Au Revoir Taipei

Arvin Chen

The story: After his girlfriend Fay leaves for Paris, Kai (Jack Yao) regularly parks himself at a bookstore to learn French and soon catches the attention of salesgirl Susie (Amber Kuo). When Fay breaks up with him over the phone, he decides to borrow money from gang boss Brother Bao (veteran singer Frankie Kao Ling-feng) in order to fly to France. In return, he has to pick up a package, setting off a chain of events that leads to several wild chases all over Taipei.

Writer-director Arvin Chen’s debut feature is a sweet and charming ode to Taipei’s varied night life. The ubiquitous 24/7 convenience stores, the night markets with their delicious street food and thronging crowds, the aunties doing their mass-dance routine outdoors – they are all here.

The details do not call unnecessary attention to themselves though and instead serve as unobtrusive backdrops to an engaging caper that stands on its own merit.

Kai runs into his friend Gao (Paul Chiang) before picking up the package and they head off to the night market for a farewell meal where they bump into Susie. Meanwhile, Bao’s nephew Hong (Lawrence Ko) wants to get his hands on the package as well. Detective Ji Yong (Joseph Chang) stumbles into the picture, chasing after the package while nursing a broken heart and a bruised ego.

It seems like an awful lot is going on but Chinese-American film-maker Chen handles things with a light touch and flair. Whenever the film threatens to sag, he injects some fresh momentum into it with another bit of humour or some action.

Accordingly, Au Revoir Taipei has been well received, picking up a Netpac Award for Chen at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival while Kuo, singer and TV drama actress, was named Best New Talent at the 12th Taipei Film Festival earlier this month.

Fresh faces Yao and Kuo are sweetly tentative together as they explore their nascent attraction while trying to rescue Gao, who has been kidnapped by Hong’s henchmen.

The villains though are more comic than menacing. Bao waxes lyrical about his lady love and wants to retire while Hong and gang are all dressed in orange suits, looking like a slightly demented boyband.

The supporting cast nail their quirky roles perfectly and the 1.89m-tall model-turned-actor Chiang steals scenes as the clueless, mild-mannered and good-hearted Gao.

Au Revoir Taipei can be thought of as a companion piece to Hsiao Ya-chuan’s Taipei Exchanges, about a cafe with a sideline in barter trade. Both radiate a gentle youthful whimsy and a very palpable affection for the city of Taipei. Inevitably you wonder: Wouldn’t it be nice to have a film like that about Singapore?

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Jay Chou World Tour Live in Singapore 2010

Singapore Indoor Stadium

When it comes to a concert by king of Mandopop Jay Chou, his fans are perfectly happy to shell it out. Aside from watching their idol perform live, they are also assured of a top-notch production with no expense spared.

The 31-year-old singer wowed audiences here with a glossy and entertaining show two years ago and he did the same again last Friday, the first of three sold-out nights at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

He first appeared teasingly as a hologram, seeming to float in space, dressed like a mummy with its bandages unravelling. Then a globular screen on stage opened up to reveal Chou inside. He was outfitted in a glittery silver concoction with crazy protrusions on his shoulders, like Elvis in his Vegas best – on steroids.

All this was just for the opening number Dragon Rider – the hologram tent and the globular screen were not seen again for the rest of the night.

Every single element for each song was carefully thought out, from the background visuals to the dancers’ costumes to the special effects which included lasers, jets of fire and platforms which rose and fell.

But was the show over-produced?

No doubt the production was top-notch, but it also felt a little frenzied, too busy moving from point to point to stop and breathe. There was no momentum to speak of in the first few songs as Chou kept disappearing for costume tweaks and changes after each number.

Also, his voice would sometimes disappear into the music and was barely discernible in the mix, particularly when he had to hit the high notes or sing falsetto. His songs are known for their rapid-fire rhythms and tongue-twisting lyrics and they proved to be challenging in a live setting.

The fans did not seem too bothered, though, and were happy to scream and sing along, even when it was just a video clip charting his decade-long career’s milestones in music and on celluloid.

To mark that journey, he covered songs from across his back catalogue, including some of his early hits such as Lovely Woman from his debut record Jay (2000) and Love Before The Century from Fantasy (2001).

Still, the focus was clearly on The Era, his most recent release. He performed eight of the album’s 11 tracks, such as the elegiac ballad Fireworks Cool Easily and the wry track Superman Can’t Fly, in which he lays out the frustrations and regrets he has had in the business. Oddly, he chose to skip album highlight Long Time No See.

A little after the mid-way mark, a nifty black-box contraption appeared on the stage. Different parts of it were visible depending on how it was lit. At the same stage, it took on different looks depending on the images projected upon it. At one point, it even seemed like Chou was exploring the interior of a house.

Very cool, but also distancing in effect since he was essentially singing songs such as the breezy Diary: Fly For Love in a small cubicle behind a panel of glass.

The highlights, for me, were when Chou actually forged a connection with the crowd on Can’t Tell Her, which ended the set, and in the glorious encore finale, Nunchucks.

For all the technical wizardry, the audience broke into the loudest screams when Chou mingled with the lucky fans in the front rows during Simple Love.

The 21/2-hour gig was already nearing its end before the entire audience finally rose to its feet. It did not take some new marvel or glitzy gizmo to do that. Instead, it was something simpler and more powerful – all Chou had to do was ask.

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DUO Eason Chan Concert Live 2010

Eason Chan

Ahead of his concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sept 18, check out what Eason Chan served up on his home turf.

The 18 gigs at the Hong Kong Coliseum in March and April were a personal record number for him. Maybe that explains why his voice was not quite up to its usual high standard and he sounded a little strained and tired at points.

Still, this generous three-CD spread takes you through his hits from 1998’s My Happy Era to 2006’s Under Mount Fuji, to this year’s No Man’s Land.

Apart from his own songs, Chan also performed a delightful array of covers including Faye Wong’s Promise, Kay Tse’s Street Of Wedding Invitations, and even a Japanese track, Mr Lonely.

What you won’t get to experience here, though, are the outrageous costumes worn by Chan and his charismatic stage presence. Those will have to wait till September.

Regeneration

Chemistry

The R&B duo Chemistry first created sparks 10 years ago when they won the Asayan talent search variety show, Japan’s version of American Idol.

They have gone on to release several No. 1 albums and singles, with Regeneration being their sixth full-length offering.

While Yoshikuni Dochin and Kaname Kawabata look like chalk and cheese on the album cover – one a sensitive lovelorn soul; the other, a boxer getting ready to do battle – they prove that their chemistry has not fizzled even though the opening number has them singing: “Go alone had to quit ya/On my own, better without ya”. The album includes Period, the opening theme for the hit anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

More satisfying, though, are At That Time, which incorporates a rap from Japanese hip-hop veteran Dohzi-T, and the slinky number Dawn.

1st Mini Album

2AM

Once upon a time, there was an 11-member Korean boyband called One Day.

They then split into two groups, 2AM and 2PM. Compared to the diurnal 2PM which went down the route of energetic dance music, the nocturnal 2AM went for a smoother R&B sound, in keeping with the vibe of its name.

The result was that 2PM emerged triumphant in the popularity stakes.

But with a repackaged version of their first album, 2AM have proven that night and day can meet.

Their catchy new single I Did Wrong ups the tempo and comes with an epic 10-minute music video that has group members Jo Kwon styled as a club DJ, Changmin as an ice hockey player, Seulong as a biker and Jinwoon as a basketball player.

The rest of the album, which includes material from their first two singles, slides into a less distinctive, if not unpleasant, groove.

The question, then, is this: If 2AM continue to move in the direction of fasterpaced numbers, what will distinguish them from 2PM? Will they get back together One Day?

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Old Cow Vs Tender Grass

Fok Chi Gai

It is pretty clear who had final cut approval for the film – the sponsors.

A certain brand of stout is mentioned by name, appears in several scenes with the label clearly displayed and even appears as an actual ad on the side of the cab driven by the lead Henry Thia.

When a China nurse, played by local radio deejay Siau Jiahui, gives some cockamamie spiel about moonlighting as a beer promoter in order to feel better about herself, you wonder if she has had too much to drink.

It all makes sense though, if you think of this movie as an extended advertisement for a handful of products padded out with bland stories.

Despite the slightly saucy title, which appears to reference the real-life older man-younger woman relationships of comedian Marcus Chin and film-maker Jack Neo, the relationship between Thia and Taiwanese newcomer Crystal Lin is supremely chaste. In fact, they sometimes seem to be in different movies.

Thia is recycling his hangdog expressions and sad sack persona from his comedies for the umpteenth time while Lin is stuck in a melodrama that has her trying to recover from some past trauma.

Meanwhile, another uninvolving romance between the nurse and another cab driver (Malaysian deejay-actor Jack Lim) is being played out.

All of this is handled clunkily, with clumsy scene transitions and an annoying soundtrack that hammers in the mood setting for each scene.

This old cow should just be put out to pasture.

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Just because the World Cup is over and the TV season in the United States is on hiatus does not mean the couch potato has to peel himself off the sofa.

It used to be that this was the time of year for less-than-stellar TV series and endless reruns. But that has been changing in recent years, with cable channels offering more original material and TV networks stepping up to the challenge.

Some things remain the same, though, and “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” continues to be an unshakeable mantra.

Vampires are still making a commercial killing, so series creators are finding ways to work them into the small screen. It is the same with werewolves.

This was probably the thought process that led to The Gates, in which an unsuspecting police chief and his family move into an exclusive community that seems too perfect to be true. Guess who, or what, are among the denizens?

Not that imitation is necessarily a bad thing, the only sin really is imitation that fails to ignite interest.

Hence, Pretty Little Liars, despite clearly taking its cue from Gossip Girl, a TV series about privileged kids behaving badly, will likely prove that nubile young girls mixed up in intrigue, sexual and otherwise, will always find an audience.

Amid all the usual fare, there are flashes of something different in some of these mid-year offerings.

Sure, Unnatural History is a cross between Hardy Boys mystery-solving and Indiana Jones-style adventures, but its wholesomeness is a welcome throwback to a more innocent time.

Bonus points must be given to the creators for making historical facts palatable, just like in the hit film, National Treasure (2004).

The most audacious new show, though, is Huge. Set in a fat camp, it puts the touchy issues of weight and self- worth front and centre.

Life! takes you through eight new shows – also including cop dramas Rookie Blue and Memphis Beat, crime dramedy Scoundrels and mystery thriller Persons Unknown – and sifts out the sizzlers from the snoozers.

There are more new offerings coming for couch potatoes.

Look out for sci-fi adventure series Stargate Universe (Syfy, StarHub Channel 526 from next Monday at 11pm); Haven, a supernatural mystery based on Stephen King’s novel Colorado Kid (Syfy, StarHub Channel 526, from Oct 11, Mondays at 10pm); Shattered, about a homicide detective with multiple personality disorder (Universal Channel, StarHub Channel 512, coming at the end of the year); and Caprica, a spin-off from the critically acclaimed sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica (AXN, StarHub Channel 511). Its air dates will be announced soon.

Pretty Little Liars

In a nutshell: Dead girl sends snarky text messages, presumably from the grave.

What: Move over Gossip Girl, there is a trashier and skankier show in town.

First, the similarities. Liars is also based on a best-selling book series about the woes of the popular “it” girls, by Sara Shepard in this case. It even has a Blair (Leighton Meester) lookalike in the shape of Aria Montgomery (played by Lucy Hale).

Both are about teenagers behaving like hedonistic adults but Liars ups the stakes further. In the first episode alone, one high-school girl is locking lips with a teacher, another is eyeing the boyfriend of her older sister and a third is kissing a girl.

Oh right, the story. There used to be a clique of five girls and then one of them disappeared and was presumed dead. So when the other four start receiving messages from the “dead girl” threatening to spill the beans on a shared dark secret, they will fight tooth and manicured nail to protect themselves.

So much mischief and intrigue, so little time. Welcome to your newest guilty pleasure.

Rookie Blue

In a nutshell: New cops learn the ropes.

What: No offence, but another cop show, really?

Cop shows have been done to death and pretty much from every conceivable angle. But while Rookie Blue does not break new ground, it does offer a promising mix of drama from both solving cases as well as the characters’ lives and loves.

In other words, this show is more like Hill Street Blues than CSI.

In the first episode, the personalities of the different cops are quickly and deftly sketched out. Also, by having them take on different assignments, the viewer is given a quick overview of the various duties in a precinct’s police station.

As this is a Canadian series, most of the fresh-faced cast might not be familiar. The exception is Gregory Smith, whom viewers saw grow up on the drama series, Everwood.

Following a new series can be a bit like starting a new relationship and there is always the risk of rejection, that is, cancellation, after you commit. Good thing that Rookie Blue has already been picked up for a second season by the ABC network.

Scoundrels

In a nutshell: Can small-time crooks go straight?

What: When Wolf West (nice to see David James Elliott of JAG playing scoundrel instead of saint) is handed a longer-than-expected jail sentence, it is up to his wife Cheryl (Virginia Madsen) to straighten out the West clan.

With its kooky family members, including a pair of twins played by Patrick Flueger (from sci-fi thriller The 4400) – one a lawyer, the other a lunkhead criminal – this comes across like a less nutty take on Arrested Development.

Based on the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune, the premiere is snappily paced and Madsen is fun to watch as a harassed mother trying to hold it all together.

She came to fame in the 1980s with teen flicks such as Electric Dreams (1984) and is also remembered for her turn in the slasher film Candyman (1992).

Her career was resuscitated with an Oscar-nominated performance in the wine country drama, Sideways (2004), and this should cast her in the limelight once more.

This is the second time ABC is attempting to retool this series for an American audience. A 2008 pilot named Good Behaviour was not picked up. Guess bad behaviour is always more attractive when it comes to entertainment.

Persons Unknown

In a nutshell: Seven abducted, to what end?

What: It is always a good sign when a series poses interesting questions because that means viewers will want to stick around for the answers.

The set-up here is intriguing: Seven people, seemingly unrelated, are abducted from different places and then brought to what looks like an abandoned film lot.

Why have they been kidnapped? Who is monitoring their every movement? And why are they being served food in a Chinese restaurant?

The obvious reference here is the recently concluded sci-fi thriller Lost, in which a group of people marooned on an island have to figure out why they were brought there. There is even a close-up shot of an eye opening, echoing the very first scene of Lost.

Will viewers have the patience for another drawn-out mystery, though? Cast-wise, this series also lacks the draw of familiar names. Hopefully, the title will not turn into a bad joke about the series’ audience.

Huge

In a nutshell: Big – and proud of it.

What: If there is one group that is under-represented in the TV land of beautiful people, it is overweight people.

No wonder when Camryn Manheim won an Emmy in 1998 for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work on the legal drama, The Practice, she exclaimed: “This is for all the fat girls!”

Perhaps spurred by the success of the reality series The Biggest Loser, there is now a scripted series where the overweight folks are front and centre.

Star Nikki Blonsky is best known for her role as Tracy Turnblad in the film version of the musical Hairspray (2007). She brings a deliciously acerbic zing to the role of Willamena Rader, who is bundled off to fat camp by her parents. Will, as she prefers to be called, is big and sassy and refuses to be ashamed of her size.

At the end of episode one, she decides that she wants to stay on at the camp, and it should be interesting to see how she will continue to rock the boat.

Unnatural History

In a nutshell: National Treasure – high-school edition.

What: Henry Griffin (Kevin Schmidt) is not your typical teenager. He has travelled all over the world and gone on all sorts of adventures. And then his parents decide to send him to a regular high school in Washington DC.

All that esoteric knowledge he has gathered comes in useful, however, when he decides to solve the mystery of the death of his godfather, aided reluctantly by his cousin Jasper Bartlett (Jordan Gavaris).

If Pretty Little Liars feels like poison to parents, then this wholesome adventure and mystery series packed with factoids should be the perfect antidote.

The Gates

In a nutshell: Vampires and werewolves in suburbia.

What: Plus-sized folks are near invisible on the goggle-box but the undead are getting overexposed.

The Twilight juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down while The Vampire Diaries and True Blood are carving up the audience share on TV.

The Gates wants a piece of the action but there is too much going on and it ends up feeling scattershot.

Nick Monohan (Frank Grillo, right, in green T-shirt) is the new chief of police in an exclusive gated community and it seems like the American Dream come true for him and his family. Cue alarm bells.

First day on the job and he has to deal with a missing person, last seen outside his new neighbour’s house. Meanwhile, his teenage kids have problems of their own to tackle at school.

There is the sinister adult conspiracy and a teenage romance angle, except that it all seems too familiar, like a cut-and-paste job of other series.

The Gates could well be shut out of viewers’ affections for all things undead.

Memphis Beat

In a nutshell: Maverick cop sings the blues.

What: Good news – Jason Lee (right) is starring in a new series right after the redneck comedy, My Name Is Earl, ended last year.

Bad news – Memphis Beat is not very good.

The title and opening credits promised a sense of place, the American South, and there was some of that but the pilot simply was not very compelling.

Dwight is the old-hand detective used to doing things his way and inevitably, there is a clash between him and the new lieutenant (Alfre Woodard). So far, so predictable.

It was also not clear whe- ther the fact that Dwight literally sings the blues in a pub was a one-episode gimmick or a recurring element of the series.

Whatever it is, things need to click and soon, or Memphis will be taking a beating in the ratings.

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agoodday lian-lian-kan festival

Various artists

For a compilation album, this record feels remarkably coherent.

Maybe it is because it features the roster of artistes from a single label – A Good Day Records. The line-up ranges from up-and-comer Dadado Huang, who released his debut album in 2007, to stalwarts such as Ze Hwang, whose first commercial release was back in 1998.

The indie set-up started in 2003 and made its name with its first record: singer-songwriter Cheer Chen’s debut single, Sentimental Kills.

There are standouts aplenty, including Dadado Huang’s insouciant To Myself, NyLas’ distinctive brand of child-like pop on Lovely Times and Smokering’s laid-back contribution. And that’s just the first three tracks.

We then take a detour into the territory of sombre and atmospheric pop a la Mazzy Star with two English numbers, Hwang’s Soak and Ciacia’s haunting A Dialogue Between Me & My Ghost.

Natural Q’s A Good Day (Fine Weather) closes the set with a slyly breezy number on the vagaries of weather and love.

This is a snapshot of the state of indie pop in Taiwan today and it is a good day indeed.

Guardian

Y2J

Duets are often obligatory in albums and Mandorock falls into cliches. Yet, against the odds, duo Y2J have become commercially viable based on their mainstay of rock duets.

Comprising Yuming Lai and Jane Huang, both finalists from the second season of the star-making machinery One Million Star, the duo had their first album Live For You out in 2008. It earned them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the Golden Melody Awards.

Beyond strong, powerful vocals, Y2J’s dynamic is powered by the “are-they-or-aren’t-they-a-couple” undertow. On Forgiving, he wails: “Your tears leave me helpless” and she answers: “Do you know I’ve endured humiliations for love/Striving to learn forgiveness/Can’t bear for our love to die halfway”.

The title track features a guest turn by aboriginal singer Biung Wang and has Huang urging Lai: “Please be my guardian, hold me/Help me quietly rediscover the true colour of love”.

For star-crossed lovers everywhere.

We Hold Each Other Happily

Yuki

There is a joyful innocence to the series of black-and-white photos in the lyric booklet which shows the Japanese singer-songwriter with her arms stretched out in an embrace. Except there is no one there.

Despite that slightly unsettling stance, the former member of the now-defunct punk rock band Judy And Mary has come up with a kookily optimistic album that can be hard to resist.

Present chugs along on guitar riffs as her voice swoops from the lower registers to a child-like squeal, Look Of Love gets jazzy, while “just life! all right!” has her intoning solemnly in English: “Baby corn and carrot/tomato, onion, green beans and spinach/cream cheese and LOVE”.

The disc is bookended by the tracks Morning Comes and Night Comes, lending a sense of symmetry to the musical journey.

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The Fantastic Water Babes

Jeffrey Lau

The story: After getting publicly humiliated by her boyfriend’s new squeeze, Gill (Gillian Chung) wants to get back at her by winning a swimming relay competition. There is one snag – she cannot really swim, so she kidnaps champion swimmer Chi (Alex Fong) to train her.

You could completely disregard the plot and it would not make much of a difference. The movie is really just a series of gags and the only question is whether the hit-to-miss ratio is high enough.

Answer: Not quite.

Still, there are some funny sequences such as when the entire island of Cheung Chau colludes to convince Gill that she has superpowers and her friends and neighbours end up having to do all kinds of ridiculous things. There is also a nicely executed mahjong scene about arcane local rules – essentially a standalone skit.

This is all familiar territory for writerdirector Jeffrey Lau as he had also helmed farcical movies such as Just Another Pandora’s Box (2010) and The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993), in which a bunch of A-listers from the two Tony Leungs to Maggie Cheung gamely make fools of themselves.

The star wattage here is dimmer.

Gillian Chung, one-half of Cantopop duo Twins, seems to hold back and does not quite throw herself into the whole zany enterprise.

Professional swimmer-turned-actor Alex Fong (Chi) fares better but it is Stephen Fung who proves he is gungho enough to do anything for a laugh.

When the director decides to shove Gill and Chi into some grand romance, the result is underwhelming. It is difficult to be emotionally committed to cardboard characters who have been manipulated for yuks all through the movie.

Even more bewildering is the CGI-heavy finale, which further distances the viewer from the story. It is as though, after all that onscreen craziness, Lau finally goes off the deep end.

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Eric Moo Moments 2010 Asia Tour

Singapore Expo Hall 8

Last Friday

The concert did not start off promisingly. Malaysia-born and Singapore-bred veteran singer Eric Moo is known for his big emotive voice but he had trouble with the high notes from the get-go.

The 47-year-old kept passing the buck to the 5,500-strong audience during the chorus of songs such as Can’t Forget The Past (Yi Wang Guo Qu) and Love Puppet (Ai Qing Kui Lei).

After a few songs, he explained that his voice was not in tip-top condition because he had been feasting on local delights such as laksa, char kway teow and durians since arriving here from Beijing, where he is now based. The late nights spent watching World Cup matches did not help either.

It did not seem like particularly responsible behaviour, given that his fans were there to hear him sing and not for the staging, which was bare-bones; nor for the costumes, which were kept simple.

They had grown up with his music since the days of xinyao in the 1980s and some had come with children in tow. Moo himself had taken his family along as well. His wife and two young daughters were seated in the front row.

Still, the audience was won over by the chatty entertainer as he reminisced about his salad days and bantered with his daughters from time to time: “Daddy’s working, okay?”

There was also no denying that he has accumulated a large body of work and many of his songs were part of an indelible soundtrack for those who grew up in the 1980s.

It was nice to rediscover some of them, such as Love Hidden Inside My Heart (Qing Yi Cang Xin Di), over the course of the evening.

While his voice was ragged at the edges, it retained its sonorous power in the more forgiving lower registers. And one had to give the man credit for still going through with an almost four- hour-long show.

His vocals gained some strength over the evening, no doubt helped by his many asides and the parade of guests. They included Radio 100.3 deejay Charmaine Yip, the singer’s younger brother and producer of the concert, Allan Moo, and fellow singer-songwriter Roy Loi.

Most incongruously, film-maker Jack Neo, 50, who was mired in scandal earlier this year when it emerged that he had an affair with a 22-year-old woman, also showed up on stage. He bantered with Moo for a bit and then apologised once more for having strayed. The crowd seemed forgiving but really, it was neither the time nor place for it.

Happily, the focus shifted back to the songs after that episode as Moo took on favourite tracks such as Those Days (Na Yi Duan Ri Zi), Life Is But A Dream (Hong Chen Lai Qu Yi Chang Meng) and the Minnan number Call My Name.

The set ended with Too Foolish (Tai Sha), one of Moo’s biggest hits and a track that is notoriously difficult to sing. Once again, he got his obliging fans to sing the difficult parts.

Fittingly, one of the songs during the encore was You Are My Only One (Ni Shi Wo De Wei Yi). The crowd sang with gusto: “Perhaps you don’t believe I am satisfied with this outcome/Although you are my first/Although you are my last/Although you are my only.”

It was a love song from his fans to Moo, ragged voice and all.

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Tone

Tai Ai-ling

There are ballads and then there are slow-burn torch songs. And Taiwanese singer Tai Ai-ling shows that she has the chops to pull off torch tunes.

Coming a year after the release of Love Sign, Tone is reportedly Tai’s break-up album. The first two cuts, Close Eyes and the title track, feature languorous stanzas that build up to power choruses.

Her voice is deliberately pushed to breaking point as she belts out: “Close my eyes and love till despair comes/I’m still waiting for that heaven you spoke of/Use memories, to heal, to gaze, to resist the waves beating on my chest”.

The electropop of Gone and indie rock stylings of Left-Right offer a welcome change of pace but Today, with its rap by Matzka, is an uneasy fit with the rest of the disc.

Only One

U-Kiss

Image-wise, the seven-member Korean boyband U-Kiss tend towards the fey side of the spectrum, probably using more eye- shadow than the entire cast of Glee combined.

Not that it matters once you put on the headphones because they sound just like any other boyband. That said, Only One is a consistently listenable and energetic album. The opening cry of “Are you ready?” on Binggeul Binggeul (Round And Round) is no routine boast as the lads serve up one slick slice of dance pop after another. Binggeul Binggeul has topped Radio 1003’s singles chart, one of the rare Korean tracks to do so.

Even better is Bang Bang Bang with its rhythmic rat-a-tat chorus as they proclaim: “I wanna rock”.

The album also includes remixes of their previous singles such as Man Man Ha Nee, Not Young and Talk To Me.

Sparklers

Amber Kuo

Cutie-pie Amber Kuo recently starred in the well-received romance Au Revoir Taipei. Which means that she has a back-up option in showbusiness should her singing career fail to take off.

On her third album, she veers between being bland and cute, her thin voice trying desperately to do justice to tracks such as the titular cut.

Things hit a nadir on Cartoon Life, a cover of Mika’s Lollipop. She goes for childish whimsy while mouthing nonsensical lines such as: “My God My God Oh, the world is so big/M’Car M’Car, the world has become so big with you”.

And Sparklers fizzles out.

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Despicable Me
Chris Renaud

The story: Gru (Steve Carell) is a big bad villain and for his next dastardly deed, he plans to steal the moon. First, though, he needs to get a shrink ray back from rival villain Vector (Jason Segel). As part of his plan to do this, he adopts three little orphan girls who go door to door selling cookies. Soon, Gru finds that his priorities begin to change.

Despicable Me is a kiddy flick. Which is to say that those who will enjoy it most are likely to be from the under-12 set. They will dig the bright, cheery colour palette, the literal humour and the fact that Gru is really not a very scary villain.
Early on, to establish his despicable credentials, the audience is shown Gru jamming his air-polluting oversized vehicle between two cars – and then front- and rear-ending them. He steps into a coffee shop and uses his freeze ray to jump queue. Evil just ain’t what it used to be.
He is supposed to be a master villain but somehow you sense that his heart is not quite in it.
Comic actor Steve Carell from the sitcom The Office voices Gru with vaguely east European-accented English and the thought of him hamming it up in the recording studio is enough to raise a smile.
To aid him in his nefarious doings, Gru has an entire army of minions – excitable, quarrelsome little yellow creatures who talk with cutesy voices in an incomprehensible language. That is, until the DVD or Blue Ray comes out and includes the decoding of the high-pitched tittering as an extra.
Another major sidekick is the hard-of-hearing evil scientist Dr Nefario (comedian Russell Brand) who hears “dart gun” and invents a fart gun.
Meanwhile, Gru’s nemesis, the nerdy and cocky Vector, who has been stealing the limelight with more showy shenanigans, is prone to inventing guns which shoot resigned piranhas and bemused squid.
This is pretty much the level the film is pitched at and when it tries to be snarky, the change of tone feels out of place. When Gru attempts to get a loan from the Bank Of Evil, underneath that title is the punchline “Formerly Lehman Brothers”.
However, Despicable Me is not so much interested in coming up with zingers on topics of the day as it wants to warm the cockles of your heart. The audience learns how Gru desperately sought approval from his mother (Julie Andrews) as a child but nothing he did impressed her.
It is not hard to see where the story of Gru and the little orphan girls will end up. You just wish the entire process was a little less manipulative.
Stay on for the credits as a trio of irrepressible minions make a welcome return. They compete to see who can stretch out furthest into the audience, a nice little scene that also showcases the 3-D effects. Sometimes, it is the simplest gags that tickle the funny bone, regardless of one’s age.
(ST)

Love You No Matter What
Erica Chiang

I Am Not
Elisa Chen

Winding Road
Lu Yao

This week, we have three debut albums from three women. Say what you want about the state of the music business, it remains a magnet for those with music in their blood and stars in their eyes.
Erica Chiang took the tried-and-tested route of entering a singing competition and swung into the top four in the first Super Idol in 2008.
On her debut, the former golf caddie offers up a mix of original material and covers. She has a big voice but she is in no hurry to show it off, unleashing it only during the chorus of opener Unicellular.
The title track is unabashedly commercial: “I love you no matter what/Even if it means turning my back on the whole world/If there’s a happiness worth striving for/It’s to be with you”. No great shakes lyrically but Chiang imbues the song with warmth and sincerity.
Even on the covers such as Chiang Mei-chi’s Beloved, Why Aren’t You By My Side and Sandy Lam’s Weathered The Cold Wind For You, her voice, honeyed and slightly nasal, makes the songs her own.
Image-wise, she has gone for an understated androgynous look, wearing shirts and jeans and sporting a hat.
Meanwhile, Elisa Chen has gone for an all-out rocker-chick look complete with electric guitar and attitude on the CD cover. But her voice lacks that oomph such an image conjures.
In fact, my favourite track here is not a rock track but the ballad Ever Since. Over a piano-driven chorus, she croons: “You’re the greatest thing that’s happened to my life/Finally understand why life is worth waiting for”.
Bonus points to her for composing all the music and co-writing several tracks on her album even if the songs do not quite reflect her storied musical background. She was a music producer at 24, a member of a jazz group and had worked with local bands in the United States.
In contrast, Lu Yao’s background was in modelling. This is not the most promising of signs but the Harbin native has a set of passable pipes. She fares better on the slower numbers such as Crossing The International Date Line though her voice feels a tad thin on Regretful Beauty.
What makes listening to her album a trying experience is the fact that it has been put together with no regard for thematic unity or emotional continuity.
On Super Lover, an urban track trying uber hard to be hip, she goes: “Honey Honey I want to conquer your heart from the runway”.The next number, I Do, has her in the mood for mellow romance: “I do, I’m willing/This love will never forget/Even if I grow old one day”.
She has nailed one thing though. The road to success is indeed a winding one, and not everyone is going to reach that destination. With so many debuts jostling for attention, only those who offer a spark of something different are going to make it to the next stage of the journey.
(ST)

Triple Tap
Derek Yee

The story: After winning a competition, sharpshooter Ken (Louis Koo) drives off – right into an ongoing robbery. He kills the perpetrators, save for one who gets away. Meanwhile, the traffic cop who responded to a distress call ends up in a coma. The case lands in the lap of detective, and fellow shooting competitor, Jerry (Daniel Wu), and he decides to charge Ken with illegal possession of firearms.

The term triple tap is used when a marksman is so skilled that he is able to fire three on-target shots and leave only one hole. It is not a description that would be applicable to this film since it veers wildly off the mark in its concluding third.
A pity since the set-up is actually intriguing. Ken seems to be the unwitting everyman who is reluctantly thrust into the role of citizen hero but there is more here than meets the eye. Is it really coincidence that led him to the robbery taking place on a deserted stretch of highway? Does he really have nothing to gain?
The more one learns about Ken, the more one gets the feeling that something is not quite right. He is a high-flyer in the financial world but he seems like the kept man of his territorial female boss (Li Bingbing). At the same time, he has a girlfriend (Charlene Choi), who happens to be a nurse at the hospital where the traffic cop is being monitored.
Director and co-writer Derek Yee (Shinjuku Incident, 2009) doles out the information in dribs and drabs and tosses a couple of red herrings into the mix.
But after all that work, the script seems to have exhausted itself. When Jerry (above left) asks a more senior officer Miu (Alex Fong) for help, the last thing this reviewer expected was a re-enactment of the crime scene so that Fong could somehow telepathically get into the head of the criminal. It came across like the rejected premise for a show that crosses the psychic TV show Medium with the FBI profiler series Criminal Minds.
Also problematic is the casting of Koo who is grim and glum throughout. As in Accident (2009), he has to shoulder a central role of great ambiguity and once again, he is less than fully engaging.
Those who have seen Double Tap (2000) might be even less enthused since the concept of sharpshooter versus cop is taken straight from there. Yee was co-writer but did not direct that earlier film while the late Leslie Cheung was the marksman to Fong’s CID officer.
Triple Tap can in fact be seen as a “sort of” sequel as Fong reprises the role he played, but the focus has moved on to a new pair of adversaries.
Yee strains to give the Ken-Jerry rivalry an epic feel as they try to outwit each other. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two is more contrived and bland rather than electrifying and grand.
The final shootout is a wildly ludicrous affair in which the measured ambiguity of the beginning has no place and any semblance of plot coherence is utterly blasted to bits.
(ST)

Immortal Tour
Cheer Chen

This handsomely packaged box set is the complete audio-visual keepsake of Taiwanese indie darling Cheer Chen’s Asian tour last year.
There is no denying her sincerity and charm in a live setting but the recording of her last concert tour Poses (2007) made her sound rather reedy. Recorded by famed mixer Dave Yang and produced by her beau and regular collaborator Tiger Chung, there is a richer quality to her vocals in this release.
The material spans her entire output from 1998’s Let Me Think to 2009’s Immortal. Her last album was a breakthrough of sorts as she moved away from musings on relationships to embrace broader concerns about the people and the world around her.
As if to mark that turning point, it was a grittier Chen fans saw at the gigs – a rocker girl with one arm covered in tattoos and who stood her own in a live Guitar Hero segment.
All of that is captured on the DVD. Other highlights include Chen mingling with the audience and happily taking pictures during 1234567, being moved to tears during Travel Is Meaningful and singing her encore right in the midst of all those adoring fans.
For the dedicated fan, the second DVD offers peeks of her in rehearsals and on the road, as well as interviews with members of her live band.Short of being there, this is as good as it gets.

Goodbye Prince
katncandix2

The title of the Taiwanese duo’s second album is a reference to Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s fable about innocence and loss, Le Petit Prince.
Given that vocalist-lyricist Hsiao Chiu and composer-producer Shen Sheng-je frequently deal with youthful themes of dreams and growing up, the association is entirely apt.
Musically, the vibe here picks up where their debut album Little Flight (2009) left off. The mood is breezy and light – even their melancholia is sunny – with Hsiao Chiu’s slightly raw vocals adding to the folksy feel.
It came as a surprise then to find out that she is an incorrigible chatterbox during live performances. Those who went for their unexpectedly lengthy and endearing gig at the Esplanade in January would have heard the new track, 22.
Together with songs such as Goodbye Prince, we get to see a more contemplative side of katncandix2. Hsiao Chiu muses on Prince: “The child always speaking of forever/Slowly grows up/Uses tears to water the seed which will grow into happiness.”
On opener Nice Day, however, we get a glimpse of the cutesy singer. It could easily be irritating in anyone else’s hands but hearing it, you cannot help but wish that youth and innocence be held on to just that little bit longer for her and, maybe, even for us.

KEEP!
Tay Kewei & Lee Ein Ein

Local lass Tay Kewei is stepping out from the shadows of singing back-up for Mandopop’s big hitters such as David Tao.
She has a lovely set of pipes and gives a loose-limbed and jazz-inflected rendition of the English track Come Closer, which she penned.
The other two songs are the Mandarin numbers That’s How I Am and A Love Song, both composed by her musician friend Lee Ein Ein.
The accompaniment is kept simple – a guitar, a piano – all the better to showcase the voices, in harmony or solo. Lee takes the lead here and her clean and emotive voice works well for the plaintive tracks.
My interest is certainly piqued and the teaser EP has done its job of whetting one’s appetite for more.
(ST)

Dennis To plays Ip Man in the prequel while Donnie Yen donned the robes twice as the wing chun master.

Acting chops
To: Brings a stoic gravitas to the role of Ip Man
Yen: Brings a stoic gravitas to all his roles

Looks
To: Resembles Donnie Yen
Yen: Resembles Dennis To

Romantic scorecard
To: Has two women falling for him and even more impressed by his skills. Generates some chemistry with co-star Huang Yi. He’s the man.
Yen: Maintains a polite distance between him and Lynn Xiong who played his wife in parts one and two. Was her alleged beau Aaron Kwok lurking around the set?

Relationship to Sammo Hung, who appears in different roles in the prequel and in part two
To: Would have called Hung master if To had played Ip Man as a child
Yen: Calls Hung a thorn in the side at first and later embraces him as a true friend. Yes, Ip Man 2 had character development.

Fighting skills
To: He is the winner of various international martial arts competitions and is well-versed in different forms of martial arts including wing chun and taiji. But he lost to an 86-year-old Ip Chun in the film. Tsk.
Yen: Jet Li was a fellow disciple – they both trained under master Wu Bin at the Beijing Wushu Academy. Woe to anyone who tries to mess with him.

Body tally
To: Assorted bullies and riffraff fall by the wayside
Yen: Assorted bullies and riffraff fall by the wayside. Multiplied by two films

Patriotic index
To: Obliterates the nefarious Japanese agents trying to infiltrate China
Yen: Annihilates the Japanese karate expert Colonel Miura in part one and an arrogant British boxer in part two. Take that, Dennis.
(ST)

Ip Man: The Legend Is Born
Herman Yau

The story: As children, Ip Man and his adopted brother Ip Tin Chi (played as adults by Dennis To and Fan Siu Wong respectively) are sent to learn wing chun martial arts in Foshan, China. Years later, their lives and loves are played out against the historic backdrop of Japanese encroachment into mainland China in the 1910s.

Wing chun has certainly come a long way. No longer is it likely to be greeted by that cry of erroneous recognition: “Wang Chung? The group which sang Everybody Have Fun Tonight?”
The fact that the prequel is striking less than two months after Ip Man 2, starring Donnie Yen, hit screens here is as good a measure of its popularity as any.
Legend is being billed as a semi-biographical account of the youth of Ip Man, teacher of action superstar Bruce Lee. The key word here is “semi”.
Despite being based on an actual person, the various elements in the film feel mighty familiar.
The two brothers grow up fighting alongside and getting into mischief with Li Mei Wai (played by CJ7’s Xu Jiao and upcoming actress Rose Chan). No prizes for guessing that the set-up leads to romantic entanglements down the road.
When Ip Man takes on a bully and impresses the well-off Cheung Wing Shing (a spunky Huang Yi) and later stands up to a mocking Caucasian while studying in Hong Kong, it all seems like requisite checkpoints on the road to deja vu.
There is a missed opportunity when Ip Tin Chi’s poignant tale of sacrifice and emotional conflict is eventually revealed. Alas, it is quickly glossed over perhaps because it would have taken the focus away from Ip Man.
What keeps the film watchable is the graceful fluidity and excitement of the close-quarter hand-to-hand combat. The competent action scenes are courtesy of Tony Leung Siu Hung who, together with actor Sammo Hung, won last year’s Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Award gongs for Best Action Choreography for Ip Man (2008).
Instead of action star Yen though, moviegoers get newcomer Dennis To who had small parts in the other two Ip Man flicks. The physical resemblance between the two actors ties the films together and To’s competition-winning martial arts skills certainly come in handy.
Director Herman Yau (True Women For Sale, 2008) steps in for Wilson Yip who helmed the first two instalments and he could have done a better job with the episodic and choppy pacing.
Legend also boasts a turn by Ip Chun, eldest son of the real-life Ip Man. The 86-year-old gives a cheekily spirited performance and gets to put the reel-life Ip Man in his place.
With auteur Wong Kar Wai reportedly working on a movie on the same subject matter, one wonders if this is going to be a case of overkill. The day could well come when the mention of wing chun is met with: “No thanks, I’d rather Wang Chung tonight.”
(ST)

Man In The Mirror
Eric Suen

The Hong Kong-born Eric Suen first found fame as a teeny-bopper Mandopop idol back in 1993 with his debut album It’s So Nice To Know You. But the pressures of the industry got to him and his popularity fizzled out after a few years. He remade himself as an actor and then returned to the music scene in 2007, this time in his native Cantonese. Then came a nasal operation and complications with his vocal cords.
It is enough to make a man look in the mirror and take stock of his life.
Hence tracks such as My Story (Part One) and 36, a reference to his age when he wrote the song last year. He bares his emotions on the former, “I’ve cried silently before, suddenly afraid of losing it in a moment”, and gives a humorous spin on his search for love in the latter.
Still, he can take comfort in the fact that he is no washed-up has-been but has instead survived the vagaries of the entertainment business for almost two decades.
It bodes well for his career that Suen had a hand in crafting all 11 tracks, including the hits If Life Still Has A Song and Walled Hometown, a contemplation on urban alienation.
He can definitely look his reflection squarely in the eye.

Your Friend
Claire Kuo

Surprisingly, Claire Kuo’s Singing In The Trees, from her previous album, has been nominated for Best Song Of The Year for the 21st Golden Melody Awards.
No doubt it has its charms but it just seems too slight for such a weighty category. Which rather sums up how I feel about the sweetie-pie Taiwanese lass.
The opener Encore La La, used for a lingerie ad no less, has her declaring: “See sexy back/We r the sexy mama.” But neither she nor the music has the conviction to carry off such a line. Throughout her fourth album, what could be light-hearted breeziness merely comes across as bland inoffensiveness, a fate that befalls the ballads as well.
I don’t think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Can't Not Love
Eddie Peng

This atrocious trend has to stop right now. First Joe Cheng, now Eddie Peng. What is it about pretty-boy actors that makes them think that they can hack it as singers as well?
Peng flits from the dance pop of Can’t Not Love to balladry for That Is I Love You to rap on Chameleon and manages to come up with duds across the board.
If you are a fan of the 28-year-old with the sunny good looks, check out the drama Hear Me instead, the highest-grossing local film in Taiwan last year.
And boys, leave the singing to the professionals.
(ST)

Thanks Your Greatness
Yen-J

This fresh jazzy debut from Los Angeles-born Taiwanese Yen-J sounds different from what is out there, no small achievement given how conformist much of Mandopop is.
Little wonder he was bewildered at first by the scene. Stuck In Taipei recounts his initial frustrations: “From a college student to a wanderer with no job/I feel more and more guilty spending my family’s money... I begin to doubt myself and wonder if I’m doing something wrong?”
He questions in the hip-hop track Saviour: “Didn’t think there would be no one who would be accustomed to my music in Taipei/I can’t catch up with what’s popular... or have I gone ahead of it?”
He makes a good case for the latter. Chasing After opens with the tinkling of ivories and then segues unexpectedly into a tongue-twister of a stanza, followed by a chorus that has fun with word sounds. It’s a heady mix of youthful exuberance but it’s one that works.
On the deliciously playful Love Is Curry, he samples the jazz standard Take The A Train and revs it up with Mandarin, Minnan and English lyrics.
The title track Thanks Your Greatness though reminds me of R&B diva Alicia Keys’ No One. It’s a rare misstep in an album in which even the love songs are sweet rather than saccharine. Smile along as he croons I Like (No, I Love) and Summer Romance.
It is all the more impressive given that the 22-year-old wrote and arranged the material and also played the keyboard parts.This is indeed a great start worth giving thanks for.

No. Eleven
Hins Cheung

There is a modernist feel to Guangzhou-born Hins Cheung’s 11th release. He sports a sculpted, cropped hairdo and dons deconstructed clothing while posing with cut-out shapes of translucent blue and red.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the music. While the Cantopop singer shines on ballads such as Zero Degree Celsius, where his delicate vibrato suggests a forlorn man shivering as love grows cold, he is let down by dated arrangements elsewhere. The retro vibe is perfect though for his take on the Paula Tsui classic, Behind The Wedding Gown.
The album has already spawned two chart-toppers – the melancholy Spring Autumn and the sprightly Tea Meditation Song. Which means to say that there will certainly be a No. 12 on the way.
(ST)

Go South
Super Band

Four veteran musicians, one limited-edition super-group.That was the conceit which brought Lo Ta-yu, Jonathan Lee, Wakin Chau and Chang Chen-yue together in 2008.
It resulted in them touring for 10 months and playing to more than one million fans, and also led to the release of two EPs, North Bound and Go South.
I have never found them fully convincing as a band, however. There are a handful of tracks on which they come together as a cohesive whole, including Desperado from North Bound and Coming Home from Go South.
The rest of the time though, be it on stage or on disc, it is about each singer-songwriter doing his own thing. And hence Hand Holding is very Lo Ta-yu, Art Of Love is very Chang Chen-yue, There’s Light is very Wakin Chau and Jonathan’s Song is, well, very Jonathan.
Sure, they wrote songs for one another but that is a form of collaboration that could easily have taken place outside of the framework of this grouping.
They have since officially split up, but is this really the last we’ll see of Super Band? I wouldn’t bet on it.

55:38:7
Serene Koong

We all know how important that first impression is and newbie Singaporean singer Serene Koong gets it right with opener Charlie. A jaunty piano riff, a breezy cascade of whistling and then a voice that swings: “I like your Chaplin-esque black humour/ I’m about to burst into flames like a poem”.
The tune was composed by Koong, a contestant in the inaugural Singapore Idol in 2004, while Xiao Han wrote the lyrics. There is a lightly quirky vibe and welcome sense of playfulness to their collaborations which also include Voodoo Doll and Like A Freak.
The TV drama theme songs such as Knowing and Protected are more conventional but, to Koong’s credit, the album is consistently listenable thanks to her inviting pipes.
Despite it being a jingle for a soda, Lala, the duet with label-mate Wu Jiahui, is effectively effervescent. I prefer it to her ballad with Jaycee Chan, To:, even though that too has its charms.
All in all, a promising debut. One suggestion though – ditch that Lolita-esque styling.
(ST)

The Era
Jay Chou

Album No. 10 is a major milestone by any measure but the stakes are even higher when you are the reigning king of Mandopop.
When each of Jay Chou’s releases is feted as the saviour of the ever-shrinking music market, it is little wonder that he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders.
On the wryly titled first single, Superman Can’t Fly, he looks back on his decade in the business and vents his frustrations: “I don’t know when I turned into an example for society/Have to be magnanimous and not raise my middle finger when I’m snapped by the paparazzi.”
Regrets, too, he has had a few: “Can CNN wait till my English is better before doing an interview/Can the cover for Time magazine be retaken?”
Speaking of covers, you can tell how much things have changed with him by looking at how his album sleeves have evolved over the years.
On his 2000 self-titled debut, the cover is of a fresh-faced 21-year-old wearing a pair of headphones and totally grooving to the music. Ten releases later and it is a much manipulated and fussed-over concept picture with Chou as a vampire.
He will have you know that it is still all about the music, though. On opener The Era, which offers a by now familiar blend of rap, graceful piano phrases and pulsating beats, he serves up the lines: “Don’t need to be worshipped/This beast-like tragedy/Only surviving for this eternal melody.”
While it seems he is behind the curve with this vampire makeover, he has a point to make about wanting his work to straddle the ages and to never grow old.
And don’t forget that fantasy and role-playing have always been a big part of his music. It is no coincidence that his breakthrough second album was named Fantasy (2001) and the title of his creative rejuvenation after the ho-hum November’s Chopin (2005) was Still Fantasy (2006).
He has morphed from ninja to man-machine hybrid to cowboy and that playfulness and restlessness have given us hits such as Nunchucks, The Orcs and Cowboy On The Run.
The problem for a while was the predictability of his records. Ode to gongfu track a la Nunchucks? See Dragon Fist and Double Sabre. China-style ballad a la East Wind Breaks? See Hair Like Snow, Chrysanthemum Terrace and Blue And White Porcelain.
To be fair, it didn’t matter when the offerings were as stellar as Chrysanthemum Terrace. The gripings were over the lesser efforts.
So how does The Era compare to his previous body of work? From a couple of spins and given his high standards, this feels like an above-average Chou record but one which does not hit new highs.
For starters, it is less frenetic and frantic than the jokey Capricorn (2008). One of the highlights here is Long Time No See, which slips between Mandarin and the Minnan dialect in a smoothly effortless mid-tempo number.
Chou wrote both the tune and lyrics here though, as much as The Era marks his 10 years in the business, it also marks the decade-long partnership between him and his lyricist, Vincent Fang.
The two work their magic once more on Fireworks Cool Easily, an elegantly elegiac track which could have done with a more evocative vocal performance. Diary: Fly For Love is a less successful work, reminding one too strongly of Sunshine Otaku.
Regardless of how one feels about the songs on record, it’s a whole other ball game when Chou is up on stage and performing them. Little wonder then that his three dates at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in July sold out in a matter of hours.
A more recent collaborator is Huang Jun-lang who penned the lyrics for Cowboy On The Run. Here, he contributes the cheeky lyrics to Free Tutorial Video, musically a sequel of sorts to Cowboy’s old-school rock ’n’ roll crossed with hillbilly blues. There’s even a wink and a nod to the perils of being a pop idol: “Rock ’n’ roll is not to get girls but to realise my dreams/Of course, since I’m irresistible, I can’t help it if others fall for me.”
He also dishes out the advice: “If you want to be a rocker/Then you first need a guitar.” Take away the magazine covers, the blah movies and the celebrity status, and this joy of making music has always been what it’s about.
Ten years on, it is clear that Chou is beginning to think about his musical legacy and it is heartening to see that he still has ambitions. Hopefully that will sustain him, and, in turn us, for a long time to come.
(ST)

Echoes of the Rainbow
Alex Law

The story: Life is full of adventures for eight-year- old Big Ears (Buzz Chung) growing up in Hong Kong in 1969. He is left pretty much to his own devices as his cobbler father Mr Law (Simon Yam) is busy making a living and his mother Mrs Law (Sandra Ng) has chores aplenty to attend to. He worships his athletic high-schooler elder brother Desmond (Aarif Lee) and the family gets by, even if they are not well-off. Then tragedy strikes.

This is the semi-autobiographical story of writer-director Alex Law, better known as a scribe for dramas such as An Autumn’s Tale (1987) and City Of Glass (1998). He won a Golden Horse award for Best Original Screenplay for the latter.
While it is a cosy portrait of a family, it is also an affectionate look at Hong Kong at the tail end of the 1960s. The period details extend to the music with Western pop hits such as The Monkees’ I Wanna Be Free playing a key part in the soundtrack.
It was a time when neighbours lived cheek by jowl and dinner was a communal affair. Conversation was a polyglot of accents, from Shanghainese to Cantonese, reflecting the hometown roots of the recent immigrants. Unfortunately, audiences here get the Mandarin version of the movie, and given the context and the setting, some of the flavour is inevitably lost.
While the film intersperses some documentary footage from the era, it does not give a sense of society at large beyond a glimpse or two. Law works in a scene with a Caucasian cop asking for what amounted to protection money but goes no further with it.
Perhaps he was more tied up with scouting for locations as he has said in interviews that it was difficult finding suitable places because much of the city from the 1960s is gone. The nostalgia factor means that Rainbow will echo more strongly with Hong Kong audiences.
That could also account for the clutch of trophies that the film won at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
Veteran actor Yam was lauded as Best Actor though really, he has been better in more challenging roles. He is believable as the stoic pessimist whose mantra is working hard. But the character is a little thinly drawn even though Law’s father was a cobbler. Still, Yam is dependable as always and has an easy rapport with Ng, who is his more optimistic other half.
Lee, looking uncannily like singer- actor Wang Lee Hom from certain angles, walked away with the Best New Performer award. Maybe it was because he had to shoulder the movie as it went from feel-good nostalgic jaunt into 1960s Cantonese tear-jerker melodrama mode and did a fair job of it. But it might be the Best Original Song award – Lee sang the theme song Echoes Of The Rainbow – that proves to be the more accurate harbinger of his future, as a pop idol.
It was Chung who commanded much of the attention given that the story was told from his point of view and he managed to be engaging and cute without being irritating.
Law, too, was a winner. He picked up the trophy for best script and the film won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in February this year. He certainly found his pot of riches at the end of Rainbow.
(ST)

Once A Gangster
Felix Chong

There is no question that the overwrought Hong Kong gangster flick is ripe for a send-up.
But Felix Chong, who last helmed the slickly executed Overheard (2009) and was also the scribe for the Infernal Affairs trilogy, is not the right man for the job. He cannot quite decide if he wants to gently skewer Infernal Affairs or have an over-the-top parody. So what the audience gets is a jumbled mess.
Still, there are some moments to be savoured.Ekin Cheng (as Sparrow) and Jordan Chan (as Roast Pork) are two gang members set up to be rivals but the irony is that neither of them wants the post of top honcho. Sparrow wants to enrol in university and study economics after his release from jail while Roast Pork just wants to run his chain of restaurants.
The in-joke is that the two actors had starred in the Young And Dangerous series of hit gangster flicks and the title is actually name-checked here.
Despite the sly casting of the leads, it is the supporting performances that make a bigger impression. Wilfred Lau is a hoot as Yan, the world’s most incompetent undercover cop, who survives only because his triad boss is even more clueless.
And Candice Yu On On, one-time Mrs Chow Yun Fat, chomps the scenery whenever she appears as the drug-addled harridan who is Sparrow’s power-hungry mother.
(ST)

Journey
Shota Shimizu

In the pop culture sweepstakes, Korea has edged ahead of Japan in the past few years with its slick music groups and idol TV dramas.
But as all things Korean seem ever more manufactured and overwrought, it is Japanese singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu who blows in like a breath of fresh air with his second album Journey.
You can practically feel the wind on your back in the breezy titular track as the 21-year-old likens life’s journey to hitting the road.
As metaphors go, this is as old as they come, but he makes it sound earnest and affecting when he croons: “Journey, even though I’m tired/It’s okay if I can sing along with someone by my side.”
The folksy vibe to his R&B is a most welcome touch here though some of the other songs, such as Cream, tend to be cast in a more conventional mould.
The album hit No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly chart and also includes Forever Love, a hit duet with urban artist Kato Miliyah.
It would be a pity if the record fails to find a wider audience simply because it happens to be in Japanese and not Korean.

Shock Of The New Era
B2ST

Leap For Detonation
ZE:A

Where’s the shock? Where’s the animal ferocity for a band also known as Beast?
The six-member B2ST dons leather threads and eyeliner for that goth-rock look but really, they are just another Korean boyband playing dress-up.
This Asian version release collects all 10 tracks from their first two EPs Beast Is The B2ST and Shock Of The New Era.
At least the synthesizer- propelled Special has silly lyrics: “Atom bomb is coming/Oh oh oh/Bounce me oh oh oh” and the group could do with more of such moments.
ZE:A served up one such instance with Mazeltov on their recently released debut EP.
Tinkering with the dance vibe of that first effort, they go for more of an R&B sound here and the follow-up offers two new tracks, All Day Long and Man 2 Man.The CD, however, almost feels like an afterthought tucked away at the back of the photo booklet which thoughtfully includes individual poses by all nine members.
The disc includes the music video for All Day Long, which plays like a Korean version of the high-school-is-a-battlefield Japanese series Crows Zero, with prettier boys getting prettily bruised.
For all the glossy sound and fury, there is nothing explosive here.
(ST)

Together
Rene Liu
It is spring, the flowers are all a-bloom and Rene Liu is pensive.
Perhaps the Taiwanese singer-actress is mulling over the fact that it has been 15 years since the release of her debut album.
Nostalgia runs through the first two tracks, To The 15-Year-Old Me and We’re Not Together, and the lyrics on the former go: “Now I love to recall/Think of the you who refused to back down then.”
Even when she sings I Don’t Miss by Ashin, a clear strain of yearning mixed with regret lingers on. She also covers China folk singer Lao Lang’s You At The Same Table, which reminisces about an old acquaintance.
There is a grounded, down-to-earth quality to her voice that doles out comfort even as she sings about past relationships with a certain ruefulness.
But before you start to feel sorry for her, she has a defiant riposte ready in Don’t Send Flowers To Me: “Don’t think I’m lonely/Don’t look at me wandering by myself/And think I’m waiting for someone.” Touche.

Pisces Love
Huang Pin-yuan
Another veteran with a new release is Taiwanese singer-songwriter Huang Pinyuan, who marks the 20th anniversary of his first record.
With his profile raised from the Three Good Men series of concerts with fellow stalwarts Bobby Chen Sheng and Phil Chang Yu, Huang has struck while the iron is hot. This is his first album in four years and the lead number is written by local composer Jim Lim with lyrics by Huang, who had a hand in writing all 10 tracks.
But it is not until track five, the dance-inflected New Old Friends, that I paused. The album briefly flickers to life and it continues with the lilting Tao Hua Yuan (which refers to a utopian land).
Alas, the rest of the album does not leave much of an impression. Looks like he will still be known as the guy who sang How Can You Bear To Make Me Sad and Hsiao Wei, his best-known hits from yesteryear.

Believe In Jane
Jane Zhang
Of the various Super Girl singing contest finalists, mainlander Jane Zhang has the greatest potential for crossover success. It is no coincidence that the doe-eyed lass looks like a model on her latest record.
It is not just about looks, though. On her fourth album, she contributes to several numbers including I Believe.
Unfortunately, this offering is simply too long at 17 tracks. Even above-par songs such as the ballad Jiu Zhe Yang Hao Le (Just Let It Be Then) and the bouncy I Do get lost in the shuffle.
Zhang has a rich, expressive and versatile voice but some of the love songs are so generic, right down to the rote music videos, that it is hard to get excited about them.
If she wants to make it, she has to give us something more to believe in, and not just expect blind faith.
(ST)

Grown Up
BY2

Twin sisters Miko and Yumi are now all of 18 and old enough to, um, cradle a giant apple from the looks of the album cover.
Despite the clumsy reference to forbidden fruit, Grown Up actually pulls back from the jail-baiting sexiness of their second album Twins (2009).
Opening track Take Me Away, by the memorably credited Dr Moon, is sweetly escapist: “Suddenly want you to take me away, leave this dust, find a region with no smoke/A sky full of starlight, will make all wishes come true.”
After that highlight, alas, the rest of the album fails to deliver.
Do check out Moon’s lyrics on What Do U Want though. Comparing the dance floor to a farm, the lyrics go: “Your vegetable has run off with someone else.”
Label mate JJ Lin lends a hand by composing and rapping on Get Together but the bouncy tune is let down by mundane lyrics – it is never a good sign when they have to resort to spelling out their name in a song.
The girls try their hand at composing and writing lyrics for This Is Love, which is supposed to be about the thrill of falling in love but fails to convey it.
Perhaps, they need to grow up even more before their efforts bear fruit.

The Drifters
The Drifters

This new Taiwanese duo comprise Darren and Yannick, both of whom have backgrounds in visual art and, fortuitously for them, both have ties with Mandopop star and label boss Jay Chou.
Darren got to know Chou through another singer friend, Alan Kuo, while Yannick was the son of Chou’s high school music teacher.
It just goes to show the importance of knowing the right people in the music business, as it was Chou’s brainwave for the two to come together and form an act.
His shadow hangs heavily over this debut album. The sing-song-rap of You Are My Band-Aid is reminiscent of his style, and he also contributes a couple of tracks. The Drifters even have a pointless remake of the Jay Chou-Vincent Fang-penned hit Where’s The Promised Happiness?. A pity, for there is a light breezy vibe to the record that can be quite pleasant.
If the indication of who sings what in the lyric book/calendar is right, then Yannick could well be channelling the laid-back groove of surfer-singer Jack Johnson in Paris Lovers while Darren’s voice is slightly richer and more evocative.
Still, there is not such a big difference between the two that a song like, say, Miss You And I Write A Letter, needs to be parcelled out between them. And no thanks for burying this memorable Chou-Fang collaboration right at the end of the album.
For the moment, The Drifters are getting publicity for the Jay Chou connection but they will need to come up with a more distinctive sound if they want to stick around.
(ST)

The Voice
Chyi Yu

From Buddhist chants to Christian hymns, veteran Taiwanese singer Chyi Yu has certainly got things covered on the religious front.
After releasing three EPs of sutras in 2004 and another in 2006, she is crooning Amazing Grace and Christmas carols such as Silent Night and Joy To The World on her new English album.
Her light, soaring vocals make it all sound quite pretty but while pleasant on the surface, nothing is deeply felt and the album comes too close to being bland. The inclusion of hoary chestnuts such as You Light Up My Life do not help in upping the excitement level either.
I would much rather she release another album of original material. It has been 13 years since Camels, Flying Bird & Fish (1997), but that strange and beautiful record still lingers in my mind.
Or maybe it is April and I am simply not in the yuletide mood.

Manifold
Brian

Brian Joo was one half of the Korean R&B duo Fly To The Sky, who split up after eight albums including the No. 1 records No Limitations (2007) and Decennium (2009).
On his second solo offering, Brian continues to groove to the smooth, slick sounds of R&B and signals his ambition of breaking into the international market with the inclusion of three English tracks – Do It, Tears Run Dry and Bullet.
He has a leg up in this respect over former partner Hwanhee, as he is a Korean American and has no problems with enunciation.
The three tracks also show off his ability to go from sensual lover who just wants to “do it, do it, do it, do it, do it/All night long with you” to a man who is “broken, wide open” to a guy who cannot commit and keeps “dodging the bullet”.
Brian is certainly living up to the album title.

ZE:A – Nativity
ZE:A

Talk about mixed messages.
This Korean boyband sound like a sci-fi novel (they are also known as Children Of Empire), dress like a themed challenge from Project Runway (“Design a black outfit that would take a jockey from horse-racing to a night out on the town”) and have a song called Mazeltov, the Yiddish expression to convey congratulations.
Intriguingly, the English bits of that track include “Latin girl, Mexican girl, American girl, Japan girl, Korean girl” and “Mazeltov, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday”. Whatever it is they are celebrating, ZE:A are certainly being all-inclusive.
One message though rings out loud and clear on the three-track danceoriented EP. They sing on New Star: “I wanna be a star.”
Yeah, you and every other Korean boyband out there.
(ST)

Chicago The Musical
Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and David Atkins Enterprises with John Frost and Fran and Barry Weissler
Esplanade Theatre, Tuesday

Chicago, together with Cabaret, are the dark glinting jewels in the oeuvre of the legendary partnership between composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb.
The cynical heart of this musical is unveiled right from the start. There is an announcement that we are about to watch a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery – all the things we hold “near and dear” to us.
The setting is the 1920s in the Windy City when jazz was the brassy soundtrack of the times and hot-blooded killers grabbed newspaper headlines.After shooting her lover dead, Roxie Hart (Sharon Millerchip) is bundled off to jail where she plots and schemes to escape from the gallows. Another merry murderess, Velma Kelly (Deone Zanotto), finds that the media spotlight begins to gradually shift from her to Roxie.
The thought struck me when I first saw the revival of Chicago on Broadway that if the musical genre did not exist, it would have to be invented for this show, so perfectly did it justify the coming together of theatre, song and dance.
It is hence, for me, the standard to which all productions of Chicago have to measure up. The 2002 Oscar-winning film adaptation had the audacity to cut the duet Class, among other transgressions, and does not come up to scratch.
This Australian version is essentially the same production as the 1996’s Broadway revival which features sleek choreography by Ann Reinking in the style of famed choreographer Bob Fosse.
The ensemble makes a splashy song-and-dance entrance with Velma singing All That Jazz. Black skin-tight outfits sheathe buff male bodies and lissome female dancers to make up what has to be the sexiest chorus in town.
It is a blistering start to an elegantly and energetically staged show with the cast nailing one number after another.
Millerchip was a standout. She could put on a kittenish purr and turn on the coquettish charm and then sing with wild-eyed abandon of her ambition to be in vaudeville. And the tricky scene of her as a ventriloquist’s dummy to lawyer Billy Flynn’s literal machinations in the courtroom was nicely executed.
As the thwarted Velma, Zanotto made you feel her frustrations though not quite with the vulnerability that Bebe Neuwirth (from the sitcom Frasier) brought to the role, which won her a Tony Award in 1997 for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. It would also have been nice if there had been greater chemistry between Millerchip and Zanotto.
The rest of the cast had their chance to shine in individual numbers. In particular, Colleen Hewett impressed with the saucy and sassy When You’re Good To Mama as the formidable Matron Morton who presides over the women’s jail while Damien Bermingham, who played Roxie’s husband Amos, stole the limelight with Mister Cellophane, a number about being ignored.
When Chicago was first staged on Broadway in 1975, it received a mixed reception from audiences unused to the frequent breaking of the fourth wall and the deeply mocking tone of the musical.
We now live in times when the idea of the celebrity criminal barely raises an eyebrow– they probably have their own TV shows – and we can listen to lines such as “murder is a form of entertainment” without flinching.
There is barely a ripple even when Billy sings in Razzle Dazzle: “What if, in fact, you’re just disgusting?/Razzle dazzle ’em/And they’ll never catch wise!”
A musical that dares to snigger at its audience? Bless Chicago’s deliciously dark and twisted heart.
(ST)

Love In A Puff
Pang Ho Cheung

The story: Retail assistant Cherie (Miriam Yeung) and adman Jimmy (Shawn Yue) meet as they take cigarette breaks in the same alley. They are drawn to each other and the development of their tentative relationship over the course of a few days is depicted against a background of incessant smoking.

The English title sounds like a fluffy romantic comedy but Hong Kong’s Pang Ho Cheung is too wily a writer- director to simply serve up something as mundane and straightforward as that.
In fact, the opening credits will have you wondering if you walked into the right screening hall as it seems to be the set-up for a slasher horror flick. It turns out to be a scary story being told by a smoker to his regular group of kakis.
Driven by the anti-smoking regulations to take their breaks at a few select spots, these knots of outsiders soon form their little cliques and as another character remarks: “It’s a great way to meet women.”
There is a spark of interest between Cherie and Jimmy when they first meet and that soon flames into something more. But how will things develop given that she is more trusting and straightforward by nature while he is more suspicious and likes to answer questions with questions?
Thus, the film chronicles the tricky terrain of first attraction. Is it a crush? A passing infatuation? Or is it something more? How do you judge your feelings and then communicate that to the object of your affection, who may or may not feel the same way?
The nuances and ellipses of a nascent relationship are explored to great detail but Love never feels bogged down.
As he had previously demonstrated in comedies such as Men Suddenly In Black (2003) and AV (2005), Pang has an ear for great dialogue, which goes from raunchy to incisive to laugh-out- loud hilarious. Like Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, 1997), he has a love for onscreen characters telling stories that push the boundaries of good taste but could never be accused of being boring.
Also, Yeung and Yue slip so easily into their roles and play off each other so naturally that what unfolds seems entirely believable.You can chart Cherie’s every emotion and insecurity by the looks on Yeung’s face and then share her delight when she secretly allows herself little smiles of happiness.
The idea that these are real people rather than mere caricatures is strengthened by the addition of reality show-style interviews with the various characters.
As with AV, a sweet comedy about pornography which also had something to say about the state of Hong Kong’s youths, Pang once again makes some shrewd social observations, this time with regard to smokers and smoking.
Some have bemoaned the state of Hong Kong cinema and the lack of exciting auteurs in recent years but the scene cannot be completely dismal when there are originals such as Pang lighting it up.
(ST)

Ice Kacang Puppy Love
A-niu

The concept of the star-studded ensemble cast gets transplanted to this region with the debut feature of singer-turned-film-maker A-niu.
The cast is a veritable who’s who of Malaysia-born pop stars, including Angelica Lee as A-niu’s onscreen crush, Fish Leong as a silent admirer, Gary Chaw as a cowardly bully and, most memorably, Eric Moo as a blustery ne’er-do-well.
While most of the actors are already in their 30s, it is to their credit that nothing about their portrayals of high- school students is particularly jarring.
And writer-director A-niu’s choice of leading man was no ego-stroking exercise but clearly a case of the right man for the right job. With his crooked teeth and sadsack face, crew cut and get-up of singlet and flipflops, he makes you root for the underdog. Then again, the role should not be too much of a stretch given that the story was based on A-niu’s own experiences.
Apart from the pleasures of pop star-gazing, the film also lovingly evokes the simple joys of life and is as much an ode to small-town Malaysia as it is to first love.
(ST)

DNA Mayday World Tour (2010 Unlimited Edition)
National Stadium
Last Saturday

When Taiwanese rock band Mayday performed here for two nights last August, they busted the midnight mark on both occasions with high-octane shows that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the quintet’s first major concert.
It was such a high point that topping it was always going to be a massive challenge. The lads have made things even tougher by hitting the road again without a new album and essentially touring a spruced-up version of their previous gig.
This time round, the venue has shifted from the Singapore Indoor Stadium to the National Stadium.
Still, things started off on a familiar note with the same opening video of the band members breaking free from the shackles of humdrum lives. While the rigged stage seemed to be on a larger scale, the globular screen was also another recycled element.
But lead vocalist Ashin, guitarists Monster and Stone, bassist Masa and drummer Guan You quickly pumped up the energy level with fast-paced numbers including The Yell Of Spring and Minnan track Hosee.They had the 15,000-strong crowd on its feet and singing along from the get-go and once again proved why they are currently the biggest Chinese band around.
Even the appearance of a 2.7m-tall Transformer-like robot did not dwarf their presence on stage. Then again, it did little beyond lifting its arms, though there was a cute exchange in which it said: “Hi everyone, I want to dance too but if I do, the stage will collapse.”
All the stops were pulled out for the closing number Tenderness at the end of the three-hour-long concert as fireworks and confetti showered the dark red sky in an unexpected and exuberant touch.
The National Stadium was an entirely fitting venue as it placed Mayday in the illustrious company of stars such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and A-mei who had performed there.
Despite sweating it out on stage, the band were in their element in the outdoor setting and had no problems connecting with a larger audience.
Guan You made the crowd feel special when he revealed that he had brought his baby daughter Rose with him and that this was her first overseas trip.
There were also several good-natured references to Taiwanese girl group S.H.E’s gig, which was taking place at the same time at the nearby Indoor Stadium. Ashin asked: “Do you want us to end later than next door?” and the crowd roared “Yes!” He smiled and chided the audience for being competitive before admitting that Mayday were equally so.
And despite the muddy conditions after an afternoon downpour, the flying insects and the frustratingly long line to get into the stadium, the fans cheerfully put on another stellar showing.
It is this bond between band and fans that makes Mayday concerts special. And it is why this gig was still a worthwhile experience even if it did not top last year’s peak.
Many of the songs are earnest and optimistic and offer encouragement or escape from sometimes humdrum lives. The atmosphere is electric when you are part of a thousands-strong chorus belting out the lyrics: “I really wish to fly/Escape from this crazy world/If you do find me/Don’t bring me back”.
For the duration of a Mayday song, album or concert, one is happy to be lost.
(ST)

Monga Original Soundtrack
Various artists

Given that the hit Taiwanese film is about hot-blooded gangsters, the soundtrack is surprisingly mellow.
It also boasts a cool, alternative-scene vibe, thanks to producer Sandee Chan who has rounded up an intriguing line-up of acts, including critics’ darling Deserts Chang, Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua and indie rock band 1976.
Chan also wrote and contributed vocals to a couple of songs. Even the stars of the film, Ethan Juan and Mark Chao, chip in for a passable duet on Tonight Tonight.
The other half of the first disc, however, falls into the usual trap of soundtracks and turns into a grab bag of disparate tunes, including two versions of the Air Supply ballad Making Love Out Of Nothing At All and J-rock number Sweet Dreams.
Disc two features evocative, mood-setting instrumental tracks composed by the ubiquitous Chan while the DVD includes trailers for Monga and behind-the-scenes snippets on the making of the soundtrack.

I Am Jocie
Jocie Guo

After singing about rodents (The Mouse So Loves The Rice) and cockroaches (No More Panic), local singer Jocie Guo is ready to move on from cutesy ditties.
Her third album opens with Gimme Me A Call, a tricky number that switches tempos between stanza and chorus, and she also offers up several upbeat dance tracks, including Countdown To Happiness, Attitude and Tell Me.
It is nice to see her stretching herself as she also composes three tracks here – the ballads Clear Blue Sea, Love Him For Me and Wishing Tree. They are pleasant enough despite having a faint whiff of deja vu.
Perhaps a venture into lyric writing next? Then the transformation from kiddy bopper to grown-up singer-songwriter will be complete.

Chasing Dreams
Kelly Chen

Has it been five years since her last Mandarin offering, Eternal Sunshine?
Truth be told, Kelly Chen’s absence has been barely felt. The Hong Kong singer-actress has been releasing albums since 1995 but one would be hard-pressed to name her hits.
Chasing Dreams tries to remedy that dire situation and almost succeeds with ballads such as Contentedness That’s Forever and A Glimmer Of Light.
On the latter, she sings: “Don’t be scared, don’t feel lost, I’ll be by your side to accompany you through the night and protect this glimmer of happiness.”One could well imagine this as a lullaby for her baby boy who was born last July.
Too bad the album ends on a bum note. Look Love, a duet which pits Chen’s sharp, almost brittle vocals against Alan Tam’s Cantonese-accented Mandarin, is an exercise in futility
(ST)

Prince Of Tears
Yonfan

The story: Taiwan’s White Terror period was at its peak in the 1950s. During that time, thousands of people suspected of being communist spies and sympathisers were arrested and interrogated. When their father Sun Han-sun (Joseph Chang) and mother Ping (Zhu Xuan) are taken away, sisters Li (Cai Pei-han) and Zhou (Yan Xin-rou) find their lives irrevocably changed and they have to depend on family friend Uncle Ding (Fan Chih-wei) for help. Zhou is also shown kindness by her schoolmate Rainbow Liu (Lee Bo-shiuan) and her mother Ouyang Liu (Terri Kwan).

One would never have guessed that the film-maker responsible for the risible howler that was Colour Blossoms (2004) is the same man behind the restrained and measured drama that is Prince Of Tears.
The earlier movie by Yonfan, which explores various sexual relationships, was scattered, lightweight and indulgent – everything that Prince is not. It is as though the heft of history has anchored this film and curbed the worst of his excesses.The feature was in the running for the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year but lost out to the war drama Lebanon.
The story here is based on the life of actress Lisa Chiao Chiao, a Shaw Studios star in the 1960s and 1970s who was in films such as the noir thriller A Cause To Kill (1970). The director-playwright also drew on his childhood memories of a period that is still painful to revisit for many in Taiwan.
The anti-communist White Terror refers to the political suppression that took place while Taiwan was under martial law from May 19, 1949 to July 15, 1987. During this time, more than 3,000 people were summarily executed, and more than 8,000 others were imprisoned for real or imagined support of the communists. Others who have drawn on this turbulent time include Hou Hsiao-hsien in City Of Sadness (1989), the first film to do so.
Prince makes it clear that there was flagrant abuse going on in the name of cracking down on communism and it was not uncommon for innocent folks to be hauled off on trumped-up charges.
This miscarriage of justice is particularly poignant here because much of what happens is portrayed from the children’s point of view. Their loss of innocence is devastating as they try to piece together what is happening around them and learn bitter lessons about betrayal.
As an audience member, one identifies with them as one is also trying to figure out the tangled web of relationships among Sun, Ping, Uncle Ding and Ouyang Liu.There is much that is left unsaid in the ellipses but the holding back works as a dramatic device to keep one invested in the tale, which unfolds at a leisurely pace.
The cast does a good job. Chang brims with vigour as a pilot with the picture-perfect family and Fan passes muster in the trickier role as the secretive and possibly despicable Ding. Newcomer Zhu and previous Golden Horse Award nominee Kwan are elegant and intriguing. The child actors are self-conscious at points but are generally convincing and deeply moving in a few scenes.
Leaving aside the aberrant Colour Blossoms, one can see echoes of Yonfan’s other works here. He has previously tackled the subject of doomed relationships among languid women and handsome men in films such as Peony Pavilion (2001) and Bishonen (1998).
Then there is the beautiful art direction and the penchant for the voice-over which, in Prince, invites the question of who the narrator is exactly.
Despite the tragedy that envelopes the characters, Yonfan does not cloak Prince with defeatism but instead presents an enigmatic ending that lingers on long after the credits have rolled.
(ST)

Time Flies
Eason Chan

Times flies, but not fast enough between Cantonese releases by Eason Chan.
On them, the Hong Kong singer goes for broke in his choice of material in a way that he just does not do on his more mainstream Mandarin releases. Add to the fact that he performs an act of alchemy whenever he sings in Cantonese. Somehow, the timbre of his voice and the tones of the language seem made for each other.
His back catalogue is replete with examples of this magic from the stellar balladry of Guilty Conscience on H3M (2009) and Under Mount Fuji on What’s Going On... ? (2006) to the all-dance album Listen To Eason Chan (2007).
No Man’s Land, the first single from this six-track EP, tackles the unlikely subject of infidelity head-on. And this is after Chan himself was rumoured to have been embroiled in an affair with fellow married Cantopop star Kay Tse.
Wyman Wong’s incisive lyrics cut into the heart of illicit desire: “I want to lie without batting an eyelid, this love is inhumane.”One wonders how much to read into such lines as “If we had met three or five years earlier, there wouldn’t be this struggle in my heart/I believe nothing can develop if we were to continue this entanglement/But I want to be entangled with you”.
The controversial lyrics and a striking video of the singer struggling underwater have turned this into a smash hit in Hong Kong.
Given the brevity of the record, there really are no filler tracks, though the inclusion of the ad jingle for McDonald’s is a little jarring.
Regardless, there is no doubting that Chan is at a creative peak right now, but he is not one to rest on his laurels. Instead, he will dress up as a human salamander for the cover just to show you that he is willing, and able, to go out on a limb.

Shero
S.H.E.

On April 17, girl group S.H.E and rock band Mayday will be battling it out in Singapore with concerts at different venues. But really, it is all good off-stage. After all, singer-songwriter Ashin wrote the lyrics to their 12th album’s title track Shero.
This reviewer though is not convinced by such lines as: “Can’t see, can’t find, can’t wait for your hero/Why not be a shero who props up the sky with her own two hands?” The trio’s message of female empowerment has always seemed too glib and opportunistic.
The highlights are instead the Minnan track I Love Rainy Flower Night which is cloaked with nostalgia and Desert Island, the JJ Lin-composed romantic duet (or is it quartet?) with One Million Star alumnus Judy Chou, Desert Island.
Despite not having the strongest vocals, Selina, Hebe and Ella have proved to be surprisingly resilient with a smart choice of commercial pop and by diversifying into idol dramas and lucrative endorsement deals.
The accompanying DVD of their Taipei concert built around their previous album FM S.H.E (2008) actually shows them up when it comes to live performances but it will probably only serve to whet fans’ appetites for their upcoming gig here.
(ST)

The Adult Storybook Live Concert
Joanna Wang

In last year’s album, Joanna & Wang Ruo-lin, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Joanna Wang decided to stretch herself. She covered oldies such as Don McLean’s Vincent on one disc and delivered kooky original compositions including Adult Crap on the other with her band New Tokyo Terror.
This concert album contains recordings from her Asian tour which saw her perform in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. Her husky throatiness sounds just dandy in a live setting and she fully does justice to her own songs.
The choice of covers, though, leaves much to be desired. She leaches the campy fun out of Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round and drains the brash sexiness from Olivia Newton-John’s Physical.
Disappointingly, the DVD does not add much to the release. One gets to see quirky costumes and whimsical sets, but she is not the most engaging of entertainers. Her phrasing seems a bit rote too, but then she is just 21. She might sound like an old soul, but is far from one.

The Recording Diaries
Crowd Lu

At 50 minutes long and retailing for about $30, this DVD about the making of Taiwanese singer-songwriter Crowd Lu’s latest album Seven Days, out last year, is strictly for fans.
We get to see how the lyrics for Oh Yeah!!! were written on the fly and also his very first performance of the song where he urged the audience to forget about it after hearing it. Unfortunately, there is footage of only the first few lines included here.
Still, the writing and recording process is largely not a very exciting one and there is little light shed on his creative process. But you do get to see the key role producer Tiger Chung plays in this enterprise.
The scenes of Lu singing his new songs for his parents and younger sister at home are quite sweet and heartwarming. The cheerful, idealistic and optimistic young man you see on stage is the same person off it, and that is the most heartening thing about watching these diaries.

Nayuta To Fukashigi
Sukima Switch

Japanese jazz pop duo Sukima Switch hit the ground swinging with third album opener Double Star Prologue.
Core members Takuya Ohashi and Shintaro Tokita handle vocals and various instruments including guitar, harmonica and keyboard, with studio musicians chipping in when needed.
The jazz influences can be seen in the use of brass instruments on a couple of tracks and in a strong sense of rhythm but the sensibility here is undoubtedly pop.
Not surprisingly, Niji No Recipe and Golden Time Lover, from the popular anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood were both top five hits on the Japanese singles chart.
It is also impressive that Sukima Switch write, arrange and produce all of their material. They certainly are a winning combination.
(ST)