To Hong Kong

I guess by the time you read this entry, the baby in the picture would have left the tarmac at Changi and headed towards the Fragrant Harbour, where it's gonna be Keanu Reeves, Pang Ho-Cheung's Love in a Buff, the 6th Asian Film Awards presided by Eric Khoo, and hopefully lots more.

I'll probably be waiting for my in-flight brunch now, so check back during the week if I manage to squeeze the usual out from the next 8 days! If you're in HK, drop me an email!

Love Strikes! (モテキ / Moteki)

Man on Top

It's every guy's fantasy in Moteki, or Love Strikes, where a nerdy fellow without a fat wallet, fast car or swanky apartment, suddenly finds himself the centre of attraction of the many females within his sphere of influence. Think of it as something of a mojo effect, being inexplicably linked to that sudden seductive power of being irresistably attractive, and looking at the poster of the four girls in question, it's not a bad deal at all. Except that it's a little bit unfairly balanced in the actual storyline, with promises of laughter soon giving way to very serious melodramatic fare about modern day relationships and the games people play with the affairs of the heart.

Yukiyo Fujimoto (Mirai Moriyama, whom I last saw in the awesome Fish Story) finds himself at the wrong side of 30, and a year after the drama series of the same name Moteki, which isn't a pre-requisite in order to follow and enjoy the film. A geek through and through, he still finds himself anxious at probably being the last virgin on Earth, without a proper job and with a non-existent circle of female friends. Things get worse when he joins Natalie, a webzine, as a journalist, and gets his balls constantly busted by colleagues, and even his manager (Lily Franky), being the gag punching bag from the day he stepped into regular employment. But with time spent on Twitter (great advertising and product placement there), he soon hooks up with someone with a manly avatar, who turns out to be the incredibly attractive Miyuki (Masami Nagasawa, but of course), a magazine editor with whom he shares plenty of common interests, and an unforgetable night out culminating in a fairly innocent sleepover, only to find that she's attached to a live-in boyfriend. Cue demolished self-confidence, if there was one to begin with.

While the marketing efforts, and even the opening song montage boasted of four attractive women, Moteki the movie is primarily about Yukiyo's relentless pursuit of Miyuki, his unattainable goddess, whom he knows on one hand it's hopeless to try and woo, but on the other finding it difficult to forget her and let go. After all, it's that smile, that laugh and that demeanour that got him hooked, nevermind if one of her friends, the lonely Rumiko (Kumiko Aso) confesses her profound love for him, and being at risk of getting her heart broken given his constant indecision, and sole focus on short term gains. As for the other two ladies featured, it's kind of disappointing that they didn't make it beyond a few scenes, with Riisa Naka playing a bar girl and single mom who dispenses advice to Yukiyo, and fellow colleague Motoko (Yoko Maki) having absolutely no romantic inkling at all to the chap, except save for suggestions that didn't seem to go anywhere, making it more platonic instead.

For those who have been in a similar boat before - or at least being at the crossroads of relationships involving choice - isn't it always almost true that the person we truly love don't necessarily have to love us back, or on the flip side of the same coin, we may be that object of attraction to others, only to give them the cold shoulder as well. Talk about what goes around coming around, which Yukiyo experiences in his life with both Miyuki and Rumiko, and the propensity of the greed, and even ungratefulness in us, to pursue what's an unattainable goal and ignoring clear warning signs. Worse, we don't realize that we tend to do the same to others at times, being on the other side of the equation, and don't let go of it gently, preferring the selfish dropping of the bombshell rather than to, no matter how hard or painful it will get, ease cold hard reality into it. Sure it'll hurt like hell, but that doesn't mean a disregard or a non attempt to try and sooth the blow.

Despite varying screen times that's grossly unbalanced for most of the cast, director Hitoshi Ohne didn't for once deceive what would be his focus of the story, that of Yukiyo and his quest to pursue Miyuki, with the rest being little but padding to boast his Moteki influence which I felt wasn't really too strong to begin with. It just showed that so long as we open ourselves up in our social lives we may strike jackpot one day, but truly that's more fantasy than reality, and fantasy is how this movie got played out and made. Key milestones and moments in the film got marked with music videos, with characters especially Miyuki branching off into song and dance quite like any typical Bollywood masala film, or the movie will turn into a cheesy Karaoke video complete with sing along lyrics if you read Japanese. It's a great showcase for Japanese music and for the musicians and the bands to be showcased, especially if you're into J-Pop.

But alas those looking for a downright comedy from beginning to end may be a little bit disappointed. It started off with rip-roaring intent, before deciding to shift gears and find itself embattled in romantic melodrama from the mid way point. After all, isn't that how the trajectory of romances usually follow, with the initial spark shooting emotions to a high, before finally finding a plateau and evens out the enthusiasm, with what's core left to sustain a relationship through even the most mundane of times. For that, and for Masami Nagasawa's return to the big screen here and her pairing opposite Mirai Moriyama, makes Love Strikes! a recommended affair.

The Soul of Bread (愛的麵包魂 / Ai De Mian Bao Hun)

Beware the Foreign Talent!

Thanks to You Are The Apple of My Eye, Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen has sprung into idol superstardom in this part of the world, the goddess in the eye of many male fans. Her first film since that phenomenal Giddens Ko semi-autobiography, The Soul of Bread will be her litmus test if she can draw in a sizable crowd of supporters on her own, but this light hearted romantic comedy doesn't anchor a strong storyline, relying on a plot that's fairly derivative though in some ways, relevant and identifiable with audiences here given that it centers around the key theme of competition, globally.

Set in a small Taiwanese town, the film centers around a family run bread bakery shop, where lead baker Gao Bing (Chen Han Tien) proposes to his long time girlfriend Ping (Michelle Chen), the daughter of his mentor, only for her to turn him down for his lack of couth and sincerity in proposing to her. Being given some time to mull over the proposal, things become complicated when Frenchman and renowned bread maker Brad (Anthony Neely) comes knocking at their door when he skips his fame and fortune to the exasperation of his fans in the Western baking world, retracing the steps that his late mom had taken, and becoming instantly smitten with Ping, and volunteers to learn some bakery skills after Ping's father (Liao Chun), who obliges for the gift of an expensive saxophone that he can use to show off amongst his band peers in the community club.

That's about the gist of the story, leading into a tussling romantic triangle between Ping, Gao Bing and Brad, with the choice firmly in the lady's hands. Directors Sean Kao and Lin Chun Yang adapts from their television series of the same name, and took their time to set up the multiple backgrounds for each of the main characters. With Ping, she yearns to go to Paris and is adamant in learning French for this purpose. She's the quintessential small town girl yearning for the bright lights of the big city, and Brad's presence only serves to stoke that flame of flight in her. As for Gao Bing, he's the small town boy with immense responsibilities that he's not about to give up on, and while he loves his lady, he finds it extremely tough to express that love explicitly and romantically, preferring to hide behind his gruff exterior. And Brad's the complete opposite, never fearing to reveal his emotions, and takes the town by storm with his good looks and baking skills, which reinvigorates the sleepy town. He's a little bit more complex, having come across with a mission to seek his maternal roots, before slowly allowing his true self to emerge, which may irk some fans because it's quite the about turn in character.

As always, comedy ensues each time someone goes overboard in expressing themselves, while Ping's father and brother almost stole the show with their extremely down to earth portrayal of simple folk with simple pleasures in life. The filmmakers went for the jugular to expand the storyline beyond the romantic triangle, such as introducing another budding romance potential between Ping's brother and the neighbourhood policewoman, that didn't get flesh out thoroughly, and another wasted opportunity was the hilarious dream sequences that Gao Bing will lapse into each time he tastes something that provides an inspiration, leading to ensemble song and dance moments that were top notch in choreography and slapstick. Even the rivalry in having a cook-off between the two bakers to the tune of Le Grand Chef was not as epic as meant to be, with moments in the film dedicated to delicious close ups of dough creations that boggle the mind and plays tricks on one's tastebuds and stomach,

Michelle Chen does what she does best, being that girl next door with that wholesome heart and image that any guy out there would want to pursue and bring home to meet mom. She plays the confused, hesitant Ping to perfection, with that amount of saccharine sweetness bound to melt more hearts than her turn in Giddens' film. But such is the role that it doesn't challenge her nor showcase expanded abilities, so here's waiting to see what her next project will be, if she would break away from a comfort zone and take on a role that's more challenging. Chen Han Tien doesn't have that movie matinee star looks, but possesses this earnestness in his charisma that simply allowed one to empathize how he's slowly losing grip on his life due to competition, where once he was the town's hero, and that status under threat, while Anthony Neely plays his Brad with the overt confidence that comes with the role of an internationally renowned baker, but prone to emotional outbursts later on especially when riled by Gao Bing, together with a revelation of true intent that tied in with his seeking out the bread that his mom had once fallen in favour with.

But perhaps what's most strikingly close to us here is the film's examination on the impact of globalization. One cannot deny the anxiety felt by many here with regards to the import of foreign talent, and this film surprisingly addresses that issue quite head on, with Brad epitomizing talent from overseas who doesn't think twice about sinking his roots here, albeit temporarily only, in order to take over jobs, introduce fresh ideas, and to woo the land's beautiful women. And he makes it quite clear about that too. And the simple girl's getting swept off her feet by promises (of Paris), and romance, and having to choose between a local who's bogged down by various responsibilities in family, friends and to keep the local shop going, and that of an overseas dude who's loaded (check out that BMW) and is a television personality with his own programme, and fairly carefree in order to spend significant time in wooing. This film should gain some traction and interest especially when offering a little escapism as to who she'll end up with, either to stroke that nationalistic pride, or become a quitter.

Despite plot loopholes abound especially with the liberal massaging of timeline, perhaps the worst thing that had happened to the film in Singapore, is the unfortunate, and badly done, Mandarin dubbing over the Taiwanese Hokkien lines especially spoken by Gao Bing and his mentor/Ping's father. It's one thing when an obvious dub is used over an entire line, and another issue altogether which points to disrespect and an insult to a paying audience when such poor dubs make it as and when it's preferred, often mid sentence, to try and mask out vulgarities, or to reduce the duration of non-Mandarin moments in the movie. It's an irrational, archaic guideline that has no place in art appreciation, nor appreciation in the way real people in the real world speak, so I say the sooner we learn to grow up and stop this nonsense, the better. You don't ask a friend from Taiwan to speak strictly Mandarin at all times when in Singapore, or to stick within a time quota, do you?

21 Jump Street

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Bro

Mention 21 Jump Street, and for anyone knowing anything about the popular 80-90s television series, the name Johnny Depp will automatically spring to mind, being synonymous with the series that propelled him into the consciousness of fans everywhere. With Hollywood constantly digging deep into its past and remaking films or adapting television series into films, and often to mixed results, it's little wonder what confidence there was with Jonah Hill's signalled interest in spearheading this, but frankly, he did such a great job with it that it's one of the more intelligent remakes out there since, well, the re-imagining of Star Trek, and probably one of the best buddy cop comedies since The Other Guys, and maybe even Hot Fuzz itself, the latter being my benchmark as the best in the last decade for its many film references, and being genuinely funny without trying too hard.

It's looking like a trend now with animated film directors diving into making live action features, with Brad Bird sucessfully taking the Mission: Impossible series to new heights, while Andrew Stanton struggled to make the century old John Carter interesting and relevant. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were responsible for the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, brought the same enthusiasm felt from that animated feature into a series based on a premise that served as the inspiration for other films in film industries from Hong Kong's Fight Back to School, to India's Main Hoon Na by Farah Khan, and made it a pure entertaining ride from start to end. There was fine balance between the serious and the slapstick, and they just knew when to pull back rather than letting a running joke run stale. Things were kept simple, sticking to the well established background where youthful looking cops get into a police programme for undercover investigations into teen crimes, with the titular address being a church used as a front that the law enforcers operate from.

And much of the credit goes to Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill's solid story, where they successfully interpreted the spirit of the television series, and updated it for a one-time (or perhaps more if this is successful) feature film. Keeping to the premise without trying too smart to deviate from it, and with tons of self-deprecating humour (the direct jab at Hollywood's lack of creativity is spot on and such a blast), the first few minutes had established what the new 21 Jump Street would stand for - humor and cliches delivered absolutely right that they still packed quite a punch. We're introduced to the new partners of Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), opposites in character, one time high school fiends and playing off each other's strengths in their new careers, getting assigned to a high school to sniff out a drug ring which they then have to infiltrate the dealer network in order to get to the supplier. Sounds simple, if not for their covers being accidentally mixed up, that they relive the nightmare of high school all over again, with Schmidt being mistaken for the hunkier of the duo, and Jenko being thought off as the jarhead nerd. The standard comedy of errors ensues, from infatuated school teachers to a rip-roaring sequence when the duo had to convince that they are indeed druggies, subjected to the multi-stage after effects of the lethal HFS drug as it is called, complete with condom-like packaging and cute looking logo that says it all.

References to other films, especially police and crime ones, were many, and hilarious, and the film doesn't take itself too seriously, preferring a fairly straightforward plot in order not to lose the audience through twists that stories these days just like to pile upon. Comedy also came from both Tatum and Hill playing with and against type simultaneously in their characters, with toilet humour rearing its head every now and then since Jonah Hill probably couldn't resist and succumbed to temptation to sneak in a couple. Vulgarities got used liberally and surprisingly doesn't come off as contrived efforts to elicit laughter, with Ice Cube playing it like a boss as Captain Dickson, the supervising detective at the helm of this revived police unit. Best of all there's still time for Jenko to get to know the new age nerds and get chummy with them - though I suspect there could have been more material here that had to give way, and for Schmidt to enter into a romance with fellow student Molly (Brie Larson). Dave Franco rounds up the recognizable cast given his doppelganger resemblance to older brother James Franco, playing a rich high school kid that I'd swear suggested at brotherly romance each time he gazes at Tatum's resident hunk.

But the best thing in the film, other than the plot, is the chemistry shared between Hill and Tatum. It was clear that since Hill co-wrote the story, there was more focus on his character of Schmidt and his journey to come out of the shell and build some self-esteem, versus Jenko having to learn what it's like being the bullied rather than the bully, and becoming exposed as being a dumb jock at every turn, if not for his sense of loyalty to build upon. But when put together, they play off each other so well that you'll clamour for more of their screen time together, rather than going off on their separate objectives in the same mission. With heavy hints at bromance, this film probably won't be as successful without both playing outside of their stereotype, put in situations that milked this camaraderie to the maximum, challenging cliches which inevitably exist in the genre. I couldn't imagine any other two actors who can pull off what they managed to do with the film's premise and material.

There's a much talked about cameo that happened, and fans of 21 Jump Street will probably acknowledge the attempts at closure for the television series, and the high-five passing of the baton to the new film version. It's a surprise package, surpassing what would be everyone's mediocre expectations of the film, only to come off pleasantly pleased at solid, mass entertainment. Highly recommended!

Trespass

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

A suspense thriller that had all elements of suspense sucked dry from its soul. Just how Joel Schumacher can direct Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman into 90 minutes of bore is beyond me, although Karl Gajdusek's story is extremely flimsy to begin with. There are countless of storylines involving infiltration of the home or a room by unnamed hoodlums, and usually they put you at the edge of your seat, rooting for the victims to somehow break free from captivity despite insurmountable odds stacked up against them. That's part of the fun especially when all avenues of hope seem to be extinguished one at a time.

But the direction here is pretty mundane, and lacks that bit to excite you. And to cap things off, there are so many plot loopholes, illogical development and just about plain horrid scenes that Trespass should have done will if it started to treat itself less seriously, and contemplate being a slapstick comedy. The villains assembled here have got to be the worst ever assembled for an infiltration job, without any clear leadership, and everyone running their own separate agendas which contradict that of their main objective, which happen to change constantly depending on mood. It started off with diamonds, then money, then kidneys, before deciding that it's diamonds, then money again. Make up your mind, people!

No acting accolades are expected here, with Cage and Kidman both able to sleepwalk through their roles - Cage shows glimpses of his motormouth, while Kidman spends half the time yelling at someone. The robbers have their mask to thank for hiding most of their emotions so that they need not act. And seriously the only positive takeaways from this movie, is for real life wannabe robbers to learn from their cinematic peers on just how not to run a robbery in the manner shown in the film, because it doesn't make any logical sense, and even for a movie, it's methods employed pointing toward an epic fail.

You can read my review of Trespass at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.

[DVD] Life Before Death (2012)

It cannot be more true that Death is that final life experience that everyone will eventually have to go through. But how will one face Death whether writhing in pain because of an inflicted illness, or depending on any discussion point that floats your boat, from religion to karma to just accepting and coming to terms with the condition that life decides to dish out, is something I'm sure we'd think about once in a blue moon, perhaps more so as we age. But one thing's for sure, if one can avoid pain during one's life, we'd sure want to be able to avoid pain and suffering before we bid adeau to this world, and leave peacefully and with some dignity intact.

Life Before Death may sound morbid given its title, and dealing with a subject matter that few of us would like to think about, but this documentary, written and directed by Mike Hill, is one fascinating yet a sobering stark reminder that more can be done in terms of palliative care and services. Given the modernization of our public and private health sectors here over the last 50 years, this is one area that should be given a second look at, and not only in Singapore, but for medical practitioners, politicians with their policies and even pharmaceutical companies with their shiny mission statements, in the rest of the world as well. There's nothing morbid about the film's presentation at its cold, hard look through the opinions and knowledge of its interview subjects, ranging from experts in the medical field right to the nurse and patient level, each providing their respective points of view in talking heads style, interspersed with images taken from the film's journey across 11 countries.

It deals with the issue of pain control and the global crisis of untreated pain, that pain is treatable but seldom addressed even with the means available to. Opioids, a key ingredient to combat pain, aren't always as freely available as we think they would, and should be, in helping patients obtain a better quality end of life, given their inherent double-edgedness, whether for medicinal purposes or misused and abused, with opponents more than willing to dwell on the latter instead of focusing on the positives. The documentary presents its argument through a wide spectrum of topics surrounding palliative care and the elevation, or even elimination of pain for sufferers of terminal illness, and cast its net wide for a variety of interview subjects from the housing estates in Singapore to the far reaches of Uganda in Africa, dealing with the same issue that impacts both the developed world at the forefront of medicine, and those that have to rely on very rudimentary tools of the trade, such as the travelling physician in India.

We get to see and even feel the pain that get shared through narrative anecdotes, and wonder why more couldn't be done given the state of modern medical science. If a simple deep prick in the skin can cause us irritation, imagine the level of discomfort some radiating, chronic pain that's internal can cause us, being more than an irritant but something more crippling, and this in turn affects our quality of life, spiraling it downwards, and worse, with hysteria and depression settling in. These are avoidable, but the documentary addresses the issues that prevent or serve as road blocks to the accessibility of Opioids as a treatment, for various reasons, each differing in varying parts of the world. With a contrast between those with access to pain relievers, and those who don't, the answer is crystal clear how one would like to face and deal with pain head on.

Launched by the Lien Foundation here in Singapore in early 2012, the focus of the film helps to spotlight how Opioids and Palliative Medicine can help pain sufferers to alleviate crippling pain, and allow them to function almost as per normal without their sensors going into overdrive not thanks to untreated pain. And from the testaments, one will witness how those who suffer from the most horrid of diseases, may reclaim some form of dignity and quality in their daily lives and routines. The initiative here is to advance eldercare and advocate better care of the dying, and to drive a greater public awareness about end of life issues in Singapore as our population ages. Bear witness to the issues and the solution readily available, and hopefully all of us do have a universal right to pain control. Extremely informative and thought provocative, do not pass up on Life Before Death when you have the chance!

For more details, do visit www.treatthepain.com and www.lifebeforedeath.com, and the film's website here.

The Region Free Special Edition Two Disc Box Set of Life Before Death presents the film proper in anamorphic widescreen format in the first disc, with audio available in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. There are many languages included in its subtitle offering to reach out to as many people as possible - English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, French, Chinese, Romanian, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Czech and German. Besides the main feature, there's also the 55 minutes version meant for that hour long time slot for television. Extras on Disc One include the Theatrical Trailer (3:25), Teaser 1 (2:10) and Teaser 2 (2:07), in addition to David Suchet: A Humanitarian Cause (2:15), a short clip featuring the narrator of the film to promote the cause to live well and die better, and another short clip called Adam Starr: Movie Soundtrack (2:31) which features the musician who did the score and had him talking about the film as well.

Disc Two contains a total of 35 short films being the companion content to the film, made up of interview pieces categorized into different sections, each dealing with an area covered in the film, such as Pain, Pain Crisis, Medical Education, Palliative Care, Death & Dying, End of Life, and Advocacy. Some made it into the feature, while most included provided a more holistic look at the various issues from the panel of specialists engaged for the film, making this a definite must watch.

[South East Asian Film Festival] The Collector (收烂数) Q&A

The South East Asian Film Festival managed to score a coup with the World Premiere screening of James Lee's The Collector, and had invited the Malaysian writer-director and Singaporean lead actor Sunny Pang for a post-screening discussion, moderated by festival curator and film critic Philip Cheah. For those who have missed that informative session, here's how it went:


Part 1 of 4


Part 2 of 4


Part 3 of 4


Part 4 of 4

You can read my review of the film here. (coming soon!)

[South East Asian Film Festival] The Collector (收烂数 / Sau Lan Sou) (World Premiere)

Round 1, Fight!

James Lee is no stranger to Singapore, having his films featured in various editions of the Singapore International Film Festival, such that this little island has the honour of hosting the World Premiere of one of his latest films, The Collector, featuring his nth collaboration with Singapore's evergreen stuntman/martial artist/actor Sunny Pang, in movies like James' indie art house effort Call If You Need Me, and more commercial fare such as Petaling Street Warriors (co-directed with Sampson Yuen), Claypot Curry Killers, and with their creative camaraderie reaching new heights, a number of future projects to come.

Like James' Help! My Girlfriend is a Vampire, The Collector pays that 80s homage to Hong Kong films, with the former being that dabbling with the mainstream horror-comedy genre filled with none-too-scary ghouls, this film is firmly set within the nostalgic look back into the martial-arts action genre, full of stock cardboard but fun characters peppering the landscapes as nameless goons, all contributing as fodder for our protagonist, Sunny (Sunny Pang) to beat up, before he and his gang meet up with more formidable mini-boss opponents. And you know you're in good company from scenes of old when one on ones seem to take place in abandoned warehouses and other familiar locales such as dimly lit streets with time suspended as the focus flits from one fight arena to another.

But Sunny defers to using violence only at the last resort, usually when the debtors try to default on their loans and send their fellow supporters, hoodlums and friends to outnumber and intimidate Sunny and his usual partner Mohan (Ramana Mohan). Being the friendly neighbourhood debt collector, they have their fair share of networks to tap on when their latest mission sees Sunny taking pity on Ah Yuen (Nigel Kok), the kid who got abandoned by his dad Ah Niu (Jack Lim), who became elusive not only from Sunny but from another gang with whom he owes money to. Forewarned by a fortune teller about his demise should he not perform a good deed, Sunny takes it upon himself to protect the kid from his rivals who are intent on making Ah Yuen a collateral until his dad turns up, much to the frustration of his live in girlfriend (Yeo Yann Yann), a frequent gambling tai-tai who cannot stand children.

It's easy to state that the story is just an excuse for the filmmakers and actors to weave their action scenes together, but I suppose James Lee won't have it so that at the very least his main character does come off as a little bit more three dimensional. His Sunny is like an anti-hero who doesn't fear in garnering support from both sides of the law, being the enforcer type to his boss (played by Patrick Teoh) and an informant of sorts to Inspector Lim (Chew Kin Wah) of the Royal Malaysian Police Force. And despite his rather gruff exterior, he's all soft and fuzzy inside when alone with his lady love, trying his darnest best to persuade her to marry him and start a family together, which will of course serve as his exit strategy from his current career path.

The Collector is almost like a companion to his earlier arthouse work Call If You Need Me, which marked Sunny Pang's first collaboration with James, and yes, playing a debt collector as well, with a similar character look and design. But the earlier film was a lot more darker in nature, and an atmospheric, moody piece compared to this one which had its fair share of gaudy costumes, over the top characters, and humour, which can be dark as well as slapstick. But let's face it, we're interested in this because of the choreographed fights, and The Collector delivers with a slew of action scenes that varied themselves from the exponents and their signature styles and moves.

It was a number of years back where Sunny Pang was slated to star in a film called Knife, but for unknown reasons that film never took off beyond the pre-production stage. A master knife user, audiences will get a glimpse of his skill set here in a scene, before Sunny relies on pretty much Mixed Martial Arts to get the job done when up against formidable exponents. It's almost no holds barred in the fight design, with stunts and fisticuffs designed by Kenny Wong (who also made a cameo appearance as Master Wai), and best of all, featured other practitioners who just bump up the realism factor. There's Ian Yussuf who's the de-facto final boss tough guy who gets to go on an extended romp against Sunny, and despite some editing which cut a little way too late, it was worthy of how exciting final fights can be, with objects on set getting in the way of punches, kicks and throws.

I liked how Sunny isn't always alone, and James Lee spiced things up to provide a larger cast of fighters with the introduction of fellow collector Michael (Michael Chin - note how even the character's names follow the actors who play them, just like how HK does it in the 80s), who serves up his brand of wushu, holding his own especially in many scenes designed to even at times overshadow what Sunny can do, and got an earlier mano-a-mano of his own opposite rival Tai, played by Pooi Fook Chien who was also in another Malaysian kung-fu flick from last year known as Fist of Dragon in which he played one of the villains. This assembly of real life martial artists made the fights look a lot more real with the actors really having a go at each other, with stunt folk making up the rest to provide one heck of a battle after battle, even if at times it's lop-sided knowing how the outcome will turn out to be.

Like another Singapore actor Aaron Aziz who had made his name in Malaysia starring in the blockbuster hit KL Gangster, Sunny Pang looks set to follow in that footsteps in becoming a household name up north with a planned series of commercial, action based films, both in front of and behind the camera. It's a pity about the lack of such genre opportunities in Singapore, but I suppose with another James Lee helmed film coming up in this area together with Sunny who would go behind the scenes as choreographer, fans in this region should have something to look forward to. Watch out Gareth Evans-Iko Uwais, James Lee-Sunny Pang are just warming up!

Kahaani

Let's Go Find Your Husband

Vidya Balan does it again, headlining a solidly crafted drama cum thriller that proved to be a surprise package with a narrative punch. It's edgy and gritty, with wonderful characters and flawless performances, engaging and burying the audience deep within an intense, intriguing investigations that evolved into plenty of irony, complete with melodrama, comedy and action. Suffice to say that it's early in the year, but Kahaani becomes the first off the blocks to be shortlisted as one of the best so far this year.

The film begins in 2008, where we bear witness to an unnamed man whose identity is hidden behind a gas mask, experimenting with a lethal chemical gas on lab rats, before we get to the city of Kolkata where the same weapon of mass destruction got used in a terrorist attack on a subway train that unfortunately wasn't stopped in time. This almost stand-alone setup and prologue will keep you guessing its significance to its story, since the film continues two years later, where Balan's Mrs Vidya Bagchi arrives in the same Indian city from London in search of her husband Arnab (Abir Chatterjee), who as a software engineer worked at the National Data Centre and maintained daily contact until his sudden disappearance two weeks before, with the uncharacteristic cessation of contact prompting his wife to travel thousands of miles to look for him.

Worried, the heavily pregnant Vidya heads straight to the local police to file a missing persons report, and from there starts to visit some of the regular joints her husband could have been in, including his hotel room which had absolutely no traces of the man, nor with people she encountered at those places having any recollection of having seen him, based on their hastily taken matrimonial photo. Assisted by policeman Rana (Parambrata Chaterjee), a slight, mild mannered cop, they soon stumble upon an investigative web filled with unanswered mysteries, and a bewildering suggestion that her husband may not be who he had claimed to be all along. The name Milan Damji gets floated about, a government agent in the mould of Jason Bourne, who may hold the key to Arnab's disappearance, again with clues that he may be more than meets the eye, and at this point your imagination will start to run wild as to the myriad of possibilities the story written by Sujoy Ghosh could turn out.

Ghosh also takes on directing responsibilities, and he has crafted one heck of an engaging thriller amongst some of the best I've seen with scheming twists and carefully plotted turns involving government officials, beat cops, and Intelligence Bureau officers led by the non-compromising Khan (Nawazuddin Sidiqui), who epitomizes a no-nonsense approach with a willing streak to sacrifice pawns to nab the king. With Vijay pushing for the truth, a slew of bodies start turning up courtesy of a hired killer set loose to silence everyone she talks to, giving rise to that sense of danger and death at every wrong turn, it's a closely matched up cat and mouse game everyone seems to be playing against one another on both sides of the law, with Khan's questionable tactics giving rise to the propensity of collateral damage authorities are willing to suffer for the sake of the greater good.

But Ghosh also remembered to balance his superb thriller with emotional anchors, and does this brilliantly through his crafting and development of the protagonists Vijay and Rana, whom we journey together in their search for facts and truth. They play off each other's strengths like Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, with Rana's unassuming disposition balancing Vijay's sprightly nature and relentless determination, making this one of the best cop-civilian pairing I have ever seen as well, being all natural and therefore believable. Credit has to go to Vidya Balan for her sensitive portrayal as a woman hell bent on tracking down her loved one and seeking closure to the sudden mysteries in her life, and Parambrata Chaterjee for his portrayal of a man taking it upon himself to help, and unwittingly finding himself being attracted to and infatuated with someone he has sworn to protect as well. It is this forbidden attraction and romance that's underlying and brewing that he brings out well without going over the top, exhibiting loads of sentimentalism that worked wonders for their chemistry with each other.

Production values are top notch. I absolutely love the gorgeous city of Kolkata which I've seldom seen in Indian films, and here we weave in and out the crowded, bustling city area and into much laid back neighbourhoods, with a fantastic capture of very natural misc-en-scene being a lovely ode to the city, featuring its sights, sounds, people such as the working class from tea sellers to master craftsmen, and festivals. Production designers Kaushik Das and Subrata Barik ensured a very natural look and feel, while cinematographer Setu didn't impress me much with his shaky cam technique that had plagued too many Hollywood films he tried to emulate, but thankfully the second half of the film decided to ditch that misguided documentary feel for camera work that's more sustainable and traditional. The music by Clinton Cerejo and Shekhar Ravjiani worked extremely well in the background without bringing in too much attention to itself, nor do we have jarring breakaway musical interludes to blunt the storyline.

Such is how everything worked together to complement everything else in the making of the film, to churn out a result that's worthwhile of repeat viewings for clues that one may have missed the first time round. It's filmmaking and storytelling at its best, and even I was more than glad to have decided to watch this instead of postponing it. Kahaani propels itself into my shortlist as one of the best this year, and it is certainly highly recommended if you're desperately looking for an intelligent story, great performances, a film that went the whole nine yards in its desire to become a classic.

[Gala Premiere] Timeless Love (那个夏天 / Na Ge Xia Tian)

Timeless Love (那个夏天) is the latest local film to hit our shores, and there's no lack of a grand celebrations of sorts yesterday evening at The Lido Cineplex foyer to launch the premiere of the movie, filled with teenage stars who had their respective fans turn out in droves to lend their support. Probably the only sour note was the conspicuous absence of star Joshua Ang, who had lambasted the film and its co-director Dasmond Koh very publicly in the mass media. But that didn't sour the mood for the other co-director Lim Koong Hwee to mark this special occasion with another life milestone of his own, going down on one knee and proposing to his lady love.

Here's the entire proceedings:


Part 1 of 3


Part 2 of 3


Part 3 of 3

And after the festivities at the bustling foyer, the directors and cast also made their way to the Fans Hall for a quick introduction and greeting:



You can read my review of Timeless Love here.

Timeless Love (那个夏天 / Na Ge Xia Tian)

The Look of Disbelief

Be careful what you wish for. There are times when you'd look at the films coming out of Singapore, and wonder whether there is bandwidth for a wide genre of films, especially those that are more uplifting in nature. With the success of youth films, undoubtedly Giddens Ko's You Are The Apple of My Eye being one of the largest hits in recent years, one may think that Timeless Love may be it, a local film that features youthful characters who are not into gangs or getting into trouble with the law, but assembled to have fun with the sand and the sea.

Alas first time director and television personality Dasmond Koh, and his co-director Lim Koong Hwee, couldn't get Timeless Love to live up to its potential, finding itself firmly stuck in the sand and failing to feed on its inherent exuberance and youthful energy. Rather, it fed off the inexperience of youth since the film was an all round showcase of inexperience at all quarters, only for qualities of brashness, experimentation and boldness to do something different, becoming shining beacons for an otherwise lacklustre film that failed at the beginning with the lack of a solid, water-tight narrative.

The synopsis will read quite well, about a rich young boy called Morgan (Aloysius Pang) who inherited his family fortune with the passing of the grandmother - the younger spiritual version who pops up every now and then, played by Cynthia Ruby Wong - and discovers an old watch (Solvil et Titus product placement in full gear since watch shop City Chain has production credits) together with a lease of a resort island. With his best friend Sky (Xu Bin) in tow, who brought along Eden's ex-girlfriend Pepper (Josephine Chan) without permission, the trio journey to the said island and get acquainted with its youthful resort operators, the brother-sister team of Eden (Joshua Ang) and Xiao Wei (Kimberly Chia), who would hold the key to what their visitors would be seeking.

But first, with teenagers and their raging hormones, there's always room for romance, such as Sky's infatuation with Xiao Wei, and the triangle of affection between Morgan, Pepper and Eden, all finding their way into the storyline to contrast the love story of the present, with that of the past, involving a pair of watches, the island lease, and the inexplicable, painful separation which was never fully explored. Throw in some hasty subplots involving a shady real estate developer, a youthful photographer called Uri (Eugene Lim) and Morgan's servant (Michelle Tay) and son who get involved only to provide for some weak comedic moments, and this film had its hands full trying to resolve everything in a relatively short 80 odd minutes.

Which sadly it doesn't, and threw up a lot more questions that were left unanswered, or deliberately open-ended, which just didn't work given the lack of background and severe shortage of depth. In fact, there isn't much natural continuity, and character objectives became murky at best, and forgotten midpoint. Establishing shots and introductions were scant and thrown out the window, requiring plenty of frantic groping in the dark as to who the characters were as they appeared on screen. The story also had a scattered focus, which was a pity since if it had stuck to one primary focus it may just had pulled it off. But it decided to dwell on puppy romance, tough friendship and rivalry in the present brought on by gaming challenges, then flash-backed to the past that didn't bring out what could have been a essential and strong love story involving the grandparents to anchor emotions, and then deciding later on to include a spanner in the works to have the film turn into one terribly unsuccessful weepy.

One suspects that the film had probably been a lot more coherent if it was allowed a better length, but key omissions to link scenes and its hastily edited narrative became its bane, with the entire film and story feeling like they had been hastily and desperately sewn together with little thought about flow and pacing. There were shades of attempts to emulate the successful formula of sun-shiny films from the Japanese, Korean and even Taiwanese film industries, but alas what it had tried to do in spirit, didn't translate well to resemble the genre it had tried to live up to. The first sunken salvo fired was plot elements being conveniently utilized, and plot conveniences at every turn to make it all unbelievably coincidental, or worse, illogical.

But the other salvo fired that condemned the film to its depths, was the lack of an experienced cast to grab the weak narrative by the scruff of its neck and dragged it through with sheer powerful performances and chemistry within the ensemble to lift the film from its doldrums. For all the negative publicity surrounding this film's release with a very public spat between Joshua Ang and Dasmond Koh, in all honesty Joshua proved to be one of the most natural on screen given his experience and despite the material, standing out against a bunch of relative newcomers. Aloysius Pang is almost a dead ringer to Shawn Lee, Ang's frequent co-star in a number of Jack Neo films, and that worked to the film's advantage in having tapped onto its pseudo-established chemistry between the two male leads.

The camera fell in love with Kimberly Chia given her constant close ups, though wide angled shots didn't have an appropriate narrative to accompany her long walks from one side of the screen to the other, and the shift that passed off as character development was one of the highlights to showcase her acting range, only to have the mood torpedoed by Josephine Chan. The weakest link, Josephine was clearly regurgitating lines without emotion, making her character terribly artificial, and unbelievable that two boys would be fighting over her. She makes everyone else, including the cameos, look like multiple Oscar winners for acting. On the male side, Eugene Lim was a slight notch better than Josephine with his one-sided, forgettable caricature, while Xu Bin's light hearted role will be remembered for that less than muscularly tanned naked upper torso throughout the film. Cynthia Ruby Wang? Probably only had less than 10 minutes of screen time combined, in her own subplot that sadly got abandoned and unfulfilled.

Timeless Love is absolutely not timeless, and in all likelihood couldn't stand the test of time, though you cannot fault the all round optimism in embarking on a project that's experimental, not in the conventional film genre sense though, with misplaced belief in a fresh-faced cast and a first time director at the helm. Youths will develop over time and through growing experience, and so will the cast and crew hopefully learn from their effort here.

A Simple Life (桃姐 / Tao Jie)

Growing Old Together

Mention Andy Lau and Deanne Yip in a single breath, and memories of old Hong Kong classics such as The Truth and The Unwritten Law come to mind. Their most recent collaboration under Ann Hui's direction has brought about plenty of accolades, especially with Deanne's portrayal as the titular ma-jie who had served 4 generations of a family, and is now taking care of Andy Lau's Roger, a movie producer. But tables will be turned in A Simple Life where this one-directional care as seen early in the film, will reflect about the issues and challenges that face an aging population, as well as that from the care-giver.

And their sensitive portrayals make A Simple Life worth watching especially with loved ones, with identifiable themes and scenes bringing out a reflection that anyone in their respective shoes or sides would probably encounter - the elderly anticipating the inevitable, and the young balancing work and life while trying to provide for the best quality of life in the twilight years of a loved one, for someone who has seen to the needs and well-being of oneself. It's played out very simply despite an ensemble support cast made up of recognizable cameos from the film industry, undoubtedly lifting the sombre mood and to provide for slight referential comedy.

Lau and Yip share wonderful chemistry together, bringing to life their characters in extremely simple terms without unnecessary flash or flamboyance, relying on little gestures to tell of the immense respect and love each has for the other. The story also works remarkably despite having to branch off into the respective lives of the characters, one living in an old folks' home while the other constantly on the road for his movie career, and like in life, time is always reserved for loved ones, no matter how long or how short, so long as the time spent together is of quality. This is where this naturalness in its narrative stood out, where it doesn't have to tell all, and afforded varying durations to come in between scenes, at times days, sometimes weeks.

A simple film told in a straight-forward fashion can possess plenty of emotional undercurrents with the right cast, direction and a solid story to boot. A Simple Life definitely showed how there is so much beauty in simplicity.

You can read my review of A Simple Life at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.

In the Land of Blood and Honey

Friend or Foe

There's something in the air these days with military related, history based dramas about conflict hitting our shores all at the same time. There's Act of Valor and its war on terror against a fictional opposition, and both 5 Days of War and In The Land of Blood and Honey take on a look back at the 2008 Russo-Georgian conflict and the 1992-1995 Bosnian War respectively, weaving a fictional story in front of an historical backdrop, the former aligning itself closer to an action film, and this one being a more dramatic take that deals with a forbidden romance.

Written, directed and co-produced by Angelina Jolie, one wonders what went through her thought process when she decided to take up duties and responsibilities from behind the camera instead of in front of it, and to have one's directorial feature debut deal with such a heavy topic about genocide, sexual violence, and the inner beasts that mankind has the propensity to turn into when fighting for beliefs, regardless whether right or wrong. I suppose being a UN ambassador had exposed her to various peacekeeping and charitable causes around the globe, and something must have triggered that spark within her to come up with a troubled romance story set amidst one of the worst times in human history. She doesn't shy away from graphic portrayal of the many atrocities committed by the aggressors, and showed how humanity can crumble into nonchalance through murky politics, and when it decides to sit back from the outside and do nothing.

That's the macro picture, and the film balances it with a micro look at a more personal level through the eyes of the protagonists, Serbian Danijel (Goran Kostic) and Bosnian Ajla (Zana Marjanovic), who begins the film looking very optimistic and expectant of her date with the former, at a time of peace and tranquility if not for a bomb blast to signal the end of harmony, and a prelude of the unimaginable and inexplicable violence to come. Not before long the land is plunged into civil war, with Bosnian civilians bearing the brunt of it in what would be genocide and ethnic cleansing. As it turns out, Ajla and her family become victims, while as fate would have it for Danijel to actually be a Serbian captain under the strict, uncompromising orders from his military father, and their paths to cross when Ajla got arrested and forced into labour in a camp, if not for Danijel to come to her aid, claiming her to be his property to starve off any sexual advances from his men.

The romance here is something that drifted into mediocrity with this protection accorded not going down well amongst the ranks, and Danijel getting into a love-hate relationship of sorts with Ajla, where in times much better than the present, would have evolved into something more beautiful than forceful. It's an open secret love affair that grew, and brought to life only by Zana Marjanovic's strong performance as a woman out to survive her ordeal. Marjanovic brings about a balance in both vulnerability and steely strength in her character of Ajla, who has to decide on her emotions, whether or not she can literally fall in love and be sleeping with the enemy, while Kostic's own performance deals with the ability to show compassion, or be seduced by a master-slave power that overwhelms, and slowly but surely corrupts and spirals into obsessive suspicion and paranoia.

What became more intriguing as the narrative wore on, was the similarities with Ang Lee's Lust, Caution in the second half of the film, where a woman found herself tasked to do a job to make a stand for the oppressed and her people, given her natural charms and close proximity to do so. The conflicts of emotions, and the suspense, especially since how a scheme sans details got mooted served as an inflection point, and will leave you guessing whether will she, or won't she, and even then, how it can actually all take place since she's isolated almost all the time in a fortified location, and we aren't in the clear of any details if any were discussed at all, given the apparent vagueness. The final scene between Danijel and Ajla is intense and will serve as a talking point given the quick, convenient and inevitable way to closure.

But like 5 Days of War, this film is fairly lop-sided in its politics, so focus not on that but on the relationship that is Romeo-and-Juliet-ish involving star crossed lovers from opposite sides of the land trying to keep the flickering flame of their love affair alive amongst the chaos and destruction around them.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

It is I!

Dr Seuss' stories for children have been finding their way to the big screen, be it live action or animated variants. The Lorax becomes the first to be presented in IMAX 3D, although frankly speaking having watched this in the 2D version, there aren't that many clues why it would have warranted a 3D treatment given a rather flat animated design that won't contribute much to the 3D format, although having presented in IMAX would mean a crisp presentation, with the musical elements likely to have pushed the song and dance sequence into aural and visual perfection given the vibrant colours involved.

Given that it's a kid's film, director Chris Renaud clearly has brought his Despicable Me know how into The Lorax, knowing just what buttons to push to keep the young ones engaged and entertained. With his earlier animated effort, even the most bored adult in the audience would find the little yellow minions in the film fairly amusing with their antics, and here with co-direction by Kyle Balda, that responsibility fell onto the many strange animals in the land of Thneed-Ville before it became polluted and uninhabitable. There are many of cute, furry bears running around the landscape filled with the Truffula trees, which serve up delicacies for the animals, and who can forget the singing/humming fishes out of water who are primarily key to why the musical numbers were plenty of fun. Or the birds of the land as well, way before the introduction of the very grumpy Lorax, protector of the trees when Once-ler (Ed Helms) fell one of them to extract raw material for his production of Thneed, a multi-purpose fabric.

It's a story within a story, which began with Ted (Zac Efron) having the hots for Audrey (Taylor Swift), who has a penchant for wanting to see a real tree. Living in Thneed-Ville where everything is artificial, Ted discovers the simplest way to score with his lady love is to make her sole dream come true, but requires to do the forbidden and step outside their gated community, and seek out the fabled Once-ler, as advised by his grandma (Betty White). So begins the actual story of The Lorax with the background of how the Once-ler ended up where he is, from a promising young man seeking his fortunes to learning the universal lesson of how to take care of our only planet, told through multiple visits that Ted makes each time to learn a lot more.

The story's pretty much very point blank in its obvious message about the environment, and conservation, where the ill effects of industrialization, blatant pollution and the destruction of nature get dealt with in the narrative – when natural habitats are destroyed, those oh-so-cute all-singing-and-dancing animals will soon have to depart or face extinction. However, having this shoved down your throat every now and then does become somewhat of a put off. While the young ones will likely be entertained, accompanying adults will likely stay two steps ahead of the story since it doesn't toss up any surprises, and you can be accurately guessing how everything turned out like it is for Thneed-Ville given the very lively introduction to the town.

The villain is of course the conglomerate head Mr O'Hare (Rob Riggle) whose objective is sky rocketing profits from a self fulfilling cycle of production and waste, churning out products such as filters and bottled clean air to serve as growing necessities for the town's inhabitants. Despite getting title billing, the Lorax (voiced by Danny DeVito) isn't that much well liked or have taken centre-stage, besides having to crack some one-liners every now and then, but character wise, almost everything stuck to their assigned caricature. This makes the narrative a little bit bland and boring, unable to keep pace with its punchier song and dance moments when it played out more like a musical.

Fans of Despicable Me will find some grounds for familiarity given how director Renaud stuck to his formula of packing the visuals in with bright, vibrant colours, and staffed full of cutesy animals and creatures that Once-ler finds himself in the company of. It's a story about redemption after betrayal of the highest order, breaking that circle of trust in the name of production and capitalism, and sort of reflects a current state in modern society with morals thrown out the window in exchange for riches. But for the young ones who are here to watch this show, parents beware, should there be a slew of merchandise and toys lined up to capture their attention post-screening.

Five Days of War

From the Front Line

Five Days of August has been renamed Five Days of War outside of Georgia (despite the print at the start of the end credits proudly displaying the former), undoubtedly capitalizing on its predominant war fighting segments to help market the film, based upon real incidents that took place during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War during the said period in which parts of Georgia got occupied by the Russians, shrewdly planned during the time when the rest of the world was distracted by the Beijing Olympics. Directed by Renny Harlin from a story by David Battle, Five Days of August is a film that pays tribute to war correspondents and journalists who have given their lives in search for the truth, being caught in crossfires and the likes to bring to the world footage, photographs and reports from various war fronts, often with minimal protection.

The film opens in Iraq with what would almost be found-footage, introducing to us the protagonists of journalist Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend) and cameraman Sebastian (Richard Coyle), partners in many experiences around the globe bringing war stories to their networks. As with most openings this segment was important to establish character motivations, to showcase and set the audience expectations that no stops will be pulled to feature military hardware, as well as to touch upon its political subplot that while Georgia had joined and volunteered to the USA's coalition of the willing in the Iraqi campaign, the reverse isn't so true when Georgia herself required help from the West in which she's trying to align herself to, irking the Russians whose waning influence had triggered an invasion in August 2008 (or so the film will have it put).

With a potential war brewing, Anders and Sebastian find their way to Georgia, and as the trailer would have outlined the plot already, get caught up in a wedding and picked up some locals including Tatia (Emmanuelle Chriqui in a role to look pretty and contribute nothing more), getting some incriminating footage from the spoils of war and the inhumane crimes against humanity committed by Russian mercenaries contracted for handsome sums to lead the invasion, and spend the entire second half of the film protecting the yet to be uploaded evidence on a memory card. For convenience of dramatization purposes, they hook up with Georgian troops led by the same group of men who hauled their arses out of Iraq, as well as demonizing the better equipped Russians led by Col Alexandr Demidov (Rade Serbedzija) of a militia out to slaughter and plunder.

Five Days of August is like a collaborative project by those forgotten by Hollywood, to make a shout out that they're still relevant for a decent paycheck. Renny Harlin was once the darling of Tinseltown, having directed blockbusters like Clffhanger and Die Hard 2, but alas in recent years have faded, but not into obscurity yet. Here he shows why he's still capable of being at the helm of a complex, large scaled movie consisting of a spectrum of genres straddling between political squabbling through the behind the scenes cabinet meetings of the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, played by Andy Garcia. Garcia puts on a thick accent to play a very spirited president rallying his troops and countrymen to form a resistance against the invading force, with a very questionable deference to a US advisor played by Dean Cain. The has been Superman teams up with one time Batman Val Kilmer, although not sharing the same scenes, with the latter playing Dutchman, yet another journalist who appears a total of not more than 10 minutes. Even lesser screen time was given to Heather Graham, who got only the prologue.

It felt documentary at times, although like most documentaries is fairly subjective in the way it wanted to tell its story. Having themselves funded in the production by the Georgians would clearly mean a portrayal that's one sided and natural to be putting the other party of a conflict in worst light than oneself. With cooperation, it meant having the means to feature plenty of military hardware, from choppers to fighter jets and scores of tanks in armoured battalions, in order to boost production values. Not to mention soldiers and crack forces too, with an incredibly lean and thin platoon supporting our protagonists from point to point, appearing when called upon for plot conveniences which took the shine off a narrative, making the second half of the film very much like a standard war action flick with one side seen to be winning little skirmishes. It's very obvious propaganda through and through.

Still it served up enough to play out like an average war film, highlighted with a fairly wobbly focus on journalists and the risk and sacrifices they have to go through in order to bring the best coverage from conflict zones. It doesn't serve up any surprises and throws in the expected basic romance under intense circumstances, but those expecting a more engaging film about the Russo-Georgia conflict of 2008 may have to wait for another movie to come along instead.

[South East Asian Film Festival] Dancing with Dictators: The Story of the Last Foreign Publisher in Burma

That's Me

The Southeast Asian Film Festival returns this week to 8Q@SAM, being in its 2nd edition. already proving its value for its themed focus on films from around our immediate regions, whose cinema are clearly a lot more vibrant with an eclectic selection to have made it to our shores on platforms like these, with filmmakers in attendance to share their experiences behind the scenes. My first film from the festival is Dancing with Dictators, an Australian documentary set in Myanmar, which in recent years, is akin to being that troubled kid amongst the distinguished ASEAN community.

While the focus of the documentary is about press freedom or lack thereof in one of the world's few remaining reclusive countries ruled by a military junta, this film by Hugh Piper take on a very different narrative in what I thuoght would roughly be three acts - that of the story of the founding and operations of The Myanmar Times, one of the few, if not the only newspaper with a foreigner stake at 49%, that of the 2010 Myanmar elections in which democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was not permitted to participate in, and the final act on one of the co-founders, CEO and publisher of The Myanmar Times, Mr Ross Dunkley.

Each of these acts are aces in the hole in presenting a view of a country seldom seen from the outside, or at least the non-sanitized version is relatively hard to come by. The first arc explained how The Myanmar Times came about, where business and politics are the same bedfellows - if the politics isn't healthy and one loses some grip on power, someone else in the hierarchy will pounce on this weakness and take over, just like how co-founder and Burmese partner Sonny Swe got accused and locked up when his father, a military Brigadier General connected with the Military Intelligence department, fell out of favour amongst the top brass with the gazette of Military Intelligence as an illegal organization. This power play eventually installed Dr Tin Tun Oo (TTO) into the newspaper's ranks, the source of plenty of disagreements and more power play with Ross Dunkley.

The elections would prove to be another issue of contention and talking point, especially since a mass boycott by Aung San Suu Kyi's party affiliates meant an overwhelming odds for the military backed party to win the elections. TTO enters the fray to serve his aspiration as a politician, and the film takes on a different approach to cover the historical milestone of the country. In between the first two story arcs we get to catch a detailled glimpse of Ross Dunkley's work ethics, because the final arc will have a sole focus on the man linked to a controversial incident where he gets accused of assulting a woman. We follow his court hearings through snippets of film smuggled out of the country, and witness first hand how kangeroo courts operate, with court decisions often linked back to the top brass of the country, and evidence, accusations and the likes can be presented under bewildering circumstances.

Throughout all three arcs it goes beyond just the story about military oppression and involvement in just about every aspect of a Myanmar citizen's life, dictating what one can do or read through the national mass media, but having direct say and powers over the lives of everyone in country, regardless if you're a foreigner, and worst if you're a local. Through psychological gamesmanship, the irony here is a getting a mass media magnate kept powerless through the media he/she is part of, and one has to read between the lines to get the true meaning of what one's intent is, despite a very sunny exterior disposition.

The documentary provides a glimpse into seldom seen landscapes and interiors of a country unless one has travelled to it to be familiar with the surroundings, and also highlights the inherent fear permeating throughout the land, what with its lacklustre and toothless justice system, and network of spies. With the lack of freedom of the press, they serve only one master and the louder the rhetorics, a more hardline stance will be adopted, such as Dunkley himself would be fairly knowledgeable of in order to operate within such parameters.

Dancing with Dictators proves just how dangerous it is to be under the gunsights of whimsical dictators, where at the spur of the moment one can get into all sorts of trouble, with nary a finger lifted from any quarter genuinely there to help you unless there are distinct advantages to do so, or deals have been made. You can't help but to feel a little bit sorry and enraged at how things can proceed as they did, as films like this one serve like a spiritual companion piece to other Myanmar related movies like Luc Besson's The Lady, and Anders Østergaard's indie film Burma VJ, which is almost entirely, if not all, made up of clips from cameras secretly recording in country, and then smuggled out of, with filmmakers who do so often doing so underground.

If Myanmar is one of your subjects of interest, then this film should be essential as well under your watchlist.

LOL

The first Hollywood film to premiere in India this year, which is quite apt since I suppose audiences in India can appreciate remakes upon remakes hitting their screens every now and then, since different movie regions in India have cross-made their films especially if they are financially successful. This version of LOL is a second generation remake, with the original film made with French actress Sophie Marceau playing the role of Miley Cyrus' titular role of Lola, before switching to play Demi Moore's role of mom in writer-director Lisa Azuelos' 2006 version, who then decided to direct the same film all over again, this time with Hollywood money.

I suppose it's tough getting bored when doing the same project, albeit with a different cast bringing different sensibilities to the table, and of course, being set in different countries allowed for an exploration of the modern / current day teenage trials and tribulations, and see how they would have differed from the very first film. For starters, this is an out and out teenage chick flick, set in high school where topics are rather constricted, ranging from bad grades to boys, to hot teachers and cliques, circle of trust and betrayals, and so on. High schools make for very fertile ground as a story setting, but you really can't get away from the formula, even if technology from webcams to IM chat sessions enter to spice things up a little

Miley Cyrus had a scene involving smoking of drugs here cut out, because a real life shenanigan blew way out of control with the teenage idol hell bent and desperate to leave behind her Disney child-friendly persona of Hanna Montana. Be it having provocative personal pictures making their way online, to recreational drug use or otherwise, the filmmakers probably thought it best to leave behind the negative publicity, and cut that out of the film. Which didn't do the flow any favours at times, with other less than stellar editing efforts such as a following scene that contradicted what was said before.

In any case Cyrus plays Lola, a teenager who opens the film being dumped by her boyfriend Chad (George Finn), and we'd just about know that she'll fall head over heels with her best male buddy Kyle (Douglas Booth) especially after gushing ad nausem about him and confessing so in her secret diary. But the road to true romance is always a bumpy ride, so you can bet your last dollar it has to deal with misunderstandings which led to temporal breakups and the like, not to mention falling school grades all over the shop make school life quite the bane to a relationship. Kyle too has issues with his dad's frowning upon his musical CCA, but since this is a chick flick, who really cares about the male characters anyhow, except when they fail to pout and look hot.

Subplots in the film that pad it up include a focus on Lola's best friend Emily (Ashley Hinshaw), who has the hots for her math teacher (Austin Nichols) with dream boat looks, and is the female equivalent of a Stifler or that obligatory rude, shock jock in any teenage sex comedy, and of course, Mom Anne, which the film splits 50-50 with her own relationship, being unable to move on from the husband (Thomas Jane) she divorced, and being at the crossroads to begin one with a rather persistent cop James (Jay Hernandez). Plus the dynamics between mother-daughter getting the highlights and focus as well, between Anne and Lola where sometimes they drive each other nuts, only to always inherently realize blood runs thicker than water.

LOL, after so many iterations, came off as flat and offered little surprises to fans of such films, who lap it up only because of a different cast. It's the usual chick flick dealing with rudimentary issues for its formula, which in real life may not even be issues at all. It's mildly amusing with nary a class act from anyone in their delivery, and perhaps it's that generation gap that's fast driving a wedge between myself and issues brought up in the film which may seem like a big deal for one growing up. Surely it's a coming of age tale, but I'm not getting it, nor am I the right demographic targeted to begin with.

The Devil Inside

Why So Much Hate?

Found footage horror films these days are almost a dime a dozen, and to a discerning audience who will almost always head to the cinemas regardless, the challenge is to go one leg up over previous offerings, although most of the time many will fail at the final lap providing an ending that is quite disapproved of. The Last Exorcism was something that went out with a bang that was much reviled, but this one, directed by William Brent Bell, who co-wrote the story with Matthew Peterman, got critics and audiences up in arms in lambasting it as the worst film of all time. But is it really?

The ingredients for a horror film that serves up its fair share of scares are all inside this effort. There's Rome, there're demonic possessions, there's creepy sound effects and shadow and light play, jump scares, quick cuts, the works, although given that it's of the found footage genre one really cannot complain about the jerky and shaky camerawork that could get a little bit nauseating. It begins with a mystery, where a woman got makes a call to the police confessing having to kill 3 persons, only for us to slowly realize through newsreels that it was three persons involved in an exorcism on the woman who had turned tables around.

We then fast forward to the woman's daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) who decides to go solve the mystery behind her mother's deeds, who is now locked up in the Vatican's appointed hospital for psychiatry. A documentary crew she conveniently commissions follows her to Rome, where she meets up with the priests Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth) who soon bring her to experience one of their exorcisms performed on a woman called Rosalita (Bonnie Morgan), where the episode serves as a jump point and catalyst for everything else in the movie to follow on at breakneck speed, with the usual inputs that you'd already come to see in countless of exorcist type movies, and develops with a hint of what's being known as transference.

There are a couple of open, unresolved subplots that have opened the doors for prequels and sequels to happen, although whether or not these will be done is a huge question given the very large backlash. For instance, the back-story of Ben was kept very ambiguous, as is Isabella's, both having done something that could either be revealed to be more than meets the eye, or expanded for a little bit more depth. The build up toward the final act was great, because it created such a huge expectation that the stunt it pulled off in the last scene is admittedly very ballsy, although it got a reaction opposite of what it expected to be rewarded for having the guts to be different, pulling the plug and denying everyone a climatic battle to the finish.

Many will fault the film for that, and probably bear a grudge to condemn everything else that transpired in the film, which to me feels a little bit unfair. It decided to do what it set out to, and reminded everyone again of going back to basics for the sub-genre - something has to happen in some fashion like this for the found-footage itself to work. It is found after all, and inherently that calls for things to be left hanging, logically speaking. I have to credit the film too for being the only one I've seen so far in a horror film, where menstrual blood got spewed from the source and found reason to be splattered all over the camera. Talk about morbidity when you least expected it, in the most gooey fashion the filmmakers conjured.

For what got invested in production, the box office returns already made this a success, thanks to horror film aficionados who contributed to its coffers early in its release, before word of mouth slowly condemned it to fall quite spectacularly at the charts. Still, those looking for some scares will find The Devil Inside serving them up, but you'll just have to hold on to your horses at its ending - if you're open minded enough it's something you won't condemn immediately, especially if you take a step back to consider its few production and narrative merits.

Act of Valor

Family

You cannot deny that Act of Valor is one massive recruitment commercial for the United States Army, having put its elite Navy Seals on display here in a number of missions set to make a career in the armed forces look terribly sexy. If you cannot stand America's flexing of military might in films, as it had done here with the sanctioned participation of real, but unnamed Navy Seals, then this is not the film for you. If you're offended by America's show of overwhelming firepower in its arsenal almost like to kill a chicken with a bull knife, then this is also a film that will set to turn you off.

So why the film reached number one in the US is hardly a no-brainer, with its sense of patriotism steep in its narrative, and paying tribute to active duty servicemen who are fighting for freedom and against tyranny anywhere around the world, and to remember those who have fallen while in the line of duty. Directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh hardly hid this bit of flag waving during the end credits, and throughout the film had plenty of moments to showcase everything positive about being part of an elite troop ready to be called upon anywhere in the world for pre-emptive strikes, or to rescue one of their own from terrorists in whatever form they take, regardless of borders they operate in.

Why this film will succeed anywhere else in the world, is its appeal to those curious to take a sneak peek behind the scenes and be in awe of the scope of military hardware on display. In Singapore, full houses can be expected since being in a military is part and parcel of growing up here, and we just love any good ol action film that promises a lot, and delivers, nevermind if the plot is relatively thin, and the characters here being little more than tin soldiers out for their day in the field. Action sequences here are crafted exploiting all aspects of SEALS - Sea, Air and Land, as the troopers here make water-borne assaults, air lift themselves from landing zone to landing zone, and of course attack deep into enemy territory, not as mindless Rambos, but as closely coordinated assault teams that have plans, and backup plans to tackle whatever contingencies that may crop up.

Action junkies will not be disappointed by the number of military hardware on display, from the personal artifacts and effects like uniforms, assault rifles, night vision goggles, to the support equipment from rocket launchers and personal air drones (which by the way is really cool) for that extra edge in air superiority, to the big toys like submarines, aircraft carriers and transport planes and helicopters from which to make airborne drops into opposition territory. Did I mention this was sanctioned by the US military and they had final say on the final cut of the film, making all the imagery here very much like a slick commercial meant to seduce the unsuspecting male into signing up for a tour of duty or two.

The missions the Navy Seals take on are kept distinctly varied in order to provide the spectrum of the job scope, from patient reconnaissance to interrogation (which in the film was possibly nothing spectacular, and Hollywood could have churned out better dialogue here), with hostage extraction to neutralizing enemy combatants. The story isn't much to be in awe about though, having only to exist in order to string the action sequences together, beginning with a targeted bomb attack in the Philippines, then jet setting all around the globe hunting for Russian terrorism financier Christo (Alex Veadov) and his Chechnyan childhood friend turned terrorist, Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle), who's bringing his new found team of suicide bombers with their newly developed ceramic bomb vests into the USA to inflict mass casualty acts of terror.

In between we get introduced to the SEALs platoon from whose point of view we will follow, whose personal lives got introduced, but grossly overshadowed by the action, so much so that we don't really care who's actually who since they all speak the same lingo and execute orders contributing to their shared mission goals and objectives. Acting wise, you'd be hard pressed to spot a recognizable name from the cast, and sad to say everyone looked rather wooden when required to emote, but come alive once they all get to play shoot em ups. There's also a literal demonstration of the title in the film, and do not it says Act, and not Acts, of Valor, although the filmmakers will have you convinced that they had adopted the stories here from real life instances.

For those who enjoy War themed films, then Act of Valor does not disappoint in its delivery of what matters to its intended target audience from the start. Those who play first person shooter army games will also find the cinematography adopted during missions straddle between full views, and views over the shoulder as if we are fighting alongside the troops on screen, and made to look through viewfinders of the assault weapons as if we're the soldier whose boots are on the ground.

Despite the advances of technology in their weaponry, combat still boils down to the individual men who make up a unit of well oiled and coordinated fighters in crack Seal teams ready to take on missions anywhere around the world. Act of Valor (notice the singularity of the title, because it is really just One act in the entire show, and a rather cliched one at that) just makes it look sexier despite the dangers and hazards in the job, and preaches that it's all worthwhile if fighting to promote just cause. And to get your hands dirty when playing with some of the cool toys as well.

The Lady

For Country

A Luc Besson and Michelle Yeoh director-actress pairing may make action fans salivate at the prospects of an action flick on the horizon by the prolific French filmmaker and one of Asia's prominent action heroine, but who would have thought that they would be collaborating to bring a solid biography to the silver screen, based on a Nobel laureate who is still, at this point in time, fighting the good fight for freedom of her nation from tyranny. A quick word about the production is that it pulled no punches in its production values and drive to keep everything as authentic as possible, with extensive research done by cast and crew to raise the level of authenticity of aspects being featured, from language to sets and costumes, that one has to salute the effort poured into making this amongst the finest biographical films in recent years.

Based on the story by Rebecca Frayn, who had spent three years interviewing close confidantes of Aung San Suu Kyi, the narrative provides the points of view of both Suu Kyi herself, played by Michelle Yeoh, and her husband Michael Aris (David Thewlis), who because of her political awakening and development, caused plenty of emotionally painful, physical separation and time spent apart through her standing up for and accepting her countrymen's push for democratic leadership, after years of military rule from generalissimos Ne Win to Tan Shwe (Agga Poechit). It also presents different perspectives both within and outside of Burma as crises began to unfold with Suu Kyi a prisoner of her own home and country, and Michael being outside of it trying his best to sound out her, and Burma's plight. Then there's the sacrifice of family for country, where a breakup of the family unit was something inevitable in order to continue being there for her countrymen and not abandoning them at times of need.

Some, if not most will opt to not pursue lofty goals at the expense of personal, or family, but here it's about the sacrifices one makes for one's beliefs, and the strength, composure and dignity demonstrated when faced with the juvenile, cunning games played by power hungry opposition who are hell bent on staying in power. Rules get broken, and when pushed to a corner, with crackdowns and massacres becoming the order of the day with the wielding of the iron fist, and there's no lack of cruel methods on display here to deal with opposition, from isolation and confinement, to unbelievable genocide committed against mankind.

In a story spanning decades that moves forward and back in time, Besson has a solid hand in knowing the highlights of the many years history to translate for the big screen, going back to the 40s when Suu Kyi's father Aung San, a war and independence hero, got assassinated, right down to her emergence in politics as a force to be reckoned with, and her subsequent house arrest, right up to the recent 2007 rallies and demonstrations by monks that eventually led to a deadly crackdown. The Lady presents Besson an opportunity to move away from his relatively family friendly fare of late with the Arthur and the Invisibles series, and also to perform an about turn from the usual action flicks, for something a lot more serious in gravitas, and needless to say the importance of getting the film right in most, if not all counts, as much as a filmmaker can with the resources at his disposal.

As such, some may feel that the film is relatively lightweight in its coverage of politics, although I must add that being confined to one's home in the prominent years of one's political life doesn't make for a smooth translation on screen, as there's only so much that one can do within the fantastic recreation of Suu Kyi's lakeside home. Instead a softer, more heartfelt approach through a love story opened up Suu Kyi as a character who's a lot more down to earth, than just a democracy icon. Besson's knack for handling strong female characters couldn't be more pronounced here, with plenty of opportunities in scenes to show she does not cower even with gun barrels pointed at her face, nor accept the constant nonsense dished out by the military might.

Despite the lack of action, you can feel Luc Besson's release of glee in channeling that frustration to mocking the military top brass, from their deliberate big moments and silly gestures bordering on the comical, to their illogical superstitions, with characterization being very much in line with our esteemed ex Minister Mentor's comments leaked via WikiLeaks. Almost all generalissimos and their underlings are ridiculously decorated, and make extremely naive calls as if nobody can see through their simple rouse. It's a story of grace versus guns, which in any other typical Besson movie it's no surprise if it comes with preference for the latter, except for The Lady which trades in for the softer power approach.

Some of the best scenes involve how the military junta make life miserable for Suu Kyi with the constant outage of power to her home, and the more emotional one where she's forced to listen to the radio for tuning in to world events, or to desperately try to feel a connection from one of her boys (played by Jonathan Raggett and Jonathan Woodhouse) or husband as they go on a whirlwind tour to promote her running for the Nobel Peace Prize. Powerful imagery and on location shots, credited to anonymous cameramen who helped make the many in-country scenes possible since the filmmakers and Luc himself were given the boot, helped to provide a level of authenticity and allowed for a more documentary look and feel at times, such as that protest march of the monks that gained momentum and grew.

Michelle Yeoh lost quite a lot of weight in order to physically resemble the lead role, and her time spent on researching Suu Kyi was time well spent as she nailed her mimicry down to a pat. Even her lines spoken in Burmese were flawless. Not that I can understand the language, but the large percentage of Burmese audience that I've watched this with were nodding and acknowledging her diction and fluency, as well as her performance of the real life heroine of their lives. In short, they were in awe by her elegance and poise in making Suu Kyi come alive on screen. David Thewlis also shone in his role as the husband standing firmly behind her decision and to make sacrifices knowingly for the greater good, for the benefit of even more people in a country that needs his wife more than he needs her. Together they made their struggle felt, and will seek to move even the most stoic of hearts. And the actors who played the Burmese generals, you guys surely hammed it up effortlessly.

This superb film may be travelling the festival and commercial theatrical circuits now, and will probably pick up a slew of film awards along the way. But what's more important and I'm sure it'll achieve, is to bring the attention of the world towards Suu Kyi's, and Burma's continued plight that seemed to be with no end in sight. You may not be very familiar with what may have transpired over the decades of strife in Burma, but The Lady brings you up to speed with a succinctly packed historical lesson centered around one of the world's enduring icons of freedom and democracy. A definite recommendation for this wonderful effort.

P.S. the particular print at GV Plaza was without any subtitles when the characters speak in Burmese, just so that you are aware.