The Unborn
David S. Goyer

There is dialogue here to chill the spine. Lazy lines such as “I’m not crazy” and “Do you believe in ghosts?” are enough to send any self-respecting horror fan fleeing in terror.
Multi-ethnic babe Odette Yustman is the luckless Casey Beldon, targeted by a malicious spirit who likes to make strange thumping noises and possesses an eerie-looking four- year-old boy.
Her friends are even more unlucky since they get only second billing and primarily serve as sacrificial fodder.
Keep an eye out for Gary Oldman, who has gone from playing the undead in Dracula (1992) to exorcising the unborn here, in Hebrew no less.
The longer the movie plods on, the more ridiculous it becomes. And weren’t they already spinning heads around in 1973’s The Exorcist?
This does not bode well for X-Men Origins: Magneto, which writer-director David S. Goyer is attached to. The thought is enough to send another chill down the spine.
(ST)

Fanboys
Kyle Newman

The story: Eric (Sam Huntington) has lost touch with his high school buddies and fellow Star Wars devotees Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel) after graduation.
When he finds out that Linus is dying from cancer, the gang, including Zoe (Kristen Bell), decide to embark on one last hurrah – to sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and steal a first peek at Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).



Fanboys is a reminder of a more innocent time when everything was still possible and Jar Jar Binks had yet to taint the Star Wars universe. In short, it was 1998.
A little background on the significance of the date. The original Star Wars was released in 1977 and re-released on its 20th anniversary in 1997 as a special edition titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
This heightened anticipation to fever pitch for the prequels, of which Episode I: The Phantom Menace was slated for release in 1999.
As card-carrying, or rather, lightsaber-wielding fanboys of the space opera, Eric and gang have fantasised from an early age about sneaking into Star Wars creator George Lucas’ workplace, Skywalker Ranch.
But life drives a wedge into their friendship after graduation, with Eric working at his father’s car dealership and drifting apart from his friends.
When he discovers that Linus is dying from cancer, he rallies the gang to realise their unfulfilled dream and be the first to watch The Phantom Menace in the process.
Actual fanboys will get the biggest rush from the film as the characters argue passionately about Star Wars and have their credentials as fanatics tested with obscure trivia questions.
They will also get a kick out of the cameos from Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), as well as William Shatner, best known as Captain Kirk in the rival sci-fi series Star Trek.
Even casual fans with some basic knowledge of the franchise will enjoy the flick, which includes references to lightspeed, Darth Vader and a funny showdown between the Star Wars enthusiasts and the Star Trek groupies.
Unfortunately, the force is not strong with the film and it has earned only US$600,000 (S$905,000) at the American box office after seven weeks.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that this is 2009 and not 1998.The film ends with the ironic question about The Phantom Menace: “Guys, what if it sucks?”
Knowing with the benefit of hindsight how disappointing the prequels were and how it soured fan expectations, it would take more than a Jedi mind trick to turn Fanboys into a big hit.
(ST)

malacca, eaten

we've only just begun
this is pit stop no. 1
went to the loo
at pit stop 2
satay spree
pit stop 3
we roared: 'give us more!'
it was only pit stop 4
gula melaka glaze does thrive
on the donuts at pit stop 5
cold drinks and verbal tricks
at pit stop no. 6
bite-sized snack heaven
is pit stop 7
it was a full meal that we ate
at memorable pit stop 8
rise and shine
pit stop 9
can we do it? yes we can!
forward march to pit stop 10
almost extinct but not quite forsaken
tai bak at pit stop no. 11
into teochew cuisine we did delve
it was penultimate pit stop 12
what a great trip this has been
made it to pit stop 13!

Detroit Metal City
Toshio Lee


The story: All Soichi Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) wants to do is to sing his sweet, twee songs about love. But he ends up spewing dark fantasies about rape and murder as Johannes Krauser II, the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Detroit Metal City.
The increasingly frustrated singer runs away from Tokyo just before a hotly anticipated showdown with notorious death metal singer Jack Il Dark.


Music soothes the savage beast. But in the case of death metal, music is the savage beast.
Mild-mannered Soichi Negishi gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly ends up as the lead singer of Detroit Metal City in this comedy based on a best-selling manga. To his horror, the heavy metal band grows ever more popular while there is barely an audience for his cutesy romantic songs.
His monstrous boss (Yasuko Matsuyuki in a total about-turn from her role as the damsel in distress in Suspect X) gives him hell and is so tough that she puts out cigarettes on her tongue.
Wedged between his demonic alter-ego Johannes Krauser II and his unlucky- in-love troubadour self, Negishi ends up bolting for home.
Last seen as the title character in L: Change The World, a spin-off sequel to the popular Death Note big-screen adaptations (2006), Matsuyama carries the film here with his hilarious performance. He convinces you that he is both Negishi and Krauser, alternating between an awkwardly shy geek and a snarling devil spawn.
When the worlds collide, hilarity ensues.
There is the priceless sight gag of Matsuyama running down the chic shopping street of Omotesando in full death metal get-up. He comes to a stop in front of Cute Music Studio, beats his fists against the glass wall in frustration – and succeeds in scaring the little tots inside.
And in the final showdown with Jack Il Dark (Gene Simmons of the metal band Kiss, whose song Detroit Rock City inspired the title of Kiminori Wakasugi’s manga), Detroit Metal City fans stoically endure the melding of the worlds of twee pop and death metal.
Negishi comes to realise that his mantra of “No music, no dream” applies even to death metal. As his mother puts it: “No matter what you look like or how you say it, helping someone dream is amazing.”
Still, you have to ask, what kind of dream exactly?
The reconciliation between pop and metal might not be fully satisfactory, but director Toshio Lee has delivered a funny, riotous and sometimes riotously funny film.
Detroit Metal City is an adaptation that works because it preserves the out-sized drama of manga which death metal, with its make-up and pageantry, is tailor made for. And which Wakasugi would have you believe is all bark and no bite.
(ST)

The Tale Of Despereaux
Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen

The story: Despereaux, a tiny mouse with oversized ears, is born into a kingdom which has been plunged into unhappiness ever since the Queen died of a heart attack. When the Princess ends up in the clutches of the dastardly rats, it is up to Despereaux to save the day.


Rats. After having their dubious reputation rehabilitated in the animated Pixar feature Ratatouille (2007), they once again have their name dragged into the sewer.
Even though the title points to Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) as the hero, the tale actually begins with the sea-faring rat Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), who finds himself in the kingdom of Dor where soup is revered.
His pursuit of fine dining lands him in hot soup when he drops into the Queen’s bowl and triggers a heart attack.
Driven by grief, the King outlaws soup and rats, and Dor is plunged into a grey pall of misery. This is the kingdom that Despereaux is born into but there is more to come.
And that is part of the problem with this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s award-winning children’s fantasy book. There are simply too many ingredients in the pot.
There is the lonely Princess Pea (Emma Watson); the piggish-looking maid who longs to be a princess (Tracey Ullman); Roscuro’s search for atonement; Despereaux’s search for his place in the world; and a race to save the princess from bloodthirsty rats in the finale.
Yet for all the plot developments, directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen cannot quite grasp the art of pacing and the film often feels draggy.
A pity really, for it has a few things going for it. The visuals are lovely and given a fairy-tale feel with soft lighting. The worlds of humans, mice and rats are all depicted with great details and are carefully differentiated.
There is wittiness in the use of a snarling cat in a Ratworld stadium as the equivalent of a lion in the Roman arena.
The film also deals with several themes, almost as many as there are plot strands.
One of the key ideas is that of identity. Despereaux’s parents worry that “he doesn’t scurry, he doesn’t cower” and want him to fit in with all the other mice. Yet, it is his fearlessness and his curiosity, which set him apart and lead to his encounter with the Princess and his subsequent adventures.
The film ends with a too-neat homily about the circle of pain that only forgiveness can break and, ultimately, it feels like a missed opportunity. Rats.
(ST)

Race To Witch Mountain
Andy Fickman

The story: Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb), teenage visitors from another planet, have crashlanded on Earth and need help getting home. Enter cab-driver extraordinaire Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) and UFO expert Dr Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino).

Look out, Brendan Fraser, ex-wrestler The Rock is attempting to muscle in on your territory.
Fraser, the go-to guy for family-friendly adventure fare, racked up three movies last year alone: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and Inkheart.
But perhaps there is room for another player in this lucrative box-office genre. After The Game Plan (2007), about a football player bonding with his eight- year-old daughter, Dwayne Johnson is ready to step up and help shoulder the weight of PG-rated heroics.
In Race, he happens to be in the right place at the right time and reluctantly picks up Seth and Sara, whom he thinks are teenagers on the run.
Here, the plot police would like to pull over this vehicle for a serious infraction. Seth is able to manipulate his molecular make-up and pass through solid surfaces, and Sara is able to move objects, including controlling the steering wheel and shifting gears, just by thinking about it. And yet, they are happy to sit in the back of the cab until Jack Bruno turns up.
But Race has already sped on, leaving logic and reason behind in a cloud of dust.What follows is a standard chase movie as the government goons and an assassin from another world go after the conveniently telegenic aliens while Jack drives like a man possessed in the sturdiest cab known to man.
Then, as if having decided that, oops, some kind of female star is needed to serve as a foil to Johnson, Seth and Sara pinpoint Dr Alex Friedman as the one person who can help them locate their ship, which has been confiscated by the military.
You have to wonder if the budget ran out at this point, or if they overspent on that miraculous cab, because the flying saucer looks like a leftover prop from the 1970s. The ship in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) looked more impressive. So much for progress and advanced alien technology.
Johnson has a natural charisma and an easy grace, but he needs stronger material if he is serious about challenging Fraser.
As a reminder of the fickleness of the showbusiness, Tom Everett Scott pops up in a minor role as a government agent. Yes, that same actor from the candy-coloured musical That Thing You Do! back in 1996.
He is a stern reminder to Johnson that if the wrestling star wants to remain a contender in the entertainment ring, he will have to step up his game.
(ST)

Oscar-bashing is a hobby for many at the start of every year. Nothing the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States do seems to please anybody.
Yet they have almost never found themselves in the conundrum of nominating a movie that enjoyed neither boxoffice success nor some sort of critical acclaim, even if they cannot always decide which they prefer.
Just like the people behind the Oscars, the organisers of the inaugural Singapore Film Awards cannot make up their minds either. Some of the odd choices on the nomination list suggest that neither popularity nor quality was a determining factor.
The nominees in the Best Film category are Royston Tan’s 12 Lotus, Han Yew Kwang’s 18 Grams Of Love, Cheng Ding An’s Kallang Roar The Movie, Tony Kern’s A Month Of Hungry Ghosts, Kelvin Tong’s Rule #1 and Lucky7 by Sun Koh, K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng.
Kallang Roar, which is about Singapore’s legendary football coach Choo Seng Quee in the 1970s, received middling reviews and earned only $90,000 at the box office. How exactly does the film fit into even the most generous definition of the word “best”?
You could also argue that there is a vast difference between Tong’s polished Rule#1 and the experimental Lucky7. To lump them together does neither film justice.
The new awards come under the umbrella of the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards, which were introduced in 1991 with an Asian feature film component as well as a local short film competition.
To qualify for the Singapore Film Awards, the films must be feature length (at least 60 minutes in duration), shot mostly in Singapore and with a Singaporean or permanent resident holding a major creative role as director, producer, writer or actor. They also have to be completed and screened in the previous calendar year.
The inaugural nominees competing in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance and Best Cinematography are a hodgepodge group that gives little indication as to what exactly the awards are meant to honour.
Are they an unabashed popularity contest along the lines of the MTV Movie Awards, whose categories include Best Kiss and Best Fight? Clearly not, since the experimental anthology Lucky7 received three nods for Best Film, Best Performance and Best Cinematography.
Maybe they are meant to reward quality? After all, they are associated with the Silver Screen Awards, which has tended to shower accolades on arthouse offerings such as Indonesian film-maker Garin Nugroho’s Ramayana-inspired Opera Jawa (2006).
In that case, one wonders if the bar has been set too low. Of the 20 entries the organisers received, six are being considered for Best Film. That 30 per cent of the local films released last year were deemed good enough for that category is just way too generous by any yardstick.
The powers-that-be should take a leaf from the committee behind the Singapore Literature Prize, which is held once every two years, to maintain the quality of the picks. Even then, there were only three nominees for the English writing section in 2006.
In fact, why have a separate category for home-grown films in the first place and risk having the Singapore Film Awards seem like a poorer cousin to the Asian Feature Film Competition?
Local films have been nominated and even won when going head-to-head against regional entries. In 2006, Tong was named Best Director for Love Story.
This year, Singaporean Alec Tok’s A Big Road, about the lives of three women in Shanghai, is among the Asian Feature Film Competition nominees. His film has not been released here, so it is ineligible for the Singapore Film Awards.
If the Singapore Film Awards are intended to encourage film-makers, then one has to ask: How much back-patting and hand-holding do aspiring film-makers need? The Singapore Short Film Competition’s list of past winners already reads like a who’s who of Singapore cinema today.
Eric Khoo won the main prize that first year for August; Tong, Sandi Tan and Jasmine Ng’s A Moveable Feast was named Best Short Film in 1996; Jack Neo won for Best Director for Replacement Killers in 1998; and Royston Tan’s Sons picked up two awards in 2000.
To their credit, the organisers of the Singapore Film Awards are not unaware of some of these pitfalls.
Ms Yuni Hadi, one of two new directors of the Singapore International Film Festival, said: “Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey and even Thailand have their own local film awards, but the question always is ‘Will a Singapore Oscars work?’ We don’t know.
“But I think we have to take a chance and begin this movie journey for Singapore cinema. The Singapore Film Awards is a chance for us to celebrate our local talent.”
Celebrating local talent is a laudable sentiment, but an award with questionable standards and one unclear about what it stands for does neither itself nor the films it is supposed to honour any good.
(ST)

Audition
By Ryu Murakami

Those who watched Takashi Miike’s hair- raising, nightmare inducing film adaptation (1999) would have had the experience seared into their brains.
The book is less showily creepy. Instead, it creates a sense of niggling unease, slowly letting the tension tighten and grow taut until it snaps in the horrific ending.
Since the death of his wife seven years ago, documentary film-maker Aoyama has not dated. A remark by his teenage son gets him thinking about remarriage.
His best friend Yoshikawa hits upon the idea of holding fake film auditions as the best way to meet prospective brides. He has reservations about taking advantage of a system where “the commodity an actor or model offered for sale was nothing less than her own being” but goes along with the idea.
When he meets the beautiful ballet- trained Yamasaki Asami, he falls head over heels in love. There are hints that there is more to her than meets the eye but he is too obsessed to see or care.
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that things end badly.
Early on, Murakami makes a point about modern malaise: “People were infected with the concept that happiness was something outside themselves, and a new and powerful form of loneliness was born. Mix loneliness with stress and enervation, and all sorts of madness can occur. Anxiety increases, and in order to obliterate the anxiety, people turn to extreme sex, violence and even murder.”
One could also read Audition as a feminist fantasy about wreaking vengeance on men who abuse their power. But Aoyama, while flawed, does not strike one as a bad or evil person. Does he deserve to be punished? Or was he culpable the moment he agreed to the auditions?
Whichever way you slice it, Audition has been executed with bone-chilling flair.


If you like this, read: Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami. His debut novel about a group of young people who dive headlong into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll won the country’s top literary accolade, the Akutagawa Prize, and established his reputation as the bad boy of Japanese fiction.
(ST)

Slumberland
By Paul Beatty

It's official. Berlin is hip.
It is not just that this year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that symbol of the Cold War. It is also the fact that the city has been steadily making its way into the cultural zeitgeist.
The New York Times picked it as one of the 44 places to visit this year, it was one of the key settings in the critically acclaimed 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange, and here it plays a central role in the story of a man on a quest while navigating the cultural burdens of being black.
Ferguson Sowell, or DJ Darky, has come up with the perfect beat. After listening to it, one of his mates declares that “anything I have heard on pop radio in the last five years feels like a violation of my civil rights”.
All he needs now is the kiss of approval from a credible and influential source. This leads him to seek out the mysterious Schwa, a little-known avant- garde jazz musician, so nicknamed because “his sound, like the indeterminate vowel, is unstressed, upside-down and backward”.
The only clue to his whereabouts is a videotape of a man having sex with a chicken featuring the elusive one’s music, mailed to DJ Darky from a German address. Which is how the DJ ends up at the Slumberland bar in Berlin as a jukebox sommelier.
More than just a setting, the city is a character. And the pivotal moment of the fall of the Wall is beautifully described from an outsider’s point of view.
The themes of identity and the weight of history culminate in the erecting of a new Berlin Wall, a wall of sound that is “inspiration, encouragement, and hope” heard from the western side, and a “wailing wall” when heard from the east.
Beatty’s razzle-dazzle prose-poetry is energetic and rhythmic, and it approximates a free-form jazz piece transcribed to the page. The writing can be dense with obscure name-dropping and slang but just hang on for the ride. It's an exhilarating one.

If you like this, read: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. A funny novel about heartbreak, growing up and music – listening to it, arguing about it and obsessing about it.
(ST)

Kung Fu Chefs
Wing Kin Yip


As the title implies, this combines chop-socky action with chopping board exploits.
Wong Bing-Yi (a solemn-faced Sammo Hung) is cast out from his village after his dish makes everyone at a banquet ill. It turns out that he was set up by his vengeful nephew, though it seems strange that a supposed master chef like Wong would not be able to distinguish salt from poison.
No matter, it creates the chance for Wong to cross paths with promising chef and martial arts fighter Jung Kin-Yat (a cheeky Vanness Wu), whose love interest is the cutesy spunky Shen Ying (Ai Kago, a Ryoko Hirosue lookalike).
Mix in a cooking competition whose outcome is never in doubt and cheesy lines such as “Cooking is easy. Being a man is hard”, and voila, a bland blend.
(ST)

Marley & Me
David Frankel


The story: As readers of the 2005 best-selling memoir of the same name know, Marley is the world’s worst dog. Bought by American journalist John Grogan (Owen Wilson) soon after his marriage to fellow writer Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), the labrador retriever shares in the ups and downs of their lives and becomes an integral part of the family over the years.


They should have been tipped off when Marley was the only one in the litter of yellow labrador retrievers which came with a discount.
The Grogans soon find out why as the pup goes berserk during thunderstorms, chews through partition walls and does not understand the command “heel”.
Marley’s refusal to follow commands even gets him kicked out of obedience school after he shows up an uptight dog trainer (Kathleen Turner in a cameo).
At the same time, his shenanigans prove to be rich fodder for John’s increasingly popular newspaper columns for the Miami Herald.
As much as this is a story about a rascally dog, the film is also about John’s journey through life, from marriage to career developments to fatherhood.
While he has a good friend Sebastian (Eric Dane), whose swinging bachelor lifestyle is a pointed contrast to his own, Marley is often the one he would talk aloud to and is more of a constant companion.
Mostly, Marley & Me plods along in a not unpleasant, genial manner. The light-hearted tone, though, jars with parts of the film which delve into the bumps on the road that the Grogans face.
For example, John and Jenny do not have a perfect marriage. They go through a rocky patch when she has to deal with giving up her career for the sake of their children. And John, despite a successful column, is restless and wants a change in the direction of his career.
But somehow, watching the beautiful blonde and blonder movie stars deal with ordinary, real- people predicaments makes the issues less compelling.
One also cannot help but be distracted by the thought that this is the first film Wilson made after his suicide attempt in 2007, reportedly over the split from actress Kate Hudson.
To his credit, the actor, best known for his laid-back comic roles in films such as Wedding Crashers (2005), seems to have moved on from the incident and is amiably low-key as John.
There isn’t much for Aniston to do here in what is essentially a supporting role. Still best known for her turn as Rachel in the popular sitcom Friends, the actress has shown that she can do interesting work in offbeat films such as The Good Girl (2002). Too often, though, she seems to settle for more conventional wife/girlfriend roles that do not do her any favours, as is the case here.
As the film moves to its conclusion, the focus shifts back to Marley. Animal lovers, be warned, the ending is a teary one.
Perhaps what makes animal performances in films touching is the simple fact that animals do not act. You would not tell a dog to emote sadness, but instead you instruct it to paw at the door and whimper. In a way, that removes a layer of artifice from what we watch on screens.
Or perhaps here, it merely proves the old adage that a dog is a man’s best friend, even when the canine in question is the world’s worst.
(ST)

If You Are The One
Feng Xiaogang

The story: Qin Fen (Ge You) places a personals ad for a wife, and to his surprise, the beautiful Xiaoxiao (Shu Qi) responds. They form a tentative friendship which grows into something stronger.

After a detour into the genre du jour of historical epics with The Banquet (2006) and Assembly (2007), director Feng Xiaogang is back doing what he does best – gently skewering modern society and making you laugh in the process.
The template here is taken from Taiwanese writer-director Chen Kuo-fu’s The Personals (1998), in which singer-actress Rene Liu was a single professional woman seeking a husband. This was the set-up for a wry look at love and life in modern Taiwan.
In If You Are The One, which Chen produced, it is a middle-aged man searching for a wife on the mainland.
Released in China on Dec 22 last year, the film struck a chord with audiences. It has earned 350 million yuan (S$78 million) at the box office, one of the highest-grossing Chinese films, and also set off a trend of people looking for spouses online.
The succinct, funny and poignant ad written by Qin Fen (a homonym of the Mandarin term for hardworking) is destined to be a classic circulated through e-mail messages and online forums.
He is realistic: “If you’re an angel, I won’t be able to handle you. I don’t expect you to look like that girl on the magazine cover, scattering souls with just one look.”
He is detailed: “I like a woman who knows how to fold clothes such that when you finish washing, ironing and folding them, they will look exactly like when you bought them from the stores. Specific enough?”
He is honest: “My character’s a 50-50 split and I’m not exactly an honest man. But I was born timid, even if it is not illegal to kill, I wouldn’t kill anyone. My conscience will be tortured by guilt if I do anything cruel to others.”
Yet who should walk into his life but the gorgeous Xiaoxiao, who responds to the ad for reasons of her own. Shu Qi downplays her natural sultriness and is a good foil to Ge, making it one of those rare odd couple pairings which actually seem plausible.
Feng and Ge have worked together in several films from the hit comedy Be There Or Be Square (1998) to the infidelity drama Cell Phone (2003) and the loose Hamlet adaptation The Banquet. They have a good thing going and Feng knows how best to showcase his leading man’s charms.
The genius of Ge’s performance is that he underplays the scenes, remaining unflappable and genial even when presented with increasingly unusual respondents to his ad.
The meetings with prospective partners are milked for laughs but are also a sly comment on society today. There is the grave plot saleswoman, the trader who likens picking a mate to betting on stocks and even a man who nurses a crush on Qin.
Feng riffs on anything and everything from China-Taiwan relations to materialism to the preferred frequency of sex in a relationship.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by the final act which takes place in Hokkaido.
Qin and Xiaoxiao, the not-quite-couple, go on the trip as she intends to make a symbolic clean break with her married lover where it had all started. Some forced dramatics are thrown in and derail the film.
But overall, this is an enjoyable film largely buoyed by Ge’s deft performance.
(ST)

Suspect X
Hiroshi Nishitani

The story: The body of a man has been discovered, his face pulverised and his prints removed. Police officer Kaoru Utsumi (Kou Shibasaki) is assigned to the case and she enlists the help of brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa (Masaharu Fukuyama), also known as Detective Galileo. His suspicions come to rest on a former schoolmate, the highly intelligent mathematician Tetsuya Ishigami (Shinichi Tsutsumi).

Suspect X is a crime thriller but it is not one of the usual suspects.
It has an impressive pedigree, based on the award-winning mystery writer Keigo Higashino’s popular Detective Galileo series and it reunites the principal cast from the hit TV adaptation.
Like the compelling Korean hit The Chaser (2008), we know who the killer is from the start.
We are witness to an act of violence that takes place when former hostess Yasuko Hanaoka (Yasuko Matsuyuki) receives an unwelcome visit from her loutish ex-husband.
After she and her daughter Misato (Miho Kanazawa) unintentionally kill him, things take an unexpected turn when her neighbour Tetsuya Ishigami knocks on her door and offers to help her out.
Knowing whodunnit in no way diminishes the pleasure of watching Suspect X. We watch with rapt attention as the neighbour constructs an alibi for mother and daughter, coaching them on how to stay a step ahead of the police.
Too many Hollywood cop flicks have a fetish for stylish and glamorous violence, and it is deeply satisfying to have a back-to-basics thriller which is all about the battle of wits between two superior minds.
The film signals its intentions early on when Professor Manabu Yukawa delivers a lecture on cause-and-effect rationality to detective Kaoru Utsumi, who is seeking his help on another case. The kicker though is the seemingly throwaway comment that love is irrational and cannot be resolved in an equation.
Suspect X pivots on a few of these little scenes which take on greater significance at the end of the film.
Cast-wise, pop singer-actor Masaharu Fukuyama imbues the cerebral physicist Yukawa with a light touch of playfulness while Kou Shibasaki has less to do in the role of earnest cop Utsumi. As the beauty in trouble, Matsuyuki brings together vulnerability and a streak of steely defiance.
The revelation here is Shinichi Tsutsumi. As Ishigami, he is calm and collected throughout, his eyes droopy, his movements slow and deliberate, yet he is able to convince one that the mind of a genius lies behind that misleading facade. His performance only serves to increase the power of the emotional wallop that hits you at the end of the film.
Not only is Suspect X a fine thriller, retaining the ability to surprise even when it seems that the case is closed, it is also, movingly, about the small acts of kindness which can sustain someone’s life and how love can be both a redemptive and destructive force.
Police procedurals such as Crime Scene Investigation may wow you with technical wizardry but such gizmos are useless when it comes to plumbing the unfathomable depths of the human heart.
(ST)

Chong Feng 7
Esplanade Concert Hall
Last Saturday


Chong Feng means “to meet once again” and this seventh installation of the popular concert brought together local and Taiwanese singers crooning hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
The event was in many ways like a school reunion. The pleasure of meeting old friends you grew up with was, at the same time, tinged with anxiety. How have they changed? Will they still be recognisable?
These questions were particularly, and poignantly, relevant to Hee, who had not performed live in Singapore in eight years. At the height of her popularity in the mid-1990s, she was out-selling albums by the Hong Kong heavenly kings but faded away from the music scene in the early noughties.
In June 2006, she hit the headlines when she was arrested for harassing two guests in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, yelling at them to “Call me God”. She was the final act in the three- hour-long concert.
The 34-year-old appeared in a dark pink top, patterned pants and a sequinned cap. She seemed a little nervous, but smiled widely, clearly happy to be back on stage again.
She did not say much, preferring to let her music do the talking. She performed three songs, Regret, Sunshine Always Follows The Rain and her best-known hit Moonlight In The City.
It was a pleasure to hear the mellow honeyed warmth of her voice once more though it seemed to have narrowed in range and the lowest notes on Regret were now a bit of a stretch for her.
If Hee played the role of comeback kid, then Jiang Hu was the one-time class heart-throb whose gentle, lilting tenor was tailor-made for ballads. He still had it but the voice was a tad more fragile.
He said: “I’ve lost 70 per cent of my prowess, only 30 per cent left to fool you guys with.”
The clean-cut boyishness of the 1980s had given way to a look that would not be out of place in a hip-hop outfit. Jiang sported a dog-tag and wore a sports zip-up over army fatigue pants.
Clad in matching black suits, high achiever Su Xinquan, a doctor of 18 years, and xinyao singer Hong Shaoxuan, entertained the audience with a specially arranged medley of four songs, switching with ease between Mandarin and English numbers.
The class clowns turned out to be the even more linguistically talented TCR Acappella. The five-member group was a crowd-pleaser, hamming it up in Cantonese-accented Mandarin, Japanese-accented English and Thai-accented English.
They delivered two Chinese hits back to back with their original versions in Japanese and Thai and even showed off some smooth moves on the Grasshopper track Shi Lian Zhen Xian Lian Meng (Broken Hearts Club).
Chong Feng 7 also featured Taiwanese acts Kay Huang Yun-ling, Tseng Shu-chin, Nan Fang Er Chong Chang (Southern Duo) and Mu Ji Ta (Wooden Guitar).
It was a treat to have Huang, these days a judge for singing competition One Million Star, playing the piano and delivering tracks she wrote in her slightly husky vocals.
It was even better to hear that she was working on an album of new material.
A reunion need not be about simply reliving the past, it can also be about forging new connections and looking to the future.
(ST)

K-20: Legend Of The Mask
Shimako Sato


The year is 1949 and the place is Teito, Japan, in an alternate universe where World War II never happened. In this society with rigid class boundaries, K-20, The Phantom Thief with 20 Faces, steals from the rich to give to the poor.
Unwittingly, circus acrobat Heikichi Endo (an earnest, if slightly detached, Takeshi Kaneshiro) takes the fall for the real McCoy and is captured by detective Kogoro Akechi (a laidback, smirky Toru Nakamura).
The acrobat sets out to clear his name and finds an unexpected ally in the duchess Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu providing some comic relief), Akechi’s fiancee.
This period sci-fi flick borrows elements from movies ranging from Face/Off (1997) to the secret agent James Bond franchise. It cruises along pleasantly enough in handsomely rendered sets with an old-fashioned twist at the end.
Surprisingly, the film is not a manga adaptation. The characters were created by late author Rampo Edogawa, the father of the Japanese mystery novel.
(ST)

Forever Enthralled
Chen Kaige

The story: Beijing opera singer Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was one of the biggest stars of his time. This biopic covers several key periods in the female impersonator’s life, including his rise to prominence, his successful American tour and his refusal to perform in Japanese-occupied China.

Mention Chen Kaige and opera, and the first thing that comes to mind is the China film-maker’s Farewell My Concubine, winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
There are some surface similarities between the two films – the epic sweep, the elegant art direction – but unlike Farewell, Forever Enthralled is more concerned with events than characters.
In this sense, it would be more apt to compare it with martial arts biopic Ip Man (2008). Both story arcs are similar, portraying the protagonist at his peak, how he deals with challenges and finally his heroic defiance of the Japanese.
But Mei is less of a paper cut-out than Ip Man, even though it is hard to reconcile the spirited younger Mei played by real-life opera singer Yu Shaoqun with the older version, whom Cantopop Heavenly King Leon Lai portrays as languid and rather one-note.
At the beginning of his career, Mei challenges the strict rules of Beijing opera in order to inject a greater dose of reality into the art, going so far as to clash head-on with veteran actor Shisan Yan (Wang Xueqi in a poignant performance).
You get a sense of the artist as an iconoclast, and Yu does a marvellous job of conveying the steely reserve beneath the gentle exterior. There is then an odd disconnect when Lai takes over as Mei.
Making up for Lai’s underwhelming performance, the strong supporting cast steal the limelight in a number of key roles. Sun Honglei is impassioned and ultimately tragically sympathetic as Mei’s lifelong supporter Qiu Rubai, and Chen Hong, Chen Kaige’s wife, prevents Mei’s shrewd and protective wife from becoming a caricature.
However, the romance between Mei and male impersonator Meng Xiaodong (Zhang Ziyi, who can play sassy in her sleep) is less than convincing.
The relationship between a female impersonator and a male impersonator is tailor-made for an exploration of gender roles but Chen Kaige barely ventures there. This is a glaring omission since it is said of Mei that the peak of his artistry was that he was “more like a woman than the real thing”.
Forever Enthralled does not live up to its overwrought English title. Instead, it is a technically competent if emotionally distant by-the-numbers biopic whose stately pace starts to wear thin in the final act set during the Japanese Occupation.
Chen Kaige and opera still add up to Farewell My Concubine.
(ST)

New In Town
Jonas Elmer


Even the romantic comedy is not spared the economic realities of the times.
The set-up here seems pretty straightforward at first.
Chic city executive Lucy Hill (Renee Zellweger, more reined-in from her Bridget Jones cartoon mode) from sunny Miami suddenly finds herself in wintry Minnesota on a work assignment.
The only attractive man for miles around happens to be union rep Ted Mitchell (a charming Harry Connick Jr who seems to have lost that weird sneer he had on TV series Will & Grace).
They get on each other’s nerves when they meet for the first time. And they clash at the factory too since she has been sent to retrench half the workforce.
No prizes for guessing what happens next.
But as much as this is a meet-cute fantasy romance, it is also a proletariat fantasy.
Factory workers who do not own the means of production get a boss who saves them from being kicked out into the cold, not just once, but twice. And then gives power back to them in a scheme to purchase the factory back from greedy capitalists.
A romantic comedy with Marxist undertones? That is certainly new in town.
(ST)

White Palms
Szabolcs Hajdu


As a child, Miklos Dongo was a promising gymnast in Hungary but, somehow, he ends up coaching Canada’s medal hope for the 2002 world gymnastics championship.
It is interesting to look at a film like this and marvel at all the ways that Hollywood would have mucked it up.
Award-winning Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu is not interested in a rah-rah tale of athletic triumph and personal redemption.
Instead, he presents viewers with a non-linear story with portraits of Dongo at ages 10 (Orion Radies), 13 (Silas Wind Radies) and 32 (Zoltan Miklos Hajdu).
The harsh training conducted by coach Ferenc (Gheorghe Dinica) robs Dongo of the ordinary joys of childhood. At 13, the unhappy gymnast runs away to join the circus. As a coach, he has to find a way to connect with his trainees and come to terms with his past.
There is a telling bit of dialogue by Ferenc when the big top folks come by the gym to look for a replacement trapeze artiste: “Hey! This is not a circus! Hey! They are not monkeys!”
But the director juxtaposes the gymnastics competition with the trapeze performance, brilliantly linking the two scenes through the use of music and sound.
It is not always clear whether you are looking at the spectacle of a competition or a death-courting circus act, or both.
But there is no doubt that Hajdu has crafted a compelling and surprising film.
(ST)

Crowd Lu
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Saturday


Mrs This
Esplanade Recital Studio
Last Friday

Crowd Lu and Mrs This have each released an album, appealing mostly to students and those in their 20s and 30s, and both acts fall under the umbrella of Chinese indie pop. But their concerts proved to be very different experiences.
Lu, 23, delivered a mesmerising show, demonstrating why he is one of the most promising Taiwanese singer-songwriters to emerge in recent years. In contrast to his sunny demeanour and music, compatriots six-piece ensemble Mrs This mined a more melancholic vein of electronic pop-rock, a performance which sometimes threatened to slip into minor key monotony.
Lu’s songs about life and love from a young person’s point of view have resonated strongly with music fans and he sold out two shows at the 245-seat Esplanade Recital Studio.
Dressed in an orange T-shirt worn over another black one, bermudas, calf-high socks and white sneakers, and sporting his trademark black-rimmed glasses and mop top, he looked like an awkward, gangly, overgrown student.
But he captured one’s attention the moment he started playing the guitar and singing because he performed with his entire body. Eyes closed, fingers strumming, legs tapping and kicking away, he was completely into the moment.
He dove headlong into his songs with a passion that was palpable and his clear, bright voice, as open and direct as his personality, was a compelling and moving instrument.
His enthusiastic bursts of “Yeah!” punctuated the end of each song and were peppered all over his patter, which included anecdotes such as how his first single Yuan Ming, which appears to be about escaping from reality, was actually written when he was upset with a friend for not waking him up for class.
The female leads for Mrs This, A Mu and Hei Lang, also displayed a playful side in their banter, while to the crowd’s delight, bassist Fang Q showed off some Singlish phrases he had picked up.
Their music, however, was a tougher sell live. The vocals were in danger of being overwhelmed by the drums at times and the band could have been tighter as an outfit.
It did not help that the same few photo stills were recycled endlessly in the background and soon became annoying. Either add more photos or just do away with them entirely.
Mrs This were at their best on tracks such as And I and I See Many People, which were infused with a sense of much-needed drama.
There was no certainly no lack of drama in Lu’s gig and he kept the energy level high throughout.
He tackled the hard-to-reach notes on Really Feel Like Being Self-Indulgent, charmed his way through School Belle 2008, and got the audience to chorus “That’s right! That’s right!” on Good Morning, Beauty Of Dawn!
Lu’s gig was so entertaining, it did not even matter one whit that he skipped the chart-topping title track from his album 100 Ways For Living.
It is still early days for 2009, but you have the feeling that you have already seen one of the best concerts of the year.
(ST)

Traffic
Tom Vanderbilt


Driving is “probably the most complex everyday thing we do”, and yet we barely pause to think about it.
So it is a good thing that we have someone like Tom Vanderbilt who decides to examine this phenomenon in great detail, unearthing nuggets of interesting information and fascinating insights into this quotidian activity.
He unpacks certain basic questions and assumptions including what it means to pay attention on the road. He points out that if we were to process every single piece of information out there, we would be overwhelmed.
After all, when driving, we are travelling at speeds for which we are not evolutionarily adapted to.
Some of his conclusions seem counter-intuitive at first. For example, that more seemingly dangerous roads might actually have lower rates of accidents. On such roads, drivers take greater care while so-called safer roads with a multitude of signs and safeguards could actually encourage drivers to drive more dangerously.
The paradox is that when drivers feel more at risk, they behave more cautiously, making the roads safer.
Vanderbilt backs up his assertions with lots of studies and research material. But he handles it with a light and humorous touch so you do not feel like you are stuck in a morass of information.
Apart from academic studies, he also dives headlong into the infamous road snarls of cities such as Beijing and Mumbai and draws upon historical situations from ancient Rome to mediaeval England to give a sense of perspective to this thing called traffic.
There is certainly plenty to mull over here. One question: If we are not evolutionarily equipped to move at driving speeds, what does this say about flying?

If you like this, read: Stiff by Mary Roach. Another topic we do not think about much, human cadavers, is explored in an unexpectedly funny and illuminating manner.
(ST)