I’m Always Here
Victor Wong
It has been 14 years since Malaysian pop duo Wuyin Liangpin broke up, but I still remember their fresh and breezy tunes, such as Heart Of The Palm, with much fondness.
As a solo act, Victor Wong has largely been in the shadow of former partner Michael Wong (no relation). Even if his latest album does not change that, it is a step in the right direction.
It is sweetly tender in a way that reflects Victor Wong’s maturity, as he is now a husband and father.
The Most Beautiful Greeting is dedicated to his baby daughter Vivian and on the opening ballad Winding, he sings: “Life is so winding/ What’s at the end/ Eternity is so abstract/ Time can’t be caught up with/ It’s all to love you/ All for the sake of happiness.”
He embraces the passage of time on Silently: “The clock-hands are silent/ The calendar is silent/ Turning everything old/ Dyed a pale yellow/ Yet it feels warmer.”
Some of the ballads here could warm you as well.
(ST)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn Back & Smile
Tay Kewei

Miss Kelly
Kelly Poon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bar has been set quite high for Elmore Leonard adaptations with films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty (1995) and the ongoing TV neo-western drama Justified.
Director Daniel Schechter (The Big Bad Swim, 2006) throws his hat in the ring with Life Of Crime, but comes up a little short.
The elements of a black comedy crime thriller are there, but the sum of the parts is a not-quite-satisfying whole despite a game cast trying their best.
Aniston (We’re The Millers, 2013) is sympathetic as the wife faced with her husband’s infidelity and the certain knowledge that he will not want to pay the ransom. Robbins (Thanks For Sharing, 2012) is spot-on as the boozy, blustery bully of a husband who is compromised by his dodgy business dealings.
And Fisher (Confessions Of A Shopaholic, 2009) is the bimbo mistress who is smarter than one might expect. When the kidnappers contact Frank, who is in the Bahamas with her, via telephone, she suggests unplugging it. It is a smart move given that the show is set in the 1970s, way before the advent of pesky mobile communication.
Despite having a husband and a married admirer Marshall (Will Forte from Nebraska, 2013), it is ironic that the person nicest to Mickey turns out to be her captor Louis (Hawkes from The Sessions, 2012). There is a gentleness in the interactions between the two that feels unforced.
As ransom negotiations drag on, the plot starts twisting and turning like a pretzel.
The pacing is a little too leisurely though and the double-crossings and dealings feel too low-key. This is one of those instances where the volume could have been pumped up more: Life Of Crime needed to be darker, funnier and more violent.
It all builds up to a delicious twist in the final scene, but as Melanie remarks at one point: “Let’s be honest, the whole thing could have been set up better.”
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The Two Faces Of January
Hossein Amini
The story: Rydal (Oscar Isaac) is a Greek-speaking American working as a tour guide in Athens in 1962 and scamming tourists on the sly. He meets the elegant Chester (Viggo Mortenson) and his much younger, pretty wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) at the Parthenon and is soon drawn into their world. But hiding behind that well-to-do facade are secrets in Chester’s past threatening to catch up with him. Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 novel of the same name.

Any film that incorporates the engineering intricacies of the Parthenon and the bull-leaping frescoes of the Knossos temple complex on Crete island is one that I would have a soft spot for, due to a personal fascination with ancient Greece.
Also, Rydal promisingly makes a remark early on about the cruel tricks that gods play on men. It seems to set up the movie as some kind of epic Greek tragedy, even though the title is a reference to the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions, Janus.
Hossein Amini, best known for his Oscar- nominated screenplay for period drama The Wings Of The Dove (1997), makes his directorial debut here. January is handsomely filmed, but saddled with slow pacing.
It is a good thing that he has a top-notch cast here filling out the core triangle of characters.
Mortenson (A History Of Violence, 2005) has a threatening volatility seething beneath an elegant exterior while Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, 2013) keeps you watching as a man who gets embroiled in something bigger than he bargained for, calculating every step of the way if it is worth his while.
Dunst (Melancholia, 2011) is the woman caught between them and is, by turns, playful, exasperated and vulnerable.
What is interesting are the three sets of relationships among the characters.
Chester and Colette are a couple but their relationship is an unequal one skewed by age and the power that comes from wealth. Rydal is drawn to Colette and their mutual attraction sends Chester into a downward spiral of suspicion and paranoia.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Chester and Rydal is not entirely competitive.
Their paths had crossed in the first place as Chester reminded the latter of his recently deceased father.
The pace picks up towards the end and there is a poignancy to the resolution of a movie that is more intimate character drama than grand crime thriller.
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Crown/Clown
Will Pan
Dancer-singers get no respect, so bemoans Taiwan-based Will Pan. But he is not going to take it lying down.
This is his 10th album and he is going to rise above the naysayers. He turns criticism into a dance track on Clown: “I’m a clown, you say/You see through me, you say.”
Then he unleashes a riposte: “I sing and dance/Humorous mambo dance steps tease your heartbeat/Applause swells, screams, everyone’s smiling/ Wipe away the tears/I’m a clown and proud of it.”
He also disses the haters on I Swagger The Most: “You complain that I’m shallow but I’m on your Instagram/I admit to being a little narcissistic, make you hate a little more each day.”
Some arrangements sound dated, though, and the slower-paced numbers still show up his voice. But props to him for taking on the party poopers.

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