Din Tao: Leader Of The Parade
Fung Kai
The story: A-tai (Alan Kuo) is estranged from his father (Chen Po-cheng), the head of the Chiu-tien din tao troupe in Taichung. Returning home after a stint in Taipei studying rock music, A-tai throws down the gauntlet to a rival outfit. He has to prove that he can rally the troupe members together while fending off intimidating gestures from his competitor, the arrogant A-hsien (Alien Huang).
The film is inspired by the true story of Taichung’s Chio-Tian Folk Drums And Arts Troupe, which engages in din tao, the traditional Taiwanese practice of performing at religious festivals.
Chio-Tian is known for its exhilarating drumming performances as well as for its unusual way of seeking blessings for Taiwan – by circumnavigating the island on foot with their big drums and the full- body costumes of deities such as Prince Nezha.
The strongly localised story is probably the reason the film has struck such a chord at home. Din Tao’s box-office takings have exceeded NT$317 million (S$13.7 million), making it Taiwan’s top-grossing film of the year so far.
Unfortunately, the movie might have a harder time parlaying that success overseas.
It is a pity because the material definitely has potential. The religious rites and rituals are bursting with colour and sound and movement and writerdirector Fung Kai captures some of that excitement.
However, the first-time film-maker is unable to weave together an engaging drama from the many standard narrative elements here: the feud between father and son, the clash between tradition and innovation, the rivalry between different troupes and the inevitable triumph of the underdogs.
The Chiu-tien troupe also comprises a ragtag bunch of familiar types from the tomboyish girl to the outsider guy who turns out to be something of a drumming freak.
Despite his genuine affection for the characters and the subject, Fung’s handling of the story is often clunky, as if he has no idea how to propel it forward.
Take, for instance, the relationship between A-tai and A-hsien. The laughably exaggerated rivalry between the two is marked by bravado and posturing: A-hsien would turn up and hassle A-tai and his troupe in the midst of their training. And for some reason, Fung feels the need to make this point more than once, making the movie longer than it needs to be.
As a documentary, the film could have been fascinating. As filmed entertainment, unlike recent crowd-pleasing box-office hits from Taiwan such as Cape No. 7 (2008) and You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011), Din Tao fails to drum up much excitement.
(ST)

Absolute Boyfriend Original TV Soundtrack
Various artists

Those Years
Roger Yang Pei-an

The Taiwanese idol drama adaptation of the manga Absolute Boyfriend (2003-2005) feels like a live-action cartoon with its exaggerated tone and slapstick humour.
Thankfully, the soundtrack is more grown-up.
Fahrenheit’s Jiro Wang gets to flaunt his buff bod on the show and also gets to strut his stuff here.
He performs the synth-pop opener Mr Perfect with his fellow boyband members, and goes solo on the rock ballad Make-believe and the mid-tempo number Perfect Heart Beat.
The lyrics on Make-believe smartly play on his role as the perfect robot boyfriend in the show: “Take me apart, discard me, throw me away to the ends of the earth/Continue to love me, and there’s no result, only torment.”
Selections from Anthony Neely, Olivia Ong and One Million Star season 5 champ Dennis Sun round up this palatable offering.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Roger Yang’s ill-conceived album of covers.
The Taiwanese singer has taken a bunch of classic English rock tunes such as Bryan Adams’ Summer Of ’69 and Metallica’s Enter Sandman and covered them in the most unimaginative way possible.
Not to mention that trying to out-Bono Bono on U2’s With Or Without You is an exercise in futility.
It is a pity because Yang is not a bad singer as he demonstrates on the tacked- on tribute to the late singer-songwriter Chang Yu-sheng.
His soaring vocals on Never Look Back and the unreleased composition Dream Of suggest that a covers album of Chang songs would have been a far more compelling proposition.
As for English covers, indulge your inner rock god by all means, but do it at the karaoke or on Guitar Hero like everyone else.
(ST)

The Killer Wolf Yoo Ha The story: A man mysteriously bursts into flames and dies in his car. Sang Gil (Song Kang Ho) is assigned to the case and he reluctantly takes on rookie female detective Eun Young (Lee Na Young). Another unusual killing occurs and they soon discover that the deaths are linked. There are bite marks on both bodies and they speculate that a wolfdog – a cross between a wolf and a dog – is responsible for the killings. Lassie, the celebrated home-coming dog, has nothing on the lupine-canine star of this film. If you think that a dog finding its way home is impressive, wait till you see what the wolfdog Jilpoong does for its owner here. Like Jilpoong, the movie is something of a crossbreed as well. On one hand, there is the crime thriller aspect as detectives chase after clues and hunt down suspects. On the other hand, the film is also clearly aimed at animal lovers as Eun Young strikes up a bond with Jilpoong and there are long and adoring shots of the wolfdog bounding along on the road. Writer-director Yoo Ha had previously helmed the neo-noir mob drama A Dirty Carnival (2006) as well as the racy period drama A Frozen Flower (2008). With his latest, he continues to elude easy categorisation. He has also added a few other interesting elements to the story though not all of them lead to a satisfactory pay-off. Lee Na Young (Maundy Thursday, 2006) gets to act tough here as the rookie cop battling blatant sexism while trying to crack a puzzling case. Not only does Eun Young have to endure barbs and insults from her chauvinistic colleagues, she also has to endure kicks and punches in the line of duty. Given that the behaviour of the cops borders on villainy, the actual bad guys are painted an unambiguous shade of black as they are guilty of the most heinous crime of child prostitution. Added to the mix is Song Kang Ho (The Host, 2006), often hailed as one of Korea’s best actors. He once again plays a detective nine years after 2003’s excellent Memories Of Murder (2003). The comparison to the understated and gripping Murder only shows up how gimmicky The Killer Wolf is. But the twist of a serial-killer animal is unusual enough to pique one’s interest and keep one watching to find out how and why the murders were committed and who the mastermind behind them all is. Given the premise, you would be barking up the wrong tree if you were expecting subtlety here. (ST)

What To Expect When You Are Expecting Kirk Jones The story: Five couples in Atlanta deal with the joys and heartaches of getting a baby. Fitness guru Jules (Cameron Diaz) is pregnant with her dancer boyfriend Evan’s (Matthew Morrison) child. The Breast Choice boutique owner Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) is expecting one with her husband Gary (Ben Falcone). Gary’s father Ramsey (Dennis Quaid) is about to be a dad all over again with his much younger trophy wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker). Food-truck entrepreneur Rosie (Anna Kendrick) unexpectedly gets knocked up by her business competitor Marco (Chace Crawford). Photographer Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and her husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) are looking to adopt a baby. The film is said to be inspired by the classic antenatal advice tome, What To Expect When You’re Expecting (1984). The best-selling What To Expect When You’re Expecting has been called the bible of American pregnancy – many mothers-to-be refer to it religiously. You might think that there is no way a guidebook can be adapted into a narrative film, and you would be right. But that has not stopped Hollywood from blatantly attempting to cash in on a well-known title. And it does so in the laziest of ways – serving up an assortment of pregnancy woes in a buffet-style movie. The five couples’ stories are an attempt to capture the spectrum of experiences that people have in getting a child from easy-breezy pregnancy to drastic hormonal mood swings; from those who get a bun in the oven by accident to those who just cannot deliver the goods; and even from the joy of carrying twins to the pain of suffering a miscarriage. The bloated film is further stuffed with sideplots such as Alex joining a group of dads to work through his mixed feelings about adopting a baby. With so much going on in the film, there is barely time for the individual stories to make an impact. Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine, 1998) does not help matters with his glossy direction, which only adds to the sense of glibness. After a while, the stories begin to feel like case studies. Remember the smart comedy Juno (2007) or the sweetly raucous Knocked Up (2007)? Actually, all you need is one pregnancy for a movie to get that glow. (ST)

Love In The Buff
Pang Ho Cheung
The story: At the end of Love In A Puff (2010), adman Jimmy (Shawn Yue) won over cosmetics salesgirl Cherie (Miriam Yeung). But happily ever after proves elusive as they begin to fight and Jimmy leaves Hong Kong to work in China. Cherie eventually finds herself working on the mainland too. They remain attracted to each other even though Jimmy is dating a stewardess (Yang Mi) and Cherie is pursued by an older businessman (Xu Zheng).

 The criminally overlooked Love In A Puff was one of the best films of 2010, so it is with delight and trepidation that one approaches its sequel. The good news is that Love In The Buff is a worthy successor even if it does not quite reach the same heights as Puff. Right off the bat, Buff echoes the earlier film’s sly opening gambit in which the narrative thread that is unfolding turns out to be a story that a character in the movie is relating. In this case, it is Cherie telling Jimmy a yarn. Listening to his characters talk is one of the greatest pleasures of watching a film by Pang Ho Cheung, a leading light of Hong Kong cinema in recent years. The writer-director has a keen ear for dialogue, both in the way characters engage in conversation and the way they tell one another tales. He reminds one of American film-maker Kevin Smith (Clerks, 1994), who also crafts movies full of sharp repartee with a good- natured sweetness at a script’s core. Because the dialogue is so realistic, Jimmy and Cherie come across as flesh-and-blood characters. Yue and Yeung are also perfectly cast: He as the impish boy-man and she as the older, more mature woman. And of course, the two share a cosy chemistry that makes you root for them even as obstacles threaten to trip them up. There is a pivotal scene in which Cherie admits to Jimmy that being with him has changed her and yet it ends on a funny note with a comment from him. It beautifully illustrates how different the two of them are and yet also compellingly demonstrates why they would be attracted to each other. Buff meanders more than Puff did, though there are a few amusing cameos thrown in here, including from popular 1990s singer Linda Wong and China actor Huang Xiaoming. Best of all is singer-actor Ekin Cheng appearing as himself as Jimmy tries to ferret out whether he was, as Cherie claims, her first boyfriend. Do not be in a hurry to leave after the film ends as there is a bonus music video clip that is a hoot to watch. In a way, the movie itself reflects the progression of Jimmy and Cherie’s relationship. What was fresh, fun and exciting at first has become familiar. To Pang’s credit, he manages to pull out some surprises and he shows that familiar characters can still create sparks together. (ST)

Being Flynn Paul Weitz The film is based on American playwright and poet Nick Flynn’s memoir, Another Bullshit Night In Suck City (2004). Clearly, this was never going to be a barrel of laughs given that it tackles estrangement, suicide and living on the streets. Robert De Niro is the deluded and stubborn father Jonathan Flynn, Julianne Moore (both below) is the single mother struggling to keep it all together, and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, 2006) is the emotionally distant son, Nick. After being largely absent from his son’s life, Jonathan gets in touch out of the blue when he is evicted from his apartment. They later cross paths again at the homeless shelter where Nick works. Awkwardness ensues. Scriptwriter and director Paul Weitz (About A Boy, 2002) tries to go for a quirky offbeat tone in handling the material, except that the attempt does not quite stick and Being Flynn remains largely unaffecting. (ST)

Fairy Tale Killer Danny Pang The story: Jun (Wang Baoqiang), a stutterer with his face painted white, confesses to five murders in a police station but is released as his statement does not add up. But the next day, the brutal murders he confessed to begin. Each time, the word “wolf” is left at the scene of the crime. Detective Han (Lau Ching Wan) has to hunt down Jun while covering up his team’s slip-up in the first place. The latest offering from Hong Kong director Danny Pang is like Frankenstein’s monster assembled from disparate movie cast-offs, with all the rough joints showing. Fairy-tale fever has been sweeping Hollywood with movies such as Mirror Mirror and the upcoming Snow White And The Huntsman, so Pang has decided to cash in by clumsily adding a fairy-tale motif to the killings. He then pilfers a central conceit from the South Korean thriller The Chaser (2008), in which the killer confesses to his crimes but is then set free for lack of evidence. Indeed, the Mandarin title of this film is Zhui Xiong, or Chasing The Murderer. Pang then proceeds to pile on the crazy. Jun appears to be mentally unstable and he is seen with a long-haired woman (Elanne Kwong). She could be a Chinese Rapunzel or, more likely, Sadako from the Japanese horror flick Ring (1998) – after all, she paints creepy drawings which are full of violence and gore. Coincidentally, Han has an autistic son also given to scribbling all over their apartment. Guess who later conveniently puts together clues for Han? There is also the side plot of Han’s team falling apart as the members suspect him of betraying one of them. The more pressing question here is: Why must all five of them in the team go on an investigation together? So that we can have a multitude of reaction shots when some discovery is made? Everything is treated with a heavy hand and underlined with a loud and intrusive score. Even the usually solid Lau cannot save this hysterical mess as the film ends on a wildly over-the-top note in an abandoned concrete “castle”. By this point, Fairy Tale Killer has slaughtered all plausibility and murdered in the audience any remaining interest in the story. (ST)

The Original Karen Mok Show @ Taipei (3DVD + CD) Karen Mok The bad news is that Singapore was not a pit stop on Hong Kong singer-actress Karen Mok’s last concert tour. The good news is that fans can now catch her being crazy, sexy and cool up close on DVD. The recording was made at her gig in Taipei Arena last August and we get to see an unusually emotional Mok on stage as it was her final live performance before her wedding last October. But first, the crazy. That would have to be the headpiece she wore which looked like giant feelers. The sexy was par for the course for the singer who had posed nude for the cover of her 1996 Cantonese album, Karen Mok In Totality. For the gig, she shimmied about in hot pants and flesh-toned stockings and even lounged about on a bed on stage. Cool were the songs themselves, particularly those off her covers album, Aftertaste (2009), such as her distinctively husky reinvigoration of classics such as Zhou Xuan’s Blooming Flowers And The Full Moon. Disappointingly, the Xinjiang folk song Playing Hand Drum Singing Song from that album was not part of the show. The set list here also includes her signature songs such as Cloudy Day, Love and He Doesn’t Love Me, an early hit from her first Mandarin album To Be (1997). The final track is the Wakin Chau-penned I’m Going To Marry You Tomorrow, a fitting send-off for Mok as she walked down the aisle. Hopefully, marriage won’t mean the end of the crazy, sexy, cool Mok her fans know and love. (ST)

Ella To Be Ella Chen As part of Taiwan’s popular girl group S.H.E, Ella Chen (right) has always been cast as the tomboyish one, partly because of her low, alto voice. In her new EP, she ditches that image for edgier looks. In the picture on the cover, she wears a fierce-looking deconstructed leather jacket studded with spikes. But unlike fellow group member Hebe Tien’s To Hebe (2010) and My Love (2011), Chen’s solo sojourn is decidedly less of a revelation music-wise. The material here includes the retro synth-pop of Bad Girl, the theme song for her romantic comedy of the same name, as well as Know Me Then Love Me, a romantic ballad by her and Tank. It is pretty much standard-issue stuff and nothing that would be out of place on a S.H.E record. The stronger ballad here is definitely You Have Been Written Into My Song with sodagreen frontman Wu Ching- feng, though this was already included in that band’s What Is Troubling You (2011) album. More interesting are the jazzy I Am Who I Am and the breezily adorable Thick-skinned. Chen composed the music and wrote the lyrics for both and one can imagine her serenading her husband-to-be, Malaysian marketing executive Alvin Lai, with the latter: “Thick-skinned, you always make me happy, thank you for loving me more than yourself.” The bonus disc comprises three Chen-composed tracks which includes 330, a birthday song for Tien, and Princess Selina, a sweet number written for Selina Jen, the third member of the trio who was hurt in an explosion accident in Oct 2010. They might all be releasing solo material but they all still get along swimmingly, which means that fans of the group need not worry about S.H.E splintering. While this is not an offering that will radically change one’s view of Chen, the EP does provide a promising glimpse of the Ella to be. (ST)

The Raven James McTeigue The story: A serial killer is recreating the gruesome murders from the fevered imagination of 19th-century writer Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack). The stakes are raised even higher when Poe’s beloved Emily (Alice Eve) gets abducted. Racing against time, he works with Detective Fields (Luke Evans) to hunt down the mastermind. The title is a reference to Poe’s narrative poem of the same name in which a man, in despair over the loss of his lover, slowly descends into madness. Actor John Cusack has clearly been watching Sherlock Holmes. Not the BBC’s small-screen adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch as the arrogant and coolly cerebral detective but the splashier big-screen adaptations from Guy Ritchie in which Robert Downey Jr plays the crime-solver with a kind of manic energy that flirts with parody. So we get Cusack channelling the showier performance when one might expect a more morose and brooding Poe, say, one along the lines of Michael Fassbender’s Edward Fairfax Rochester in Jane Eyre (2011). This is Poe then, as the film imagines, in his last days – out of ideas and numbing himself with drink. And also improbably in love. The bigger problem is that one finds it hard to buy Cusack as someone from the Victorian era the moment he opens his mouth. Cusack as a hitman in the dark comedy Grosse Point Blank (1997)? Sure. Cusack as a lovelorn record store owner in High Fidelity (2000)? Absolutely. There is something so undeniably contemporary about his speech that it would take a great leap of faith to accept him as Poe. In contrast, the square-jawed and muttonchopped Luke Evans (Immortals, 2011) is perfectly at home in the movie’s setting, while the lovely Alice Eve gamely makes the most of her role as the spirited and spunky Emily. Miscasting aside, there is some thrill in following the macabre mystery as it unfolds. It is like a twisted treasure hunt in which one clue leads to the next except that here, the clues are found on the murder victims and point the way to the next body. Frustratingly, the slippery perpetrator is always just one step ahead and manages to elude the grasp of the police each time. The big reveal, like Cusack’s performance, falls a little short. Stretching oneself is all well and good but should the 45-year-old actor attempt another period piece when modernity clings to him with every word he speaks? As Poe himself had written so succinctly: “Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’.” (ST)

Skip Beat! Original Soundtrack Various artists The idol drama Skip Beat! stars Taiwan’s Ivy Chen as well as Choi Si Won and Lee Dong Hae from the popular K-pop boyband Super Junior. No surprises then that Super Junior M – the Mandarin-singing offshoot of Super Junior which includes Choi and Lee – contribute to the soundtrack as well. Opening theme S.O.L.O. and ending theme That’s Love are bouncy poppy numbers that are easy on the ears. Just don’t listen too closely – the Mandarin enunciation is rather stilted and awkward at times. For a more impressive show of pipes, head for the ballad Wait by A-lin, rock ballad Hands by Shin and electro-rocker Future by Mify from the girl group Roomie. Flame Of Love Hu Xia The hit Taiwanese film You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011) not only turned actors Kai Ko and Michelle Chen into stars, but it also launched China singer Hu Xia (below) into the big time. The theme song Those Bygone Years was a poignant ballad about missed opportunities that was perfect for Hu’s pristine and youthful vocals. And it did more for him than any song on his debut album Hu Ai Xia (2010). Tacked on as a bonus track, it is still the most memorable thing here. As with his previous record, there is a preponderance of love ballads and that makes it hard to get through Flame in one sitting. Let Me Love You seems like an attempt to recapture some of that Apple magic, since “Let me continue to love you” was a key piece of dialogue from the film. But Hu might want to think about moving on. Lonely Fairytales starts off promisingly with its unusually structured stanzas. It is too bad, then, that the track lapses into conventional emo ballad territory when it hits the chorus. The good news is that he sounds a little more impassioned than usual on the title track. But it is not quite enough to set my world aflame. (ST)

Gone
Heitor Dhalia
The story: Jill (Amanda Seyfried) has never been the same ever since she escaped from a serial killer who left her at the bottom of a hole in the woods. She now lives with her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) and is slowly trying to put her life together again. When Molly disappears, Jill is convinced that the killer is back. But since the police doubt Jill was ever abducted in the first place, she has to track her sister down before it is too late.
Going, going, gone. Is that the trajectory of Amanda Seyfried’s once-hot now-cooling acting career?
The actress had successfully made the jump from the small screen after notable roles in the young adult sleuthing drama Veronica Mars (2004-2007) and the polygamy drama Big Love (2006-2011).
Her winning turn as the spirited bride-to-be in the hit musical Mamma Mia! (2008) promised to be the start of bigger and better things to come.
But that promise seems to have fizzled out with her recent roles in underwhelming films such as the romance Dear John (2010), the fairy-tale reboot Red Riding Hood (2011) and the science-fiction thriller In Time (2011). At least she cannot be accused of being a slacker.
In Gone, Seyfried’s big eyes are used to good effect to convey fear and frustration. And it is interesting the way Jill just casually cooks up stories whenever she is trying to pump someone for information. Too bad the plot never really goes anywhere.
While the cops think that she is a nutjob, the film does not do enough to make you wonder whether Jill was abducted in the first place.
Instead, the bulk of the film focuses on her improbably smooth trek towards the perpetrator. To ratchet up the tension, the action here is compressed into a day or two. But this means there is precious little time for dead ends or red herrings. A clue will lead her down some path where some other clue will conveniently present itself. This is a most careless killer at work here.
After all that chasing about, the film ends rather abruptly on an anti-climactic note that is not very satisfying at all.
If you are a fan of missing-person genre films, hunt down The Vanishing instead – not the cop-out 1993 American remake but the riveting and chilling 1988 Dutch original.
As for Seyfried, there is still hope for her yet. She plays porn actress Linda Lovelace in the upcoming biopic, Lovelace, and also the role of the tragic Cosette in the musical film Les Miserables. Just for displaying that fearless range, the actress deserves to stick around a little longer.
(ST)

The Cabin In The Woods
Drew Goddard
The story: Five college students (Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz and Jesse Williams) head to a remote cabin for a getaway. It seems like the cliched set-up for a slasher flick but it becomes apparent that there are lab technicians (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) pulling the strings. Is anyone going to survive and what is the point of the manipulation?

If you have always thought that the deck was stacked against the hapless nubile victims of countless slasher flicks, this movie confirms your suspicions. And then it takes the genre further, much further.
Right off the bat, there is the suggestion that this is not your normal slasher flick.
Two men in lab coats (Jenkins and Whitford) seem like they could be technicians at any run-of-the-mill industry.
They look like jovial geeky types but some of their dialogue does not make sense and one is intrigued as to whom or what they are working for.
The plot thickens when a betting pool is launched in the lab, though again, it is not clear exactly what people are betting on.
Meanwhile, the college students discover a basement in the cabin and eventually head there.
Writer-producer Joss Whedon and writer-director Drew Goddard have previously worked together on the fantasy adventure television Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004) and it is clear that their partnership works.
Fans of their work will relish the snappy dialogue here as well as the appearance of Kranz, from Whedon’s short-lived sci-fi drama series Dollhouse (2009-2010), and Amy Acker, from both Dollhouse and Angel, in a supporting role.
The film is a chance for the writers’ imagination to run wild and, indeed, they do not hold back. They have fun with conventions such as the creepy guy whose words of warning are always ignored as well as ominous Latin incantations.
Word of advice: If a phrase includes the word “animus”, best not to read it aloud.
They even find a way to pay homage to horror tropes of other cultures, most memorably that of Japan’s.
There are shades of The Hunger Games (2012) here in the way that events are being rigged and controlled but the ends are even more sinister.
Crucially, after leading the audience down a certain path, Whedon and Goddard do not cheat with the ending.
The smart, knowing and thoroughly enjoyable Scream (1996) breathed new life into the moribund slasher flick.
Cabin changes the game altogether.
(ST)

m.e.s.s.u.u.p
lgf

Play Pretend
Elyzia

Holding Tightly Onto The Sun
Redpoll

Love Has To Be Timely
ah5ive

Going by these singles from newly set-up local label Live For The Moment, female-fronted bands certainly seem to be having their moment in the sun.
Electro-pop act lgf, rock band Elyzia and folk rock outfit Redpoll all feature women vocalists with alternative popsters ah5ive being the sole male-fronted group.
Of the lot, it is lgf, also known as Little Green Frog, who leave the strongest impression.
The single m.e.s.s.u.u.p has attitude to spare and also boasts the most impressive vocals.
Singer Regine Han is sassy and menacing when she threatens to “mess you up” over a thumping synth line.
Elyzia serve up angsty rock on Poison and Creep. Poison benefits from an unexpected Cantonese rap while Creep (not a Radiohead cover) is a melodious melancholic number that could do with a set of stronger pipes.
Unsatisfactory vocals dog Redpoll as well. A Song That Has Ended Before Even Starting is the more promising of their two tracks with its contrast of a jaunty tune with less sunny lyrics.
As for ah5ive, the phrasing on Love Comes Too Late is a little too in-your- face, preventing one from immersing in the emo ballad.
It is a pity given that some care and thought has gone into the design of the singles and ah5ive’s paper envelope packaging is one of the most striking.
On the whole, the launch of the label excites with its promise to contribute to the local music scene.
(ST)

Perfect Two
Kevin Chu
Watch this film and you will do a double take. Child star Xiao Xiao Bin is the spitting image of his father Xiao Bin Bin when he was young – that is the most interesting thing about this throwaway flick.
Taiwanese pretty boy Vic Chou plays Xiao Xiao Bin’s father Bee. He was once a successful motorcycle racer but has been a deadbeat drunk since his wife left him. While there is some chemistry between Chou and his pint-sized co-star, too much of this Kevin Chu movie feels lazily plotted and incredibly manipulative.
Furthermore, Chou is not an actor who can convincingly tap into darkness. Ella Chen, from popular girl group S.H.E, does not have much to do as a tomboyish cafe owner pining after Bee.
If titles were honest, this film would be called Far From Perfect.
(ST)

Sandy Lam MMXII Concert – Singapore
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Friday
It could easily have been a Mandopop greatest hits concert but Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam had something else in mind.
To her Mandarin-speaking fans, she is best known for her effortless balladry. There is light and sweetness in that voice of hers whether she is pining after a wayward lover on Ai Shang Yi Ge Bu Hui Jia De Ren (In Love With Someone Who Doesn’t Come Home) or being unabashedly romantic on Zhi Shao Hai You Ni (At Least There Was You).
But those who grew up with her Cantonese releases would be familiar with the dance diva side of her as well.
It was a sexy Sandy who greeted the sold-out crowd of 7,500 as she returned to her dance roots in an early medley. The 45-year-old sizzled on stage in a short sequined dress and a head of loosely tousled tresses. Digging deep into her repertoire, she belted out early Cantonese hits such as Grey (1987) and Burn, off City Project Part II – Fuir La Cite (1989).
Late in the set, the energetic performer put together yet another dance medley which ended with the awesome Feng Le (Crazy) off Drifting (1991). It was not for nothing that a set musician rapped during the track: “Lady Gaga’s got nada on you.”
It was a treat indeed for her long-time supporters though it probably left the non-Cantonese-speaking fans a little cold.
It was clear from the enthusiastic reaction to the familiar opening strains of ballads such as Ai Shang, from her debut Mandarin album in 1990, the monster hit Shang Hen (Scar) and Dang Ai Yi Cheng Wang Shi (Love Forgone) off the Farewell My Concubine (1993) soundtrack, what many in the audience had come for.
And Lam delivered the goods with a voice that remains in great shape.
She bantered happily in Mandarin, English and Cantonese as she told the crowd that “Singapore is like my second home”.
The seasoned performer also sang a few English covers including All-4-One’s I Swear. She then gamely played the guitar for the first time on stage in Singapore when she crooned The Everly Brothers’ Crying In The Rain, the song that first got her into the business.
For those looking for clues to her upcoming new album – her first since the Mandarin disc Breathe Me (2006) – the concert offered some tantalising hints.
The segue to Shi Zi (Persimmon) was a little jarring with the visuals of cataclysmic destruction but the new Mandarin song was definitely a showcase number. Lam was dressed in a striking red gown while a flight of stairs stretched above her. Her voice swooped and swirled during the Gothic ballad’s chorus, which comprised the word wu ya (raven) repeated and drawn out.
This is as experimental as Lam has ever been.
The slice of moody electronica that was the opening Cantonese number Impermanence also gave off an alt-rock vibe. On the other hand, Liang Xin Hua (Two Heart Flower) from the Hong Kong film Hi, Fidelity (2011), was a gorgeously tender Cantonese ballad that would not be out of place on her previous records.
One can only eagerly await the new album to see where Lam takes us next. Meanwhile, it is time to dig out her old hits and party like it’s 1989.
(ST)

More About Love
Tiger Huang
The Queen of Pub has been enjoying a second wind in her career since making an acclaimed comeback in 2009 with Simple/Not Simple.
On her latest album, Taiwan’s Tiger Huang seems to be a little more upbeat about love, despite having seen the ups and downs of life.
Her husky vocals sound hopeful and poignant as she sings on Expectation For Love: “I still have expectations of love/There’s still an after when a relationship ends”. And the Paul Lee-composed Shatter is a quiet paean to the power of love: “Tenderness shatters obstinacy, trust shatters all fear/From resistance to understanding/Deep feelings, true feelings, let myself be transformed”.
Musically, the disc, like One More Time, One More Chance (2011), offers up a range of genres. She takes on the electronica of Delusion, the retro- rock of Hello Happiness, as well as the gospelflavoured The More You Love, The Wiser You Get.
Tiger, Tiger, burning bright – proof that the longer she sings, the better she gets.

Jay Park Vol. 1 – New Breed
Jay Park
With his tattoos and macabre skull-like make-up for the CD inset pictures, Jay Park (below) makes it clear that he is edgier than your average K-popster.
The Korean-American was actually part of boyband 2PM’s original line-up, but was dropped in 2009 after he was found to have made disparaging comments about Korea on his MySpace account.
He certainly has the swagger on the opening title track: “I’m hip-hop just for the record and I got respect for people that put that real s**t in there music”. There is plenty here, though, that would not be out of place on any self-respecting pop idol’s CD. Park is smooth and slinky on the R&B track Star, and sexy and seductive on Come On Over.
The last four tracks venture back into hip-hop territory and he boasts: “You can’t do what I does, so just clap for me.”
New Breed might have something of an identity problem, but one thing it’s not lacking in is self- confidence.
(ST)

Nightfall
Roy Chow
The story: After serving a 20-year prison sentence, Eugene (Nick Cheung) is released and chances upon Zoe (Janice Man), who looks like the woman he was convicted of raping and murdering. When Zoe’s creep of a father is found murdered, all clues point towards Eugene as the culprit. But police inspector Lam (Simon Yam) discovers that the two crimes are related.

One can hardly believe that the writer-director behind the assured Nightfall, Roy Chow, is the same man responsible for the preposterous Murderer.
That 2009 thriller starring Aaron Kwok was filled with twist after twist, leading up to a jaw-dropping stunner which made you want to laugh and swear at the same time.
In Nightfall, Chow never loses the plot.
It certainly helps that he has the compelling Nick Cheung here, one of the most consistently watchable actors in Hong Kong cinema at the moment.
As the mute Eugene, he keeps you guessing what his true intentions are regarding Zoe. He can only make strangled noises – the result of stabbing his own throat with a pencil in a suicide attempt all those years ago – and everything is communicated through his eyes and body language.
Even a simple scene of him eating an ice cream after his release is shot through with ambiguity and a vague sense of unease.
Is he a psychopathic creep whose brain has been fried after the long years of incarceration? Or is there genuine tenderness in his feelings for her? And why is he drawing attention to himself over the murder of Zoe’s father?
Cheung also demonstrates his commitment to the role by buffing up considerably. The results can be prominently seen on the poster and publicity stills for the film. His breakthrough turn as a desperate kidnapper in Beast Stalker (2008) had won him multiple Best Actor accolades and he could well be in the running again with this role, come awards season.
Meanwhile, Simon Yam is reliably good as the dogged cop with excellent instincts. He carries with him the baggage of a wife who committed suicide and a tenuous relationship with an unhappy daughter.
As Nightfall gets closer to unmasking the truth, Chow doles out details skilfully enough to keep one riveted as flashbacks with a younger and innocent Eugene (Shawn Dou) flesh out the tale.
With its themes of vengeance, justice and familial bonds, one can see shades of Korean auteur Park Chan Wook’s Old Boy (2003) here. Chow, though, takes Nightfall in a less intense direction.
Eventually, you realise that the film is a tragic melodrama in the guise of a murder thriller. The final revelations cast previous scenes in a different light, including the enigmatic portrait of Eugene watching Zoe play the piano.
To Chow’s credit, the thriller is satisfying and the melodrama devastating.
(ST)

WAKE UP
Anthony Neely
Taiwanese-American Anthony Neely certainly wakes you up on the title track of his second album. Over a propulsive rhythm, he urges with his rocker rasp: “So come take a ride with your eyes open wide/it’s the time for the time of your life.”
The positive energy courses through This Moment and Letters as well as album ender Awakening: “Want to smile more brilliantly/Want to love more lovingly/ Want to do right by this world’s existence.”
To cover all bases, the radio-friendly ballads are here as well, including A Failed Attempt and Dear Death – the latter, a plea to be spared by Death so that he can love.
As a bonus, the single and music video for the lively and jaunty You Are My Baby are bundled with the album. It is the theme song for his romantic comedy The Soul Of Bread (2012).
Hopefully, Neely will not get too distracted from his musical journey as his career in entertainment opens up.

The Music Room: Concert Live Recording
Kit Chan
After a seven-year hiatus, home-grown singer Kit Chan’s sold-out three-night solo gig at the Marina Bay Sands’ Grand Theater last October was a triumphant return.
She sang, she flirted, she slinked and she owned the stage as if she never left.
Collected on these two discs are the songs she performed then, ranging from her early hits such as Heartache and Liking You to Cantonese musical numbers Waiting and Forget Him. Also included are the snippets of dialogue which segued into the songs.
A number of tracks included here are from her comeback covers album Re-interpreting Kit Chan (2011). While it was a treat to listen to them live, on disc, they are a little too reminiscent of the recently recorded versions.
More satisfying are the inclusion of new covers including Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U and Stephen Sondheim’s Send In The Clowns. The latter – a movingly tender reflection on missed chances – was a definite highlight of the show and it still shines here.
(ST)

The Flowers Of War
Zhang Yimou
The story: It is 1937 and Nanjing has fallen to the Japanese soldiers. A group of Chinese Catholic schoolgirls are stranded in the city and head to the church for safety. They place their hopes of salvation on the unlikely figure of the mortician John Miller (Christian Bale). A group of prostitutes led by the comely Yu Mo (Ni Ni) later break into the venue for shelter as well. Based on Chinese American author Yan Geling’s 2007 novella 13 Flowers Of Nanjing.

When one first sees Christian Bale with his fedora darting through war-torn streets, it seems as though we are being set up for something like Indiana Jones And The Rape Of Nanking.
To director Zhang Yimou’s credit, the film is not as jarring as that but on the other hand, he never quite manages to pull together the film as its tone veers from harrowing drama to a more light-hearted adventure flick.
Bale, best known for his brooding performances in the Batman films, plays Miller quite broadly at first. The rascally character is a fortune-hunter who has a weakness for both wine and women and, initially, he is concerned only with looking for money squirrelled away in the abandoned church.
But there is a pivotal point at which Miller turns into Oskar Schindler and he begins to take it upon himself to save the schoolgirls.
What changes his mind is the horrifying picture of Japanese soldiers breaking into the church and manhandling the terrified schoolgirls.
Later on, there is a scene of one of the prostitutes tied down by a group of Japanese soldiers, gang-raped and then gutted.
These shocking vignettes drive home the atrocities committed during the Rape of Nanking and make clear what fate would befall the schoolgirls if they do not escape from the city.
Yet they feel they belong more in Lu Chuan’s sombre City Of Life And Death (2009) which tackled grim realities unflinchingly.
The doomed attraction between Miller and Yu feels out of place as well, even though newcomer Ni Ni brings sass and nobility to her role as a prostitute with a tale of woe and a heart of gold.
This being a Zhang Yimou film, there are also visually arresting moments including the colourful explosion of a paper factory, though some of the flourishes seem a tad overdone.
Still, you care about the fate of the girls when a Japanese general orders for the lot of them to be taken away to perform at a “celebration”.
The film asks some piercing questions: Who should be saved? Who should be sacrificed? Is one human life worth more than another?
There are no easy answers and the film ends on a haunting and poignant note.
(ST)