Prelude To The Sea
Lemonpuffs
Local quintet Lemonpuffs, which include former radio deejay Lin Weidong and film-maker Looi Wan Ping, make their debut with a record that sails into dreamy waters.
Instrumental track Parable I eases you in with a gentle and insistent tug like the sway of the hypnotic sea.
Vocalist Vivien Koh weighs in with her languorous pipes on By The Lake, with vibes that evoke American band Mazzy Star, and spoken-word track Akureyri takes listeners somewhere specific – a town in northern Iceland.
Indeed, this is music that will have you dreaming of mysterious faraway lands.
(ST)

The Golden Era
Ann Hui
The story: Xiao Hong (Tang Wei) was a major female Chinese writer in the 1930s. Before she died at the age of 30, she was forced to wander from Harbin in north-east China to Hong Kong in the south against a backdrop of war and revolution. In Shanghai, she meets the literary giant of the time, Lu Xun (Wang Zhiwen), and looks to him as a father figure. Fellow writer Xiao Jun (Feng Shaofeng) is the love of her life but another writer Duanmu Hong Liang (Zhu Yawen) later steps into the picture.

The Golden Era is about the bohemian life of a talented, ill-fated woman thrust into a tumultuous time. Xiao Hong wants to find love and she wants to be able to write – both goals turn out to be tall orders.
She is bold and brash in following her heart – eloping with a married cousin and later shacking up with the man she was originally supposed to marry.
Abandoned by the latter, saddled with a huge hotel bill she cannot pay and pregnant, she meets Xiao Jun.
At one point, she remarks that she does not know if her works will be read in the future, but one thing is certain, gossip about her will live on.
Tabloids today would have had a field day squeezing her juicy story dry, but director Ann Hui (A Simple Life, 2011) is more interested in a nuanced portrayal of a character whose joy, pain and loneliness is made palpable by Tang Wei’s charismatic presence.
The film has been duly nominated for five Golden Horse Awards, including for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress.
Tang’s performance also makes you wonder if Xiao Hong would have thrived in a different time. Her combustible relationship with fellow writer Xiao Jun is marked by passion and admiration as well as competitiveness.
As the mercurial Xiao Jun, Feng Shaofeng (Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon, 2013) is also compelling to watch.
The film does not neglect the portrayal of Xiao Hong’s struggles as an author.
A character remarks that everyone knows what it is like to be cold and hungry but no one can write about it the way she does.
And it is because Xiao Hong was destitute in Harbin, a situation that would deeply acquaint one with cold and hunger.
Hui evokes the bitter winters of the place and contrasts those with the warmth and bustle of a rickshaw-puller’s canteen in a wonderfully atmospheric scene.
Xiao Hong’s first visit to Lu Xun’s home is filtered through a voice-over of her writing and one realises how observant she is in picking up details about people and places.
Taking a cue from her subject, Hui gives the film a novel-like structure as characters speak to the camera and talk about events in the past and in the future. It is a move that breaks with usual movie conventions, no doubt something Xiao Hong would have approved of.
(ST)

Khalil Fong Soulboy Lights Up World Tour 2014 Singapore
The Star Theatre/Last Saturday
Soul Boy, the name of Khalil Fong’s 2005 debut album, is a most apt moniker for the Hawaiian-born, Hong Kong-based singer- songwriter.
Soul music is a key influence in his unique musical brew, which also mixes in R&B, jazz, funk, pop, rock and hip-hop. You also get the sense that he pours his heart – and, yes, soul – into his songs about love and making the world a better place.
When it comes to music, he is completely in his element. He is less smooth when it comes to chit-chat between songs, but that adds to his geekish charm. Unlike most R&B singers, he does not come across as a sweet-talking Lothario, conveying endearing earnestness instead in his love songs.
He made his entrance wearing shades and looking sharp in an all-black ensemble from the suit to the bowtie. As red lights flashed, he launched into the title dance track of his latest album, Dangerous World.
Despite sounding as though he had a touch of the flu when he spoke, it did not affect his singing at all over the two-hour-long gig, his first major concert here.
Fong flitted easily from genre to genre, from the disco-tinged English track Lights Up to emotive ballad Love Me Please. Often, he would be strumming the guitar as well and for a few numbers, he played the piano.
During My Only Girl, he picked a fan to go up on stage and serenaded her. Was it a cute coincidence that he had chosen someone wearing a pair of his trademark large black-rimmed glasses for the occasion?
The concert really hit its stride when Fong had most of the 2,500 fans on their feet for the uptempo Fun.
Among the tracks given a makeover, the hit Love Song was slowed down to good effect.
In other displays of his excellent live-performing musicianship, he easily made his covers of other artists’ songs his own. He did an unexpected mash-up of Brian McKnight’s Back At One with Jay Chou’s Quiet and also left his mark on Eason Chan’s Love Is Suspicion and Chang Chen-yue’s First Experience Of Love.
He came on stage with local group MICappella for the encore and they had a blast with Fong’s own Spring Wind Blows as well as with the crowd-pleasing Pharrell Williams hit, Happy.
The gig ended rather abruptly though after the ballad Not That Easy. Fans clamouring for more were dismissed by a terse announcement to disperse as the show was over.
That was the only off-note in an enjoyable concert, in which the star was not present to conduct a mere singalong session of his hits, but to share with his fans an evening of soulful musicality.
(ST)

Dare To Love
Della Ding Dang
Seven albums in and China-born Della Ding Dang is settling in comfortably into her own groove.
Having learnt that she need not always unleash her lung power at full capacity has made her a more effective balladeer.
Disc one includes Shake Off, I Don’t Love You That Much, Dare To Love and The Possibility Of Happiness.
They have dutifully made their way up the charts and get a fair bit of airplay. They range from not bad to good, but it is as though she is being too careful not to rock the ballad boat.
It’s a good thing then that she mixes things up with the breezy Reveal, the rocker That’s Just How I Like It and the synth-pop number I Don’t Think That.
Disc two is a collection of her TV theme songs and includes familiar hits, such as I Love Him and How Rare, as well as newer tracks, such as Lose Myself from Scarlet Heart 2.
One could think of this as a generous bonus disc, but still, there can be too much of a good thing. Like showboat belting, a two-disc release is a show of excess too.
(ST)

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends
Keishi Otomo
The story: This is the concluding chapter to Rurouni Kenshin (2012) and Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014), in which assassin-turned-wanderer Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh) has vowed never to kill again. His resolve is sorely tested when he has to stop the vicious Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) from bringing down the nascent Meiji government and dragging the country into chaos. Kyoto Inferno ended with Kenshin and his love interest, dojo owner Kaoru (Emi Takei), thrown into a stormy sea from Shishio’s warship. And a final scene of Hiko Seijuro (Masaharu Fukuyama) chancing upon an unconscious Kenshin on the beach. He is revealed to be Kenshin’s master in The Legend Ends, which builds up to a final showdown in Tokyo. The films are adapted from Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga of the same name.

It has all led to this.
The epic battle between good and evil, Kenshin and Shishio, has been playing out against the backdrop of Japan in transition with supporting characters from the dogged and indestructible Sanosuke (Munetaka Aoki), the steadfast Kaoru and the obsessed Shinomori Aoshi (Yusuke Iseya) to the cool captain Saito Hajime (Yosuke Eguchi), forming a sprawling web of interconnectedness.
And The Legend Ends delivers a stupendous finale as Shishio and his flaming sword take on Kenshin and gang while cannonballs explode around them on the warship.
But it takes a while to get there.
There is an air of inevitability to concluding chapters and, right from the start, the showdown in Tokyo looms large as hero and villain must face off. And so the pacing here feels stretched out as director Keishi Otomo leisurely accounts for what happens to Kenshin and Kaoru before even heading to Tokyo.
Kenshin’s pit stop at his master’s forest dwelling is necessary for him to learn the Ultimate Technique in order to defeat Shishio. More importantly, he has to find out what he lacks. If not, he will lose his life, warns his master.
Big-budget blockbusters with scenes of carnage and destruction are a dime a dozen and human life is like so much chaff to be disposed off as blood flows easily. Rarely does a mainstream flick meditate on the consequences of violence and the worth of human life.
Yes, the Kenshin flicks do serve up their share of murder and slaughter, but underpinning it is a consistent message about the toll of violence. They are at least more honest than the usual vigilante-on-killing-spree-for-justice scenarios in which violence is hastily justified.
Even more unusual is the stance it takes that a killer’s life has worth as well. It is Kenshin who is the hero and saviour, the same Kenshin whose past is steeped in blood. And the films never let us forget that.
(ST)

Outcast
Nick Powell
The story: Wracked with guilt for taking part in the bloody Crusades, Jacob (Hayden Christensen) flees to the East. He tries to numb himself with opium, but reluctantly ends up chaperoning a princess, Lian (Liu Yifei), and her heir-to-the-throne younger brother, Zhao (Bill Su), as their ruthless brother Shing (Andy On) chases after them. They eventually seek refuge in the mountains, where they run into the White Ghost, none other than Jacob’s former comrade-in-arms, Gallain (Nicolas Cage).

During the 12th century, from the Middle East to the so-called Far East, English was the common tongue spoken and understood by all. Who knew?
Apart from fascinating historical nuggets such as these, the film is also bold in its radical reimagining of Chinese imperial culture as the emperor actually has physical contact with his children and hugs them.
Frankly, it is bizarre that this Chinese-FrenchCanadian production would be so tone-deaf and insensitive.
While it is slated for the China market, it is hard to see why this would appeal. Not only does everyone speak English, but the prince and princess also have to rely on a white man to rescue them – and not just any white man, but one who is doped up on opium. Miraculously, the drug does not seem to impair Jacob’s ability to take out pesky armed guards and assassins.
Impressively, Christensen also sports a modern-looking fauxhawk which always looks sharp even though they are on the run. Guess grooming is important even when under duress.
The actor’s career seems to have gone into freefall after the high-profile Star Wars movies in 2002 and 2005. Before long, he might be staring into the abyss that is Cage’s preserve.
To be fair, Cage is just wildly inconsistent, veering between strong projects, such as Kick-Ass (2010), and turkeys, such as Season Of The Witch (2011).
Here, he stumbles around drunk and angry, blind in one eye and brandishing a snake inexplicably wrapped around one fist.
Does he need the pay cheque that badly, or is he that oblivious when he gets into his hey-look-at-me-I’m-acting zone? Whatever it is, Cage can look forward to yet another Razzie nomination for his fine work here.
(ST)

Beauty And The Beast
Christophe Gans
The story: Belle’s father plucks a rose from an enchanted castle for her. Because of that theft, he is forced to return to the fortress. Belle (Lea Seydoux) goes in his place instead and finds a scary Beast (Vincent Cassel) lurking in the shadows. Whenever she falls asleep, she slips into the past and learns of the tale behind the enchantment.

Think Beauty And The Beast is just some harmless fairy-tale?
Some have seen it as an example of a problematic portrayal of domestic violence. The Beast is a savage male captor who demands submission from a powerless female, who eventually succumbs. And once cast in that light, it is hard to see it otherwise.
At least in this version, Seydoux brings a fearlessness to the role that prevents Belle from completely being a victim. The actress was last seen in the award-winning Blue Is The Warmest Color (2014).
Leaving the subtext aside, the movie has one major problem. The film is dubbed in English and it is so clearly out of sync with the French mouth movements that it is distracting. And it makes the film feel stilted and jerky in its rhythm.
What the dubbing cannot ruin though are the gorgeous visuals.
From the forbidding castle overgrown with thick roots and lush blooms, to Belle in a blood-red dress in a wintry white snowscape, the scenes are handsomely art directed. The use of rich colours adds to the sense of fantasy, that this is a storybook come to glorious life.
The alabaster-skinned Seydoux is as pretty as a picture, a stark contrast to the leonine-faced Beast with his sharp claws. There is not very much for Cassel (Black Swan, 2010) to do though as the arrogant prince in the flashbacks.
The inclusion of enchanted dogs with oversized eyes and ears strikes an off-note, as though director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood Of The Wolf, 2001) was taking a leaf from the Disney book of cute.
It all culminates in a finale with some spectacular action and a, well, fairy-tale ending.
If only the beautiful visuals were not marred by the beastly dubbing.
(ST)

To Protect
Aaron Matthew Lim
Aaron Matthew Lim, co-director of local music school Intune Music, has released his first solo EP.
One imagines that his past students will be poring over it to see if his practice lives up to his preaching.
It is a decent effort, with the last track, A Change Of Heart, making the biggest impact. This is an emotive ballad bolstered by the plaintive strains of the erhu.
There is an attempt to show some range over the three tracks with the inclusion of the upbeat soft rock of Palette: “I stand on the rooftop/ Drawing in the blue skies for you/
Van Gogh’s heaven/A palette of brilliant colours.”
The title track is a more conventional ballad that is a little too middling though.
Lim has clean, pleasant vocals, but as they are not immediately distinctive, he will have to rely on strong material to make the grade.
(ST)

Lupin The Third
Ryuhei Kitamura
The story: Lupin III (Shun Oguri) is part of an elite group known as The Works. After the head is killed, fellow thief Michael Lee (Jerry Yan) goes into hiding with a priceless Cleopatra necklace. To get back the necklace from the ruthless Pramuk (Nirut Sirijanya), Lupin and Michael have to work together to penetrate the security fortress known as The Ark. The team includes femme fatale Fujiko Mine (Meisa Kuroki), computer expert Pierre (Kim Joon) and sword-wielding warrior Goemon (Go Ayano). Based on the popular manga by Monkey Punch, which made its first appearance in 1967.

Quite the international cast has been assembled for this crime caper. Oguri (Gokusen: The Movie, 2009) and Kuroki (Space Battleship Yamato, 2010) are from Japan, Yan (Meteor Garden, 2001) is from Taiwan and Kim (Boys Over Flowers, 2009) is from South Korea. A number of Thai actors are also cast in supporting roles.
But in terms of wattage, it is less glittery than the all-star ensemble cast of the similarly themed South Korean thriller The Thieves (2012). As it turns out, Thieves was also lighter on its feet.
Part of the problem here is the overly broad tone.
The bumbling inspector Zenigata (Tadanobu Asano) is constantly getting thwarted and his response is to yell
“Lupin!” in frustration. One can imagine that this works with manga with exaggeratedly illustrated characters almost spilling out of the page. But with live action, the effect is merely cartoonish without being impactful.
The story also takes too long to play out, and without any real surprises in the unfolding either.
A top security system with formidable digital defences? No problem, a character banging away furiously on a keyboard will soon figure out a way in.
The stilted English conversations which crop up from time to time do not help matters.
There are some enjoyable elements though.
They include Oguri grinning cheekily as Lupin, suavely togged out in the character’s trademark red velvet blazer and black leather pants. And having a heist take place at the fictitious Hougang Museum of Art – the movie jetsets across several countries – could raise a smile of recognition.
Watching Goemon take on a villain driving an SUV was fun as well. If it is going to be cartoonish, it might as well be over the top.
(ST)

For close to three hours, legendary Taiwanese composer Liu Chia-chang, 73, celebrated his music with a sold-out crowd of 8,000 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium last Saturday night.
He had hits in 1960s and 1970s with songs such as Dream Behind The Curtain, I Found Myself and Plum Blossom. Backed by a 50-strong team of musicians, which included a full string section, he sang these and more. He also performed a track called Orchard Road, written when he was last here 30 years ago.
In between numbers, he cracked jokes about his age, quipping at one point: “If you sing along, I can save some strength.”
Guests such as Taiwan’s Bobby Chen Sheng, Hong Kong’s Teresa Carpio and Singapore’s Mavis Hee lent their voices to some of his most enduring hits, with Seagull and Memories Can Only Be Reminisced among them.
Seated among the audience were several big names, including screen goddess Lin Ching-hsia.
(ST)

Mayday
2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix, Padang Stage/Last Friday

You can count on Taiwanese band Mayday to wind up the crowd when the racing winds down.
The roar of engines at the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix had subsided but the quintet soon had the crowd of 40,000 roaring in approval when they came on at 11.10pm.
They kicked things off with a string of fast-paced rock tunes, such as OAOA and Sun Wukong. Stageside fireworks fired up the crowd even more.
Then, like racers taking a bend, they slowed things down for their first ballad, Starry Night. As lead vocalist Ashin crooned, coloured lights played across the stage.
Five songs into the set, he greeted the lightstick-waving fans and announced: “Treat this as a large-scale Mayday concert.” This flagged off a massive live karaoke session as the crowd chimed in on I’m Not Willing To Let You Be Alone.
Mayday are regular visitors to Singapore and their last concert here was at the Singapore Indoor Stadium last June. At their dedicated shows, the sets and effects are fancier. The last time round, specially designed lightsticks were even programmed to be in sync with the songs.
The F1 gigs are more stripped-down affairs but, in a way, the back-to-basics vibe can be just as entertaining. All you need is an act with a huge catalogue of hits and one that is willing to go all out. Mayday are known for that, once turning a free showcase here, for those who bought their CD, into a full-on, two-hour-plus concert.
Last Friday night, they played for close to two hours, dishing out hits old and new, from Tenderness to Battle Array Song to Sad People Don’t Listen To Slow Songs.
To rev up the crowd, Mayday packed the set with faster-paced numbers such as Jump and DNA, and the audience showed their L.O.V.E. for the band during the fan favourite In Love-ing.
At first, on the uptempo tracks, the guitars could clearly be heard, but the vocals sounded murky. Things improved as the night wore on, or perhaps I had become used to the sound mix.
Apart from Ashin, looking fuller in the face, holding court, other members of the band also had a chance to shoot the breeze with their fans.
Guitarist Stone won the crowd over with his attempt to speak in English: “We’re really exciting today because there’s a great race there.”
And for those encountering the band for the first time, he urged them to check out Mayday on Google and YouTube.
To those who were late to the Mayday party, Ashin quipped: “What were you doing before today?”
Bassist Masa, whose idea of Singlish seems to be Filipino-accented English, kept it short and sweet.
Guitarist Monster hoped “we won’t lose out to the roar of the engines tonight”, while drummer Guan You called Singapore a second home, a sentiment the band had expressed before.
Ashin said at one point: “Do you miss Mayday a little? After we finish all our songs, you’d miss us even more.”
Right on cue, the group performed their hit ballad, Suddenly Missing You So Much, during the encore. No doubt fans will be feeling that way soon enough.
(ST)

Turn Back & Smile
Tay Kewei

Miss Kelly
Kelly Poon

The quest to be the next Stefanie Sun of local Mandopop continues with new releases from Tay Kewei and Kelly Poon.
Tay’s previous two full-length albums comprised largely English covers. This time around, she strikes out as a full-fledged Mandopop singer-songwriter, having had a hand in writing nine of the 10 tracks.
Heart Shaped Hole is an emotive number and while the title track is more upbeat in sentiment, it remains firmly in ballad territory. They are a bit too safe and middle-of-the-road though. Good thing that Tay has a textured warm voice that helps to lift the songs.
Things pick up with the lazy lilt of Nostalgia and the easy-breezy acoustic number Missing You. And she picks up the pace as well on Unforgettable, which mixes a dance beat with the plaintive wail of the erhu.
Tay plays the stringed instrument and the smart use of traditional Chinese music elements is one of the most interesting things about this album. The final song starts off with a solo erhu passage and gets to a rousing chorus that has a triumphant Tay feeling Victorious.
In stark contrast, Poon seems to be feeling anything but triumphant after trying to break out for almost a decade.
The hurt and self-doubt spill over on the ballad Clown: “I feel like I’m a clown/Always performing for a disdainful you/Discarded dignity/Behind the smiles/I try hard to give the most exciting solo show/How ridiculous.”
It turns out that the track, co-composed by Poon with lyrics by her, is one of the most moving things she has ever done.
Unfortunately, the EP is not consistently strong. Lover gives Coco Lee’s ballad I Am Still Your Lover an acceptable, but not essential, dance track makeover. And the sole English number Why Goodbye merely sounds dated.
Still, it would be a pity to miss this entirely.
(ST)

The Purge: Anarchy
James DeMonaco
The concept of letting criminals run wild legally for a specified 12-hour period was first presented in last year’s The Purge. Then, the action was largely confined to one particular house and household.
The sequel takes to the streets and the view is not a pretty one. Apparently, a prerequisite of going on a crime spree seems to be dressing up in ghoulish masks and the like. This is Halloween on steroids.
Anarchy does not really do anything fresh with the concept but merely assembles a ragtag group of characters who are forced to rely on one another in order to survive the night. There is a girl who keeps asking pesky questions and an impetuous guy who keeps doing stupid things, all in the name of propelling the story forward.
More could have been done with a surreal sequence of rich folks hunting humans for sport in a dark maze. It is a concept familiar from films such as Battle Royale (2000) and The Hunger Games (2012) but it remains chilling to see class warfare made literal.
(ST)

The Longest Week
Peter Glanz
The story: Conrad Valmont (Jason Bateman), was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, living a carefree life in a luxe hotel. One eventful week, he gets tossed out of his suite, falls for the lovely Beatrice (Olivia Wilde) and finds his long-time friendship with Dylan (Billy Crudup) tested.

This is not a Wes Anderson film.
But judging from the soundtrack featuring French pop songs to the wry voice narration to the moments of perfectly art-directed whimsy, one could have sworn that it was the American director at work. The elements are, after all, strongly suggestive of Anderson’s signature style found in movies such as Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
Whether writer-director Peter Glanz is an Anderson imitator or admirer, the result is a pleasant enough piece of good-looking fluff.
Given that the protagonist, Conrad Valmont (Bateman), is a self-absorbed man-child, this is no mean feat. Conrad has been seeing a psychiatrist for years, but the only illness he is suffering from is chronic glibness. And after meeting Beatrice, he learns that his best, and possibly only, friend Dylan (Crudup) is also interested in her, but goes after her anyway.
What could so easily have been an insufferable over-privileged character becomes a sympathetic one you actually root for, thanks to the casting of Bateman (from TV’s Arrested Development).
Even when the material is weak, as in Identity Thief (2013), the actor can be counted on to brighten up the screen.
Here, he brings a deftly balanced mix of charm and humour to the role of Conrad and adds just a dollop of snarkiness, without laying it on too thick.
The script has its share of bon mots and witty moments. When Dylan wears a unisex scent for a date, Conrad asks if he actually wants to smell sexually ambiguous.
While Bateman and Wilde (Tron: Legacy, 2010) make for a cute couple despite her enormous fake lashes, which can be a little distracting, the more moving relationship is actually the competitive and mutually envious friendship between Conrad and Dylan.
The film is ostensibly set in New York, though it is less clear when it takes place, as no one seems to own a mobile phone. In a way, that feels right, since The Longest Week takes place in a fantasy world anyway, one that is lovingly burnished until it gives off a soft, seductive glow.
(ST)

40th Anniversary Collection
Dick Lee
This year marks the 40th anniversary of all-round entertainer Dick Lee’s first album, Life Story (1974). Since then, he has put out more albums, penned musicals, broken into the Japanese market and written hit songs for top pop stars such as Sandy Lam, Jacky Cheung and the late Leslie Cheung.
There is plenty of ground to cover for an anniversary collection and two discs are just not enough to do his body of work justice.
The focus here is on his own albums, so there is material from The Mad Chinaman (1989), Asia Major (1990), The Year Of The Monkey (1993), Transit Lounge (1999) and the title track from Life Story.
Broadly, the songs fall into two categories: Singaporean pop and ear- worm balladry. Lee was wrestling with the question of what is Singaporean pop early on. He incorporated familiar imagery from fried rice to Tamil movies, built upon traditional folk songs and old favourites, mixed in ethnic instruments and added smatterings of Mandarin, Malay and Tamil into the melting pot.
He also created one of the most beloved National Day songs, Home, included here as a gently heart-tugging number from Life Deluxe (2010).
In the process, he helped to define the sound of Singapore pop.
Lee also had an unerring ear for melody. Paradise In My Heart, collected on Everything (2000), was a hit in English for Tracy Huang in 1986 as well as a Cantonese hit for Lam in 1990.
At his 40th anniversary concert at the Drama Centre Theatre on Aug 31, he also crooned Canto hits, Chase, sung by Leslie Cheung, and Love Is Eternal, written for the Jacky Cheung musical Snow.Wolf.Lake (1997). He also sang a duet with his former wife Jacintha Abisheganaden on songs from her first album Silence (1983), which was composed and produced by him.
It would have been perfect if there was an extra disc to fit in all this material as well as the Japanese children’s show theme song he referred to during the concert, and perhaps a choice selection of his work in musicals such as Beauty World (1988), Hotpants (1997) and Forbidden City: Portrait Of An Empress (2002).
Okay, maybe two more discs.

Until We Meet
Claire Kuo
Taiwanese cutie pie Claire Kuo (below) has a sweet persona and a pleasant voice, but the combination has not made for very exciting albums. The choice of material here is at least stronger than usual, thanks to songwriters such as William Wei and Lala Hsu.
On the opening ballad penned by Wei, Not Over You, she croons with a hint of regret and bravery: “Learn to be my own companion, learn not to cling/Not hard, eventually get used to some things, vanishing into thin air/But can I hold on to some memories.”
On the gently lilting My Little Safe Place, a search for a little forest leads unexpectedly to a joyous chorus of la-la-las.
Kuo may not be lucky in love on this record but at least she puts a brave front on it. On the upbeat Shine Your Way, she asks defiantly: “Who says singlehood equals to loneliness plus sighs?”
It is a welcome show of spunk from a singer who plays the little woman yearning for love too often.
(ST)

Life Of Crime
Daniel Schechter
The story: Trophy wife Mickey (Jennifer Aniston) is kidnapped by Louis (John Hawkes) and Ordell (Yasiin Bey) for ransom. But unknown to the bumbling criminals, her husband Frank (Tim Robbins) is already planning to leave her for his mistress Melanie (Isla Fisher). Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch (1978).

The bar has been set quite high for Elmore Leonard adaptations with films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty (1995) and the ongoing TV neo-western drama Justified.
Director Daniel Schechter (The Big Bad Swim, 2006) throws his hat in the ring with Life Of Crime, but comes up a little short.
The elements of a black comedy crime thriller are there, but the sum of the parts is a not-quite-satisfying whole despite a game cast trying their best.
Aniston (We’re The Millers, 2013) is sympathetic as the wife faced with her husband’s infidelity and the certain knowledge that he will not want to pay the ransom. Robbins (Thanks For Sharing, 2012) is spot-on as the boozy, blustery bully of a husband who is compromised by his dodgy business dealings.
And Fisher (Confessions Of A Shopaholic, 2009) is the bimbo mistress who is smarter than one might expect. When the kidnappers contact Frank, who is in the Bahamas with her, via telephone, she suggests unplugging it. It is a smart move given that the show is set in the 1970s, way before the advent of pesky mobile communication.
Despite having a husband and a married admirer Marshall (Will Forte from Nebraska, 2013), it is ironic that the person nicest to Mickey turns out to be her captor Louis (Hawkes from The Sessions, 2012). There is a gentleness in the interactions between the two that feels unforced.
As ransom negotiations drag on, the plot starts twisting and turning like a pretzel.
The pacing is a little too leisurely though and the double-crossings and dealings feel too low-key. This is one of those instances where the volume could have been pumped up more: Life Of Crime needed to be darker, funnier and more violent.
It all builds up to a delicious twist in the final scene, but as Melanie remarks at one point: “Let’s be honest, the whole thing could have been set up better.”
(ST)

The Two Faces Of January
Hossein Amini
The story: Rydal (Oscar Isaac) is a Greek-speaking American working as a tour guide in Athens in 1962 and scamming tourists on the sly. He meets the elegant Chester (Viggo Mortenson) and his much younger, pretty wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) at the Parthenon and is soon drawn into their world. But hiding behind that well-to-do facade are secrets in Chester’s past threatening to catch up with him. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 novel of the same name.

Any film that incorporates the engineering intricacies of the Parthenon and the bull-leaping frescoes of the Knossos temple complex on Crete island is one that I would have a soft spot for, due to a personal fascination with ancient Greece.
Also, Rydal promisingly makes a remark early on about the cruel tricks that gods play on men. It seems to set up the movie as some kind of epic Greek tragedy, even though the title is a reference to the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions, Janus.
Hossein Amini, best known for his Oscar- nominated screenplay for period drama The Wings Of The Dove (1997), makes his directorial debut here. January is handsomely filmed, but saddled with slow pacing.
It is a good thing that he has a top-notch cast here filling out the core triangle of characters.
Mortenson (A History Of Violence, 2005) has a threatening volatility seething beneath an elegant exterior while Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013) keeps you watching as a man who gets embroiled in something bigger than he bargained for, calculating every step of the way if it is worth his while.
Dunst (Melancholia, 2011) is the woman caught between them and is, by turns, playful, exasperated and vulnerable.
What is interesting are the three sets of relationships among the characters.
Chester and Colette are a couple but their relationship is an unequal one skewed by age and the power that comes from wealth. Rydal is drawn to Colette and their mutual attraction sends Chester into a downward spiral of suspicion and paranoia.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Chester and Rydal is not entirely competitive.
Their paths had crossed in the first place as Chester reminded the latter of his recently deceased father.
The pace picks up towards the end and there is a poignancy to the resolution of a movie that is more intimate character drama than grand crime thriller.
(ST)

Crown/Clown
Will Pan
Dancer-singers get no respect, so bemoans Taiwan-based Will Pan. But he is not going to take it lying down.
This is his 10th album and he is going to rise above the naysayers. He turns criticism into a dance track on Clown: “I’m a clown, you say/You see through me, you say.”
Then he unleashes a riposte: “I sing and dance/Humorous mambo dance steps tease your heartbeat/Applause swells, screams, everyone’s smiling/ Wipe away the tears/I’m a clown and proud of it.”
He also disses the haters on I Swagger The Most: “You complain that I’m shallow but I’m on your Instagram/I admit to being a little narcissistic, make you hate a little more each day.”
Some arrangements sound dated, though, and the slower-paced numbers still show up his voice. But props to him for taking on the party poopers.

Girls
Sun Shengxi
Looks like Taiwanese- Korean singer Bii is getting some bicultural competition. Chinese-Korean Sun Shengxi placed sixth in singing contest Chinese Million Star last year and this is her music debut.
A clear highlight here is Live With You, a track which holds my attention whenever I chance upon it on the radio. The ballad, composed by Lala Hsu with lyrics by David Ke, is a good showcase for Sun’s lightly husky pipes. She croons: “From loneliness moving out, living together with you, I don’t have much baggage, except for my focus on you.”
She composes, writes lyrics, and shows range and assuredness. Shouldn’t Shouldn’t sounds like a hit power ballad and Your Who drips with attitude.
People might not be asking “Sun who?” for long.
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But Always
Snow Zou
Each time the star-crossed lovers An Ran (Gao Yuanyuan) and Yongyuan (Nicholas Tse) have sex, something calamitous happens. You begin to suspect that Gao’s husband, actor Mark Chao, had final script approval.
The sad thing is that the laughable “sex equals doom” theme is probably the most interesting thing in what has got to be one of the laziest and most literal romances ever. The name of Tse’s character means forever and, when he kissses An Ran in one scene, they are standing right next to Robert Indiana’s pop-art sculpture of the word Love.
As this soppy and sappy mess of a story drags its feet through Beijing, New York and much dull dialogue, only Tse’s cheeky grin and Gao’s pensive visage offer fleeting moments of solace.
(ST)

Disney's Planes: Fire & Rescue
Bobs Gannaway
There is a reason why the Planes franchise does not come under the marquee Pixar or Walt Disney Animation Studios brands. The spin-off from the Cars films is pitched squarely at the under-10 set and is hence produced by DisneyToon Studios, which does mostly straight-to-video titles.
In this sequel to last year’s Planes, Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) is forced to give up racing and has to learn to fight fires instead. Bet on the cropduster plane getting his certification and learning some positive lessons along the way, not to mention saving the day with some heroic manoeuvre.
While the fire scenes are generally well executed, the story fails to muster much surprise or excitement. And the corny, punny humour is unlikely to raise laughs among older moviegoers.
All I can think about when the gungho firefighting utility vehicles are introduced is: These would make for a nice range of toys.
So what’s next for Disney? Ships?
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Cafe.Waiting.Love
Chiang Jin-lin
The story: College freshman Si-ying (Vivian Sung) gets a part-time job at a cafe where barista Abusi (Megan Lai) is trying to make the perfect cup of coffee for the lovelorn owner (Vivian Chow). Meanwhile, as Si-ying pines away for Zeyu (Marcus Chang), she becomes friends with A-Tuo (Bruce), a sunny senior who does weird things such as dragging a head of cabbage on a leash.

After the commercial and critical success of You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011), it was only a matter of time before another of popular Taiwanese writer Giddens Ko’s novels received the big-screen treatment.
The people behind this movie are clearly hoping for lightning to strike twice given the myriad connections to Apple.
While Ko does not direct this adaptation, he does serve as the film’s producer. Chiang Jin-lin, who makes his directorial debut here, was executive director for Apple.
Cafe.Waiting.Love (2004) was Ko’s first novel and it is also similarly youth-oriented.
Rather than trotting out Kai Ko and Michelle Chen from Apple, an appealingly fresh-faced cast has been assembled.
Sung is the cutie-pie with attitude as she will not hesitate to speak up when she witnesses injustice; Lai the cool and unflappable barista; and mono- monikered Bruce is winningly sunny and wholesome as the guileless A-Tuo.
For older audiences, there is the bonus of seeing the ageless Chow on screen again four years after the lesbian drama All About Love (2010), even if her storyline is not as interesting.
At the box office, lightning might indeed have struck twice for a Ko-branded project. Since opening in Taiwan and Hong Kong on Aug 15, Cafe has earned NT$165 million (S$6.9 million) and HK$14 million (S$2.3 million).
But compared to Apple, the story here is more fantastical and outlandish. A-Tuo’s gauge of true love depends on his ability to conjure up sausages and steaming hot beancurd from behind the head of his object of desire. And his circle of acquaintances includes an actor (Li Luo), whose mob roles have led to him acting as a real-life peacemaker for bickering gangsters.
While there remains a sweet innocence at the core of Cafe, as in Ko’s other tales, however ridiculous things get, the new film feels more scattered and stretched out because it tries to cram too much in.
Apple is definitely the more focused and cohesive film between the two.
The following is as good a test as any of how Apple and Cafe stack up: The movie adaptation of Apple led me to pick up the book, but I am less compelled to do so after watching Cafe.Waiting.Love.
(ST)

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.
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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.”
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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)