The Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson
The story: Brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) are con men who are aided and abetted in their schemes by the laconic and capable Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). They set their sights on the wealthy Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz) for their last job, but things get complicated when Bloom falls for her.
This is quite a line-up of actors assembled here. They are not your typical blockbuster A-listers but instead, have won critical acclaim for memorable roles in feted films.
Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for the titular role of Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s World War II drama The Pianist (2002).
Rachel Weisz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as an activist who uncovers a pharmaceutical conspiracy in the political thriller The Constant Gardener (2005).
Mark Ruffalo won the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his portrayal of the ne’er-do-well brother in the family drama You Can Count On Me (2000).
Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as an alienated deaf teenager in the ensemble drama Babel (2006).
Inevitably, this creates certain expectations even before one steps inside the cineplex. It is a pity then that writer-director Rian Johnson’s second feature after the well-received teen crime drama Brick (2005) never quite pulls it together.
The elaborate con at the heart of the film is less than compelling and invites too many questions of the “Why?” and “How come?” variety.
Johnson’s ambitious attempt to craft a whimsical crime caper/romance anchored by the fraternal ties that bind and suffocate is let down by the lackadaisical pacing, uneven tone and the weak story.
Still, there are some pleasures to be had in observing Brody’s hooded eyes and sad-sack face and watching Ruffalo playing against type as the roguish elder brother. Weisz also raises some smiles as the awkward and eccentric heiress.
Kikuchi is mildly amusing as the enigmatic Bang Bang, but she will need to brush up on her English if she is to have a viable career in Hollywood that goes beyond niche roles.
As the film keeps telling us, in a perfect con, everyone gets what he wants. The Brothers Bloom draws you in with an intriguing set-up and a promising cast, but in the end, it is a con that turns out to be far from perfect.
(ST)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I Love You, Man
John Hamburg
The story: Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is getting married to Zooey (Rashida Jones) but he does not have a close friend to be his best man. He is not bothered by it until he overhears his fiancee’s conversation with her girlfriends who wonder if that is healthy.
In walks Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) to a house viewing held by Peter, and it proves to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
How did the male friendship end up in this fraught state?
Just because this movie’s protagonist Peter Klaven does not find gross-out porn hilarious or drink lots of beer – which the film insinuates are what most straight guys are like – he does not find it easy to make male friends.
After overhearing his fiancee’s conversation, he embarks on a determined search for a guy friend, which hilariously turns out to be not too different from looking for a girlfriend.
A big reason why I Love You, Man works is because of Paul Rudd. It has taken way too long but the likeable charmer who broke out in 1995’s Clueless finally makes it to leading man status with last year’s comedy Role Models and this film.
He bounced around in supporting roles after Clueless, including a turn on the sitcom Friends. More recently, he seemed to be in danger of being permanently cast as the funny sidekick in comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007).
He proves here that he can carry a movie on his own and he is helped by a smart, breezy script.
In his search for a friend, Peter goes on the Internet to check out prospects, gets referrals from his helpful family and has to figure out what to do on a man date.
Having had a lot more experience in this respect, his gay brother Robbie (Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg) advises him: “Casual lunch or after work drinks. You’re not taking these boys to see The Devil Wears Prada.”
If Hugh Grant was the master of the stammered apology, then Rudd is the king of cringe. When Peter gets nervous, he shoots off his mouth and says something stupid. Then comes the perfectly timed acknowledgement that it was a lame remark. Rudd never overplays it, so his reaction is endearing rather than annoying.
There is also a believably touching odd-couple chemistry between the straight- laced Peter and the sloppier, slobbier Sydney (Segel, most recently seen in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as they navigate the awkward waters of platonic male-male affection.
Considering the subject matter and the fact that Rudd and Segel have both worked with Judd Apatow previously, it is a bit of a surprise that this is not the latter’s enterprise.
After all, the writer-director-producer has had a hand in recent bromantic comedies such as Pineapple Express (2008), Superbad (2007) as well as Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin.
But perhaps the seeds of the film had been sown much earlier.
Co-writer Larry Levin also had a hand in two episodes of the classic TV series Seinfeld. In The Boyfriend: Parts 1 and 2 (1992), Jerry develops a man crush on baseball player Keith Hernandez after bumping into him at the gym.
From getting a man crush in the early 1990s to going on a man date in the late noughties, the friendship that dares not speak its name is slowly but surely coming out into the open.
(ST)
John Hamburg
The story: Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is getting married to Zooey (Rashida Jones) but he does not have a close friend to be his best man. He is not bothered by it until he overhears his fiancee’s conversation with her girlfriends who wonder if that is healthy.
In walks Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) to a house viewing held by Peter, and it proves to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
How did the male friendship end up in this fraught state?
Just because this movie’s protagonist Peter Klaven does not find gross-out porn hilarious or drink lots of beer – which the film insinuates are what most straight guys are like – he does not find it easy to make male friends.
After overhearing his fiancee’s conversation, he embarks on a determined search for a guy friend, which hilariously turns out to be not too different from looking for a girlfriend.
A big reason why I Love You, Man works is because of Paul Rudd. It has taken way too long but the likeable charmer who broke out in 1995’s Clueless finally makes it to leading man status with last year’s comedy Role Models and this film.
He bounced around in supporting roles after Clueless, including a turn on the sitcom Friends. More recently, he seemed to be in danger of being permanently cast as the funny sidekick in comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007).
He proves here that he can carry a movie on his own and he is helped by a smart, breezy script.
In his search for a friend, Peter goes on the Internet to check out prospects, gets referrals from his helpful family and has to figure out what to do on a man date.
Having had a lot more experience in this respect, his gay brother Robbie (Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg) advises him: “Casual lunch or after work drinks. You’re not taking these boys to see The Devil Wears Prada.”
If Hugh Grant was the master of the stammered apology, then Rudd is the king of cringe. When Peter gets nervous, he shoots off his mouth and says something stupid. Then comes the perfectly timed acknowledgement that it was a lame remark. Rudd never overplays it, so his reaction is endearing rather than annoying.
There is also a believably touching odd-couple chemistry between the straight- laced Peter and the sloppier, slobbier Sydney (Segel, most recently seen in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as they navigate the awkward waters of platonic male-male affection.
Considering the subject matter and the fact that Rudd and Segel have both worked with Judd Apatow previously, it is a bit of a surprise that this is not the latter’s enterprise.
After all, the writer-director-producer has had a hand in recent bromantic comedies such as Pineapple Express (2008), Superbad (2007) as well as Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin.
But perhaps the seeds of the film had been sown much earlier.
Co-writer Larry Levin also had a hand in two episodes of the classic TV series Seinfeld. In The Boyfriend: Parts 1 and 2 (1992), Jerry develops a man crush on baseball player Keith Hernandez after bumping into him at the gym.
From getting a man crush in the early 1990s to going on a man date in the late noughties, the friendship that dares not speak its name is slowly but surely coming out into the open.
(ST)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Mark Lee Rally 2009
Drama Centre Theatre
Thursday
You wonder what it would have been like to be in the shoes of Mark Lee’s wife Catherine as she watched the performance.
The undoubted highlight of the 100-minute stand-up show was when the comedian regaled the audience with the long and torturous odyssey the couple underwent in their attempts to have a child.
After several years of trying, he got advice from friends who were proud fathers of broods of tykes.
One proposed that he lift his wife’s legs up after sex, another advocated flipping the legs over the head using the wall as a support, and yet a third advocated an alternative position.
The 40-year-old’s delivery was well-paced and he punctuated his storytelling with generous gesturing.
The segment played to his strengths as a comedian and the fact that the material was personal helped to create a strong connection with the audience.
He knew it was the best part of the show, which was why he saved it for last. It earned the biggest laughs of the night.
That sketch was also the best answer to the prickly question that he himself had asked in an earlier interview with Life!: Why pay to watch him when viewers can see him for free on TV?
It was an opportunity to witness him sharing his private life in a cheekily entertaining manner.
Alas, the rest of the evening was fairly ho-hum.
As promised, he took on government policies on issues ranging from language education to the certificate of entitlement for cars. However, the writing by stage and TV writers Soo Wei Seng and Boris Boo was not particularly sharp.
One could also have done without the constant reference to the political Lees and a lame attempt to milk some laughs by calling himself Performer Mark Lee or PM Lee.
He fared better when riffing on Ah Beng culture and how that is different from the way gangsters behave, including an amusing bit on swearing with hand gestures.
Drawing on recent headline-grabbers, he also took some barbed digs at veteran show host Marcus Chin’s tabloid-worthy relationship with his much younger female assistant as well as the recent brouhaha over lip-synching in The Little Nyonya musical.
The show marks Lee’s 20th year in showbusiness and serves as a reminder of how far he has come with his Ah Beng persona. But it will not have new fans rallying around him.
(ST)
Drama Centre Theatre
Thursday
You wonder what it would have been like to be in the shoes of Mark Lee’s wife Catherine as she watched the performance.
The undoubted highlight of the 100-minute stand-up show was when the comedian regaled the audience with the long and torturous odyssey the couple underwent in their attempts to have a child.
After several years of trying, he got advice from friends who were proud fathers of broods of tykes.
One proposed that he lift his wife’s legs up after sex, another advocated flipping the legs over the head using the wall as a support, and yet a third advocated an alternative position.
The 40-year-old’s delivery was well-paced and he punctuated his storytelling with generous gesturing.
The segment played to his strengths as a comedian and the fact that the material was personal helped to create a strong connection with the audience.
He knew it was the best part of the show, which was why he saved it for last. It earned the biggest laughs of the night.
That sketch was also the best answer to the prickly question that he himself had asked in an earlier interview with Life!: Why pay to watch him when viewers can see him for free on TV?
It was an opportunity to witness him sharing his private life in a cheekily entertaining manner.
Alas, the rest of the evening was fairly ho-hum.
As promised, he took on government policies on issues ranging from language education to the certificate of entitlement for cars. However, the writing by stage and TV writers Soo Wei Seng and Boris Boo was not particularly sharp.
One could also have done without the constant reference to the political Lees and a lame attempt to milk some laughs by calling himself Performer Mark Lee or PM Lee.
He fared better when riffing on Ah Beng culture and how that is different from the way gangsters behave, including an amusing bit on swearing with hand gestures.
Drawing on recent headline-grabbers, he also took some barbed digs at veteran show host Marcus Chin’s tabloid-worthy relationship with his much younger female assistant as well as the recent brouhaha over lip-synching in The Little Nyonya musical.
The show marks Lee’s 20th year in showbusiness and serves as a reminder of how far he has come with his Ah Beng persona. But it will not have new fans rallying around him.
(ST)
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Blood: The Last Vampire
Chris Nahon
The story: Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half-vampire, half-human. She kills vampires for a shadowy organisation in return for their help in tracking down Onigen (Koyuki), the powerful demon who killed her father.
Sent to an American military base in Tokyo by her handler Michael (Liam Cunningham), Saya takes on the identity of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She protects a general’s daughter, Alice McKee (Allison Miller), from some nasty fiends and discovers a vampire nest.
Let the bloodbath begin.
If you have haemophobia, you would do well to stay away from this film as blood is undeniably a star attraction here.
Sharp gleaming swords slice through flesh with no resistance and blood spurts and erupts beautifully all over the screen, every last drop rendered in loving detail.
Yet, for all the blood-letting, the violence does not feel real and oppressive because of the stylised visuals. The aesthetics point to its source material, the 2000 hit anime film of the same name.
Like the anime, the film is primarily in English rather than Japanese. Gianna Jun (the actress previously known as Jeon Ji Hyun), best known for the Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), turns in a credible English-language debut, sounding more at home in the language than Zhang Ziyi did in the thriller Horsemen (2009).
In the fight sequences choreographed by go-to action guy Cory Yuen, she also makes for a believable killing machine, hell-bent on seeking vengeance and drained of all other impulses.
Actress Koyuki (who appeared in 2003’s The Last Samurai) fares less well linguistically. The final showdown between Saya and her character is marred by her thick Japanese accent. The dialogue was incomprehensible at points.
Plot-wise, monster-slaying schoolgirls are nothing new in Japanese anime. But it remains relatively rare in Western fare even after seven seasons of the hit TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it is nice to see the damsel in distress being rescued by another damsel.
The film also attempts to create some mystery over Saya’s parentage but the big reveal comes as no surprise.
And after all the build-up, the climactic battle falls short though the ending cannily leaves the door open for more blood to be spilled in a sequel.
(ST)
Chris Nahon
The story: Saya (Gianna Jun) is a 400-year-old half-vampire, half-human. She kills vampires for a shadowy organisation in return for their help in tracking down Onigen (Koyuki), the powerful demon who killed her father.
Sent to an American military base in Tokyo by her handler Michael (Liam Cunningham), Saya takes on the identity of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She protects a general’s daughter, Alice McKee (Allison Miller), from some nasty fiends and discovers a vampire nest.
Let the bloodbath begin.
If you have haemophobia, you would do well to stay away from this film as blood is undeniably a star attraction here.
Sharp gleaming swords slice through flesh with no resistance and blood spurts and erupts beautifully all over the screen, every last drop rendered in loving detail.
Yet, for all the blood-letting, the violence does not feel real and oppressive because of the stylised visuals. The aesthetics point to its source material, the 2000 hit anime film of the same name.
Like the anime, the film is primarily in English rather than Japanese. Gianna Jun (the actress previously known as Jeon Ji Hyun), best known for the Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), turns in a credible English-language debut, sounding more at home in the language than Zhang Ziyi did in the thriller Horsemen (2009).
In the fight sequences choreographed by go-to action guy Cory Yuen, she also makes for a believable killing machine, hell-bent on seeking vengeance and drained of all other impulses.
Actress Koyuki (who appeared in 2003’s The Last Samurai) fares less well linguistically. The final showdown between Saya and her character is marred by her thick Japanese accent. The dialogue was incomprehensible at points.
Plot-wise, monster-slaying schoolgirls are nothing new in Japanese anime. But it remains relatively rare in Western fare even after seven seasons of the hit TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it is nice to see the damsel in distress being rescued by another damsel.
The film also attempts to create some mystery over Saya’s parentage but the big reveal comes as no surprise.
And after all the build-up, the climactic battle falls short though the ending cannily leaves the door open for more blood to be spilled in a sequel.
(ST)
Monday, June 01, 2009
Aaron Kwok De Show Reel Live In Concert 09
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
That old chestnut from the musical Chicago – Give ’em the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle ’em – seemed to be Hong Kong entertainer Aaron Kwok’s mantra during his three-hour-plus concert last Saturday.
While the 43-year-old had been anointed one of the four Heavenly Kings of Chinese entertainment, putting on a concert today must still present a peculiar kind of quandary for him.
While acknowledged to be an excellent dancer, he is not the best singer. He has not had the most memorable hits and his album sales in the noughties are not what they used to be in the 1990s.
The solution? Put on a heck of a show.
Even though it is hard to figure out how it adds up to 450 degrees, the much-vaunted revolving stage was indeed a spectacular spectacle.
The rectangular five-storey-high block was set on a turntable platform. At the same time, the entire block could pivot 360 degrees vertically, flipping Kwok and the dancers within it through one revolution after another.
Earning a Guinness World Record for the largest revolving indoor stage, the contraption was imported from Hong Kong along with a 150-strong crew.
It even had another trick up its sleeve. The two faces of the five-storey block could be lowered like drawbridges, leaving the metal skeleton standing and was used for an effective role-playing segment with Kwok storming a castle.
And that was just part of the show.
Another highlight was the water dance in which he gleefully frolicked in a specially constructed four-sided water catwalk. Fans in the rows nearest the stage donned ponchos thoughtfully provided by the organisers, and they squealed in delight as their idol splashed them.
The razzle dazzle applied to the star’s shiny, shimmery outfits as well, each one more outlandish than the one before.
The opening costume flaunted Kwok’s taut and toned body as he danced in a cloud of glitter. In subsequent ensembles, he was the leader of an athletic alien race; a warrior king sheathed in silver; and also took the stage as what appeared to be a human-lobster hybrid.
The tireless showman confidently commanded the four-sided stage and the near-capacity crowd of over 9,000 showed its appreciation by applauding, screaming, whistling and stamping their feet.
Eighty per cent of the singer’s repertoire was in Cantonese. This was a wise move as he was clearly more comfortable in his native tongue than in Mandarin, and he sounded his best on the Cantonese ballads such as Why Did I Let You Go? and Divergence.
Engaging his fans at one point, he said that his costume was so heavy it was like lugging around two sacks of “mei” (beauty).The crowd delightedly chorused back the right word, “mi” (rice), at once.
His Cantonese accent was also apparent on numbers such as Endless Love To You. This was his first Mandarin single and while the huge hit had been given a makeover with a new remix, it was still performed with the same cheesy hand gestures from the 1990 music video.
Only towards the end of the concert did he seem to relax and enjoy himself. The first few numbers in particular were performed with a look of intense, almost grim, concentration.
Still, you cannot help but admire Kwok for his stamina and the sheer hard work put into the high-energy show.
By the time he sang his final song of the evening, Should I Leave Quietly?, the answer was a clear and resounding no.
(ST)
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
That old chestnut from the musical Chicago – Give ’em the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle ’em – seemed to be Hong Kong entertainer Aaron Kwok’s mantra during his three-hour-plus concert last Saturday.
While the 43-year-old had been anointed one of the four Heavenly Kings of Chinese entertainment, putting on a concert today must still present a peculiar kind of quandary for him.
While acknowledged to be an excellent dancer, he is not the best singer. He has not had the most memorable hits and his album sales in the noughties are not what they used to be in the 1990s.
The solution? Put on a heck of a show.
Even though it is hard to figure out how it adds up to 450 degrees, the much-vaunted revolving stage was indeed a spectacular spectacle.
The rectangular five-storey-high block was set on a turntable platform. At the same time, the entire block could pivot 360 degrees vertically, flipping Kwok and the dancers within it through one revolution after another.
Earning a Guinness World Record for the largest revolving indoor stage, the contraption was imported from Hong Kong along with a 150-strong crew.
It even had another trick up its sleeve. The two faces of the five-storey block could be lowered like drawbridges, leaving the metal skeleton standing and was used for an effective role-playing segment with Kwok storming a castle.
And that was just part of the show.
Another highlight was the water dance in which he gleefully frolicked in a specially constructed four-sided water catwalk. Fans in the rows nearest the stage donned ponchos thoughtfully provided by the organisers, and they squealed in delight as their idol splashed them.
The razzle dazzle applied to the star’s shiny, shimmery outfits as well, each one more outlandish than the one before.
The opening costume flaunted Kwok’s taut and toned body as he danced in a cloud of glitter. In subsequent ensembles, he was the leader of an athletic alien race; a warrior king sheathed in silver; and also took the stage as what appeared to be a human-lobster hybrid.
The tireless showman confidently commanded the four-sided stage and the near-capacity crowd of over 9,000 showed its appreciation by applauding, screaming, whistling and stamping their feet.
Eighty per cent of the singer’s repertoire was in Cantonese. This was a wise move as he was clearly more comfortable in his native tongue than in Mandarin, and he sounded his best on the Cantonese ballads such as Why Did I Let You Go? and Divergence.
Engaging his fans at one point, he said that his costume was so heavy it was like lugging around two sacks of “mei” (beauty).The crowd delightedly chorused back the right word, “mi” (rice), at once.
His Cantonese accent was also apparent on numbers such as Endless Love To You. This was his first Mandarin single and while the huge hit had been given a makeover with a new remix, it was still performed with the same cheesy hand gestures from the 1990 music video.
Only towards the end of the concert did he seem to relax and enjoy himself. The first few numbers in particular were performed with a look of intense, almost grim, concentration.
Still, you cannot help but admire Kwok for his stamina and the sheer hard work put into the high-energy show.
By the time he sang his final song of the evening, Should I Leave Quietly?, the answer was a clear and resounding no.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Dance, Subaru!
Lee Chi Ngai
Given that this is supposed to be about the passion of dancing, the film feels disappointingly perfunctory.
Based on the best-selling manga of the same name, this overly familiar tale centres on a gifted dancer with a tragic past, Subaru (Meisa Kuroki).
There is also a competition that brings together and divides three friends and rivals as well as a last- minute development that threatens to derail the foregone conclusion.
Up-and-coming actress- model-singer Kuroki has striking good looks, courtesy of some Panamanian blood on her father’s side. But while you can envision her as a hip-hop street dancer, you do not quite buy her as a top-level ballet and modern dance performer.
And that is something you just cannot dance around.
(ST)
Lee Chi Ngai
Given that this is supposed to be about the passion of dancing, the film feels disappointingly perfunctory.
Based on the best-selling manga of the same name, this overly familiar tale centres on a gifted dancer with a tragic past, Subaru (Meisa Kuroki).
There is also a competition that brings together and divides three friends and rivals as well as a last- minute development that threatens to derail the foregone conclusion.
Up-and-coming actress- model-singer Kuroki has striking good looks, courtesy of some Panamanian blood on her father’s side. But while you can envision her as a hip-hop street dancer, you do not quite buy her as a top-level ballet and modern dance performer.
And that is something you just cannot dance around.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sunshine Barry And The Disco Worms
Thomas Borch Nielsen
Worms and disco. This could either be genius or merely fish-bait. Unfortunately, fish-bait is about all this bland and forgettable flick is fit for.
Barry is a young earthworm dreaming above his station in life and finds his calling when he chances upon an old disco record. Cue the boogiewoogie soundtrack, glitter ball and audacious afros.
The rudimentary animation throws up all kinds of icky questions about worm anatomy such as why do they wear tops but not bottoms? Really, female worms have breasts?
Wait a minute, aren’t worms hermaphrodites? These are animated wrigglers even the fish won’t bite.
(ST)
Thomas Borch Nielsen
Worms and disco. This could either be genius or merely fish-bait. Unfortunately, fish-bait is about all this bland and forgettable flick is fit for.
Barry is a young earthworm dreaming above his station in life and finds his calling when he chances upon an old disco record. Cue the boogiewoogie soundtrack, glitter ball and audacious afros.
The rudimentary animation throws up all kinds of icky questions about worm anatomy such as why do they wear tops but not bottoms? Really, female worms have breasts?
Wait a minute, aren’t worms hermaphrodites? These are animated wrigglers even the fish won’t bite.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Uninvited
Charles & Thomas Guard
She sees dead people. And that is never a good sign.
After her release from a mental hospital, Anna (Australian actress Emily Browning) returns home to find her father (David Strathairn as the distracted dad) canoodling with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), the live-in nurse who used to take care of her ill mother.
Having died in a mysterious fire, mummy dearest now appears in visions to Anna, warning her about Rachel. The increasingly distraught Anna’s only ally is her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel).
The British film-makers, the Guard brothers, pile on the cliches, from shadows flitting behind closed doors to the obvious use of minor-key music. Pretty soon, things get boring.
In the final act, the twists come fast and furious. But The Uninvited is never fully convincing.
An uneven remake of the award-winning Korean mystery thriller A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), it is notable only for Browning’s taut performance as the frightened and seemingly helpless Anna.
(ST)
Charles & Thomas Guard
She sees dead people. And that is never a good sign.
After her release from a mental hospital, Anna (Australian actress Emily Browning) returns home to find her father (David Strathairn as the distracted dad) canoodling with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), the live-in nurse who used to take care of her ill mother.
Having died in a mysterious fire, mummy dearest now appears in visions to Anna, warning her about Rachel. The increasingly distraught Anna’s only ally is her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel).
The British film-makers, the Guard brothers, pile on the cliches, from shadows flitting behind closed doors to the obvious use of minor-key music. Pretty soon, things get boring.
In the final act, the twists come fast and furious. But The Uninvited is never fully convincing.
An uneven remake of the award-winning Korean mystery thriller A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003), it is notable only for Browning’s taut performance as the frightened and seemingly helpless Anna.
(ST)
Dive!!
Naoto Kumazawa
If boys in swimming trunks are your thing, then you need to read no further.
For those who need a less skimpy review, Dive!! is a little smarter than the usual sports drama.
At stake for the boys is the chance to represent Japan in diving in the Olympic Games. There is only one spot left and getting it would also mean saving their modest diving club.
The three archetypes of Japanese drama are all here: the conflicted one with the matinee-idol looks (Sosuke Ikematsu as Yoichi Fujitani, the coach’s son), the brooding rebellious one whose heart is in the right place (Junpei Mizobata as the wild card, Shibuki Okitsu) and the adorably earnest one (Kento Hayashi as the hardworking Tomoki Sakai).
This film is also a coming-of-age drama that covers ground such as doing things for the right reasons, young love and whether the pursuit of excellence is worth the sacrifices it entails.
The real question here, though, is who will be the one to break out as Japan’s next top idol.
(ST)
Naoto Kumazawa
If boys in swimming trunks are your thing, then you need to read no further.
For those who need a less skimpy review, Dive!! is a little smarter than the usual sports drama.
At stake for the boys is the chance to represent Japan in diving in the Olympic Games. There is only one spot left and getting it would also mean saving their modest diving club.
The three archetypes of Japanese drama are all here: the conflicted one with the matinee-idol looks (Sosuke Ikematsu as Yoichi Fujitani, the coach’s son), the brooding rebellious one whose heart is in the right place (Junpei Mizobata as the wild card, Shibuki Okitsu) and the adorably earnest one (Kento Hayashi as the hardworking Tomoki Sakai).
This film is also a coming-of-age drama that covers ground such as doing things for the right reasons, young love and whether the pursuit of excellence is worth the sacrifices it entails.
The real question here, though, is who will be the one to break out as Japan’s next top idol.
(ST)
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
The Ramen Girl
Robert Allan Ackerman
The story: Abby (Brittany Murphy), a young American, moves to Tokyo because of her boyfriend and is at a loss when he breaks up with her.
Dejected, she wanders into a ramen shop run by Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) and has an epiphany – she will learn to make the perfect bowl of ramen.
For those who love Tokyo, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation (2003) has always felt false. This is one of the most exciting cities in the world but if Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is content to just mope about in her hotel room, little wonder that she feels bored and trapped.
In this new movie, the capital is a city of possibilities, even for someone like Abby who is handicapped by her lack of Japanese. What she has in spades though is a gung-ho attitude.
Of course, it takes a while for that can-do spirit to surface since she does a slipshod job of washing pots and pans in the beginning and then gingerly, and ineffectively, cleans the toilet.
So far, this is pretty much par for the course. You think you have already seen this movie. Abby will learn the ropes, a bond will spring up between her and Maezumi, and by the time the end credits roll, she will be serving up that perfect bowl of noodles.
But this loose remake of director Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is a little smarter than that and has a few surprises in store.
Unlike the original, there is no eroticising of food here. Instead, there are sprinklings of magic realism, and there is a comical scene that takes place after Abby has cooked a pot of ramen noodles with her tears mixed into it.
Ramen Girl also offers the still unusual romantic pairing of an Asian man (Park So Hee) with a Caucasian woman. There is the mildest of culture clashes when Toshi is posted to Shanghai for a job he does not like and Abby urges him to quit instead. Between fulfilling one’s responsibility and being true to oneself, there is little doubt which way this argument will go.
Cast-wise, Murphy’s wide-eyed ingenue look is perfect for comedies. And if her onscreen persona never becomes annoying, it is because the wonderfully gruff Nishida does exasperation so well that you start feeling sorry for Abby instead.
While she and Maezumi do bond, in a nice touch, the language barrier that divides them remains throughout though it is by no means insurmountable.
Tsutomu Yamazaki, who appeared in Tampopo as a trucker who helps the titular character become a first-class chef, turns in a funny cameo here as a ramen master who can barely keep awake as he bestows his blessings on noodles which meet his exacting standards.
You wonder what he would have made of this movie.
(ST)
Robert Allan Ackerman
The story: Abby (Brittany Murphy), a young American, moves to Tokyo because of her boyfriend and is at a loss when he breaks up with her.
Dejected, she wanders into a ramen shop run by Maezumi (Toshiyuki Nishida) and has an epiphany – she will learn to make the perfect bowl of ramen.
For those who love Tokyo, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation (2003) has always felt false. This is one of the most exciting cities in the world but if Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is content to just mope about in her hotel room, little wonder that she feels bored and trapped.
In this new movie, the capital is a city of possibilities, even for someone like Abby who is handicapped by her lack of Japanese. What she has in spades though is a gung-ho attitude.
Of course, it takes a while for that can-do spirit to surface since she does a slipshod job of washing pots and pans in the beginning and then gingerly, and ineffectively, cleans the toilet.
So far, this is pretty much par for the course. You think you have already seen this movie. Abby will learn the ropes, a bond will spring up between her and Maezumi, and by the time the end credits roll, she will be serving up that perfect bowl of noodles.
But this loose remake of director Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is a little smarter than that and has a few surprises in store.
Unlike the original, there is no eroticising of food here. Instead, there are sprinklings of magic realism, and there is a comical scene that takes place after Abby has cooked a pot of ramen noodles with her tears mixed into it.
Ramen Girl also offers the still unusual romantic pairing of an Asian man (Park So Hee) with a Caucasian woman. There is the mildest of culture clashes when Toshi is posted to Shanghai for a job he does not like and Abby urges him to quit instead. Between fulfilling one’s responsibility and being true to oneself, there is little doubt which way this argument will go.
Cast-wise, Murphy’s wide-eyed ingenue look is perfect for comedies. And if her onscreen persona never becomes annoying, it is because the wonderfully gruff Nishida does exasperation so well that you start feeling sorry for Abby instead.
While she and Maezumi do bond, in a nice touch, the language barrier that divides them remains throughout though it is by no means insurmountable.
Tsutomu Yamazaki, who appeared in Tampopo as a trucker who helps the titular character become a first-class chef, turns in a funny cameo here as a ramen master who can barely keep awake as he bestows his blessings on noodles which meet his exacting standards.
You wonder what he would have made of this movie.
(ST)
Claustrophobia
Ivy Ho
The story: Tom (Ekin Cheng, above left) suggests to his employee Pearl (Karena Lam, above right) that she quit her job and take up another one. Something seems to have happened between them but it is not clear what exactly.
The film then unfolds chronologically in reverse, revealing more information with each step back in time, but raising almost as many questions as answers along the way.
The Chinese title Intimate (Qin Mi) and the English title Claustrophobia both apply equally to this film.
Set in cars, lifts, a crammed office and a crowded restaurant, it is about the awkward proximity that urban living thrusts people into. It explores this enforced closeness with people you might have little in common with – and know little about – and how this can be either claustrophobic or strangely intimate, or even an ambiguous mix of the two.
The first time the audience sees Tom and Pearl alone, it is in his car after he has dropped off their colleagues. There is tension between them, but much is left unsaid and you are left to wonder what exactly passed between them. Was there an affair? Was there a moment when a line was crossed?
This is Ivy Ho’s directorial debut after penning award-winning scripts for the well-received dramas Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996) and July Rhapsody (2002).
The Hong Kong film-maker has chosen to tell a deceptively simple story in an unusual way as the narrative unspools backwards.
Is this a movie that calls for it? Memento’s (2000) fractured structure reflected its protagonist’s state of mind, while Irreversible’s (2002) reverse story-telling made a point about the fragility of happiness.
Here, the device serves to heighten dramatic tension in order to sustain viewer interest. But there is no denouement really.
The interesting thing, however, is that the state of Tom and Pearl’s relationship could conceivably have made no difference to how the story ends.
Ho also includes as a counterpoint the prickly relationship between two other colleagues, the earnest John (Derek Tsang) and the abrasive Jewel (Chucky Woo), reflecting another facet of claustrophobic intimacy.
With its elliptical silences and moody tone, you can absolutely envision this as a European film.
Karena Lam does a competent job reining her feelings in, but she is no Juliette Binoche or Irene Jacob, whose faces reveal hidden depths with the tiniest flickers of emotion.
Ekin Cheng’s take on the seemingly well-meaning and decent boss does not delve far beyond the surface. But it strikes the right note as you never quite get a grasp on him.
Claustrophobia might be too tentative and obtuse for some, but that is what life is like at times. Isn’t it?
(ST)
Ivy Ho
The story: Tom (Ekin Cheng, above left) suggests to his employee Pearl (Karena Lam, above right) that she quit her job and take up another one. Something seems to have happened between them but it is not clear what exactly.
The film then unfolds chronologically in reverse, revealing more information with each step back in time, but raising almost as many questions as answers along the way.
The Chinese title Intimate (Qin Mi) and the English title Claustrophobia both apply equally to this film.
Set in cars, lifts, a crammed office and a crowded restaurant, it is about the awkward proximity that urban living thrusts people into. It explores this enforced closeness with people you might have little in common with – and know little about – and how this can be either claustrophobic or strangely intimate, or even an ambiguous mix of the two.
The first time the audience sees Tom and Pearl alone, it is in his car after he has dropped off their colleagues. There is tension between them, but much is left unsaid and you are left to wonder what exactly passed between them. Was there an affair? Was there a moment when a line was crossed?
This is Ivy Ho’s directorial debut after penning award-winning scripts for the well-received dramas Comrades: Almost A Love Story (1996) and July Rhapsody (2002).
The Hong Kong film-maker has chosen to tell a deceptively simple story in an unusual way as the narrative unspools backwards.
Is this a movie that calls for it? Memento’s (2000) fractured structure reflected its protagonist’s state of mind, while Irreversible’s (2002) reverse story-telling made a point about the fragility of happiness.
Here, the device serves to heighten dramatic tension in order to sustain viewer interest. But there is no denouement really.
The interesting thing, however, is that the state of Tom and Pearl’s relationship could conceivably have made no difference to how the story ends.
Ho also includes as a counterpoint the prickly relationship between two other colleagues, the earnest John (Derek Tsang) and the abrasive Jewel (Chucky Woo), reflecting another facet of claustrophobic intimacy.
With its elliptical silences and moody tone, you can absolutely envision this as a European film.
Karena Lam does a competent job reining her feelings in, but she is no Juliette Binoche or Irene Jacob, whose faces reveal hidden depths with the tiniest flickers of emotion.
Ekin Cheng’s take on the seemingly well-meaning and decent boss does not delve far beyond the surface. But it strikes the right note as you never quite get a grasp on him.
Claustrophobia might be too tentative and obtuse for some, but that is what life is like at times. Isn’t it?
(ST)
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story
Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Waltz With Bashir is the record of Israeli film-maker Ari Folman’s journey to shed light on a dark chapter of his life.
As a 19-year-old soldier, he was present at the killing of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, a revenge exacted by Christian militia for the killing of Lebanese president Bashir Jumayel, a Christian.
But for more than 20 years after that, he had no memory of that night in September 1982 and the role he played.
One’s instinct for survival and self- preservation is so strong that when faced with something unbearable, one either detaches himself from what is happening or blocks it out altogether.
As Folman speaks to fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to piece together the past, he recalls the ugly truth of the killing.
He also wrote and directed the animated feature film of the same name which has won more than 20 awards.
Here, the unflinching chronicle is accompanied by beautiful drawings by David Polonsky, who was the art director and chief illustrator for the movie.
He depicts grey and yellow nightmare scenarios, sepia-hued memories of war and full-colour contemporary life with equal aplomb.
While the sketches might distance one from the horror of what took place, the final two pages of photographs – of dead Palestinians sprawled in the streets and of a woman devastated by grief – close that gap.
If you like this, read: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (1999, US$10.20 or S$15.30, amazon. com). A harrowing portrayal of genocide which asks the piercing question: Why was nothing done to stop the killings in Rwanda?
(ST)
Ari Folman and David Polonsky
Waltz With Bashir is the record of Israeli film-maker Ari Folman’s journey to shed light on a dark chapter of his life.
As a 19-year-old soldier, he was present at the killing of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, a revenge exacted by Christian militia for the killing of Lebanese president Bashir Jumayel, a Christian.
But for more than 20 years after that, he had no memory of that night in September 1982 and the role he played.
One’s instinct for survival and self- preservation is so strong that when faced with something unbearable, one either detaches himself from what is happening or blocks it out altogether.
As Folman speaks to fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to piece together the past, he recalls the ugly truth of the killing.
He also wrote and directed the animated feature film of the same name which has won more than 20 awards.
Here, the unflinching chronicle is accompanied by beautiful drawings by David Polonsky, who was the art director and chief illustrator for the movie.
He depicts grey and yellow nightmare scenarios, sepia-hued memories of war and full-colour contemporary life with equal aplomb.
While the sketches might distance one from the horror of what took place, the final two pages of photographs – of dead Palestinians sprawled in the streets and of a woman devastated by grief – close that gap.
If you like this, read: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (1999, US$10.20 or S$15.30, amazon. com). A harrowing portrayal of genocide which asks the piercing question: Why was nothing done to stop the killings in Rwanda?
(ST)
Monster, 1959
David Maine
The humble B-grade monster movie has been transformed into a modern fable about America.
David Maine’s ambitious sci-fi novel tackles diverse themes such as the hubris of man, myth-making and identity, and the callousness of the entertainment industry. Yet, it never feels overstretched.
It is structured like a film, with the book divided into reels and the chapters given knowing titles such as Seen This Movie Before and Close-up. A genuine affection for 1950s flicks is mixed with a pointed commentary on the state of the world.
The mutant in question, K., is the unexpected and unlikely by-product of American tests on the effects of high- level radiation in the South Pacific.
“To the human eye, K. is an evolutionary absurdity. Nature couldn’t make up her mind what to do with him,” and so he has claws, residual butterfly wings, crimson feathers on his chest, and stands 40ft from crown to his seven- toed feet.
Maine’s audacity is to re-imagine the creature feature from the creature’s perspective and that has made all the difference in the world.
One of the most touching things about the book is how K.’s mind is dimly stirred into consciousness by the events around him.
Caught by humans and paraded as a travelling attraction, K. is portrayed as a fearsome monstrosity. In fact, he is a vegetarian and his innocence is contrasted with the tangled web of human affairs.
There is an irreverent tone to Monster, 1959, that meshes well with the monster-movie inspiration but anger and sarcasm are also never far from the surface.
This is an entertaining romp that leaves you with plenty to chew on.
If you like this, read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (2003, US$8 or S$12, amazon.com). The classic tale of a monster created by a medical student is about man’s arrogance and a warning against playing god.
(ST)
David Maine
The humble B-grade monster movie has been transformed into a modern fable about America.
David Maine’s ambitious sci-fi novel tackles diverse themes such as the hubris of man, myth-making and identity, and the callousness of the entertainment industry. Yet, it never feels overstretched.
It is structured like a film, with the book divided into reels and the chapters given knowing titles such as Seen This Movie Before and Close-up. A genuine affection for 1950s flicks is mixed with a pointed commentary on the state of the world.
The mutant in question, K., is the unexpected and unlikely by-product of American tests on the effects of high- level radiation in the South Pacific.
“To the human eye, K. is an evolutionary absurdity. Nature couldn’t make up her mind what to do with him,” and so he has claws, residual butterfly wings, crimson feathers on his chest, and stands 40ft from crown to his seven- toed feet.
Maine’s audacity is to re-imagine the creature feature from the creature’s perspective and that has made all the difference in the world.
One of the most touching things about the book is how K.’s mind is dimly stirred into consciousness by the events around him.
Caught by humans and paraded as a travelling attraction, K. is portrayed as a fearsome monstrosity. In fact, he is a vegetarian and his innocence is contrasted with the tangled web of human affairs.
There is an irreverent tone to Monster, 1959, that meshes well with the monster-movie inspiration but anger and sarcasm are also never far from the surface.
This is an entertaining romp that leaves you with plenty to chew on.
If you like this, read: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (2003, US$8 or S$12, amazon.com). The classic tale of a monster created by a medical student is about man’s arrogance and a warning against playing god.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Horsemen
Jonas Akerlund
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports could consider promoting this movie. After all, the message here is: spend more time with your children.
But this message is hammered into the viewer in a sensationalistic manner with a series of horrific killings in which the victims are hung from assorted contraptions with industrial-strength meat hooks.
Seldom has the dangers of parental neglect been spelt out so gruesomely.
Dennis Quaid is the detective in charge of the case, oblivious to what is happening under his own nose, while Zhang Ziyi plays the adopted daughter of one of the victims.
Big-time Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund’s overwrought second feature piles on the religious associations. The movie title refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The effect, though, is hokey rather than genuinely unsettling.
He tries to dodge the tag of exploitation by turning this into a cautionary tale, but the moral lesson just feels hastily slapped on.
(ST)
Jonas Akerlund
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports could consider promoting this movie. After all, the message here is: spend more time with your children.
But this message is hammered into the viewer in a sensationalistic manner with a series of horrific killings in which the victims are hung from assorted contraptions with industrial-strength meat hooks.
Seldom has the dangers of parental neglect been spelt out so gruesomely.
Dennis Quaid is the detective in charge of the case, oblivious to what is happening under his own nose, while Zhang Ziyi plays the adopted daughter of one of the victims.
Big-time Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund’s overwrought second feature piles on the religious associations. The movie title refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The effect, though, is hokey rather than genuinely unsettling.
He tries to dodge the tag of exploitation by turning this into a cautionary tale, but the moral lesson just feels hastily slapped on.
(ST)
Traitor
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Magique!
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Monday, April 20, 2009
If There're Seasons...
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Taken
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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)
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)
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