Mandarin album every once in a while. Maybe it was at the dictates of the record label, but you could tell that their hearts were not in it. Neither was their diction.

Hacken Lee’s Mandarin pronunciation is passable, but the material is not. Mostly, it feels dated and stuck in time. The title of one track, The Happier I Get, The Lonelier I Am, even harks back to William So’s monster 1998 Canto hit The More We Kiss, The Sadder I Get.

Six years after his last Mandarin release Ask About Love, Lee goes on about love and loss in airbrushed ballads with little in the way of genuine emotion.

The saving grace are the jazzy The Best Medicine, which at least is an attempt at something different, and the two Cantonese songs tacked on at the end – Galaxy and Kongming Lantern. It is a relief to hear Lee in his mellifluous element instead of wondering whether the entire album was superfluous.

(ST)

What Is Troubling You

sodagreen

Listen. It is the first word sung here, an exhortation to pay careful attention to sodagreen’s eighth record.

But fans of the Taiwanese indie band would already know to do so, as poetic and incisive lyrics are a feature of frontman Wu Ching-feng’s compositions.

Opening track The Limits Of Happiness has him pondering: “Happiness won’t be like Newton, an apple turning into knowledge/So, should the one who doesn’t get it hate?”

Wu’s trademark soaring vocals have a vivid clarity which convey an emotional immediacy. When paired with poignantly tender lyrics as in Enjoy Loneliness – which the band had performed during the Loud Festival here recently – it’s goosebump-inducing: “Stretched out my hand then without a second thought/Saw your face, it was my universe/A sweet habit turned into routine life/So that I’ve understood something.”

Even if this is not the long-awaited autumnal follow-up to the summer-themed Fever, sodagreen are incapable of putting out a slapdash placeholder just to satisfy fans’ desire for new material.

The album also includes a sweet duet with popular girl group S.H.E’s Ella Chen and her alto pipes blend well with Wu’s high voice.

It all comes to a lovely end with the gospel-tinged title track as Wu sings: “Time never responds/Life never clamours/Even if it’s just moments, I’m not afraid/They make up forever.”

So just listen, and let sodagreen take away your troubles.

Hands Warmed With Love

Jerome Won

After honing his skills at Music Dreamer Cafe in Marina Square for 10 years, local singer Jerome Won is releasing his five-track debut EP.

The 32-year-old has richly evocative pipes that are showcased to great effect in the mid-tempo tracks about love here, including a cover of Hong Kong popster Leo Ku’s Struck By An Arrow.

It is also heartening to see a bunch of new names crop up in the songwriting credits: Composer Tok Ji Xiang and lyricist Zhang Le Sheng came up with the radio-friendly ballad Escape From Memories and for the romantic title track, Won composed the tune and Huang Jia Hui penned the lyrics.

Mournful strings open Hands, which goes on to paint a picture of devotion in a wintry emotional landscape: “I want to give you hands warmed with love, to warm your soul’s weary wait/Two hearts tightly bound together, searching for clues to each other.” This is a promising debut to warm a music lover’s heart.

(ST)

Restless

Gus Van Sant

Restless is a teen romance where the stakes are supposed to be heightened because of the spectre of death hanging over the characters but instead, it feels blanched of any meaningful drama.

No mean feat considering Enoch (Henry Hopper) crashes strangers’ memorials, has a ghost kamikaze pilot Hiroshi (Ryo Kase) for a friend and falls for Annabel (Mia Wasikowska), who turns out to have cancer.

Director Gus Van Sant has done intriguing work before with unusual material, including My Own Private Idaho (1991), a very loose take on Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V, and Elephant (2003), about a high school shooting.

Here, he merely seems content to film everything prettily.

Henry Hopper, son of the late Dennis Hopper, has beautifully mussed-up hair while the gamine Wasikowska is pale and glamorously ill with her pixie-crop haircut.

Local actor Chin Han barely registers in a small role as a doctor. He is just another adult who hardly figures in the hermetic world of Enoch and Annabel.

Soporific, ponderous and self-consciously precious, the film left me feeling restless all right.

(ST)

Already Famous

Michelle Chong

Michelle Chong is one hilarious actress. We know that from the MediaCorp news spoof programme The Noose in which she fearlessly pulls off accents and switches personalities at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, the writer-director-star is just stuck in one role here – as the starstruck Malaysian girl Ah Kiao who comes to Singapore in search of fame.

The story is threadbare and familiar, and Ah Kiao is just not interesting enough as a character to hold the movie together, though Chong does slip in some snarky observations about the entertainment scene including the strict hierarchy of actors, extras and make-up artists.

As a neophyte film-maker, she has trouble with pacing and the use of music. There are scenes which go on for too long without a worthwhile pay-off and the writing is not sharp enough – fellow Noose actor Chua Enlai, known for his comedic talent, is largely wasted as a bitchy sales assistant.

And the repeated use of the theme song in which Chong wails “Don’t give up, never give up” is grating rather than charming.

There is not much for Taiwanese singer-actor Alien Huang to do here as the improbable kopitiam boy who falls in love with Ah Kiao but smile and look sweet. Instead, it is Ah Kiao’s friend, a plump little boy who dreams of dancing ballet (played by Singaporean Tan Jun Sheng), who makes the bigger impression.

(ST)

50/50

Jonathan Levine

The story: Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young man who does not drink and does not smoke. So the news that he has a rare form of cancer comes as an unexpected shock. He deals with it with help from his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), a counsellor younger than himself, Katie (Anna Kendrick), and his concerned mother (Anjelica Huston). The title refers to the chances of survival for someone with Adam’s condition.

It is official – you can crack jokes about cancer now.

On the small screen, acclaimed actress Laura Linney helms the Showtime comedy The Big C, which has been renewed for a third season.

And now on the big screen, there are characters using cancer as a pick-up line and as punch-lines.

When Adam first tells his best friend his bad news, Kyle’s reaction is: “Celebrities beat cancer all the time. Lance Armstrong, he keeps getting it,” and then, “if you were a casino game, you would have the best odds”.

Even Adam’s chemotherapy sessions feel like a cosy boys’ club with the good-natured ribbing by old-timers Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer).

But then a sudden death is a stark reminder that this is cancer here and the stakes are no less than life itself.

Scribe Will Reiser adapted his own experience with cancer for the script and he does a nice job in balancing the comedy with the anger, the fear and the frustration felt by the patient.

And it certainly helps to have Gordon-Levitt in the lead role. The actor has managed to escape the curse of being a young star on a hit TV show – Third Rock From The Sun (1996-2001) – and built a credible career based on indie films as diverse as the sexual abuse drama Mysterious Skin (2004) and the romantic comedy (500) Days Of Summer (2009).

Adam might not always be a nice guy but Gordon-Levitt keeps him real and grounded in a way that makes you care about what happens to him.

As Kyle, Rogen veers a little too close to the sweet-but-crude dude he has played before in raucous comedies such as Zack And Miri Make A Porno (2008) and Knocked Up (2007). But the friendship between the two men is touching and believable. Perhaps it helps that Rogen and Reiser are best friends in real life.

Kendrick, so memorable in the drama Up In The Air (2009), is adorable as the counsellor who is so young that she does not get Adam’s Doogie Howser reference. (Doogie Howser, M.D. was a 1989-1993 TV series about a teenage doctor.)

She finds herself caring for Adam beyond just seeing him as a patient and the film moves into romance territory when Adam’s self-absorbed girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) gets out of the picture.

A romantic comedy with cancer sounds like an even worse idea than a comedy about the illness. But thanks to the actors, the writing and director Jonathan Levine’s light touch, 50/50 is not half bad.

(ST)

Jingle bells, holiday’s swell, lots of movies on the way.

This is the most wonderful time of the year for children as school is out and Christmas and New Year are just around the corner with the delectable promise of presents and pigging out on seasonal goodies.

Even the cineplexes seem more magical as they line up family-friendly fare that everyone can enjoy together.

For older folks, there is the nostalgic appeal of characters and stories one might have encountered as a child in films such as The Muppets, Starry Starry Night and Alvin And The Chipmunks 3.

There is also the more grown-up appeal of movie stars in We Bought A Zoo and even Horrid Henry: The Movie, while Arthur Christmas’ sly imagining of the entire Christmas set-up would probably strike a chord in those who have experienced the corporate world.

But do not be too quick to write off a film that seems to have little adult appeal.

After all, the holidays bring out the child in all of us.

Starry Starry Night

Release date: Tomorrow

Cast: Josie Xu Jiao, Eric Lin, Harlem Yu, Rene Liu

The story: Xiao Mei (Xu) is a 13-year-old schoolgirl with a vivid imagination. She uses it to cope with her grandfather’s illness, her parents’ unhappiness and her own loneliness.

She later finds a friend in Xiao Jie (Lin) and they set off on an adventure together.

Based on Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy Liao’s picture book Starry Starry Night (2009).

Kid appeal: The young, and the young at heart, will enjoy seeing how Liao’s beautifully illustrated book is adapted for a liveaction film. Who can resist the magical scenes of origami animals coming to life or a wondrous train whistling through the painted nightscape of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night?

Children will also appreciate the way the world is seen through Xiao Mei’s eyes and that it can be a confusing and scary place sometimes.

Adult appeal: For those who remember Xu as a spirited little boy in Stephen Chow’s sci-fi comedy CJ7 (2008), marvel at how quickly the child star has grown up into a fine young actress.

There is also a lovely little coda added to the film that is not in the book. Years after Xiao Mei is all grown up (played by Guey Lun-mei), she chances upon an unusual jigsaw puzzle shop in Paris and is overcome by what, and whom, she finds there.

Liao’s artistry has a huge fanbase that goes beyond kiddy appeal. Other works of his which have made the leap to the big screen include Sound Of Colours (2001) and A Chance Of Sunshine (1999), which became the film Turn Left, Turn Right (2003).

You will appreciate how the whimsical spirit of his book has been translated on screen without the film being a slavish adaptation. Also, the CGI effects here have an emotional impact and are not merely visual showstoppers.

All in all, a winning ode to the power of imagination.

Arthur Christmas

Release date: Tomorrow

Cast: Voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton

The story: Santa Claus (Broadbent) has returned from his 70th mission to deliver presents to children all over the world when an elf discovers a wrapped gift that was forgotten.

Santa’s son Arthur (McAvoy) has to figure out a way to save Christmas for one little girl before the sun rises.

Kid appeal: Christmas equals presents, so the thought of Santa and an entire team of elves using nifty high-tech wizardry to ensure smooth delivery of every single item will be a highly comforting one.

Good old-fashioned magic is not neglected: There is the wondrous spectacle of reindeer flying through the sky, pulling along a sleigh with Santa at the reins.

There is also the inspirational and feel-good story of Arthur himself – abumbling but good-hearted young man who saves the day and finds his destiny.

Adult appeal: You might appreciate the sly portrayal of Christmas as a mega- efficient, corporatised enterprise which is, alas, lacking in soul.

There is even succession politics as retired Grand Santa, current Santa and Santa’s other son Steve all squabble for the heralded position.

Those who enjoyed the Wallace & Gromit claymation films about the timid inventor Wallace and his clever dog Gromit might be interested to learn that this is the first computer-animated film made by Aardman Animations in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Feel free to debate whether this was a good move artistically for Aardman.

For something a little more challenging, avoid looking at the cast list and then play Who’s That British Thespian? during the show.

Horrid Henry: The Movie

Release date: Dec 22

Cast: Theo Stevenson, Scarlett Stitt, Anjelica Huston, Richard E. Grant

The story: Horrid Henry (Stevenson) fails to hand in his homework yet again, setting off a chain of events that has him forming an unlikely alliance with his arch-enemy Moody Margaret (Stitt) and his annoying little brother. And he ends up, gasp, saving the elementary school he detests.

Kid appeal: The first Horrid Henry book was published in 1994 and the 20th title Horrid Henry And The Zombie Vampire was released this year. The combined sales of all the books and audiobooks is more than 16 million copies.

This led to a successful animated television series which premiered in the United Kingdom in 2006 and the show is currently in its third season.

Clearly, kids love Horrid Henry.

Adult appeal: Think of this as an updated version of Dennis the Menace.

And there could be some campy fun in Huston’s take on Henry’s terrifying teacher Miss Battle-Axe. After all, she did play the Grand High Witch in the 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic, The Witches.

We Bought A Zoo

Release date: Dec 22

Cast: Matt Damon, Thomas Haden Church, Scarlett Johansson, a menagerie of animals

The story: Based on Benjamin Mee’s memoir about buying the dilapidated Dartmoor Zoological Park in the English countryside.

In 2007, it was the subject of a four-part television documentary titled Ben’s Zoo.

In this stateside big-screen adaptation, the tale has been transplanted to Southern California.

Kid appeal: As little girl Rosie Mee (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) says when she finds out that her new home is a zoo: “Yay!”

There are two zebras and a lion among the 47 animal species so there is plenty of potential for the city slickers to be shown up by them.

Adult appeal: Director-producer Cameron Crowe proved with Jerry Maguire (1996) that he could work with children and with The Wild Life (1984), a sequel to Fast Times At Ridgemont High which he wrote and produced, he proved that he could, um, handle wild life.

There is also the top-notch cast including Damon and Church as brothers.

The busy Damon has been recently seen in fare as diverse as the western True Grit (2010) and heard in the animated feature Happy Feet Two (2011) voicing Bill the Krill. And Church is best known for his work on Sideways (2004), the hit comedy about wine and life.

If you think sex appeal is bound to be lacking in a film like this, here are two words for you: Scarlett Johansson. She plays head zookeeper Kelly Foster.

The Muppets

Release date: Dec 8

Cast: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Jason Segel, Amy Adams

The story: The Muppet Theatre is about to be torn down by greedy oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) unless the Muppets can raise $10 million in time.

But first, Kermit the Frog has to round up the gang with the help of Walter, a puppet and huge Muppets fan, his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary’s girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams). They decide to put on a show in the best Muppets tradition and turn it into a telethon.

Kid appeal: There is a timeless appeal in Jim Henson’s motley crew of goodhearted puppets whose antics run the range from slapstick – Gonzo’s daredevil stunts – to the sublimely ridiculous – Camilla the Chicken with her posse of hens clucking along to Cee Lo Green’s Forget You.

Adult appeal: Embrace the return to a simpler, sweeter and sillier time in this nostalgia fest as those in their 30s and older would remember The Muppet Show, which ran from 1976 to 1981.

The self-referential humour is there, together with a clever updating of what the Muppets are up to before Kermit gathers the group. Miss Piggy is the plus-size fashion editor of Vogue Paris while Animal is in an anger-management clinic.

Writer-actor Segel is a long-time Muppets fan and that affection is palpable on screen. You might even find a lump in your throat when Kermit and gang are back on stage and singing the idealistic Rainbow Connection.

This is the first Disney-produced Muppets film since Muppet Treasure Island (1996) flopped. The studio hopes to revive the puppets’ fortunes with this outing.

Alvin And The Chipmunks 3

Release date: Dec 15

Cast: Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), Theodore (Jesse Mc-Cartney), The Chipettes, Jason Lee

The story: The Chipmunks and The Chipettes go on a cruise trip with the Chipmunks’ owner/manager Dave (Lee). They get up to their usual tricks and end up in hairy situations – on the ship and when they get “chipwrecked”, which is also the American title of this sequel.

Kid appeal: For some reason, kids find helium voices hilarious. Add cute little chipmunks with plump little cheeks and a penchant for getting into trouble and they are hooked.

Adult appeal: For 53-year-old chipmunks, Alvin and gang are remarkably spry. They were created in 1958 as an animated music group and later starred in a successful cartoon series Alvin And The Chipmunks from 1983 to 1990.

Meanwhile, The Chipettes are 28 years young – there is definitely a May-December thing going on here.

It also means there is an entire generation who grew up on the cartoons and are happy to relive fond childhood memories of rascally squirrels and squeaky voices.

Given the combined US$800 million (S$1.04 billion) global box-office gross of the two earlier films in 2007 and 2009, there is definite grown-up appeal for the studio honchos to plough on with the franchise.

(ST)

Riding A Bicycle

Soft Lipa & Shin-Ski

No Crying

Waa Wei

Track 6

Cheer Chen

The hard part to releasing a critically acclaimed album is following it up. And three musicians have taken on the challenge in their own ways – with varying results.

Taiwanese rapper Soft Lipa, real name Tu Chen-hsi, joined forces with Japanese jazz quintet on the revelatory Moonlight (2010). This time round, he has worked with Japanese hip-hop producer Shin-Ski to produce Riding A Bicycle.

While not as ground-breaking as Moonlight, there is much to admire and enjoy here. Soft Lipa is a master of rhythm and the chorus of Ride a bike, ride a bike is as hypnotic as watching wheels turn. Check out, too, the effortless flow of Minnan track Looking For Ong A.

There are also several collaborations, including with singer-songwriter Lala Hsu and jazz rap outfit ShinSight Trio.

Listen To One Song, which features reggae group Matzka, ponders the connection between listener and song: “It could be popular right now, or long past its prime/Or maybe it seems to exist just for you, with no one else knowing it/You can’t help but wonder, how the writer lives/So close, have you met before?”

Less successful is Taiwanese singer- songwriter Waa Wei’s offering after the elegant electronica of Graceful Porcupine (2010). Parts of No Crying feel like an indulgent exercise with her excesses on full display, from the babyish cooing on Bubble Life to the eight-minute-long Lovers, which incorporates a spoken-word narrative by the poet Hsia Yu.

Head instead for the attitude rock of Close Friends, the drama of One Stone, One Story and the tenderness of ballad Us. And Roarrrr’s lyrics made me laugh out loud: “When I don’t know what to do, I’ll shout ho-yo/When one steps in dog poo, who won’t cry ho-yo”.

Taiwan’s Cheer Chen has followed up the ruminative Immortal (2009) with a single.

It comprises the spoken word track Misty Dance as well as Ephemera, a ballad she first performed during her A Piece Of Summer II tour (2010-2011). The latter is an instant Chen-penned classic filled with hope and loss. Over ukelele and strings, she sings: “Every day, opening our eyes, we are mayflies/Living ordinary lives, vigorously chasing after one dream”.

It does a nice job in helping fans to tide over the dry spell between her albums.

(ST)

Crowd Lu Concert Singapore 2011

Grand Theater at Marina Bay Sands

Last Saturday

Forget the movie Happy Feet. The audience at Crowd Lu’s gig was treated instead to the real deal.

The Taiwanese singer-songwriter was so engrossed in his songs that his feet threatened to dance away from him in a burst of exuberance.

Seized by the music, they would bang together to keep time, twist about in a hypnotic manner or tap with an insistent urgency. At times, one leg would be raised or even two as he balanced on the stool.

It laid to rest any fears that the spontaneity of his performance would be compromised in a larger, grander venue with an audience of 1,800 instead of the 800 at his last solo gig here at St James Power Station’s Dragonfly in January last year.

Indeed, Lu proved that he could deliver a compelling show even without the bells and whistles of a slick set-up. He sported his familiar bowl-cut hairstyle, black-rimmed glasses as well as a striped T-shirt, bermudas and canvas shoes.

Instead of changing costumes, he switched guitars. He was supported by just a drummer, a bassist and a trumpet player.

Vocally, the 26-year-old was in excellent form as he took on ballads, breezy folk-pop and raucous rock numbers. He performed all 11 tracks from his third and latest album Slow Soul (2011) and even went all the way back to the first single he released in 2006, Yuan Ming.

Often, he would give a short introduction of the upcoming number. Zai Jian Afadisi (roughly Goodbye Afa-deus) was inspired by his roommate getting a haircut while Rock’n Roll Style came about as the result of a ravenous breakfast episode.

His songs are refreshingly grounded in life and his palpable optimism is infectious. On disc, a song such as Rainbow almost comes across as twee but you cannot help but smile when he says at the performance: “When you feel that you’re going through a rough patch, just turn on the water hose and, wow, rainbow.”

By the time he sang the joyous Goodbye Pinky Swear off 2009’s Seven Days, he had everyone on his feet and dancing along with the entertaining instructional video of him going through the moves.

For the encore, he opened with Slow Soul and then served crowd-favourite Good Morning, Beautiful Dawn! from debut album 100 Ways For Living (2008) as the fans happily chorused along, “Dui a, dui a” (That’s right).

The final song was the whimsically poignant Wu Di Tie Jin Gang (literally Mazinger Z, a robot from the Japanese anime series of the same name), which was performed by Lu alone with his guitar.

While I had a pang of nostalgia for his previous cosier gigs, it is great that his music is reaching a wider audience. In a world that can sometimes be grey and cynical, we could all do with a dose of the antidote that is Crowd Lu.

(ST)

Girls’ Generation Vol. 3

– The Boys

Girls’ Generation

Five

Ayumi Hamasaki

According to an online poll by ticketing agent Sistic, Korean group Girls’ Generation is the No. 1 live act requested by Singaporeans.

Ahead of their highly anticipated sold-out concerts here on Dec 9 and 10, the nine-member group have released their third Korean album.

It is clear that they have their eye on the global market as two of the songs here are available in different versions.

Mr Taxi, with its catchy nonsensical phrase “Supersonic n’ hypertonic”, was first released in Japanese while the title track The Boys was also released as an English-language single. Not surprisingly, these are among the strongest tracks here.

For the most part, the pop here is either sweet and bubbly, as on Say Yes or My J, or dancey with a sexy edge as on Trick and Oscar. But with the exception of the chirpy Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente), they do not leave a strong enough impression, maybe because a key component is missing here – the DVD of irresistibly choreographed music videos.

So what is a J-pop queen to do when K-pop is in the ascendancy and Korean acts are muscling in on her territory? Ayumi Hamasaki sticks to the basics.

In her case, that means writing all the lyrics. She contemplates a past relationship in the R&B duet ANother Song with J-pop band AAA’s Urata Naoya and is touchingly fragile on the ballad Beloved.

It also means offering an eye-popping array of image makeovers. Her chameleon-like guises are on full display in the accompanying DVD, which features music videos and making-ofs for all five tracks on this EP.

In Brillante, a dramatic ballad about going it on her own, she transforms into a blinged-out Egyptian queen surrounded by a mountain of male flesh.

One way or another, she is still royalty.

(ST)

Happy Feet 2

George Miller

The story: In Happy Feet (2006), tap-dancing penguin Mumble (Elijah Wood) found his mate, Gloria (popster Pink takes over from the late Brittany Murphy in the sequel). They now have a son Erik (voice actress E.G. Daily), who cannot dance. A bigger problem looms, though, when their colony is trapped by a massive shelf of ice and it is up to father and son to save the day with help from their friends.

If only this were Bill And Will’s Excellent Adventure.

The two krill are merely tiny players in the movie but they light up the screen every time they come on. Their goofy bromance is gamely played out by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, who have worked together on films such as the Ocean’s series of heist movies.

The two actors are clearly having fun and they deliver lines such as “Goodbye krill world!” with relish.

Indeed, it is the supporting cast including Hank Azaria as The Mighty Sven, a “penguin” who can fly, and Robin Williams as the lovelorn Ramon as well as the evangelistic Lovelace, who buoy the film with their humorous characterisations.

The addition of the small krill also means that director George Miller, who had helmed the violent action film Mad Max (1979), gets to play around with perspectives here.

One moment, he would zoom in close on the shrimp-like crustacean so that one can even see the texture of the ice, and the next, he would be pulling out to show the vastness of the Antarctic landscape of snow and ice.

The rest of the film can pretty much be described as Glee for the penguin crowd.

It opens with a lavish musical number that mashes up hits including Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation and Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, with the lyrics changed to “We’re bringing fluffy back”.

Dancing penguins and fluffy little chicks are adorable for about five seconds but the cuteness wears off when every dramatic moment is turned into an opportunity for a song-and-dance production.

A musical is a leap of faith as one does not normally expect a person to burst into song at the drop of a hat. And the suspension of disbelief required to buy into penguins doing that is just too big a jump.

Erik gets his big dramatic moment when his father’s plea for help to the elephant seals is initially rebuffed. But the ballad is delivered in a shrill chipmunkish voice that is more cringing than moving.

I wonder what Bill and Will would have made of that.

(ST)

Legendary Amazons

Frankie Chan

The story: In the 10th century AD, North Song dynasty’s borders were under constant attack by the people of Western Xia. The men of the Yang family have died in battle and Yang Zongbao (Richie Jen) is the latest to be defeated. His son, Wenguang, the clan’s last male scion, is ordered into battle as well and the women of the family, including his great-grandmother Taijun (Cheng Pei-pei) and mother Mu Guiying (Cecilia Cheung), decide to go with him.

There is an entire entertainment cottage industry based on the exploits of the Yang family.

There have been folk tales, plays, novels, a Peking opera titled Female Generals Of The Yang Clan, numerous television drama serials as well as a big-screen adaptation, the Shaw Brothers’ classic 14 Amazons (1972).

The fascination stems in part from the rare opportunity to depict strong and warrior-like women, given that war is often the preserve of the men, as in the case of Peter Chan’s The Warlords (2007).

The dilemma between loyalty to one’s country and responsibilities to one’s family is made all the more poignant, given that it is a group of widows who are fighting for their country.

But in this latest remake, all the high-minded talk of duty and sacrifice merely feels like hogwash with all that stupidity and silliness unfolding on screen.

Despite being wounded in battle, Mu Guiying is able to take out waves of enemy soldiers, who are comic caricatures with their mohawks and dreadlocks.

One fight scene follows another but given the large cast of poorly defined female characters, one’s patience soon wears thin.

On the other hand, too much time is devoted to the impulsive brat that is Wenguang, who is all too eager to fall for an obvious ruse laid out by the enemy.

Then there are the tacky and cheap-looking CGI effects which completely take one out of the story every time they are employed.

Furthermore, an obstacle such as crossing over a gorge is overcome in the most risible and hilarious manner as a metallic rope bridge is somehow woven from the armour the women soldiers are wearing. At this point, Legendary Amazons switches genres from period action to comic fantasy.

And did I mention that soldiers leap about on pogo stick-like devices in one battle scene? It is hard to believe that this is not a spoof and that one is meant to take this movie seriously.

Before the audience gets to the end, there are still the soap opera revelations to get through and a final death scene that is meant to be moving but is epic only in the scale of its failure.

The bright side is, given the thriving cottage industry, it would not be too long before another adaptation comes around to wipe out the memory of this one.

(ST)

Do You Love Me?

Wu Jiahui

Where’s the love for Malaysian singer-songwriter Wu Jiahui? Since his debut album in 2008, which was repackaged for the Taiwanese market last year, he has not released anything new – till this EP.

His high-pitched, crystal-clear voice is still in good form. He begins the album on a high note, literally, on the word Love. However, the songs here lack the immediacy of Although I’m Willing and No Home To Return To from his earlier disc.

Very Me offers a glimpse into the mind of this travelling troubadour: “No matter where I drift in the future/I’ll still have to bring those traces from the past/That’s a heart that’s very me and that belongs to me.”

It sounds like a lonely journey, but one has to admire his resolve: “Whether the road ahead is right or not/Doesn’t matter, I’ve no regrets.”

Nocturnal

Aziatix

Korean-American outfit Aziatix comprise rapper Flowsik, R&B singer-songwriter Eddie Shin and Mandopop singer Nicky Lee.

On their full-length English-language debut, the trio sing and rap mostly about girls over thumping beats and synthesizer hooks. Flowsik brags on Say Yeah: “I’ma show the girls I’m bout it/And they gon’ show me how they ride it.”

It’s all pretty smooth, if somewhat generic and not particularly exciting.

At least the tracks that venture beyond relationships and hook-ups offer something different.

Whatchu Know About Us piles on the football metaphors as they take on the doubters: “Witnessing hatred flying at me from every corner/On the brink of madness but I choose to play it smarter/Work twice as harder, with dreams of being Carter.”

Embrace them or diss them, Aziatix already have their comeback worked out. They declare on A Game: “I don’t care ’bout what you say, just know I’m here and I’m here to stay, hey.”

(ST)

You Are The Apple Of My Eye

Giddens Ko

The story: The playful and rascally 16-year-old Ko Ching-teng (Ko Chen-tung) is made to sit in front of goody-two-shoes Shen Chia-yi (Michelle Chen) in class as punishment. To her annoyance, Chia-yi has orders from the teacher to keep an eye on him. They needle each other incessantly at first but gradually, Ching-teng begins to nurse a crush on Chia-yi.

Writer-director Giddens Ko has made a simple story of first love into a memorable work that is fresh, affecting, and often uproariously funny.

This is not one of those films about teenagers who have been scrubbed clean. The characters in Apple play dumb pranks, and driven by their hormonal urges, make stupid mistakes and swear constantly.

Actually, that is what the boys do. Ko captures beautifully the purity of youth and the poignant fact that boys are simply emotionally less mature compared to girls of the same age.

The casting is perfect with newcomer Ko Chen-tung nailing Ching-teng’s mix of impishness and idealism, swagger and shyness – an endearingly and maddeningly immature boy on the cusp of manhood.

Michelle Chen, last seen in the romantic drama Hear Me (2009), so thoroughly inhabits the role of the sweet-but-not-saintly Chia-yi that she is now seen as the ideal girlfriend by her many male fans.

The chemistry between the two leads is genuine and unforced and you soon find yourself cheering on their tentative relationship.

Since the film is based on the director’s 2007 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, one can sense the palpable affection he has for all the characters here.

The array of quirky classmates include the perpetually aroused Boner (Yen Sheng-yu), basketball-mad Lao Tsao (boyband Lollipop F’s Owodog), failed magician Liao Kai Pien (Tsai Chang-hsien) and the tubby A-ho (Steven Hao) as well as Shen’s good friend Hu Chia-wei (Wan Wan).

They could have been little more than one-note supporting players but the actors and the smartly exaggerated script manage to make each of them memorable in his own way.

The film sags somewhat in the middle after they graduate from high school and go their separate ways but it more than redeems itself with an ending that makes your heart break – and then has you guffawing heartily and leaving the theatre with a grin on your face and a spring in your step.

A real delicious Apple.

(ST)

Mosaic - The National

Esplanade Theatre/Sunday

Lots of bands make broody moody music but none does it like Ohio-born, Brooklyn-based indie rockers The National.

There is frontman Matt Berninger’s distinctive voice – a richly resonant and soulful baritone with a magnetic presence.

And of course, the magnificent songs, drawn largely from their last two acclaimed albums, Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010). They are mostly written by Berninger and the twin brothers/ guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner.

There is the music itself – buzzing guitars, gently propulsive drums and the on-stage presence of a trumpet and a trombone for added texture.

And the lyrics can be strikingly evocative as in Bloodbuzz Ohio – “I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees” – or when Berninger sang of being “showered and blue- blazered” on Mistaken For Strangers.

Indeed, he was looking dapper in a black suit complete with tie and vest while his bandmates were togged out in black and grey.

Unexpectedly, the bearded frontman also had an offbeat sense of humour and, after explaining that he was drinking wine and not urine on stage, he deadpanned at one point: “Time for more swan’s urine. It’s hard to hold down a swan and make it pee into a bottle.”

He might dress like a sombre gentleman but there was a showman side to Berninger as well. During Squalor Victoria, he loosened his tie and let out his inner rock star. He flung the mike-stand to the ground as he shouted the lyrics: “This isn’t working, f*** that.”

For the set-closer Fake Empire, he came down from the stage and was borne aloft by fans as he walked over the seats. It sent the sold-out crowd into a near-frenzy.

Incidentally, an instrumental version of Fake Empire had been featured in American President Barack Obama’s election campaign.

For a moment, it seemed as though Berninger was about to get political when he asked if anyone had been following American politics.

Then he added: “It’s been particularly awful this week... but I won’t talk about it,” before segueing into Terrible Love.

The final song of the evening was the hauntingly cryptic Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks. Over acoustic guitars and mournful brass, the band crooned: “Vanderlyle crybaby cry/Though the water’s a-rising/Still no surprising you.”

Earlier in the evening, Berninger had thanked the crowd for waiting after the band postponed their Asian tour in March due to the earthquake in Japan.

Fans would say that it was worth the wait.

(ST)

One Way Ticket

Wu Bai & China Blue

Leehom New + Best Selections

Wang Lee Hom

Don’t let Blue Moon, the title of the opening track of his new album, fool you: Veteran Taiwanese singer-songwriter Wu Bai has been releasing albums far more consistently than that.

This marks his 16th studio release since 1992’s Loving Others Is A Happy Thing.

Over the years, there has been a distinct shift in his sound as well.

The earnest rock of hard-luck tales in the early releases has evolved into more playful shades.

The ballad Knot ties together a plaintive synth line with guitars: “Late night, perhaps you don’t want to sleep/Dawn breaks, the corners of your eyes still have tears/Maybe it’s like I imagined from head to toe/I know there must be a knot in your heart.”

I Was Wrong pairs woe-is-me lyrics with an unexpectedly breezy melody: “When I’m awake/Tears keep flowing/I think I’m already used to being very lonely.”

Wu Bai’s twangy vocals don’t work with all of the material here.

And the rock ballad version of Sarah Chen’s Dream To Awakening makes one yearn for the Wu Bai of old. Still, you have to respect him for trekking on.

Without quite looking it, Taiwan- based Wang Lee Hom is now a veteran of the music scene as well, with a total of 14 studio albums since 1995’s Love Rival Beethoven. This two-disc release compiles tracks from his Sony years from 1998 to the present.

The R&B-flavoured hits such as Revolution, Shangri-La and A Sun That’s Been Washed In Spring Rain are still a treat to listen to, as are the emo ballads such as Kiss Goodbye and The One And Only.

There are also some pleasant surprises such as the jazzy vibe of the less familiar Love Love Love from 2003’s Unbelievable. What has not improved with time are his self-described “chinked-out” tracks, which attempt to meld hip-hop with Mandopop – the irritatingly pompous Heroes Of Earth even features elements of Chinese opera.

There are two new tracks included here: maudlin ballad Still Love You and the campily fun Fire Power To The Max.

But with the omission of the exuberant Impossible To Miss You and the groovy logic of Loving You Equals Loving Myself, this collection is definitely not firing on all cylinders.

(ST)

23:59

Gilbert Chan

National service is a rite of passage for every Singaporean male and it comes replete with stories about haunted camps and unclean training grounds.

Among the most famous is the one about the bunk with the extra door at the Pulau Tekong camp, perhaps the result of a route march that chillingly ends in tragedy. Given the wealth of material out there, it is disappointing that this film did not do a better job of assimilating those tales into a coherent whole. And despite some creepy atmospherics, the slow-moving flick never quite gathers enough momentum to be truly unsettling.

As for the titular 23:59, writer-director Gilbert Chan points to it as the most potent time for a person to die as his or her spirit will then return to haunt the living. Unfortunately, this promising germ of an idea is never fully exploited. Instead, we get a largely Malaysian cast acting out various soldier stereotypes while Mark Lee (above left) plays the superstitious sergeant, a variation of his Hokkien Beng persona.

By the time the movie wanders into full-on demon-exorcism mode, it almost feels campy rather than horrific.

(ST)

Faye Wong 2011 Concert

Singapore Indoor Stadium/Last Saturday

Banter is part and parcel of every concert experience, except when it comes to a Faye Wong gig.

The Chinese pop diva said “xie xie” (thank you) five times and the sixth time, just to mix things up a bit, she said it in Cantonese. And that was the sum total of what she uttered to the sold-out crowd of 6,500.

Then again, if you are a fan, you were not there for the small talk. A Faye Wong concert is first and foremost about hearing her sing live.

And as a bonus, this concert boasted a few beautifully conceived tableaux. The creative director of the show is Ida Wong, also the producer-director of the tour, which has so far been to Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Changsha and Wuhan. There was also creative input from director Wong Kar Wai for the visuals.

The show opened with a wintry snowscape. There were trees with bare branches and what appeared to be a huge white rock in the middle of the stage. The structure eventually split apart to reveal Wong as a human chandelier, singing her Cantonese ballad Promise.

Both she and the sound system got off to a shaky start. She sounded tentative and her pitch did not seem too secure.

But by the time she sang her cover of Teresa Teng’s You Are In My Heart, things were beginning to come together and the crowd signalled its approval with a roar.

Winter gave way to spring and Wong changed from her white get-up into an outfit with a flouncy red and white skirt.

Summer arrived with a blast of electric guitars as she took on the invigorating To Love and the electropop of The Last Blossom.

She was beginning to hit her stride as her pipes warmed up, which made it the perfect moment to put on Face. The track was a showstopper on the Scenic Tour (1998) album and live, it was a stunner as Wong switched between an operatic higher register and a twangy lower range.

While she never quite broke into a dance, she would shift about on the balls of her feet and during Bored, she even twirled the microphone over her head.

It was during the Autumn segment that she literally soared. She sat on a structure that seemed to be made of air and light and the entire contraption was hoisted over the stage and then, thrillingly, over the audience.

The ceiling was lit up like a night heavy with stars as she sang Sky and Wishing We Could Last Forever. The effect was heartstoppingly magical.

At other times, the lighting alone was enough to create drama. During her rendition of her early Cantonese hit Cold War, she was strikingly framed by cones of light beamed from different angles.

While her last album was 2003’s To Love, it did not mean that there was no new material at the concert. In a show of versatility, she gave her own take on Karen Mok’s Single Room Double Bed as well as Sinead O’Connor’s A Perfect Indian.

In the final Rebirth segment, Wong wore a white dress with a print pattern of black skulls. She performed New Tenant and then Chanel, as red cloth twirled mesmerisingly from the rafters.

Both numbers, as well as the following Flower On The Other Shore, are from the song cycle that she composed for Fable (2000). Flower is not exactly a crowd-pleasing set-ender and yet, Wong made it work.

She sang it standing in front of a screen, onto which a reflection of her was also projected, lending an other-worldly vibe to the proceedings.

By the end of the song, she was in that other world as depicted by the visuals of sweeping vistas on the screen.

Then intriguingly, the screen tilted and turned into a giant mirrored surface reflecting the audience back to themselves.

The house lights came on as Wong’s voice sang a Buddhist sutra. Slowly, the fans got to their feet and streamed out, too flummoxed to even chorus for an encore.

It was a deliciously enigmatic moment when pop culture and conceptual visual art collided.

Wong might not have said much that night but she certainly made a statement with that ending.

(ST)