Sodagreen Air World Tour
Singapore Indoor Stadium / Last Saturday

Has it really been 10 years?
Taiwanese band sodagreen once sang Shi Nian Yi Ke, literally Ten Years One Moment, and it has been one long glorious moment since they released their first single Air back in 2004.
They have grown from an indie outfit with an uncertain future to one of Mandopop’s biggest bands whose popularity continues to grow. Their show this time was their largest in Singapore yet as they played at the Indoor Stadium for the first time before an audience of 6,000.
Lead vocalist Wu Ching-feng had caught a cold but it did not affect his distinctive nasal, high-pitched and crystalline pipes one bit. And drummer Shih Chun-wei (Hsiao-wei), who injured his foot skateboarding, banged on valiantly.
Nothing was going to stop the band from celebrating their 10th anniversary here.
Things got off to a rousing start with the rocking Fever, followed by two firm fan favourites, Little Universe and Little Love Song. The latter, in particular, was greeted with much excitement as it is a ballad that the band have rarely performed in recent years as Wu had wearied of it.
Musically, the band have never been one to keep still and they took the opportunity to refresh familiar songs with new arrangements.
The lilting joyousness of Daylight was dressed up with a coat of synth-and- drums that gave it a psychedelic flavour.
Production was top-notch from the video imagery to the lighting effects to the rotating raised platforms and it was always in service to the material. Each song was given given the space to reveal its truth and beauty.
One dramatic highlight was seeing Wu on a platform in mid-air, suspended against a backdrop of a night sky with flickering stars. Tinkling the piano, he gave a spare and moving rendition of Faye Wong’s Sky. Apart from the gorgeous melodies and Wu’s unforgettable singing, sodagreen’s songs are also known for their poetic lyrics that take on everything from urban discontent to meditations on the seasons and yearnings of the heart. And the words had pride of place on a centrally placed screen right above the stage.
But on the thrilling fast-paced numbers such as Theory Of Relativity IV, even flashing the lyrics on the screen did not help fans.
Wu quipped: “Hard to follow, right? I once said I wouldn’t sing this past 30, what’s it doing on this tour?”
It was yet another fun incident in the Wu Ching-feng variety show, in which he teased band members mercilessly (“Who is here for Chia-kai’s body? I’ll return you your money,” he says, referring to guitarist Liu Chia-kai, and kept the audience laughing with his dry humour and cutting observations. He could also be suddenly earnest, cajoling the crowd to pretend to be happy when he announces that it is time for the final song – just so he could know what that feels like.
There is no question, though, that sodagreen are a full-fledged band and not just the Wu Ching-feng show. Bassist Hsieh Hsin-yi, guitarists Ho Ching-yang (A-fu) and Liu, keyboardist Kung Yu-chi (A-kung) and Hsiao-wei have a hand in creating and shaping the band’s output.
And they are all accomplished musicians as well, often on more than one instrument. A-kung not only wowed the crowd with his violin-playing skills, he also danced up a storm towards the end of the three-hour show.
The day of the concert happened to be Wu’s 32nd birthday but he shushed fans who tried to get a birthday song going. He explained that he hated birthdays, in part because he was not sure exactly what he was meant to celebrate. But he added poignantly that he felt alive every time he sang on stage.
When sodagreen sang Flying Fish in a darkened hall, the audience provided the percussion by clapping rhythmically along. We are all sodagreen and we are all alive.
(ST)

Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy James Gunn Guardians Of The Galaxy is officially the biggest movie of the summer at the American box office. Over the weekend, it claimed back the No. 1 spot from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, with more than US$251 million (S$313 million) collected, eclipsed Transformers: Age Of Extinction in total earnings. Not bad for a ragtag bunch of intergalactic misfits comprising abducted-by-aliens-as-a-child Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, left), green-skinned assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana, far left), grieving warrior Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), tree-like humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel) and genetically engineered raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper). The MacGuffin here is a powerful orb that everyone is after though the busy story gets rather complicated and overblown after a while. What keeps the enterprise afloat are the flashes of humour, Pratt’s goofy charm and a cannily retro soundtrack – Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is the first soundtrack with no new songs to top the Billboard chart.
(ST)

Trouble In Paradise
La Roux
La Roux’s back with a second album and a change in line-up.
For the 2009 eponymous debut album, it comprised singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. It is now a solo act after Langmaid left, reportedly over creative differences.
The debut was both a commercial and critical success with hit tracks such as In For The Kill and Bulletproof, deftly mixing infectious beats with coolly poised lyrics. Jackson’s striking androgynous swagger did not hurt either.
The androgynous look remains but otherwise, Trouble In Paradise is less immediate in the hooks department. And the synth-pop here has more of a throwback, retro vibe compared to the previous record.
It works best on tracks such as Uptight Downtown, Kiss And Not Tell and the bass-thumping Silent Partner on which she disses a lover: “You’re not my partner, no you’re not a part of me/I need/Silence.”
Hopefully, she will find more of her own voice in the next outing.
(ST)

Dangerous World
Khalil Fong
Powered by thumping beats and a rhythmic groove, singer-songwriter Khalil Fong delivers once again on his eighth album. The Hong Kong-based musician has always created a melting pot of sounds by dipping into genres as diverse as soul, R&B, jazz, pop, rock and funk on fine records such as Back To Wonderland (2012) and 15 (2011).
On this first album with his new label Gold Typhoon Music, he is again fired up with the possibilities of musical cross-pollination.
Lush orchestral strings bloom at the start of the title track, which then morphs into an irresistible dance track.
Making your way across it is risky business but it is also an opportunity to show how much you care: “Don’t need you to look left, don’t need you to look right/Doesn’t matter how dangerous the world is in front of you/There’s me by your side.”
Meanwhile, danger lurks. It is there in the hypnotic Vampires and in love getting swamped by busy life in Can’t Love, a duet with rapper Miss Ko.
Elsewhere, there is retro pop on Luck With The Ladies, smooth R&B on Mr Weather and even hip-hop on Peace.
The diversity extends to the use of language as well. He sings and swings in English on Lights Up and raps in Mandarin on Little Fong, an autobiographical track suffused with gratitude.
This is a rich and rewarding album that somehow seems to have slipped under the radar somewhat. It is not too late to check it out, though.
It might be a dangerous world, but Fong will make you want to dance as you take it on. On the disco-tinged Lights Out, he promises: “I got what you want/I got what you need/Just come out and see my world.”
(ST)

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno
Keishi Otomo
The story: In Rurouni Kenshin (2012), an adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga of the same name, audiences were introduced to the lead character of Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh). He is a former-assassin-turned-wanderer who has vowed never to kill again. His resolve is once again tested when he is roped in by the nascent Meiji government to help stop a vicious and ruthless Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) who is plotting something nefarious in Kyoto. And Kenshin’s love interest, dojo owner Kaoru (Emi Takei), falls into peril.

For those who do not know anything about the tumultuous period in Japan in the early days of the Meiji era in the late 1800s, the background setting for the Rurouni Kenshin story can be a little intimidating.
But at its heart, Kyoto Inferno can be easily understood as an epic battle between good and evil. And the key to it all is the fascinating figure of Kenshin, a man who was once such a feared killing machine that he was called Hitokiri Battosai (sword-drawing manslayer). Can a man with a past so steeped in blood ever be free from it? Can a man truly change?
And yet, on first encounter, Kenshin seems more like a comic klutz rather than a highly skilled swordsman. The contrast is even greater in the anime series (1996-1998) in which he is always smiling and appears to be clowning around.
Director Keishi Otomo has dialled down this aspect of the character and Satoh (Real, 2013) does a good job balancing between a laid-back Kenshin and showing flashes of anger and bloodlust in battle.
And in a sense, Shishio is like a cautionary tale for Kenshin, of what happens when one is consumed by anger and hatred. But rather than just a villain without a past, we are also shown what shaped Shishio as he was betrayed and left for dead. Even with his face wrapped in bandages, Fujiwara (Light Yagami from the Death Note movies) exudes a glowering menace.
In addition to an epic rivalry, Otomo also gives audiences exciting swordfights and brings period Japan to bustling life.
It all builds up to a tense cliffhanger as the fates of several characters hang in the balance. But not to worry, the concluding chapter, The Legend Ends, is slated to be released on Oct 9.
(ST)

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above
Chi Po-lin
The story: Taiwan’s Chi Po-lin was an aerial photographer in the civil service and he quit his job to turn his eye on the state of things in Taiwan in his first film. Sweeping vistas of natural beauty and damning portraits of pollution and over-development unfold to a voiceover by acclaimed director Wu Nien-jen.

This is Taiwan? That is the first reaction on seeing the opening images of unspoilt natural beauty.
For those more familiar with the urban charms of Taipei, the images of craggy mountain ranges, rugged coastlines and majestic deer roaming in fields of green will come as a pleasant surprise.
It is not just foreigners who might feel the same way, as Wu says: “Don’t be surprised, this is our home, Taiwan.”
Adding to the impact of the visuals is a stirring score by award-winning Singaporean composer Ricky Ho, who was nominated for Best Original Film Score at the Golden Horse Awards. But Beyond Beauty is not just some brochure of a glossy idyll by the tourism office. If it were, it would not have won the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary.
Chi has weightier issues on his mind and, in fact, the destructive impact of rampant tourism comes in for its share of criticism. From above looking down, one sees not just beauty, but also a ravaged landscape.
He shows us the destructive force of landslides and makes a persuasive case that the increased frequency of natural disasters is the result of human development.
Cutting roads into mountains makes it more convenient to transport goods and holiday-makers, but doing so disrupts the natural flow of water. Because money talks, trees are cut down so that cash crops such as betel nut, tea and cabbage can be grown. It is more than mountains can bear as soil comes loose and newly developed roads and resorts lie in the shadow of looming tragedy.
To his credit, Chi does not harangue. Instead, what comes through is a genuine love for the land and the pain and indignation of seeing it thoughtlessly scarred.
Beauty still exists, but it has to be protected and respected and not trampled on in the name of reckless progress. He also acknowledges that this is not a simple issue and the contradictions between environmental protection and the unsustainable way of life will not be easily resolved.
The documentary ends on a note of hope as it singles out individuals who are trying to make a difference in the way they work with the land.
For city-dwellers who have a warped and distant relationship with land, this is an eye-opening work.
At home, the film has resonated as well. It is the highest-grossing local documentary feature in Taiwan, taking in more than NT$200 million (S$8.3 million) at the box office since its release last November.
As word spreads, hopefully this will further raise awareness and maybe, just maybe, mark the turning of the tide.
(ST)

November Man
Roger Donaldson
The story: CIA agent Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan), code-named November Man, comes out of retirement for a final assignment at his former boss’ request. It leads him to the vulnerable aid worker Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko), a cover-up of a war crime and the growing suspicion of a mole in the CIA. And he crosses paths with his former subordinate David Mason (Luke Bracey). Based on the novel There Are No Spies (1987) by Bill Granger.

If the paths of Brosnan and Kurylenko had crossed back when they were part of a different spy thriller franchise, she could well have ended up in his bed. Brosnan had played James Bond from 1995’s GoldenEye to 2002’s Die Another Day, while she played the Bond girl in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
But November Man wants to be a different kind of spy thriller, a little more grounded and a little less fantastical and a little less overtly sexy/sexist. It succeeds only to a certain extent, unable to completely break free of the genre’s conventions.
At first, it paints a rather grim picture of what life is like for a spy instead of the GQ glamour spread that the Bond movies used to convey.
Devereaux makes the point to Mason that human connection is a luxury that they cannot afford. “You feel the need for a relationship, get a dog,” he advises.
What keeps November Man interesting for a while is the relationship between master and pupil and how its dynamics change over the course of the movie. Mason goes from being an impulsive rookie who botches a mission to a skilled killer agent and, yet, Devereaux can still get inside his head. In one tense manhunt sequence, Devereaux keeps Mason talking, and guessing, on the phone as he schools the latter on how to make an escape.
Their competing loyalties ratchet up the tension: Can they trust each other? Can they trust the agency? Who is behind the cover-up of a bombing in Chechnya that was meant to ignite a war?
Brosnan brings an unexpected streak of ruthlessness to the role of Devereaux, well matched by rising Australian actor Bracey, who makes for a promising action lead.
Director Roger Donaldson, who previously worked with Brosnan on volcano eruption flick Dante’s Peak (1997), keeps you guessing for a while but the story ends up both a little farfetched and predictable in patches. A search for a pivotal witness to the bombing ends in, well, not much of a surprise and the ending seems rather hastily put together.
The John le Carre adaptations Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and A Most Wanted Man (2014) would better satisfy those after a more thoughtful spy thriller. For a more mainstream offering, you might still want to make a date with November Man.
(ST)

The Song
Jam Hsiao
It is no secret that Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao is a big fan of the late Michael Jackson. In his live performances in Singapore, he has often covered the King of Pop’s Black Or White.
On his new album, he even channels MJ on the opening number Kiss Me, which he composed and wrote the lyrics for.
From the falsetto to the swagger in the voice and the rhythmic swing of the track, this could well be the Jackson sound in Mandarin. One can already imagine Hsiao dancing up a storm to this live.
Elsewhere, he delivers songs such as Let Go with a playful rock snarl, drawing out the vowels and digitally altering his voice on Play With Me.
The album flounders, though, on the ballads – which is somewhat surprising considering his past hits such as Forgive Me and Clone. Ring Ring, a duet with Christine Fan, and Kelly, the Taiwanese ending theme for the Korean hit You Who Came From The Stars, fall short of those songs.
Maybe he should have channelled MJ on the ballads as well.

Warm Water
Yisa Yu
Calling China singer Yisa Yu’s new album easy listening sounds mildly disparaging. But it is not meant to be. Rather, the songs here go down comfortingly like a glass of warm water.
Pairing her pristine voice with slightly left-of-centre melodies is a good way to go.
On the lilting Forgiveness Is Not Perfect, she sings: “If some things lead you astray/If some people make you feel lost/If some songs are never sung/I ask for forgiveness on their behalf.”
The sentiment is not exactly cheery, but the soothing track could well put you in a forgiving mood.
The title track, with music and lyrics by Yu, is another highlight, as is the English version of a Zhang Yadong-composed mid-tempo number, Invisible Love.
Zhang also produced the album and he handles the material with a light touch, adding a light sprinkling of electronica here and there for a laidback feel.
(ST)

Lucy
Luc Besson
The story: Tricked into making a dodgy transaction, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) ends up as a drug mule for the vicious Jang (Choi Min Sik). An accidental overdose does not kill her, but instead opens up the potential of Lucy’s brain. She gets in touch with Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) to figure out what to do with her newfound powers and ropes in cop Pierre Del Rio (Amr Waked) to deal with Jang.

Scientists say we use only 10 per cent of our brains. So what happens if the full potential of the mind can be unleashed?
The tantalising scenario was previously explored in Limitless (2011), which starred Bradley Cooper, but without much imagination and exposing many loopholes.
Writer-director Luc Besson (Nikita, 1990) takes the same idea and just runs with it. It starts out as a globalised crime thriller as Lucy
(Johansson), an American girl in Taipei, is forced to be a drug mule for the terrifying Korean crime lord Jang (an effective Choi from Oldboy, 2003).
Then the fun kicks in when Lucy gradually turns into super Lucy and starts turning the tables on her tormentors.
On one level, the film is an action-packed and fast-paced zinger as it zips about Taipei and Europe.
There are other drug mules to track down and showdowns with the Korean baddies to be staged.
Throughout it all, Johansson is a cool and calm presence.
The macho police cop (Egyptian actor Waked, Syriana, 2005) is reduced to being Lucy’s sidekick in a playful reversal of gender roles.
At the same time, the film also follows up on that intriguing mind- blowing scenario.
As a potent drug sweeps into her body, Lucy is transformed. She is able to manipulate her own body at a cellular level, control other people and even read the world as a complex matrix of information.
While Cooper ignited howls of laughter when he attempted to speak Mandarin in Limitless in order to demonstrate his faculty for languages, the same point is made more smartly here.
When Lucy sees a hospital sign in Chinese, her brain automatically translates it into English.
Besson also slips in some metaphysical dialogue amid the action, setting up a nice contrast between the two crime-busters.
As Lucy and Pierre hurtle through Paris in a crazy car ride, he says “Better late than dead”, to which she responds, “We never really die”.
Meanwhile, a number flashes on screen from time to time, showing the percentage of Lucy’s brain that has been activated.
Ultimately, what does Lucy do with all that power and knowledge? And what happens when 100 per cent is reached? If it is reached?
Whatever you make of the answers, at least no one can accuse Besson of having a limited imagination.
(ST)

The Giver
Phillip Noyce
The story: In a future world, people are assigned their jobs and purposes when they turn 16. Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is singled out to be the receiver of memories from The Giver (Jeff Bridges) by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep). The more Jonas learns, the more he begins to question everything around him as his relationships with his friends (Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan) and assigned family (Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgard) change forever. Based on the 1993 young adult novel of the same name by Lois Lowry.

One is starting to detect a template for young adult dystopian dramas such as The Hunger Games (2012) and Divergent (2014).
In each, there is a coming-of-age ceremony in which the teenage protagonist is marked out as special. Because of that special status, he comes to learn that the world he lives in is a lie.
And he will be the one to bring down the house of cards. Unlike The Hunger Games and Divergent, the protagonist in The Giver is male.
Fresh-faced Australian actor Thwaites is on the cusp of breaking out after turns in horror flick Oculus (2013) and the fantasy Maleficent (2014).
He is engaging as Jonas, a sensitive character who is overwhelmed byknowledge in a film with more of an arthouse veneer than the action-packed The Hunger Games and Divergent.
Colour and sound are carefully calibrated. As he learns about them from The Giver, the film bursts into blooms of colour and music. Even concepts such as home and love have to be learnt and he finds himself falling for his friend Fiona.
Teenage hormones will get the better of an authoritarian society every time.
The supporting line-up featuring veteran actors Streep and Bridges emanate authority and gravitas.
But singer Taylor Swift is forgettable in a small role as the former receiver of memories.
Holmes’ role as Jonas’ assigned “mother” has real-life resonance: One cannot help but wonder if this what what it felt like for her when she had to live under the shadow of Scientology as Tom Cruise’s wife. Her character believes unquestioningly in the system and places it first before everything and everyone else.
Several key questions remain unanswered in the film, including what role exactly the receiver is supposed to play.
And the mission that Jonas has to go on seems like a long shot at best with no clear logic underlying it.
But despite some issues, The Giver is an offering that is still worth receiving.
(ST)

Missing Person
Lala Hsu
Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lala Hsu’s last album, Ideal Life (2012), was an impressive high point in her career. Missing Person does not quite match that high, but it is still compelling and moving.
In the title track Missing, a spare ballad composed by Europa Huang and with lyrics by Hush, Hsu gently caresses the words, crooning tenderly: “How I wish to find you, gently cradling your face/I would open up my arms, and caress your back.”
Steady (Ming Tian De Shi Qing) is a wry look at the unpredictability of love. “We book in advance next year’s summer trip/We book in advance next month’s play/We book in advance the restaurant for Valentine’s Day/But who knows, if I’ll still love you then.”
Retro-dance number Miss Worry and the playfully titled Candy Crusher, which features indie singer-songwriter Ellen Loo, show a more colourful side of Hsu.

The Free Show 2014
Wang Leehom
What’s better than a gig by your favourite singer? Why, a free show, of course.
Since 2012, US-born Mandopop star Wang Leehom has been giving his fans a treat each New Year’s day.
This year, the freebie was a cosy, intimate affair held here at Klapsons The Boutique Hotel, captured on The Free Show 2014.
The singer-songwriter is relaxed and in good form as he serves up laidback versions of his songs, from Love Rival Beethoven from his 1995 debut album to the more recent Heartbeat (2008).
The focus, though, is on lesser known numbers such as All I Think About Is You and covers such as the classic track Lean On Me.
It gives fans a chance to relook his songs that may have been overlooked and to hear a different side of Wang beyond the familiar hits.
What’s better than a free show? A good free show.
(ST)

Magic In The Moonlight
Woody Allen
The story: In late 1920s Europe, stage magician Stanley (Colin Firth) is asked by his friend Howard (Simon McBurney) to expose a clairvoyant named Sophie (Emma Stone) as a fraud. She has everyone under her spell at a mansion of the Catledge family in the south of France, including the very smitten son, Brice (Hamish Linklater). As she passes test after test under Stanley’s watchful eyes, he begins to wonder if she might be the real thing.

Despite a star-studded cast that includes Firth (A Single Man, 2009), Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, 2012) and Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park, 2001) as a wise aunt, Magic In The Moonlight is not quite magical.
For a while, the film coasts along on Firth’s considerable charm and Woody Allen’s biting dialogue.
Stanley might be a successful magician, but he is by no means a pleasant person. He has a tart disposition and an acid tongue and is described as having “all the charm of a typhus epidemic”.
The fun is in watching someone so full of himself wavering when he comes face to face with spirit medium Sophie Baker.
Is she a charlatan or truly “a visionary and a vision”? The sight of a blustery Stanley in deep denial over his growing attraction to her is also entertaining.
As the sunny Sophie, the likable Stone gets to showcase her star quality as well and is a good foil for Firth.
Writer-director Allen keeps you guessing as to Sophie’s true nature. She seems open and friendly and does not shy away from contact from the man trying to call her bluff. Like Stanley, you might soon find yourself fervently wishing that magic exists.
Sadly, unlike the prolific film-maker – who continues to work at a pace that would put most of his fellow film- makers to shame, averaging one film a year, when he is well into his 70s – the movie runs out of steam towards the end.
Once the plot takes a definitive turn, there is not much else for Allen to do other than tie up loose ends and wrap things up neatly.
(ST)

Cries of dismay and disappointment echoed on the Internet early last week.
You might have thought that the cries were in response to a ban on videos of kittens and puppies, but they were in response to reports that beloved Japanese animation outfit Studio Ghibli was closing down.
The studio is the home of films such as Spirited Away (2001, left), Princess Mononoke (1997) and My Neighbour Totoro (1988) in which beautifully rendered drawings tell stories which beguile, excite and move, but never pander by either reaching for easy sentiment or over-simplifying things for the audience.
So when producer Toshio Suzuki was reported by the Western media as saying in an interview on Japanese network TBS on Aug 3 that the studio was closing, fans wailed. It turned out to be a translation error. What Suzuki said was that the studio would “pause” production to think about how to rebuild itself.
Variety, the entertainment trade magazine, reported on Aug 7 that Suzuki had clarified his remarks that morning on the NHK programme Asa Ichi. While the studio had achieved its dream of making the kind of animation it wanted, to some degree, he said it was “now we’re at a point where we’ve got to think about what we’ll do next”.
There was more for fans to cheer about when he said that the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki “may make something again”, possibly a short film for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Miyazaki, 73, is inextricably linked with Studio Ghibli. He wrote and directed My Neighbour Totoro, about two young sisters and their adventures with some friendly woodland spirits; Princess Mononoke, on the struggle between forest gods and resource-consuming humans; and Spirited Away, in which a girl is forced to survive in a fantastical spirit world after her parents are turned into pigs.
He also created Castle In The Sky (1986), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and Ponyo (2008), his unfettered imagination inventing incredible adventures for plucky girls and boys.
There has been speculation about the fate of the company after Miyazaki declared that The Wind Rises (2013) was his final feature-length film. By one count, this is his sixth retirement announcement. He had previously gone into semi-retirement after Princess Mononoke, but went on to make Spirited Away four years later.
Hand-drawn animation is hard work, particularly as Miyazaki is so heavily involved in the making of each film. And it is only a matter of time before he has to step away from the demanding creative work at the studio.
But an important fact that is often overlooked is that Studio Ghibli is not just Miyazaki.
The studio was founded by him, Suzuki and film-maker Isao Takahata in June 1985 after the success of Miyazaki’s Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984), adapted from his manga.
While Miyazaki gets much of the attention and deservedly so, Takahata is no minor sidekick. His devastating war film Grave Of The Fireflies (1988) is liable to make any viewer dissolve into a pool of tears, while My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999) was a likeable light-hearted family comedy. His most recent film is The Tale Of Princess Kaguya (2013), which is based on a folk story, The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter.
Other directors who have made films under the Studio Ghibli banner include Hiroyuki Morita (The Cat Returns, 2002), Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty, 2010, and When Marnie Was There, 2014) and Miyazaki’s son Goro (Tales From Earthsea, 2006, and From Up On Poppy Hill, 2011).
Studio Ghibli’s strong body of work over 29 years has earned it a loyal global following. While the studio has fans all over the world from Asia to North America to Europe, notably including Pixar Animation Studio’s John Lasseter, it is in Japan that its impact is greatest.
Mr Geoffrey Wexler, Studio Ghibli’s international division chief, told Life! in an interview earlier this year that the films are very much made for the Japanese market and not with an international audience in mind.
Reportedly, eight of the studio’s films are in the list of the top 15 grossing anime films domestically.
Spirited Away tops the list and is, in fact, the all-time box-office champion in Japan with 30.4 billion yen (S$374 million), ahead of the blockbuster Titanic (1997). Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away won the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year.
While animation is still largely viewed as family- friendly fare in, say, the United States, its appeal tends to be wider elsewhere.
In Japan, anime and manga broach every conceivable topic from gentle tales about cats to violent fables of a post-apocalyptic world. There is no age-specific box constraining the medium.
While many of Ghibli’s works feature young protagonists, the films do not sugar-coat hard truths or dole out “life lessons” in a heavy-handed manner.
Grave Of The Fireflies, for example, is about the bleak horrors of war as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy and the younger sister he tries to protect. While fantasy adventure Princess Mononoke has been read as a fable about the destruction of the environment, it offers shades of greys and nuanced characters instead of reductive black-and-white slogans.
Studio Ghibli is not afraid of complexity and that has enabled it to create richly rewarding works which invite interpretation, even generating controversy from time to time as in the case of The Wind Rises, about a designer of Japan’s World War II fighter planes.
The studio’s works also point to a larger truth about films. In order to create something universal, something which resonates with a wide spectrum of people, you start with something very specific and focused. True, some cultural nuances and details may get lost in translation but the resulting sense of authenticity is compelling, even for those who are not its intended audience.
Conversely, if the starting point is to please as many people as possible, a film could easily end up bereft of character and a point of view.
The other hallmark of the company’s films is its sublime animation, be it of imaginary worlds and creatures such as Laputa and Totoro, or realistic characters striving against adversity, displaying courage or simply laughing delightedly.
Every little detail is painstakingly drawn and coloured, mostly by hand. Some computer graphics were used in Princess Mononoke but by the time of Ponyo, the computer animation department had been shut down. Even for Mononoke, Miyazaki reportedly personally redrew 80,000 of the film’s frames.
In works such as Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli illustrates that the medium of animation is one which knows no boundaries and we are only limited by how high our imagination can soar. For the legion of fans, the good news is the studio is not done flying just yet.
(ST)

Drama
Cut
Aaron Yan

Fans get a double dose of Aaron Yan as the Taiwanese idol releases two six-track EPs back to back. Drama collects tracks featured on his TV shows, while Cut purports to show the real Yan.
Yet the former is the stronger disc, offering more, well, drama.
The Mandarin-English duet One Out Of Two with Korean singer G.NA slips into an easy groove. That’s Not Me paints a picture of self-denial: “Just that when I hear a song/My eyes get red/That’s not me/Definitely not me.”
More romantic woes abound on The Unwanted Love but they are given a more upbeat arrangement.
In comparison, the material on Cut is less memorable. Head for the perkier numbers here – No Cut and Kidnap Love. Yan is possibly most honest on the track Entertainer when he sings: “Go ahead and guess, guess, guess, but you can never guess my heart.”
So much for showing the real Yan.
(ST)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Jonoathan Liebesman
The story: The Foot Clan headed by the vicious Shredder is responsible for a crime wave hitting New York City. Intrepid reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) stumbles upon an unlikely force fighting back – teenage mutant ninja turtles – and discovers her link to them.

This is a film that is fully aware of the ridiculousness of four human-sized turtles executing ninja moves and embraces instead of belittles it.
The quartet of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello first appeared in a comic book in 1984 and have proven to be impressively long-living reptiles. The franchise has spawned three animated TV series, with the latest one currently ongoing, a live action series and four feature films.
The last big-screen outing, TMNT (2007), was a CGI-animated flick that did not go down too well with critics, though. This reboot ventures into similar territory by mixing live action with computer animation through motion capture.
Most importantly, director Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath Of The Titans, 2012) has retained the lightly comic vibe of wisecracking and squabbling turtles as they go about fighting crime.
He teases the audience for a while before showing them what the latest version of the turtles look like. They come across like Yoda on steroids and in a shell. Then they open their mouths and out spews teenspeak, particularly from Michelangelo – and all is indeed familiar and well.
There is even a signature “Cowabunga!” or two unleashed in the proceedings.
Apart from the different coloured masks they wear, the turtles are also distinguished by their personality. Orange for fun-loving Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), purple for geeky bespectacled Donatello (Jeremy Howard), red for hot-blooded Raphael (Alan Ritchson) and blue for leader Leonardo (Pete Ploszek).
Still, it can get a little confusing telling them apart at times, even though Jackass star Johnny Knoxville voices Leonardo, presumably because he is more well known.
The story itself is fairly straightforward as it pits Shredder and his clan of baddies against master rat Splinter and his protege turtles with a decent chase sequence down a snowy slope.
Megan Fox (Transformers, 2007) fulfils the requisite hot-girl quotient, while Will Arnett (from comedy series Arrested Development) provides some laughs as a cameraman besotted with her.
With a watchable reboot successfully accomplished, it looks like the turtles have managed to extend their shell-life yet again.
(ST)

Good Morning, Hard City
Adrian Fu
Hong Kong’s Adrian Fu makes his debut as a singer with this disc, but if you are someone who reads album credits, his name will certainly be familiar.
He has previously composed for top singers such as Eason Chan (We Are All Lonely) and Freya Lim (Wounded).
The vibe here is mellow with a touch of melancholy. This is a record about city life and as befitting a savvy urbanite, he switches easily between Mandarin and English on the songs.
His is no rose-tinted view though.
On the title track, which has lyrics by Lin Xi, he sings: “I’m searching and I’m also lost/Found the meaning of work and holidays/But I’ve lost myself.”
Some of the songs seem to be less metaphorical. He appears to be licking his emotional wounds on numbers such as Cutthroat Lover and What Do You Want.
City life is no breeze and yet his love affair with it lingers. He sings on the title number: “Waking here and sleeping here/Tired of here yet I can’t leave/Oh my hard city.”
Recommended for urban dwellers who have a love-hate relationship with their city.
(ST)

A performer who can act, sing and dance well is admiringly referred to as a triple threat. When the acting, singing and dancing come together in a well-executed piece of musical theatre, the result is a triple treat for audiences.
What works on stage, though, does not necessarily translate to the big screen. Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables (2012) divided opinions, while Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002) was less satisfying than the Broadway revival production of 1996. And word on Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys, opening here on Thursday, has been middling.
Often, the problem occurs as a result of casting. Instead of the triple-threat requirements, it is a fourth quality – Hollywood star power – that trumps the other three.
But the thing is, a case of two out of three will not do when it comes to a musical. In John Kander and Fred Ebb’s jazzy Chicago, first produced on Broadway in 1975, there is acting, singing and dancing to legendary choreographer Bob Fosse’s slinky moves. And there is no way you can shimmy your way through that with two left feet.
More often, though, it is on the singing front that actors fall flat.
Set against the backdrop of seething political discontent in France in the early 1800s, the musical Les Miserables is based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel of the same name and follows the travails of escaped convict Jean Valjean.
On stage, the part of single-minded inspector Javert has been played by theatre actors such as Roger Allam, Terrence Mann and Philip Quast. The role calls for a rich and authoritative baritone and the Australian Quast was regarded as a strong contender for the title of Javert, even taking on the role at the 10th Anniversary Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1995.
In other words, these were some mighty impressive shoes to fill.
But the big-screen casting of Russell Crowe was a major misstep.
Crowe might have an Oscar for Best Actor under his belt for the historical epic Gladiator (2000), but he simply cannot sing. It sounded as though he had either swallowed a frog or was trying to spit one out. What should have been powerful scenes as Javert swore to hunt down Valjean and later wrestled with his faith caused an outbreak of sniggering instead.
Things improved when it came to getting the right Valjean. The protagonist has been played, arguably most definitively, by Irish tenor Colm Wilkinson. He originated the role in London in 1985 and continued to play him when the musical transferred to Broadway in 1987.
Hugh Jackman took on the role in the film and it was a smart choice as he is one of the rarest of the rare – a triple threat with mainstream star power. When not slicing and dicing baddies as Wolverine, Jackman has done award-winning work on stage. His turn in Oklahoma! in 1998 earned him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical, while playing singer-songwriter Peter Allen won him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2004 for The Boy From Oz.
One inherent disadvantage of the film medium is that you lose the sense of immediacy you get from watching a theatre production.
But let’s be honest here. Whether out of budgetary constraints or due to leave-it-to-the-last- minute impulse, it is all too easy to end up in the cheap seats in the second circle where you have to squint away at the action on stage.
So Hooper’s loving close-ups in Les Miserables meant you could see the actors emoting at close range without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for top-tier seats. There is something to be said for the egalitarianism of cinema.
All that emotional bombast was too much for some to take. But given Les Miserables’ epic and sprawling story, themes of love, revolution and sacrifice, and scenes of youthful passions boiling over, Hooper’s approach and treatment were a good fit.
Another stage-to-screen musical marred by casting choices was Chicago.
In the 1997 Broadway revival of the cynical musical about crime and celebrity, James Naughton won a Tony Award for his portrayal of the silvertongued lawyer Billy Flynn. Richard Gere is silver-haired. Close, but no cigar.
Also, there was a physical mismatch between the statuesque-looking Catherine Zeta-Jones and the smaller-sized Renee Zellweger. It meant the impact of numbers such as Hot Honey Rag, in which two performers move in perfect coordination and sometimes in unison, was diminished.
Most egregiously though, the wonderfully funny duet Class was dropped from the film.
The music component in a musical is key and messing with it rarely bodes well.
Which brings us to Jersey Boys, which is about the 1960s rock ’n roll group The Four Seasons. While Eastwood has had a life-long love affair with jazz, the film still seems a bit of an odd choice for him to direct. He is better known for gunslinging than anything to do with doo-wop singing.
While some gave the thumbs-up to his take on the musical, Time magazine’s Richard Corliss called it a “turgid botch” and Variety points to the
“relative dearth of prominent musical performances”. The emphasis on the mob links has also led to comparisons with Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990).
One encouraging sign, though: Triple threat John Lloyd Young, who won the Tony Award in 2006 for playing Frankie Valli on Broadway, survived the switch from stage to screen.
It suggests the casting decisions were made without Hollywood star power skewing the equation. Not to make a song and dance of it, however, but that does not mean success is assured. Whether it works as a movie will depend on myriad other factors that sway the fate of every other film.
(ST)

Faces Of Paranoia – Only The Paranoid Survive
A-mei
That is one scary- looking mouthful of a title.
Add the highly stylised-looking cover art of a bleached-out-looking A-mei and one begins to wonder if the Taiwanese pop diva has gone all arty concept album on us.
Not to worry. Her first new offering in three years, since 2011’s R U Watching?, is one of her strongest ever. Every track here sounds like it could be a hit.
After collaborating with a wide range of musicians – from acclaimed rapper Soft Lipa to singer-songwriter Hsiao Yu to producer-songwriter Adia – at her own recording studio, she has released what you could call a best-of compilation distilled from the last three years.
Structurally, the album is split into two. The first half deals with emotional upheavals while the latter half takes a detour into clubland.
There’s a strong sense of rhythm on the opening number Both Right And Both Wrong with its syncopated beat as A-mei’s voice flits into falsetto: “We were both right and wrong, neither wanted to be wrong.” It’s a mature blame-free break-up, and yet a sense of regret lingers.
March is another poignant post-breakup song in which time is both literal and metaphorical: “No point in missing love when March has passed/Time will leave, I won’t.”
Self-Oppression finds her at her bleakest: “Would rather be entwined with a poisonous snake, refusing the dove outside the window.”
And passions run dark and deep on the electro title track: “This is a sickness, but there’s no cure/Partaking of each other’s scent, bodily fluids and blood.”
After all the draining emotional drama, she decides it is time to shed all that emotional baggage and just dance.
A-mei makes you want to samba on Fly High and disses male libidinousness on Booty Call to a thumping beat.
The music video for lead single March is out and some have zoomed in on the fact that only her face is shown, wondering if her weight has ballooned. No wonder A-mei is paranoid.
She asks on one track Will You Still Want To Love Me Like This. When the music is this good, the answer is a rousing yes.
(ST)

Hungry Ghost Ritual
Nick Cheung
The story: After a failed business venture in China, Zonghua (Nick Cheung) returns home. He reluctantly takes over his father’s Cantonese opera troupe with help from lead actress Xiaoyan (Annie Liu). As the Hungry Ghost Festival approaches and opening day draws near, he starts seeing ghosts and strange things occur. What do they want and are they all linked to the flashback story of what happened with the troupe’s former star (Carrie Ng)?

Award-winning actor Cheung takes a stab at horror in his directorial debut. And the results are not pretty.
For horror to be effective, the film-maker needs to have a strong grasp of mood and pacing. It is a tall order for any director, much less a rookie.
So the scares here are of the generic variety, seen in every other horror flick out there and Cheung falls back on an irritatingly intrusive score to shout: “Watch out”.
The cribbing extends to Western works as well. After the success of the Paranormal Activity movies, it appears that closed-circuit television monitoring is now de rigueur when things go bump in the night. What happened to calling ghostbusters or the friendly neighbourhood exorcist?
Demonic possession rears its ugly head here as well, though for some reason, even when those afflicted act in an obviously robotic manner, no one seems to realise that something is seriously amiss.
Also, why is it that when someone gets possessed, the first order of business is to demonstrate some advanced yoga position?
The story does not make much sense either and even when a key piece of family history is revealed at the end, motivations remain unclear.
When not messing about with ghosts, the film makes use of the opera troupe setting to offer some tidbits on the traditions of the trade.
For example, when writing the character “ji” (luck) to put up as good-luck charms, the character is intentionally left incomplete. Otherwise, it is seen as sealing up the mouths of the performers.
The movie might well have been more interesting if it had simply explored what goes on in an opera troupe in detail. Or maybe it was a case of Cheung being spread too thin as he also plays the lead role here. The part of Zonghua is unlikely to result in additions to his trophy cabinet though.
Still, regardless of how the film does, he will always have his acting day-job to fall back on.
(ST)

Stefanie Sun 2014 Kepler World Tour
National Stadium / Last Saturday

Home-grown singer Stefanie Sun, 35, was the first pop act to perform at the new National Stadium last Saturday night in front of about 20,000 fans.
It was an especially momentous occasion as her Kepler world tour marks her comeback after marriage in 2011 and childbirth.
Unfortunately, it proved to be something of a bumpy ride.
Her voice was sounding strained on the low and high notes of the fast-paced Infinite Possibilities.
She then asked: “What’s in season in Singapore now? Not me, I was popular 14 years ago.”
The answer turned out to be the flu.
And a few songs later, about midway through the concert, she announced after singing the hit ballad Angel’s Fingerprints: “This is a little awkward. My voice is almost gone.”
She added: “Let’s do our best, okay?” and showed her mettle by holding on for a full-length 2½-hour-long show.
It reminded one of the fact that she was recently rushed to hospital after her concert in Chongqing on June 21, though her subsequent gig in Chengdu on June 28 went off without a hitch.
The evening here had started on a strong note when Sun appeared on an elevated platform in a sparkly black outfit singing her breakthrough hit Cloudy Sky. She greeted the crowd with an enthusiastic: “Woohoo Singapore, I’m back. How, can speak Singlish or not?”
Still, she admitted that she was nervous and that she was nervous for every show because it is always a delicate balance to achieve. She said: “On stage, you need to relax and have fun. You need to be relaxed but not too slack.”
She was adept at engaging the crowd. At one point, she stage-whispered: “I’ve done about nine shows and this is the quietest one. Is this the Singapore I know?”
Right on cue, the audience erupted into cheers.
Sun, who has always kept her personal life private, even shared a little anecdote about her 1½- year-old son. She said he has a magic finger because whenever he points at a door, or milk or biscuits, the door will open and he will get his milk and biscuits.
“Can I feel what it’s like to be him?” asked Sun. She pointed at the crowd and her fans obliged her by raising the roof.
A concert highlight was the staging of the track Kepler, from her latest album of the same name.
As she stood on a lit doorway atop the planet Earth, the cosmos drifted leisurely behind her, all courtesy of nifty projections. This was the same staging done for the song when she kicked off her tour at Taipei Arena in February.
She had prepared something just for her Singapore stop though. It felt as though National Day had come early when she sang We Will Get There and One United People, the theme songs for the National Day Parade in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
As a venue for pop concerts, the National Stadium gets a mixed score. The overall sound had quite a bit of reverb to it and was rather murky though Sun’s distinctive timbre and evocative singing came through clearly enough.
It was also not the most comfortable viewing experience as with the retractable roof in place, it felt a little warm and stuffy. Thank goodness for the paper fans provided by the show organiser.
The large venue did mean though that more fans could be accommodated in one space and the atmosphere this brought about was great. After her announcement that she was losing her voice, her fans rallied around her, singing along with gusto and shouting out words of encouragement.
It might not have been the perfect homecoming but it was still a triumphant one for Sun.
(ST)

We Still Need To Believe In Love, Bastards
Waa Wei
How’s the title as a message for these cynical and complicated times? On her fourth album, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Waa Wei wrestles with the idea of love in the here and now.
She sings on the title track: “Although maybe I don’t love you at all/Although maybe I only love the imagined you/Completely in love before/With the thing called love.”
And on the Cheer Chen-penned In This Uncertain World, love is the only balm we have: “In this uncertain world/There’s still comfort, don’t speak, don’t speak, don’t speak/Just hold me, hold me, hold me.”
Wei dabbles in a variety of genres here, from the rhythmic rock of Bastards to the skittery electro-pop of Parisian Melancholy to the lightly breezy and jazzy Background. Her voice, too, is chameleonic as she beguiles and challenges, tenderly breathy one minute and then playfully defiant the next.
Love is indeed a multi-faceted, many- splendoured thing.
(ST)

Z Storm
David Lam
The story: Wong Man Bin (Gordon Lam Ka Tung) is a crooked cop in the Commercial Crime Bureau and William Luk (Louis Koo) is the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigator out to nail him. Wong’s backer, Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong), is a ruthless lawyer plotting an audacious financial ploy to defraud the Hong Kong government.

Why is Z Storm even on the big screen? It is barely distinguishable from the various cop dramas we see regularly on television. In fact, there is a long-running series of shows specifically about the work of the ICAC dating back to the 1970s. The productions are both a tool for public education about corruption as well as a public relations exercise for the agency.
The movie, too, has that same heavy-handedness about it, with dialogue about the crucial role of the ICAC. It is no surprise, then, to learn that director David Lam had shot many of the ICAC-themed mini-series.
As befits a public announcement service, the good guys are saintly and the bad guys are rotten to the core.
Luk is a principled cop who has only the best interests of the Hong Kong people at heart. Not only that, he is a caring boss who has the respect of his subordinates. Even his private life is faultless when a personal tragedy is revealed late in the film.
In other words, he is not particularly interesting. Why did the oh-so-busy Koo, with turns in drama Aberdeen and thriller Overheard 3 this year so far, even bother taking this role?
In contrast, Wong runs the Commercial Crime Bureau like his personal fiefdom and behaves more like a gang boss than a cop. Lam so relishes being deliciously evil that he will soon have you hating his guts.
Then the attention shifts to behind-the-scenes puppet-master Wu and the hold he has over the mysterious Angel Leung (an inconsequential Dada Chan).
Throw in the perfunctory financial shenanigans and the inevitably neat resolution and Z Storm skirts too closely to being a storm of Zzz’s.
(ST)

Begin Again
John Carney
The story: Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a washed-up music producer who gets fired from the label he set up. Gretta (Keira Knightley) is a songwriter nursing the wounds of a break-up with singer boyfriend Dave (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine). They both get a second chance when Dan produces her album guerilla-style in and around New York City.

For all the doubters out there, take note: Knightley can sing.
The film begins in a small pub in the East Village where a reluctant Gretta gets up on stage to perform a song she wrote. She is defensively hunched over her guitar as, around her, conversation continues to flow and ebb. And then she begins to sing.
It is a pivotal scene to sell the movie and Knightley nails it, from the mix of vulnerability and defiance to her very credible singing voice. After blockbusters such as the Pirates Of The Caribbean films (2003-2007) and lush period dramas such as Atonement (2007), it is nice to see her in a captivating contemporary role.
The audience also gets to watch the scene from Dan’s point of view as he adds other instruments to the mix in his mind, turning a spare track into a lush number. He remains an idealist passionate about music even as his personal and professional lives get messy.
While Gretta and Dan share a connection, one is grateful that writer-director John Carney (Once, 2007) never shoehorns a romance into the proceedings. Unlike the recent drama-turnedunconvincing-romance Words And Pictures (2014), Begin Again recognises that life is rarely that neat.
Dan has an estranged spouse (Catherine Keener) and a prickly teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) in tow, while Gretta is still working through her break-up with Dave.
Adding to the authenticity, this music-industry drama features several music stars, including hip-hop artist Mos Def as Dan’s business partner and singer-songwriter-producer CeeLo Green as, well, a music star.
The coup here is definitely the movie debut of Levine, frontman of pop-rock band Maroon 5. Initially unrecognisable when he first appears as Gretta’s loving boyfriend with a pair of geeky glasses and his face clean-shaven, he eventually turns into a douchebag rock god in a sporting case of art imitating life.
But the movie is interested less in music superstardom than the first love of music. It mostly focuses on Gretta and Dan making music together, capturing beautifully the joy and excitement of creating something new as they record in alleyways and on rooftops, even roping in kids playing nearby to sing on a chorus.
While the conceit of Knightley as Gretta releasing an album is not carried over into real life, she does sing on several numbers on the soundtrack, like Gwyneth Paltrow did for the country music drama Country Strong (2010).
Despite the blandly banal title, Begin Again turns out to be an engaging musical treat.
(ST)

Ten Storeys
Kenny Khoo
The promising debut album from local singer-songwriter Kenny Khoo is unabashedly commercial and it can already be said to be a success in this regard, as it topped the authoritative G-Music album chart in Taiwan, ahead of Cantopop god of song Eason Chan no less.
Opening track Wounded is an easy-on-the-ear ballad as he emotes: “Why is it that the ground is littered with those wounded by love/Who can say/Everything in love is worth it.”
Care has been taken, though, not to have him pinned down as a sensitive balladeer – he shows that he is versatile enough as a singer to take on upbeat numbers such as Phoenix and Against All Odds.
While the album is a little raw in parts and occasionally slightly off diction, it is encouraging that he composed all of the music and had a hand in all of the lyrics as well.
(ST)

Time Doesn't Heal
Freya Lim

Speaking In Tongues
Yoga Lin

It seems like Malaysian singer Freya Lim is trying to hold on to time.
She is still attempting to recapture the glory of her 2010 comeback album, Holding Back The Tears, which featured tracks for Taiwanese television series The Fierce Wife.
Similarly, the title track here is the ending theme song from another drama, Fabulous 30, while Ming Ming Ai Ni (Hidden Love) is from In A Good Way.
But while Tears was a beautifully cohesive record, Time is only intermittently interesting.
Apart from the two drama theme song ballads, the other track that leaves an impression is Yan Yu (Romance). The mood here is a little sexy and a little regretful: “Loving is like a charged encounter, it grows old with memory/If you discover soundless lightning, it must be someone sighing.”
Unfortunately, too many tracks fall into a bland, mid-tempo morass. Rather than trying to attract attention with oversized record-sleeve packaging, why couldn’t the album do it with solid material?
Time to try something new.
That is what Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin does on his EP, for which he composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the two tracks. Speaking In Tongues is also the name of his recently concluded world tour before he heads off for his compulsory military duty later this year.
The collaboration with indie band Elephant Gym is a light rock number which finds Lin contemplating departure: “I’m so close to an exit, no reason/ Don’t let me stay, don’t secretly hold on to me anymore.”
The other song, Elephant Slide, is a sweet tribute to his mother. It seemed like an odd choice to rope in Bobby Chen Sheng with his gruff voice, but it is unexpected enough to just about work.
An intriguing offering to mull over while Lin marches off stage – at least, for a while.
(ST)

Meeting The Giant
Tay Ping Hui
The story: When China teenager Chen Hang (Delvin Goh) joins Junhui’s (Chua Seng Jin) secondary school basketball team, he is ostracised for being bigger-sized – and for being good at the game. He later joins a professional team which Junhui’s father manages. As Junhui tags along for their training sessions, he witnesses firsthand the challenges faced by the foreign import players such as Xiaodi (Ian Fang) and Shaohua (Michael Lee).

The giant of the title refers to the towering Chen Hang.
When the China national joins a local basketball team, he is mockingly called Yao Ming, China’s most famous basketballer who played for Houston Rockets in the United States from 1997 to 2011.
His arrival ignites the jealousy of the other team members and leads to complaints from a parent about foreign imports squeezing out local talent.
The script by first-time director Tay Ping Hui, producer Zhu Houren (credited as Jack Choo) and writer-host Danny Yeo takes inspiration from the debate that has been brewing in Singapore over the influx of immigrants.
But instead of being an “issues” film which wrestles with this one topic, Meeting The Giant is an empathetic sports drama which manages to sidestep the usual cliches of the genre.
Rather than a hoary showdown competition, the climactic game is one in which the individual fates of the players are decided.
Admittedly, one problem with having an entire team of players is that there is not enough screen time for everyone to make an impression.
Still, a few actors manage to make their characters stand out, from Goh’s gentle giant Chen Hang to Lee’s driven captain Shaohua to Fang’s childish Xiaodi.
The film also points out the host of sacrifices and challenges they have to confront at their young age: homesickness, the pressures of having to perform as well as having to earn their keep.
In contrast, Junhui has the luxury of lounging around playing video games in his free time.
But as he trains with the China players, his initial resistance to the idea of foreign imports melts away as they become his friends. As Harper Lee wrote in the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), you cannot understand a person “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”.
Some of the scenes here feel a little heavy-handed, such as the grand send-off for Hang when he leaves home for Singapore. But Tay also shows that he can tell a thoughtful story as well as put together some energetically choreographed sequences conveying the excitement of a basketball game.
The film does not provide any direct answers to the us-versus-them debate but it does undercut the question. With the exception of Lee and Fang, whoare from China, all the China players are convincingly played by Singaporeans (albeit with dubbing since nothing would betray their identity faster than a Singaporean accent).
It turns out that the distinction between “us” and “them” is blurrer than a photograph on Instagram.
(ST)

The Fault In Our Stars
Josh Boone
The story: Hazel (Shailene Woodley) is depressed from battling thyroid cancer. But when the 17-year-old meets the sunny Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), 18, at a support group, things start looking up. Gus’ osteosarcoma is in remission but he had to have his leg amputated. They bond over being ill and also over a novel, An Imperial Affliction. And then bad news strikes. Based on the best-selling 2012 novel of the same name by John Green.

Star-crossed lovers have been thwarted by everything from disapproving families to cruel twists of fate. If they get together, it is a romantic comedy; if they do not, it is a tragedy.
On balance, the odds are probably around 50-50. But they drop dramatically when terminal illness enters the picture. It is hard to have a happy ending when at least one party is likely to eventually drop dead.
Within the narrow confines of that genre, though, this film does a good job in getting you to root for the young lovers and put you through the emotional wringer when the Grim Reaper reaches out.
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are well cast in the main roles. Casting is tricky because if the leads are too good-looking, there is the risk of this turning into an idol drama coasting along on sickly chic cheekbones and glib emotions.
Woodley is approachably girl-next-door and proves she has the range to go from sullen teen in The Descendants (2011) to action heroine in Divergent (2014) to romantic lead here.
Neither is Elgort, who also starred in Divergent, aggressively good-looking. But he has enough of a sunny, jockish look for Hazel’s disbelief to ring true when she learns that he is a virgin.
The connection between Hazel and Gus feels genuine and deeper as they have to contemplate death and their place in the world along with more mundane concerns.
In the midst of sick lit territory here, there is also humour and a little bit of sexiness to lighten the gloom. Director Josh Boone (who wrote and directed Stuck In Love, 2012) handles the material with a light and assured touch.
After countless movies where couples who meet and bond over shared music tastes, it is nice to have one bonding over a book. It also helps to propel the movie forward – Hazel and Gus embark on a little adventure to meet the author of the book (a crotchety Willem Dafoe) in Amsterdam.
In its opening week in the United States, the film moved to a first-place finish ahead of A-list projects Tom Cruise’s sci-fi vehicle Edge Of Tomorrow and Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent. Both the book’s strong fanbase and Boone’s sensitive adaptation probably helped.
The stars were certainly aligned for the movie.
(ST)

THE NOTEBOOK (2004)
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams
Story: Noah and Allie fall in love but her parents object to the relationship. Years later, an elderly Noah recites the story to an Allie who can’t remember the past as a result of Alzheimer’s. Based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.
Why it’s famous: In a moment of lucidity, Allie asks Noah if their love is strong enough to “take them away together”. The next day, a nurse finds they have died peacefully together in their sleep. The film, a sleeper hit, earned US$115.6 million worldwide and turned Gosling and McAdams into marquee names.
You may not know that: When director Nick Cassavetes first cast Gosling, possibly then best known for playing a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer (2001), the actor thought: “He’s crazy. I couldn’t be more wrong for this movie.”
Hanky rating: ****

C’EST LA VIE, MON CHERIE (1994)
Stars: Anita Yuen, Sean Lau Ching Wan
Story: The bubbly Min is part of a Cantonese street opera troupe and she cheers up the recently broken- hearted Kit, a struggling jazz musician. She is later re-diagnosed with bone cancer.
Why it’s famous: It won five prizes at the 1994 Hong Kong Film Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. Yuen was named Best Actress at the same event for the gender-bending comedy He’s A Woman, She’s A Man (1994).
You may not know that: The international title is in French and it means That’s Life, My Darling. It is ungrammatical as it should be either Ma Cherie, for a woman, or Mon Cheri, for a man.
Hanky rating: ****

LOVE STORY (1970)
Stars: Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal
Story: Well-to-do Harvard boy Oliver and working-class Radcliffe girl Jenny fall in love against his father’s wishes. It is never explicitly stated what disease she has but it is speculated to be leukaemia. Based on the 1970 bestselling novel of the same name by Erich Segal.
Why it’s famous: The line “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” is said by Jenny to Oliver, and by Oliver to his father. It was the top-grossing film of 1970 in the United States and Canada with US$106 million. The late critic Roger Ebert defined Ali MacGraw’s disease as a movie illness in which “the only symptom is that the patient grows more beautiful until finally dying”.
You may not know that: Tommy Lee Jones made his film debut here in a small role as a Harvard student.
Hanky rating: ***

UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE (2010)
Stars: Zhou Dongyu, Shawn Dou
Story: During the Cultural Revolution in China, high school senior Zhang Jingqiu is sent from the city to learn from peasants in a remote village.
A pure love between her and a soldier, Sun Jianxin, blossoms while she is there but he later develops leukaemia. Based on the novel Hawthorn Tree Forever by the author Aimi.
Why it’s famous: Feted director Zhang Yimou chose to work with fresh faces yet again: Actress- model Zhou and Chinese-Canadian actor Dou.
You may not know that: Dou won the first prize at the SunShine Nation pageant in Vancouver in 2007.
Hanky rating: ***

MY GIRL (1991)
Stars: Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin
Story: A coming-of-age story of 11-year-old hypochondriac Vada. She shares an innocent first kiss with Thomas J., who later dies from an allergic reaction to a bee sting.
Why it’s famous: Culkin was already a huge star with Home Alone (1990) and having him killed off was traumatic for quite a few people. In the teen soap The OC, a male character confesses after a bout of crying that he has not cried like that “since Macaulay Culkin died in My Girl”.
You may not know that: This was Chlumsky’s first starring role. She later took a break from acting to study at the University of Chicago and returned in 2006 to act in TV shows such as 30 Rock, Veep and Hannibal.
Hanky rating: ***

AMOUR (2012)
Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva
Story: Anne and husband Georges are retired piano teachers in their 80s. He takes care of her after she suffers a stroke, and then another. At one point, she tells him that she does not want to go on living.
Why it’s famous: It won the Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Michael Haneke’s film might not make you weep buckets but it is a devastating study about what it means to love someone. It has also been called a horror film about ageing.
You may not know that: The film was inspired by a real-life event as Haneke had been “confronted with the suffering of a loved one in the family” – an aunt who had brought him up had committed suicide.
Hanky rating: ** ½

A WALK TO REMEMBER (2002)
Stars: Mandy Moore, Shane West
Story: The jockish Landon falls for the quiet, bookish Jamie after they act in a play together. Unknown to him, she has leukaemia and has stopped responding to treatments.
Why it’s famous: This was then-teen singer Moore’s attempt to break into the movies with her first starring role. The film struck a chord with the target audience and she won accolades at the MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards in 2002. West, once touted as the next big thing, did not hit the big time, but has worked steadily and appeared on medical drama ER and action series Nikita.
You may not know that: Another Nicholas Sparks adaptation, with the inspiration for the novel being his sister, Danielle Sparks Lewis, who died of cancer in 2000.
Hanky rating: **

P.S. I LOVE YOU (2007)
Stars: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler
Story: After the death of her husband Gerry from a brain tumour, Holly withdraws from the world. On her 30th birthday, she receives the first of several messages Gerry had left for her, all ending with “P.S. I love you”. Based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern.
Why it’s famous: This was Butler’s year with 300 showcasing his abs and this film showcasing his sensitive side. He reveals in an interview on ShortList.com that people yell “This is Sparta” at him probably as often as he gets women coming up to him and saying “P.S. I love you”.
You may not know that: Butler, who is Scottish, reportedly apologised for his attempt at an Irish accent.
Hanky rating: * ½

AUTUMN IN NEW YORK (2000)
Stars: Richard Gere, Winona Ryder
Story: A successful middle-aged restaurateur Will, falls in love with a spirited young woman Charlotte, who is terminally ill with neuroblastoma, a form of cancer.
Why it’s famous: This was supposed to be a touching tearjerking romance but the May-December pairing was too distracting for most. The film was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple.
You may not know that: This was China actress Joan Chen’s English language directorial debut after her well-received helming of Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998).
Hanky rating: *

SWEET NOVEMBER (2001)
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron
Story: Nelson spends a wonderful November with the free-spirited Sara, who is terminally ill with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A remake of the 1968 film of the same name.
Why it’s famous: Actually, it is infamous and widely panned. The film was nominated for three Razzie Awards including Worst Remake or Sequel, Worst Actor and Worst Actress but did not “win” any.
You may not know that: Reeves and Theron previously acted as husband-and-wife in the mystery thriller The Devil’s Advocate (1997). There were rumours that the two were secretly dating and that Reeves was devastated when Theron chose Sean Penn over him.
Hanky rating: *
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Mention Cambodia and culinary finesse is unlikely to be the first thing that comes to mind. But a visit to Phnom Penh reveals a bubbling fine dining scene.
After delving into the country’s glorious ancient history and horrific recent past, boost your energy and spirits with a satisfying treat. There are enough options to pack a three- to four-day trip with deliciousness ranging from South American tapas to deep-fried tarantulas. A foodie trip to Cambodia is definitely an option to bear in mind with the number of long weekends to come this year and next.
For our group of five, we were able to have very good meals for about US$20 (S$25) a head. The most expensive meal was at La Residence, which came to under US$50 a head. While the local currency is Cambodian riel, US dollars are accepted everywhere and is the currency that prices are quoted in.
The list here is by no means exhaustive and one regret I have is missing out on the restaurant Common Tiger. It was closed on a Monday evening when we tried to get a booking.
The New York Times says its South African chef, Timothy Bruyns, “artfully reimagines Cambodian flavours with his molecular gastronomy-inspired fare like a peanut-lime crusted sea bass with jasmine rice discs”.
It will just have to wait till the next trip.

FRIENDS THE RESTAURANT
215 Street 13
Tel: +855-12-802-072
Website: www.tree-alliance.org/our-restaurants/friends.asp
ROMDENG
74 Street 174
Tel: +855-92-219-565
Website: www.tree-alliance.org/our-restaurants/romdeng.asp
Eat a meal and support a good cause at Friends The Restaurant and Romdeng.
They are sister eateries which provide street kids and marginalised youth and adults with a means of living as cooks and wait staff.
Friends offers an extensive menu of dishes for sharing and we pick the ones that catch our eye, from stir fried red tree ants with beef fillet and holy basil (US$7.50) to Burmese chicken curry on crispy noodles with smoked chillies and pickled mustard greens (US$5.75).
We also asked if we could order tarantulas, a local delicacy, even though they only have it on the menu at Romdeng. They obligingly agreed as it was just located nearby and we got to satisfy our curiosity.
The critters turned out to be smaller than expected since every photo of the dish is in extreme close-up. Turns out that deep fried arachnids taste pretty similar to soft shell crab. And no, you do not feel the hairy legs scuttling down your throat.
What packed a little more bite was the coconut and chilli ice-cream with the wonderfully smoky charred pineapple (US$4.25).
The food was decent enough that we made a separate visit to Romdeng, which is about a 10-minute walk away from Friends. Its fortuitous appearance just when we needed to take a break from the searing heat helped as well.
I rounded off a lunch of mango salad, stuffed squid and amok with a refreshing lime black pepper sorbet. But the daiquiri version was, as my friend declared, “awesome”.

MALIS
136 Street 41 Norodom Boulevard
Tel: +855-707-944-2380
Website: www.malis-restaurant.com
Centred around a restful courtyard, Malis was opened in 2004 as one of the first upscale Cambodian restaurants in the country. We had an unforgettable lunch here as every dish was refined and full of freshness and flavour from the bamboo shoots and smoked fish soup (US$7.50) to the pork and banana blossoms salad (US$6.50).
The traditional Khmer dish amok (US$7), or steamed curried fish, was the best we had, both delicate and robust at the same time. Even better was the baked goby (US$15). It looked disconcertingly reptilian head-on but that was no deterrent to a group of hungry diners who picked it clean. The fish was so fresh that the lemongrass, garlic and salt crust it was baked with was enough to bring out its flavour.

TEPUI AT CHINESE HOUSE
Chinese House, 45 Sisowath Quay
Tel: +855-23-991-514
Website: www.tepui.asia
The head chef, Gisela Salazar Golding, is from Venezuela and the food on offer here is South American tapas with Japanese accents. From the empanadas filled with beef picadillo and goat cream cheese to the prettily seared scallops to the Sake Rojito cocktail, there was a nice balance of flavours that suggested that someone had put a lot of thought into them.
Located in a house built by a Chinese trader in 1903, and restored in 2009, it now hosts a restaurant, lounge bar and gallery for your lounging and art-browsing needs in one convenient space.

LA RESIDENCE
22-24 Street 214, tel: +855-23-224-582
Website: www.la-residence-restaurant. com
Dine like royalty in the former residence of Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
The kitchen is helmed by Swiss-trained Japanese chef Takeshi Kamo. The menu is classically French with some Japanese accents, from the wagyu beef options to a soft shell crab starter. I went for the beef carpaccio with local green pepper from Kampot, grilled skate fish and had chocolate eclair for dessert. The meal was pleasant enough without being particularly exciting.
For those on a tight budget, go for the US$15 three-course set lunch.

PUBLIC HOUSE
The 240½ Alleyway (off Street 240)
Tel: 855-17-770-754
Website: Search for Public House Phnom Penh in Facebook.
BAR.SITO
The 240½ Alleyway (off Street 240)
Tel: 855-77-960-413
Website: Search for Bar.sito in Facebook.
It feels like a Harry Potter adventure when we set off in search of alleyway 240½.
And it took some convincing from the tuk-tuk driver that we had come to the right place since neither the restaurant nor the bar are exactly visible from the main road. They are tucked into an alley in a poshly quiet area.
You can order food from Public House and have it at the bar, but we decide to sit down at a proper table in a well-lit space instead. Unfortunately, the ventilation was terrible at Public House and they messed up the doneness for two steaks. At least they were nice enough to redo the order to exactly how we wanted it. The menu is mostly western and includes pub favourites such as burgers and fish and chips.
The cooling darkness of Bar.Sito felt like a respite after the stuffiness of House but one is soon reminded that smoking indoors is allowed here. Cocktails are US$5 each and happy hour is from 5 to 7pm.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB
363 Sisowath Quay
Tel: +855-23-724-014
Website: fcccambodia.com
Is this it? We wondered because there was only a sign and stairs leading up a somewhat shabby-looking building. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club does not actually have much of a streetfront space but no matter, you don’t come here for the street view.
Instead, drop by in the evening for a sundowner as the Tonle Sap river, which the rooftop bar overlooks, gets bathed in rosy light. And the good news is that one-for-one happy hour deals are available from 5 to 7pm. Cocktails normally cost US$4.95 a glass.
The FCC Transfusion, a concoction of vodka, limes, cranberry juice and ginger ale, is perfect for quenching thirst and beating the heat. They serve food here as well, a mix of Asian and Western fare, but we do not make it past the liquids section.

ELEPHANT BAR
Raffles Hotel Le Royal, 92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh, Sangkat Wat Phnom
Tel: +855-23-981-888
Website: www.raffles.com/phnom-penh/dining/elephant-bar
No less a luminary than the late glamorous Jacqueline Kennedy has graced the bar – and they have the glass with her lipstick mark still on it to prove it. They also have a signature champagne cocktail to commemorate her 1967 visit, mischievously named Femme Fatale.
Happy hour from 4 to 9pm gets you a 50 per cent discount (cocktails are normally around US$10 each) so relax in a comfy rattan chair in the classily cosy surroundings. And pick a tipple which tickles your fancy from the Bou Sraa Waterfall to the Paris Sling (“like Singapore Sling, but stronger” said our server). The drinks are strong so take care not to guzzle like an elephant.
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Heaven/Cliff
Jess Lee
Malaysian songstress Jess Lee is a power belter. The winner of the 2010 edition of the One Million Star singing competition has even been nicknamed Iron Lung Queen.
And the one-two opening of Cliff To The Heaven and Force To here pack quite a punch.
The piano-backed Cliff composed by Singapore’s Lee Shih Siong begins gently. But it soon has Jess Lee scaling heights and swooping down cliffs as passion gets pushed to the brink: “Don’t give me a cliff that’s like heaven/Don’t force me to jump down this bottomless pit of grief.”
The edgy music video has her singing with a transparent plastic bag around her head and features a couple in the throes of an illicit love.
You might feel a little emotionally wrung out after this.

100 Reasons To Fly
Mr.
In 2010, Hong Kong band Mr. included the Mandarin track If I Were Eason Chan on their remix Cantonese album Like Black.
Four years later, the quintet finally release their Mandarin full-length debut album with 100 Reasons To Fly.
The reason for the earlier track was that lead singer Alan Po sounds uncannily like Chan. Over the course of an entire album though, the voices seem less alike. Certainly, Po has a richly expressive and resonant voice, if one that is a shade less layered than Chan’s.
There is an insouciance to the title track that lifts the spirits: “I want to fly, no grouses/One thought and I move, without saying a word, just go when I want to go.”
Elsewhere, the band make a pitch for Love And Peace, offer an unseasonal Merry Christmas To You :) and end on the anthemic rock of Wake Up.
It is as though in eight tracks, the band want to show just what they are capable of and end up flying all over the map.
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Words And Pictures
Fred Schepisi
The story: Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) was once a promising writer. Now, he teaches English in a high school, causes trouble with his penchant for drink and is distant from his grown son. Dina Delsanto (Juliette Binoche) is an artist struggling to create as rheumatoid arthritis robs her body of ease of mobility. She arrives at the school to teach art and a battle erupts between them over whether words or pictures are more important.

If the movie had only one star attached, it would have been a more conventional teacher-inspiring- students flick along the lines of films such as Dangerous Minds (1995).
But with Oscar-nominated Clive Owen (Closer, 2004) and Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient, 1996) in the picture, the film ends up taking a disappointing turn into romantic- comedy territory.
It starts off on familiar ground.
Jack is trying to get his students fired up about literature and his own passion for the written word comes through in his classes.
One of them calls him “captain”, a reference to poet Walt Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! and famously used in the film Dead Poets Society (1989) to laud a beloved teacher. His personal life, though, is in shambles and you know that because he sports a scruffy beard.
The arc for Dina is similar. She, too, is trying to inspire her charges as she demands work that touches both the head and the heart. And she is also dealing with personal frustrations.
When Dina calls words “lies” and “traps”, Jack is outraged and battlelines are drawn. The words- versus-pictures clash that erupts mostly feels like an exercise for high school as the two trade jibes and eventually square off in a public debate.
It has been said that the medium is the message. In this case, the medium also has the final word on the words-versus-picture debate.
After all, what is film but an amalgamation of words and pictures?
Still, there is some pleasure to be had watching Owen and Binoche bicker, and enjoying the bickering. With a nickname like “Icicle”, you know that Dina is going to be melted by Jack.
While they are fun as an adversarial pair, the inevitable romancing does not quite work. To its credit, the film tries to be honest and Dina gives a touching reason for succumbing.
But while Owen and Binoche are fine actors, they are simply not believable as a romantic item. This is a pairing that is more chalk and cheese than words and pictures.
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Model
Li Ronghao

Classic
Li Jian

Thanks to the upcoming Golden Melody Awards, two China singer-songwriters have been catapulted into the spotlight.
Both Li Ronghao’s Model and Li Jian’s Classic have chalked up five nominations apiece. And they will square off in the categories for Best Mandarin Album and Best Album Producer.
Model marks Li Ronghao’s debut as a singer but he had previously composed and produced for the likes of Rainie Yang, Jeff Chang and Chen Kun.
He has a lightly husky baritone voice which lights up the understated, mid- tempo material, letting the lyrics and music speak for themselves.
On the breezy opener Li Bai, he professes that he wants to be the famed Tang Dynasty poet, though not necessarily for the reason you might think.
“If I could start over, I would choose to be Li Bai/The rights and wrongs a few hundred years ago, there would be fewer people to guess”.
He then breathes life into the lovely title track, nominated for Best Lyricist for Hong Kong’s Chow Yiu Fai with its striking imagery.
“Like a playful kitten sleeping for tomorrow’s curiosity/These chaotic times, this transparent jail, and feel/Can’t continue to be the model in the window”.
Other highlights here include Too Frank, a light-footed number about getting hurt, and Actor And Singer, a poignant duet with actor-singer Chen Kun.
Li Jian’s pure, pristine voice harks back to someone like Fei Yu-ching and is a very different instrument compared to Li Ronghao’s.
Li Jian, formerly one-half of the duo Water & Wood, was possibly best known outside of China for writing Legend, covered by Faye Wong in 2010.
Backed by a 40-piece orchestra which includes the piano and harp, there are moments of exquisite beauty on Classic.
When he soars into his wonderfully tender higher range, only a heart of stone would remain unmoved.
He sings plaintively on Far From Home: “Many times, tears are about to fall/That window is the reason for my strength/That little door still bears her tenderness/Giving warmth to accompany me”.
Fifteen lush tracks can be a bit too much to take in in one sitting though, and Classic is best savoured in smaller doses.
Li Jian and Li Ronghao offer different styles in different voices, but one thing unites the two: Both are class acts.
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In The Blood
John Stockwell
The story: While honeymooning in the Caribbean, Derek (Cam Gigandet) has an accident on the zipline and is taken away in an ambulance. When he vanishes, his wife Ava (Gina Carano) has to figure out who took him and why. As the clock ticks, she has to battle uncooperative cops and vicious thugs in order to uncover the truth.

This is all of your nightmares about off-the-grid travel handily put together in one package.
Planning to head off somewhere without a guide? Just hoping to roll with it even though you do not understand the local patois? Going to make friends with the first person who speaks English to you? In The Blood will make you rethink your travel plans.
Ava does not speak Spanish and when trouble strikes, she finds herself in the frustrating situation of not being able to communicate the simplest things. Worse, the natives do not seem too friendly. When she is not being dismissed, she is being patronised.
And when she turns to the authorities, the cop in charge (Luis Guzman from Boogie Nights, 1997) is suspiciously disinterested.
Pushed to the brink, she finally goes it alone, extracting information from reluctant conspirators with her persuasive skill of unleashing violence.
This is where the film should kick into high gear, since it is a vehicle for mixed martial arts fighter Carano. She had previously starred in flicks such as Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Haywire (2011).
But the fight scenes are a letdown as they do not convey the thrill of close-quarter combat. Despite this, the movie manages to be violent as well, particularly when Ava starts torturing people for information.
There are also time-wasting flashback scenes explaining how she came to possess her fighting skills and a red herring detour into a dark past which never surfaces in the present.
As the story gets more preposterous, what it sorely needs is some humour. But director John Stockwell (Blue Crush, 2002) takes it all so seriously.
After an over-long manhunt sequence at the end, scary-looking Danny Trejo (Machete Kills, 2013) unexpectedly steps in to save the day – for the sake of tourism of the island.
Now that was a sublimely ridiculous moment. Too bad In The Blood was not drenched in them.
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3D Naked Ambition
Lee Kung Lok
The story: Wayman (Chapman To) turns into an overnight sensation when he steps in for a porn shoot in Japan. His unlikely rise to the top occurs because he gets dominated by the actress, upending traditional gender roles. Cuzuki Hatoyama (Josie Ho) becomes his agent, gives him the stage name Mario Ozawa and a star is born. Eventually, another Hong Kong adult actor Nagasaki Naoki (Louis Koo) comes along to challenge his reign.

Naked Ambition is a sex comedy with some smarts.
It reverses traditional gender roles in pornography and subverts the idea of the male gaze. It is women who are turned on as Wayman, later Mario, is thrust into the more passive role and ultimately ends up succumbing to feminine desire.
An early lesson he learns: Say no three times and then give in once.
Feminists and sex studies majors would have a field day here.
The progressive message though is soon shoved aside by breasts, and plenty of it. To (Vulgaria, 2012) works with six famous Japanese AV (adult video) actresses and, in this case, “work with” means “has sex scene with”.
Someone certainly enjoyed himself making Naked Ambition.
In one funny send-up, Mario is a timid salaryman who is hunted by a lusty and aggressive woman. His fate is sealed when he enters a ladies-only train carriage by mistake and he ends up getting boob-smacked by his L-cup pursuer.
And as he gamely grimaces and feigns reluctance in the sex scenes, To will have you laughing along.
Another funny highlight is when Mario, in a parody of a gongfu movie cliche, goes off to master a technique. The reclusive teacher proclaims memorably after making a move: “That fly just died from an orgasm given by my fingers.”
But as far as smutty comedies go, Naked Ambition is not quite in the same league as, say, Pang Ho Cheung’s witty and heartfelt A.V. (2005) or even Matt Chow’s irrepressible Golden Chickensss (2014). Ho’s Cuzuki is meant to be a sympathetic character but she does not make as much of an impact as Chickensss’ Kam.
The suave-looking Koo offers some giggles here as a porn actor on the rise, but the rivalry between him and Mario gets dragged out too long and the film starts to sag.
After all, it is not the length that matters.
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Journey Into The Night
William Wei
Just when you think of William Wei as a guitar-playing troubadour, the Taiwanese singer-songwriter upends that image on his third album. Its title in Chinese, You Suo Wei, means something to fear and is also a pun on the phrase meaning “it matters”. And he confronts all manner of fears here.
Opening number Wolf is a rock number about keeping one’s impulsive animal instinct in check: “I’m afraid when the moon is full, in just a flash, I lose my cool/Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, there’s still a light on.”
He has not completely severed links to his previous style – sensitive ballad By Your Side harks back to tracks such as Because Love and Still Loving You on his self-titled debut (2010) and Someone Is Waiting (2012).
Elsewhere on this record, the Golden Melody Award winner for Best New Artist in 2011 ventures into electronica and collaborates with reggae group Matzka and rapper Soft Lipa. Eventually, it ends with Dawn, offering hope and reprieve.
This is thoughtful, adventurous work. Whatever fears Wei might have, stretching himself is not one of them.
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Overheard 3
Alan Mak, Felix Chong
The story: Against the backdrop of property dealings in Hong Kong’s New Territories, a tale of greed and vengeance unfolds. Jau (Louis Koo) grows up with the thuggish Luk brothers, including Keung (Sean Lau Ching Wan), the right-hand man of the powerful Uncle To (Kenneth Tsang). He kills a major landowner in a car accident for To, who pays him off. Five years later, Jau is released from prison and plots an elaborate surveillance operation to take down the Luks with the help of expert hacker Joe (Daniel Wu).

Same concept, different story.
Writer-directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong of Infernal Affairs (2002) fame team up for a third surveillance thriller.
Overheard (2009) and Overheard 2 (2011) featured the same key actors – Lau, Koo and Wu – but as different characters. After all, to get overheard again on the part of the same perpetrators would simply be too much carelessness on their part.
By the third instalment, though, the idea is getting a little stale. And the three leads seem to be shuffled from role to role in each film as though they were playing some kind of musical chairs.
The first instalment remains the most compelling. Not only did the concept seem fresh then, but the film was also anchored by the dependable Lau as its moral centre.
In the less tightly knit Overheard 2, the focus shifted to Wu as he sought vengeance for past wrongs.
Somewhat confusingly, Wu again plays a tech- savvy character named Joe here, though the centre of the piece is now Koo.
Released from jail after five years and now a cripple, Jau is plotting to take down the crooked Luk brothers. He is driven by a mix of motives, including a thwarted romance with another Luk, Michelle Ye’s Yongyu.
Add Tsang as an imperious patriarch, Huang Lei as a wily businessman and Zhou Xun as a character linked to Keung and Joe and it is little wonder many of the characters seem underwritten.
The story of title grants and unscrupulous property developers with their bullying tactics is actually interesting enough to stand on its own, and there is a poignant lament about the cost of development and the debasement of land.
But since this is part of the Overheard series, there has to be a surveillance element worked into it.
The complicated web of relationships and land dealings plus the high-tech electronic monitoring make Overheard 3 feel overstuffed and underwhelming.
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Coming Home
Zhang Yimou
The story: During the Cultural Revolution in China, Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) was sent away to a labour camp as a political prisoner. He finally returns home when it ends in 1976, only to find that things have changed at home. His wife Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) blames their daughter, Dandan (Zhang Huiwen), for Lu’s recapture after an escape and, more devastatingly, no longer recognises him. He tries ways and means to rekindle her memory of him. Based on the novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi by Yan Geling.

It is a homecoming in more ways than one.
Coming Home reunites director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong since they last worked together on the opulent period piece Curse Of The Golden Flower (2006).
In spirit, though, it is closer to the earlier collaborations between the two in gritty dramas such as Red Sorghum (1987), The Story Of Qiu Ju (1992) and To Live (1994) – films which paint compelling pictures of China society with Gong as the charismatic centre in each offering.
And, once again, Zhang draws out a fine performance from his frequent leading lady.
Gong is the most restrained she has ever been, going for quiet naturalism and pulling her punches in a situation ripe for overacting.
Watch how she reacts when they meet again for the first time in years when her husband returns home, her blankly polite behaviour a contrast to his barely constrained joy, which turns to puzzlement and then sorrow.
She is matched by award-winning veteran Chen (Hero, 2002), who is unrecognisable when he first appears as an escaped prisoner buried beneath a layer of grime.
Later, when he realises that Feng no longer recognises him, he sets about trying to jog her memories of him, from posing as a piano-tuner to reading his old letters to her.
It is another tragedy of a family torn apart by the madness of the Cultural Revolution. And while the film does not dwell on it, there are chilling glimpses of its horrors from the poor letter-writing conditions Lu faced to the terrible fate that befalls Feng.
Although a bit slow-moving at times, this tale of love and sacrifice is genuinely moving and its emotive power builds up gradually.
After a string of big-budget martial arts epics such as Hero, House Of Flying Daggers (2004) and Golden Flower, Zhang proves that you can go home again.
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