Taipei Exchanges (第36個故事)

Stories From Around The World

If your idea of a Taiwanese film veers toward that of art house fare, then think again. Of the two Taiwanese movies which are released here in close succession, one next week with Au Revoir Taipei, and this one which is executive produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien and already screening, both showing plenty of promise in mixing mainstream sentimentalism with art house production values. Both films are helmed by first time feature filmmakers (edit: well, Hsiao Ya-chuan already has one more credit to his name, according to IMDb), and you can safely say that things are indeed looking exciting with their youthful exuberance, being breezy in treatment, and whimsically beautiful in their simplicity.

Writer-director Hsiao Ya-chuan has an eye for style and technique here, putting together various ways to mix the genres of comedy, romance and even a pseudo-documentary all rolled into Taipei Exchanges. It's multi-layered, which makes it have something for everyone, underneath the topmost veneer story of two sisters having to set up a cafe as part of pursuing their dreams, or serve as a conduit to their desires. Doris's Cafe, opened by Doris (Guai Lun-mei) as a means of getting out of the paper chase and gaining independence, sees her teaming up with her sister Josie (Lin Zai-zai, who looks Like Lun-mei o make it even more convincing) who starts a scheme to drive up traffic for a newly opened store.

Which is as the title states, a barter trade system of goods or even services exchange, where almost everything in the shop is open to trade. It's quite a neat strategy giving their cafe a unique value proposition from the countless of cafes out there, in order to drive eyeballs, visits, and of course, sales when the would be customers come in and start to order something. As an unintentional seed which came as a problem to be solved, no thanks to friends who donate unwanted knick-knacks, this forms the crux upon which subplots got weaved into the narrative, from small supporting characters coming and going, and where other stories got told to form what the Mandarin title promises, no less than 36 stories.

I simply love the beginning of the movie, which took its time to demonstrate real life woes faced by any typical entrepreneur, following Doris' setting up of her one year old shop, with the baseline issues of menu design, furniture selection, and the constant worry of finances when customers don't show up, with overheads already sunk, and operating expense bleeding the business everyday. One clearly cannot rely on friends alone to drive traffic, nor make recommendations to visit the shop (I think some friends who have set up a business in similar fashion can attest to this), since they are at liberty to pay lip service, and don't actually turn up.

Then come the many unique stories, some fantastical, others folk legends, which are provided an additional dimension through the drawings that were designed to go along with them, coming from bars of soap associated with cities around the world. Hsiao Ya-chuan also adds in that dash of realism with those documentary styled moments where people on the streets were asked the same hypothetical questions posed to characters in the film, and while some answers do seem rehearsed and canned, there were others which I felt were brutally honest and sincere. And as if not enough, Hsiao also keeps a running joke ongoing in the film with the sister's mother constantly questioning her daughters intents and objectives in life, which inevitably get answered by others, providing separate insights.

With life imitating art in having the real life shop location now operating and becoming a tourist magnet, just like what's in the film, Taipei Exchanges entertains, yet makes you think about how each of us potentially have many stories to tell based on life's experiences, and this will only increase through what's essentially the passage of life. With an excellent soundtrack and a deceptively simple narrative hidden under bubble gum pop, I'll file this under my highly recommended list as a contender for one of the best this year!

StreetDance 3D

Bullet Time Dance

For a minute this looks like another American film that just can't wait to jump onto the 3D bandwagon, and taking along the teenage dance film fan demographic with them. But surprise, it's a British film, and the Brits can street dance just as well, going heads up with yet another upcoming American dance film continuing the Step Up franchise, also presented in 3D.

So is this new three dimensional format any good for this genre? There are a few moments and scenes here specifically crafted with 3D in mind, such as the tossing of items toward the screen, from hats to a busy food fight in a school canteen. There's also some jarringly added bullet-time choreography during one of the street dance battles in a club, but the real treat here is for that depth of field when we sit around and admire the precision-timed and energetic dance choreography from procedural balletic moves to raw, improvisational street dancing.

But this film does go the distance to explain and show the basics 101 of street dance, since it has characters from different camps put together to try and influence one another, and from their initial adversity come craft something unique from its diversity. All these thanks to Charlotte Rampling's Helena, a ballet teacher looking to infuse some spunk, energy and drive into her lethargic ballet students who are looking to impress some judges for entry into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance.

At the opposite corner, we have a crew looking forward to their participation in the UL Street Dance Competition finals, only for their leader Jay (Ukwell Roach) handover the reins to his girlfriend Carly (Nichola Burley) who has to step up to the plate and assert her own leadership style in the crew's final lap to glory. To make matters worse, she has a lack of EQ with her teammates save for a few core supporters, and has to gather logistics from scratch, hence a marriage of strange bedfellows when she takes up Helena's offer.

Simply put, the story's very typical of dance films, with the usual themes of clashing of cultures, and to learn from each other's differences. Much like a Zero to Hero story with the usual cliche trappings involving romance, betrayal and friendship, with that dash of comedy, eye candy cast and of course, authentic street dancing moves unseen (at least to me) put on the big screen, made to come alive through 3D technology properly done. You'll come to expect that usual big bang finale where the fruits of the characters labour become the money making showpiece that the teenage crowd will line up for, and probably emulate, and it's not hard to see how this cannot go down that path of glory.

It's something that street dance enthusiasts, and they're growing by the numbers everyday, will embrace and flock to the cinemas for, and hey, the fusion of ballet and street dancing elements does pose an intriguing proposition. But after all, it's not about the techniques and styles used, but that of the human spirit of expression and perseverance, practice and camaraderie that ultimately soars above all. Recommended!

Ong Bak 3

Intercept!

So I was a little bit undecided about Ong Bak 2, and reserved judgement until this installment came out since both films make up one story, leading up to the first Ong Bak film quite loosely - we see how the Ong Bak Buddha statue got created here, the same one whose head was lost in the first film. With this film put together, you can tell Tony Jaa had quite an idea of a premise for these prequels, but I suppose his inexperience as a filmmaker behind the camera have led to the inexplicable break down during production, and probably after this film which dealt with karma, positive vibes and all, may have put him on the path to monkhood.

Picking up directly where we last left off in that cliffhanger ending in Part 2 after an opening credits montage to quickly jog our memory, we see how Tien gets systematically broken down by the many minions of his nemesis Lord Rajasena (Sarunyoo Wongkrachang). Here's where I think the Thai audience have the last laugh with their recent censor ratings. Ong Bak 3 is rating an 18+ there, and over here, we got by with an NC16. Not so bad I thought to myself, until the first 5 minutes saw a number of badly executed butchering of the film, that I balked. We should have gone M18 to be in line, and perhaps those torture scenes would have survived the censors scissors. But no thanks to the distributors who decided to try and make this film appeal to a larger Jaa audience. Surprisingly though the more violent moments later on in the film were left untouched, scenes that I felt were violent enough with the likes of a decapitation, and face/head stomp to warrant an axe under the NC16 rating. But I'm not a censor, so I can't guess what's going on behind the scenes.

Anyway, action fans may feel a little bit disappointed with this installment which ran just over 90 minutes. For the first hour we only have limited battle sequences involving our hero, so savour whatever you can in his fight for survival against hordes of weapon wielding enemies who have the unfair advantage of strength in numbers against a badly beaten (just came off those numerous fights from Ong Bak 2) Tien. Totally broken and just as he's about to be executed, Tien gets saved by the bell and brought back to the village of Kana Khone, where another fight ensues involving his new rescuers against Rajasena's assassins.

Then it's a good plod onto the hour mark, where Tien goes through a reincarnation of sorts, involving body wraps, mystical chants, Master Bua (Nirut Sirichanya) turning to monkhood and imparting pearls of wisdom, the rehabilitation of body, mind and soul, time for romance with Pim (Primorata Dejudom) his pillar of strength, discussions of karmic philosophy and the circle of life. Tien has to unlearn what he has learnt, and basically has to snap all the bones of his body back in place before he can practice martial arts again, which brings us a bearded Jaa and a training montage in a tree, under water, showing off a lean though scarred body, and is that a little paunch I see as well?

So while Tien takes a breather of sorts for his transformation, the duty of keeping the action junkies entertained fell on Dan Chupong's shoulders, as his very short supporting role as the Crow Ghost got expanded here, with his motivation fully revealed. His character soars to evil heights here, taking over the mantle as chief villain, and allowing Chupong to reintroduce himself as an action star to be reckoned with in his own right. Those who have seen Born to Fight and Dynamite Warrior will know what he is capable of, and I really salute him for daring to take on a negative role just to spar with Jaa onscreen.

But what a letdown when they finally get together to do battle. Overall I found their sparring quite weak compared to what had been done earlier in the film involving other exponents, and the finishing blow was quite a letdown. Already the number of fights and spars here were limited to begin with, one even involving the architecture of the mind (sorry, Inception still fresh), and this one just didn't pack enough oomph. It's built up to be something like Tien being a Moses to lead his people, captive by the Crow to be slaves getting constantly whipped, back to their promised land, and hey, he even comes with a staff that got dropped off after a magical moment got executed, in time for fisticuffs.

The only positive coming out from this new Tien, is his new fighting ability. Tien is now more graceful, thanks to the fusion of dance to his moves, and the many moments when this parallel that dance brings to the table, got heavy emphasis, meshing what we usually think of as effeminate, to giving that suppleness to the more masculine moves involving elbows and knees to bone-crunching effect. This to-the-point moves were not forgotten of course, and come in the form of very economical, sometimes comical, but always simple, strikes involving forearms and a rigid body trained to be as hard as steel. I still miss those drunken fists moves from the earlier film, and the insanely choreographed finale battles then, which this one had tried to emulate, only to be a pale shadow of its former's glory and variety of techniques put up for show.

Comedian Petchtai Wongkamiao provided some comic relief in a film that took itself quite seriously, and I think in light of some of the themes that were handled in quite a verbose manner, this was much appreciated. Ong Bak 3 straddles martial arts and philosophy very openly and tried to strike a fair balance between the two, but alas it came off as quite a schizophrenic film very much like True Legend in spirit. I hope the Ong Bak 2 and 3 episodes (and what went on during the troubled production) don't tank Tony Jaa's career, because I'm sure he has enough in reserve to wow audiences once again, should the right story come along that pushes his physical boundaries.

[DVD] Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序) (2007)

One More Time

My journey through the Japanese anime Evangelion is limited to what I've seen in the cinemas, with two films on the rebuild already released, and now am hung high and dry while waiting for the last two installments to be completed. A friend has lent me his VCD series of the original Evangelion episodes, but for some inexplicable reason, I still enjoy the widescreen and surround sound presentation, which is why I decided to get the 1.11 and 2.22 versions to relive the cinematic experience all over again, despite knowing that the original episodes hold an ending of sorts if I were to plough ahead with it. The rebuild version though will head in a vastly different direction with the latter 2 films as compared to the original series, so what's canon once, can possibly be thrown out the window.

There are some 2 minutes of extra runtime in the 1.11 version compared to the 1.0 release in the theatres, but frankly I can't spot where these 2 minutes went, because they seem to be spread out as filler scenes rather than to add in a chunk wholesale that could have altered something to make you sit up and take notice. Having watched this in Japanese in the cinemas, I opted to go with the English dubbed version with the subtitles turned on, and I thought the dubbed version was competently done, with the voice actors really getting into character, rather than to just go through the motion and read the lines just for the sake of (like some local version of another Japanese movie).

You can read my review of Evangelion here since it's essentially the same story save for those 2 inconsequential minutes.

The Code 1 2-disc Special Edition by Funimation Entertainment has the main feature contained in the first disc, while the second contains all the extras. In Disc One (in Orange), it autoplays with the Trailer for Soul Eater Part 2, before presenting the film in a gorgeous anamorphic widescreen format taken from a digital source (rather than a transfer from film). Audio is available in 6.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX, with either the original Japanese track, or the dubbed English one. Scene selection is available over 33 chapters, and subtitles are available in English.

Disc Two (in Green) autoplays the Trailer for Gunslinger Girl before the main menu comes up. This is the Special Features disc, and contains details on the Rebuild of Evangelion 1.01 (yes, you read that right).
There are two versions here, each running 15:51 and presented in letterbox format, with the same content containing plenty of making-of equivalent type of clips showing the various stages of inspiration and rendering of scenes from the film. Think of it as a making-of documentary, without the verbal explanation. The different versions exist so that you can choose to watch this against the Shiro Sagisu Version soundtrack, or against the Joseph-Maurice Ravel Version with his classical Bolero. Take note though that the menu has them mixed up!!

Angel of Doom Promotional Music Video (2:20 in anamorphic widescreen) is self explanatory, with music and scenes lifted from the film, and News Flashes (0:55) contain 2 television spots equivalent to promote the film, using nothing but white on black text, There are no less than 7 Movie Previews meant as trailers for the film, some utilizing scenes not constraint to just the first movie. Presented in anamorphic widescreen format with songs from the original series, they are Preview 1 Color-Corrected Version (1:36), Fly Me To The Moon Version 1 (1:41), Fly Me To The Moon Version 1A (1:41), Fly Me To The Moon Version 1B (1:41), Beautiful World Version 2 (1:36), Beautiful World Version 2A (1:36), Beautiful World Version 2B (1:36).

Rounding up the extras is the Trailers section for the following titles - D.Gray-Man (0:31), Nabari No Ou (1:00), Kenichi (1:30), Dragon Ball Z Kai (0:16), Darker Than Black (1:01), Tower of Druaga (1:01), and Aquarion (1:01).

A 20 page booklet is also included and this is a bonus for new fans especially with its character bios from pilots to supporting characters to the villainous angels, and includes a glossary of keywords, abbreviations and acronyms created and used in the series. For seasoned fans, it contains plenty of informative process to explain what was done on the technical aspects to bring this to the big screen, and the process to do just that.

[DVD] The Broken (2008)

Major Drool

Writer-director Sean Ellis got on my radar with his feature film Cashback, which I rated as the best of the 2007 films, and The Broken is the follow up feature he had done which is a complete opposite to his debut, one that is part of 8 feature films made for the After Dark Horrorfest series of films. Gone are the whimsical romantic moments that he had deftly crafted and in comes something more serious and high tensioned.

Lena Headey plays Gina McVey, a hospital radiologist who seems to be leading the good life, with a good job, caring boyfriend Stefan (Melvil Poupaud) and tight knit family relationship with brother Daniel (Asier Newman) and dad John (Richard Jenkins). However, she encounters an inexplicable moment when she chances upon someone who looks like her, only to get involved in a car accident, and everything else from that point on goes awry. It'll be easy to put it down to post-trauma by the various medical and counselling experts she consults, but things start to go really out of whack especially with a series of broken mirrors she encounters, threatening both her life, and those of her loved ones.

For those of us familiar with the doppelganger, then this film will likely not come as a surprise as it follows quite closely with stories like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and various other spin offs and peers. What made this work is Ellis' direction which keeps the story tight, and creates a totally creepy environment devoid of cheap shots of sudden loud noises, door slams, and movement. Instead, it follows much like Asian horror in the building of atmosphere, although there are moments when it went a little overboard and didn't know when to disengage.

London is seen even more grey and bleak here through assured cinematography, and the highlight of this film will have to be the car accident, where it plays out something like a crash test dummy sequence, that you're left to wonder how this was filmed with its different angles each played at different points in the story, as if holding something key to unlocking the mystery of the story. The other key sequence here involves that rare blood and gore that pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock's famed shower scene in Psycho, with a sicker treatment executed for the modern, jaded audience.

Lena Headey does a commendable job to hold our attention for all those 80 over minutes as she becomes the film's scream queen (without the scream) as she tries to uncover just what exactly happened during the crucial minutes before that iconic accident scene, which we have a glimpse of before the fade to black. Fans of horror and sci-fi films will likely to have guessed accurately the big reveal of the story, but even then, The Broken is still stylishly delivered, though a little less than satisfactory to the promise that Sean Ellis holds from Cashback.

The Code 1 DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is presented in an anamorphic widescreen format, though curiously the aspect ratio shifts after the end of the opening credits. Audio is presented in the English language with either 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2.0 Dolby Stereo, while the French language is presented only in the 2.0 Dolby Stereo format. Unfortunately there are no subtitles nor close-captioning, and scene selection is broken into 16 chapters. No other extras are available in this bare-boned edition.

Hot Tub Time Machine

You Think It's Safe?

To enjoy a time travel movie, you gotta put aside the inevitable probe on how the time travel paradox will come to jinx your enjoyment. One of my favourite time travel movies have got to be Back to the Future, and hey, Crispin Glover is cast in this film as well, in what would possibly be the funniest character given the responsibility to carry on and sustain his own running gag through the narrative, which speaks wonders of the actor's impeccable comic timing.

As with Time Travel films, the premise can go two ways. The first involves the protagonists (or victims if you will) having to pursue just one sole objective, and that's to head home. Everything is done deliberately to avoid upsetting the space-time continuum. The other will involve a purposeful change so that the future can be swung in favour, though this comes with a degree of danger since the next jump back to the future may turn things into something not quite expected. Alternate realities come into play, and if one only has a single chance to make things right, then it's that tremendous leap of faith to be taken.

Which is what Hot Tub Time Machine is all about, with the titular machine being the means to journey back in time, given an opportunity for the characters to either act out their history faithfully to avoid any drastic change, which means to revisit some painful teenage issues all over again, or grasp that opportunity to make bold changes, since life has given them a second chance to try and make things right. This is the dilemma with which the characters grapple with, in between jokes coming out of their past lives being revealed to the audience to elicit laughter.

John Cusack heads the pack as Adam the unofficial ringleader of the group of unsuspecting travellers who head back to the 1980s by accident (or otherwise, since Chevy Chase's cameo has a hand in this as well). He's an insurance agent who's getting nowhere in life, and is reeling from a recent breakup. His nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) the nerd who lives Adam's basement addicted to Second Life, is the brains behind the quartet whose very existence is hanging in the balance because he's in a time where he's not born yet, so anything that doesn't go according to plan, may end up with him disappearing forever.

Then there's Nick Webber (Craig Robinson) the one time band member who had given up his dream for his wife, only to find himself being one hen-pecked kind of guy, and with any group, there's the obligatory crude loudmouth, with Rob Corddry playing Lou as the representative, and resident horny, alcoholic bastard whose idea of a good time is a threesome, gambling, and just about every vice you can think of. Needless to say, this explosive time-bomb of a character is probably the one who will get you to laugh at, and laugh along with his antics. That, and together with what director Steve Pink found it hard not to do each time the characters pass by a mirror - to show their CG-ed youthful selves to great hilarity.

The usual themes about the value of friendship and selfishness within the group members get explored, especially since they each have their own agenda and mission to complete, and find themselves being at conflict with their personal demons. For those who grew up in the 80s, this film will give you that extra bang for the buck since the soundtrack is full of 80s music, and the visuals here will immediately transport you back to that era, with just about every production set screaming at you for attention as nostalgia starts to kick in. References come fast and furious as well, so you're likely to have a field day to catch them all.

Hot Tub Time Machine doesn't go for the cerebral, instead it kept things simple, and made them fun. There's no big plot twist and no big revelation, offering an easy form of escapism and to allow you to wonder just what you would want to change, or not, should you suddenly find yourself transported back when you're having that bath. With friends. Pissed drunk.

The Fantastic Water Babes (Chut Sui Fu Yung / 出水芙蓉)

Not So Fantastic After All

Despite its title, there's rarely a fantastic moment in the film, the swimming pool featured only in a small handful of scenes including one really out of this world computer generated effects extravaganza that was really out of place, and in reality having not too many babes in the film. So I guess that's three strikes against what it's trying to sell, and it just goes to show that writer-director Jeff Lau does blow hot and cold, especially the latter for this film when it had to sit in limbo for two years while waiting for main lead Gillian Chung's scandal to blow over.

But I suppose it didn't matter. While Hong Kong comedies can afford to have no coherent narrative and can sprawl all over the place, I think Jeff Lau's effort here really takes the cake and can probably be archived to film schools as how one should never make a film. Putting together an eye candy cast does not make a hit, especially when there's hardly a semblance of a story. As a comedy the jokes mostly fell flat, as a romance the leads share little chemistry, and one can only wonder what the director had wanted to achieve out of this, other than pay homage to Cheung Chau, one of Hong Kong's outlying islands.

Simply put, it tells the story of Gillian (Chung), a native of Cheung Chau, who believes that she has had an encounter with a deity, and is granted supernatural powers. The first few minutes of the film tries to establish this fact in a really unfunny sequence, after she gets into trouble with a rival who had sown the seed of jealousy, and as revenge, she wants to go one up against her in a hastily organized 4 x 100m swimming relay. Embroiled into the mix is the swim king of Asia, Chi (Alex Fong), who gets kidnapped by Gillian and her gang so as to learn some swimming techniques from him, to his reluctance of course, since he's a captive against his will.

Don't expect a female Waterboys equivalent, or a typical Japanese zero to hero story, because this film is just not that. There's little focus on the swimming aspects, so any thoughts of a training montage gets thrown out of the window after an obligatory one. Instead, Jeff Lau tries to explore the various characters and their motivations, from the romantic to the ethical, drawing broad strokes in insinuating that city dwellers are always scheming to make money, and have absolutely zero morals in that singular pursuit, while the village people are sincere, honest and trustworthy. Between the two lead characters in Gillian and Chi, the theme of hypocritical behaviour get broached, but only barely, while leaving the rest of the characters in support mode, without clear direction other than to be fodder for anything the writer/director so decides.

Comedy-wise, this is probably one of Jeff Lau's weakest offering, since the jokes are nary funny, and relied on gimmicky aspects already exploited to death in the hey days of Hong Kong comedy cinema. Don't expect any laugh-a-minute, and worse, some of these perceived comical aspects just made the storyline even more incoherent with fantastical elements thrown in that more often than not, backfire. Perhaps the only saving grace is Stephen Fung's character, whose sole appearance alone in drag will elicit much needed laughter, because his limited cameo in earlier scenes were just plain scenery, or an improvised Mahjong scene that I thought would have been better had the language of the film shown here be in its original Cantonese track.

Like Sniper, this is one film that's a blast from the past that had to await until audience sentiments of the scandal blows over, before making a cinema debut. After all, some costs recouped is better than none at all, so don't go to this expecting to see something rip-roaring funny.

Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score - Part II (のだめカンタービレ 最終楽章 後編)

When Can We Play Together?

Continuing directly from where we last left off, I was expecting just as much fun I had from the first film in the second one, since it's only half the movie to be completed now, but unfortunately I was left none too impressed. While the earlier film had demonstrated it's more than possible to have a feature film showcasing classical music, thanks to its zany characters, insights for newbies like myself into the meaning and stories behind the many iconic classical pieces, and the charismatic duo of Juri Ueno and Hiroshi Tamaki as the lovers Nodame and Chiaki respectively, the finale chapter ultimately reminded me of another Hollywood franchise in the way things go for the two leads.

Twilight. Yes, and I mean it in a negative way. The end of the first film had left us with the hope that the supporting characters get to be more involved this time around, but sadly, after the first half hour, they get shelved aside as their story arcs get wrapped up, and the characters got the closure they are seeking. And everything that happened in the first film with Chiaki up against the challenge of trying to make a team out of his orchestra, gets totally put aside, not that it is in need of another mending, but all the characters back then, only warranted a cameo appearance in a throwaway scene toward the end.

So with all the distractions out of the way, Chiaki can focus on helping Nodame with her music, even though they have to live apart, with mutual agreement and consent. But this absence doesn't only make the heart grow fonder, but also put into the heart some doubts as to whether one is holding the other back by just being there and probably demanding attention and time. Nodame goes through this entire emo episode in self doubt with the realization that her fantasy of being a top notch classical pianist, may just be that fantasy unfulfilled, and wonder what was actually wrong with life as she knew as a pre-school teacher.

In a parallel to the Twilight movies, so begins that indecisiveness that crept into the film and set on it like the plague. Both Chiaki and Nodame cannot help to declare their affection openly and their emotions properly, and cannot decide if they're better off together, or alone. Worse, Nodame's career seems to suddenly take off when she's at her most vulnerable, and Chiaki being perturbed not to be at the centre of it all, as he was always. It's one thing being put on a pedestal by someone, then completely forgotten and you start wondering why you've been taking things for granted.

Under such circumstances and scenes, it eventually plodded its way to the finale complete with a much expected reconciliation, and somehow it hinted at not being a definitive end, since I believe another volume of the graphic novel is already out. I suppose it's always the smart thing to do to leave things open for the prospect of more, but seriously, the show should start to move on from concentrating on this dilemma of indecision.

But I still enjoyed what I had enjoyed from the previous film, with this one also showcasing a number, though less now, of classical musical pieces coming complete with explanations of the stories and theories behind the composers and the works themselves, which serves to be educational. I start to realize as well that the choice of the music pieces were deliberately considered to evoke and reflect the mood of the respective characters at the time of their playing, so how's that for that perfect drawing of parallels?

Like the earlier film there were moments of kitsch especially with Juri Ueno hamming it up as her sensitive, fun loving Nodame, but when drowned in plenty of emotional moments, she loses that much of charm. Still, fans of the predecessor or those who have watched that already shouldn't go without watching the second since it completes the adventures of The Final Score based primarily in Paris, but as an outsider to the well loved series, I'm still of the opinion that the first part is way more superior than the second.

Inception

Are You Ready To Begin?

Just so you know from which angle I'm coming from, I have enjoyed every single Christopher Nolan feature film from his debut Following to his interpretation of one of pop culture's most enduring comic book heroes Batman. At ease with telling smaller stories on modest budgets to delivering the big budgeted summer blockbusters, in my opinion he ranks way up there as a truly genius storyteller who's able to forge that connection with an audience, eliciting patience as he conjures up a spectacle that leaves you breathless. And bless him too for not buckling to pressure to hope on the unnecessary 3D wagon, believing instead that the key to success lies in crafting a solid story.

If you're of the opinion that this summer's blockbuster slate is somewhat lacklustre, then Inception will likely change your mind. It contains every ingredient necessary to thrill and deliver that cinematic experience and spectacle that cinema was meant for, with an amazingly stellar cast that Nolan draws out fine performances from, coupled with visuals that titillate the mind. The teaser trailer had let on a little on that topsy-turvy tumbling corridor fight scene, but watching that episode in its entirety with fluidity in motion, will cement this film's iconic status just as how Bullet Time did the same for the Wachowski Brothers' The Matrix.

Action aside, there will be some who will liken this to the Matrix, given its similarities in combining science fiction with philosophical existentialism issues, with cutting-edge action seemingly beyond its time. Nolan goes one up however, with this attempt as he, like Neo, goes beyong the computerized world of the Matrix, where it's still a construct led by binary ones and zeroes, good and evil battling it out under black and white rules. Rules that one cannot escape from since they are what binds our universe together. Here Nolan goes into that untapped power of the mind, the dream worlds that we create in our subconscious, where the dreamer has everything in his subtle control, where anything goes as far as the imagination dare venture beyond physical limitations and rules.

This allowed for such a film to be created from a simple idea with a bank heist premise having its skill-based assembled team break into unsuspecting victims to steal ideas locked away in the mind. Nolan loves to tease and test the audience, not lulling us into complacency, with Inception beginning in the thick of the action with tremendous questions being asked as we try and digest the multitude of information thrown at us, with the whys and the what ifs answered in due course, needing to pay attention to subtle details, ideas and concepts to make the film work.

We follow Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his lieutenant Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as information hackers and social engineers of the new age, offering their services as the black and white ops type either to teach corporate honchos how to defend against like-minded and skilled peers, or to be engaged by these same industrialists to steal information from the competition. With the promise of being able to return to the USA without being arrested at immigration, Cobb accepts the challenge posed by the Japanese Saito (Ken Watanabe), to assemble an A-Team to plant a seed of thought and an idea, known as an inception, into his business enemy Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy). It's an almost impossible task, but the promise to see his kids again makes Cobb recruit the likes of Ariadne the architect (Ellen Page), Yusuf the chemist (Dileep Rao), and Eames (Tom Hardy) the expert identity thief.

Like the layers that the characters navigate through, the film is equally layered with engaging subplots that expand the depth and breadth of the characters involved, the largest one involving the mystery behind the disappearance of Cobb's wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) who now lives only in Cobb's subconscious, and always find a way to thwart his grand plans, making Cobb more of a liability with this unspoken handicap that gets worse as the challenges facing the team grows. The story unfolds like a planning of that perennial big bank heist job, with conflicts between members, the building of skills and the meticulous planning all coming together with so many external variables, that seeks to test the skills of every member to the extreme. And that's what makes the film so brilliantly engaging, while dealing with emotions and romance, obssession and selfishness, which if I may jest, seem to reflect a side of modern day relationships where sometimes one can get tired and need to seek an exit from constantly being with someone else, 24 hours a day, with nobody around.

DiCaprio with his name sprawled over the poster above the other cast, delivers that pitch perfect flawed lead character that Nolan has a knack to create, and brought to life by DiCaprio's performance, having the actor showcase a wide range of emotions as a man desperate to hold onto what he deems dear, with hidden secrets so jealously guarded, living and repeating his pain through the constant re-visits to his memory, breaking all rules of the game as told to his protege Ariadne. Ellen Page holds her own against the seasoned thespian in two scenes which is bound to generate some gasps for the special effects generated as she picks up the necessary skills for the job, in what would be a Neo-like discovery of how seductive a limitless world could be.

I can't rave enough of how Nolan got to elicit wonderful performances from his cast of stars, where little nuances can mean so much, without even saying a word. A flick of the eyebrow, a glance at someone, paint that picture to tell a thousand words. Better yet, Nolan's own ability to hold your attention with his storytelling ability and delivering no less than four stunningly created realms all happening simultaneously, each with another as a constraint or a condition to kickstart a chain of events. You're always left guessing whether the team can accomplish their mission, and there's always that constant threat of danger that seeks to derail everything they thought of in their combined state of comatose, What George Lucas does with those simultaneous theatres of war in the finale of each of his Star Wars films, Nolan does it better with just this one, as he puts that grip around you as we flit from one stage to another. There's absolutely nothing quite like the experience of having seen something great, and want to savour it all over again soon.

Inception is best experienced on the big screen, and Christopher Nolan has done the ultimate in performing just what the characters of Inception had set out to do, sowing the seed of a premise and concept that holds so much promise, then delivering that promise with aplomb, so much so that you'll want to continue living in that world created by the cognitive senses interpreting what's on screen, then fantasizing on it a lot more with the subconscious. Inception is definitely one of the best this year, if not THE best film of 2010 thus far. Don't miss this film!

Get Outta My Dream!

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

One Day You Will Be Merlin

It's one cool trailer, but the end result is anything but, given a glut of movies this year dealing with chosen ones, sons of gods, outcasts made good, and the likes. In looking for the next big franchise to rake in some decent box office receipts, the Bruckheimer-Turteltaub duo responsible for the National Treasure films, have transplanted leading man Nicolas Cage from treasure hunter to Merlin's disciple Balthazar, out to look for The Prime Merlinean, which translates to NYU physics genius Dave, played by Jay Baruchel, famously known for providing the voice to Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon.

Expect the usual good versus evil storyline with the master-apprentice sorcerer up against mortal enemy Horvath (Alfred Molina) and his own dark apprentice Drake Stone (Toby Kebbell) as they do battle hurling energy beams at one another, preventing the evil magicians from resurrecting their mistress of darkness and Merlin's enemy Morgana (Alice Krige), who is trapped in a Russian Doll container with Balthazar's own lady love, Veronica (Monica Bellucci). In some ways the story loses focus and becomes that sappy romantic love story as Dave, with his new found powers, slowly comes out of his shell to woo longtime sweetheart Becky (Teresa Palmer). But as always he's got to put this romance on hold as he waxes on and off to train and fulfill his prophesied destiny of stopping Morgana's plan of ruling and ruining the world.

Inspired by the scene in Fantasia where Mickey Mouse conjures up some housekeeping magic, the same scene got paid homage to over here, with another easter egg firmly planted at the end of the credits roll. The Sorcerer's Apprentice offers nothing new from the usual loud summer blockbuster offering with explosions, corny one-liners, sidekick characters to crack jokes, and a wasted A-list cast. While Nicholas Cage underwent a couple of short facial and physical transformation in a montage sequence, Jay Baruchel continues being typecast in nerdy roles who just whine too much and throughout the film.

You can read my review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.

Oceans

The Big One

Making its world premiere at last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, Oceans is the latest enviro-documentary to hit the big screens, highlighting that while outer space is touted as the final frontier to be conquered by man, the waters around our land mass hold just as much fascination with the countless of species available in the depths of the ocean. Oceans, by directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, provide us that glimpse 20,000 leagues under the sea.

For those, like me, who are absolutely clueless about the sea creatures other than what can be put on the dining table, you'll be left quite flabbergasted as you observe the various species being featured on screen, without any prompt or subtitle to label just exactly what creature they are. Of course for those who are schooled by Finding Nemo, you're likely to be able to name some of what's featured, just as the noisy young boy sitting beside me was able to, being somewhat of a help.

Aside from the usual gorgeous cinematography featuring schools of dolphins in motion, and plenty of synchronized swimming, with creatures big and small ranging from the giant whales to the newly hatched turtles struggling to make it to the waters before being picked up mercilessly by their predators, this is one documentary that allows you to go up close to these creatures since cameras were planted into the depths of all the oceans of the world.

It doesn't come across as preachy, because it doesn't wear its ecological badge in such an obvious manner at all in its sparse narrative. Instead, it does so very subtly, reminding us that there are others with whom we share this Earth with, and if we continue to plunder and pollute the land and treat the sea as sewage (so is that gaping hole capped by BP already?), then these are the creatures that we will lose in the near future, causing a major upset in the balance of Nature, and who can predict how Nature's wrath will be incurred back on us.

Nature documentaries are no longer made for the small screen, but have some mighty budget to be able to bring quality to the making of such films, serving to entertain and to capture beauty so rarely seen.

Repo Men

You're Repossessed!

It's not always that we get a film that's smart and works on multiple levels, but Repo Men to my surprise, is one such film despite being billed as a science fiction action thriller, with the promise of plenty of explosion and gory surgical scenes about a group of hired men going out there to reclaim synthetic body parts from those who have fallen short on their installments. The premise has so much running in parallel to the real world financial plight of worthless bonds and the trappings exploiting the greed and desperation of men, that it just lifts the film beyond its basic premise and sets you thinking.

Corporations and banks exist to make a profit, and that is its basis of their existence. To have somebody pay you in full means an opportunity to make more money gone from the loss of interest that can potentially be earned, so installments are the way to go. Being no saints, more money will start to come in should there be a default in the repayment scheme, and in the best case scenario they get to seize whatever is yet to be paid in full, and liquidate it. Not a bad way to make money actually, provided nobody thinks about the social consequences, adopting a job is a job attitude, with zero personal attachments.

But of course before hitting dire straits, you'll be convinced that you're given the best possible help to finance the loans and installment repayment through well meaning assistance rendered to help craft a reasonable, sustainable repayment plan, but this is just the hook, line and sinker for the unsuspecting victim to swallow. Hiding away the consequences in minute details never to be discussed also helps to make the case. In the film, the company known as The Union is in the healthcare industry, having to perfect the mass production of synthetic body parts for just about every part of your body. A failing organ is no longer route one to death, and through slick sales talk and snazzy corporate image, those desperate to extend their lives become easily convinced that the exorbitant price for a replacement part is the way to go.

The fine print though reads that a default in payment beyond 90 days means The Union (the shady corporation in question here) will send their reposession team after you to reclaim the part. And yes, if it's something crucial for survival, that's just tough luck because like banks, they don't really care if they have to throw you out on the streets. It's purely business and nothing personal, though in this case it involves life and death.

Jude Law plays Remy, one of the best of the best in the business as an employee of The Union in its Repo department, perfecting his skills of breaking and entering, fights, and generally overpowering and immobilizing his victim long enough for him to exercise his surgical skills. He has no remorse to do what he's doing as a career, although his long and irregular hours is taking a toil on his family life, with wife Carol (Carice van Houten from Valkyrie and Black Book) giving him that ultimatum to do a sales job, just like what his boss Frank (Liev Schreiber) has made it his calling to convince those who are sick to sign on with the company's scheme to provide medical and financial assistance.

Law has now starred in two of what I personally deem as some of the best science fiction stories Hollywood has done, this and Gattaca which coincidentally also deals with genetics and such. His turn in Steven Spielberg's Artifical Intelligence is something forgettable, and amongst the three I prefer his role here best, since it offers him a wide range of emotions to showcase, plus to balance that off with some hard hitting action, which was missed in Gattaca since his character in that film was wheelchair bound, though no lacking in emotional intensity.

Repo Men primarily follows Remy's story arc, where we see a transformation in a man in his attitude and conscience once he's made to belong to the other side, not by choice. After all, why bat for a losing team? An accident during work meant that The Union feels obliged to save one of their own, after all he's the best, though with no worker benefits, meaning that Remy too is subjected to the same terms and conditions as those whom he hunts down. It's a tale of losing a physical heart to gain a compassionate one, and he soon finds himself dangerously close to not bringing home the bacon because of his natural affiliation, that his defaulting of payments meant his best friend and buddy in the business, Jake (played by Forest Whitaker) has to systematically hunt him down.

Filled with plenty of violence without remorse, gore, and what I thought was gore-porn with that state of sensualness and extreme pain experienced by both Remy and his new squeeze Beth (Alice Braga) in a scene that will really raise some eyebrows as they go to the extreme in wanting their freedom back, there are plenty of action sequences here that will thrill that action fanboy in you. And if you think V for Vendetta's fight scene at the end with V utilizing his knife to dispatch opponents was one of a kind, well, you ain't see nothing yet with a similar sequence here executed by Remy, which I think is the best amongst all the other fights crafted for the movie, hands down, made all the more sweet when set against UNKLE's Burn My Shadow song. This scene alone will make you sit up and take notice that Jude Law can be that drama king turned action hero too.

And let's not forget the other supporting cast that equally boosted the film through their fine delivery. Forest Whitaker shedded a lot of weight for his role here to act as that counter-balance to Jude Law, and carries the film with his witty one liners (that seemed to be ad-libbed) and comical demeanour, though he's no pushover when it comes to the crunch. Alice Braga continues to be a comfortable casting choice in action films (just as she was in the recent Predators) and her romantic subplot with Remy grows to culminate in that unbelievable scene I mentioned before. I think we got to keep our eyes peeled if filmmakers see her as the new Linda Hamilton able to take on more masculine roles in future, because I think she has what it takes to deliver such tough-as-nails roles quite effortlessly.

Unlike the schmuck in the show who will pitch that you owe it your family, I'd just say you owe it to yourself to catch this science-fiction action thriller for adults with a great story backed by unflinching, violent action, with enough twists and turns to surprise you. With certainty Repo Men enters my shortlist as one of the best the genre has to offer, and is this year's equivalent of Children of Men! Highly recommended!

You Owe It To Yourself, Really

The Blood Pledge / Whispering Corridors 5: A Blood Pledge (Yeogo goedam 5: Dongban Jasal / 여고괴담5-동반자살)

She Bit Me!

The Blood Pledge is the fifth film of the South Korean horror series Whispering Corridors, where the only thing in common threading through all the films, are its predominantly female cast, its setting in an all girls high school, the dabbling with ghouls and spirits, and the context of urban myths and legends being spread through the gossip sessions along the corridors of schools, from which the anthology got its title from. All stories so far are different, and so are the characters, so in truth, you can watch this as a standalone film.

But it's not so much of a horror film, than a study into the psyche of the female of the species. Can I understand it? Certainly, as far as identifying common and distinctive behavioral patterns go. I would call this film, and probably the series, a girly-girl's film, not because of its cast, but rather having plenty of girly moments that before you label me sexist, think about it - girls will probably understand just what this is all about from its premise to the character motivations, while the guys, I suppose we're probably happy with the eye candy on display, rather than to sweat about the stuff that we don't understand because we're wired differently.

Take for instance, we don't fathom why the girls behave the way they do, with friendship treated so frivolously, in one moment you can befriend someone, and because of cliques and the want to belong to another group, you've got to burn bridges with others just so as to demonstrate group loyalty. Then there's the usual petty fights and arguments about grades, the stealing of boyfriends, gee wheez! the whole nine yards of schoolyard problems, magnified because you've got arguing school girls trying to assert their influence on one another. Here, there are 5 of them making up the core group, and a lot more from the outside playing supporting characters, which in turn makes it a pretty noisy, active school with the students doing everything but study.

The tale begins with 4 students - Soy (Son Eun-seo), Eon-ju (Jang Kyeong-ah), Eugene (Oh Yeon-seo, don't ask why the masculine character name) and Eun-yeong (Song Min-jeong) making a pact to commit suicides together. Well, if there's the existence of suicide clubs, then this idea and premise isn't all that far fetched, though their motivations to do so are kept under wraps for the time being. Meeting at a chapel and making the titular blood pledge where they are to die together, things get messy when only Eon-ju ended up killing herself, which leads to the rest being spooked because they fail to keep their end of the bargain. Witnessed by Eon-Ju's youngest sister Jeong-eon (Yu Shin-ae), she begins to bug the rest into providing answers, which of course isn't forthcoming, in order to provide narrative legs for the film.

Now just how one can form such a pact is beyond me, and so are things like running to your BFF (best friend forever) and telling her everything, and I mean everything, about the problems one is facing. Perhaps it's a guy thing to put up a strong front and not break down uncontrollably while figuring out solutions to problems, but in this case it is this confiding that perhaps laid the foundation for being continuously spooked. That said, this is not a horror film per se, as the ghoul hear appears in the day and at night, being much more like a guardian angel to keep her BFF away from trouble, and to inflict pain upon those that have ill intention toward a BFF. I suppose such a friend is for keeps, since he/she ensures some level of protection even when belonging to another realm altogether.

Writer-director Lee Jong-yong follows the tried and tested formula in Asian horror narrative, always giving out a little clue at a time as the story progresses, while dealing with the background of each of the characters, whether or not they contribute to the story directly. The scares here are pretty expected, with heavy reliance on sudden movements, in-your-face appearances, and dastardly makeup in other to elicit the fear factor, but seasoned genre audiences won't find your hair standing at all, being rather intrigued by the female talent on display here. After all, this franchise is famed for having some of its alumni progress into blockbusters and award winning films, with the likes of Song Ji-hyo from Wishing Stairs making that starring role as the Queen in A Frozen Flower, and more recently, Kim Ok-bin from Voice making her big art-house break as the bullied wife turned vampire in Thirst. It's anyone's guess now who amongst the ensemble here will progress much faster than the rest.


A Blood Pledge sneaks now in cinemas, and will make its local premiere on 15 July 2010.

FPS Productions Double Bill: Dilated | Steadfast

Who Am I?

The gamer in me thought the FPS in FPS Productions could have stood for First Person Shooter, given that the majority of films that the production house churns out are of the action genre. The Film & Photographic Society (ahh, now we know) is a collection of filmmaking enthusiasts who are spread over the Americas, Australia and Singapore, with the Singapore outfit producing Steadfast, which had its gala premiere two days ago at The Grand Cathay, while the Los Angeles team was responsible for Dilated. Sinema Old School has packaged two films together, so you can watch both at one sitting.

Directed by Brian L. Tan, Dilated at first seemed to be The Transporter meets Crank, with a bald Jasyn Jefferies (taking a cue from Jason Statham who was the protagonist in both of the films mentioned) playing DIC, a creature of a man supposedly dead from an infliction of a strange disease. We come to understand that a certain Dr Meridian (Lydia Mullaney) tried to revive him after what she thought was an unsuccessful attempt at curing him, only for DIC to break out of a military lab facility, and making his escape in an armoured Audi (or at least it deemed that way) in hot pursuit by the military in two Hummers.

Billed as a satirical action comedy, much of the laughs, intended or otherwise, came from the usual cliches of the pursuers possessing such lousy aim that they'd never be able to hit a moving target even if it was to be the size of a huge truck, and given weapons firing at a million rounds per minute. Then there's the heavy guns being brought out, but it takes forever to give the Audi a scratch. Bullets never run out, and the hero well, gets blessed with the perfect aim to take out his enemies even when greatly outgunned, with time for a cigarette smoke or two.

Presented in a non-linear narrative with flashbacks to give a little bit more character background and development, Dilated suffers from its kinetic editing and shaky cam technique, the latter which I feel is quite overrated as a means of presentation, and almost always used in place to cover up shortfalls, which in this case a steady number of continuity errors that arose from the chronology of damage inflicted, where broken items appear to be intact before being broken again, which in this case, a car's windows and windscreen being tell tale signs.

But granted for any action junkie, it has enough weaponry on display here for the enthusiast to point out, and ends with a bang somewhat with its surprise shift in genre which worked well, and let you wonder how different a film it would have been should this be a feature length film instead, and whether it had enough of a unique selling point to differentiate itself from the tirade of modern day monster movies out there.

Go Go Go!

In the case of Steadfast, well a film like this is quite the rare gem to come about. There will be those who lament and wonder if Singapore can ever produce an action genre film without making things look cheesy and cheap. We've only but a handful of films that dare venture into this genre of high expectations, with Leonard Lai's The High Cost of Living being the rare feature film in recent years to be an action based one, with others such as Blood Ties featuring a scene or two involving shootouts.

Perhaps it's difficult to do so, since action based films usually involve blowing things up for that feeling of shock and awe, or to have blazing guns and stunt crew ever ready to perform deft-defying feats to thrill audiences. Given the kind of endless budget these days in Hollywood productions, this genre is having its bar raised ever so often with a new action flick coming along, that it takes something quire unique in order to wow an audience, especially jaded ones.

Compounding the issue of quality, you can imagine the kind of logistical nightmare to be shooting action in Singapore, especially one involving weapons where we have strict gun laws against. The challenge here is to produce something that is of good quality without looking silly or unintentionally comical, with as much authenticity as possible without coming across as amateurish. Backed by the Singapore Film Commission, writer-directors David Liu and Linus Chen managed to accomplish this through their latest short film production Steadfast, which was one year in the making.

The gist of the story involves a corporate type executive (Amit Nagpal) being the target of an assassin (Lau Yu-Don), only because he decided to squeal and own up to his corporation's wrongdoings, and sacrificing to become the fall guy through a public whistle-blowing. Even with the employment of armed bodyguards, a sole justice department agent (Marcus Lee) tracking the assassin's year long trail of victims finds himself caught up in the middle of the crossfire between opposite sides.

I suppose for an action film, the plot is but a means to hold a series of action sequences strung together, and both Liu and Chen didn't stinge in packing this 36 minute film with sequences such as an extended office shootout cum fisticuffs (which I was begging for focus rather than to intersperse it with scenes from another narrative thread, and the fisticuffs came with an over-enthusiastic sound effects that Kollywood loves), a simple carpark hit job, a street ambush spilling into the inside and the rooftop of a factory, and a bungalow defense. You have authentic looking weapons (again, for enthusiasts to ID) and countless of shots fired enhanced with post production muzzle flashes and loud enough surround sound effects to allow you that feeling of being caught up in the thick of the action.

As a proof of concept, there's no doubt Steadfast offered what the filmmakers could do with a shoestring budget as far as action film budgets go. They had a multi-national cast to play with, decently filmed action with costumes inspired from the Counterstrike game (some decked in Counter-Terrorists garb, and others with balaclava headgear). If there's any area that needed sprucing up, it'll be the creation of heightened tension as there wasn't much sense of danger during massive blow ups, or to take the necessary measured pause with just the right time allowance to accentuate enmity during stand-offs, which preferred to veer into talky territory for a tad too long.

Still, Steadfast managed to offer a glimpse that an all out Singapore action film is not something far-fetched, or something that cannot be done decently. With all the right ingredients falling into place like a charismatic cast, a good story to tell, and as important, filmmakers like Liu and Chen with a passion for the genre and who believe such films are a possibility here, I'd say it'll probably not be long before we see something that'll make us sit up, take notice and be proud of!

Those interested to catch these 2 films in one double bill feature, then take note of the following at Sinema Old School:

Screening Dates & Times:
09.07.10 Friday – 7.00pm & 8.30pm
10.07.10 Saturday – 3.00pm *
16.07.10 Friday – 7.00pm & 8.30pm

* Steadfast Directors David & Linus will be present at a special screening of the films on the 10th of July, 3pm, to conducting a Q&A session after.

Related Links
- FPS Productions Singapore Website, with the filmography available for viewing
- Dilated Official Movie Website
- Steadfast Official Movie Website
- Steadfast FaceBook page
- Schedule and Ticketing Details at Sinema Old School
- Production Talk at SINdie

Shanghai

Shanghai Tang

If I were to trace my lineage, then the city of Shanghai would feature only two generations away, and having been there for the very first time only last month, I marvel at the magnificence of the city, and just about how modern development have taken place in the last 10 to 15 years with shiny new skyscrapers sprouting up on the opposite bank of the river where Old Shanghai still stands, where it's quite the experience to just stroll along the Bund to marvel at architecture of old amongst thronging crowds; if you think Singapore is bad well, you ain't seen nothing yet!

Shanghai the film happened to be a somewhat troubled project, with the shoot being blocked just weeks before production was scheduled to begin, then faced with the abandoning of sets and the relocation to Thailand and London, followed by question marks on its release date. Well, it's finally here, and I'd think it was well worth the wait, given no scrimping on its production values, and director Mikael Hafstrom splashing plenty of noir in his approach to tell a tale of spy versus spy set against Shanghai in 1941, where the city has yet to fall to the Japanese, and thus becoming a hotbed for resistance movements, with plenty of foreigners still in country setting up protective enclaves for their own citizens.

While it may be a Hollywood production, the cast was predominantly Asian, assembling some of the largest names in the region for this project. John Cusack plays the lead character Paul Soames, a naval intelligence agent sent to Shanghai to investigate the death of his good friend Connor (Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Watchmen and The Losers fame), whose eyes from which we witness a series of intriguing events unfold, dealing with crossed loyalties and flimsy alliances. Going under the cover of a journalist with pro-Nazi sentiments, he works his charisma and know-how to get to the upper echelons of German society in the city, and from there, linking himself up with the German's new ally, Japan.

For Paul, there's more than meets the eye each step of the way in his investigations, and soon he finds himself on the teeters of discovering something large, with a hint on the sinister plans that might be hidden under the cloak of misinformation. History buffs may know what this will allude to, but for those not in the know, then it's time to read up, and to find out from the plot as it unfolds.

But the story happens to strike a parallel with a heavy examination into human relationships, and how the ties that bind can sometimes hurt, especially during a time where the environment is extremely tensed, and nobody is truly clear of one another's motivation, and deep dark secrets. For local triad leader Anthony Lan-Ting (Chow Yun-Fat), his wife Anna (Gong Li) seems to be there when needed, yet can disappear either to entertain his guests, or do so without qualms when he's in the company of his mistresses. There's always suspicion that she's hiding something and is more than the dainty seductress that she's made out to be, especially when Paul gets enamoured by her charms, and Ken Watanabe's Japanese intelligence officer Tanaka ever keen to break her cover.

Yes, this film looks more like an Asian film, which reunites Hong Kong's Chow Yun-Fat with China's Gong Li again after their collaboration in Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, and Japanese stars Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi even given a small role. All of them recognizable names, all of them leading their star power to the film and delivering stellar performances mostly, dealing with the double crossing of one another through an intricate web of love and betrayal, and how emotions get the better of Man eventually.

There's no one dimensional character here, with supposed villains surprisingly having a heart when protecting their loved ones against harm, and how everybody will use everything within their power to ensure that family, friends and even strangers stay safe in a time of danger, although not always leading to their desired results. For romantics, Watanabe's Tanaka even opens up in a rare demonstration that he's not always that stoic, but can also be the unwitting victim of the complicated affairs of the heart, which the finale finally assembles all the broken pieces together, and we'd come to appreciate more on what motivates these characters.

The only let down will be Chow's turn as Anthony Lan-Ting the mob boss, as his role, together with Rinko Kikuchi's, is really playing second fiddle to Watanabe in terms of charisma, and screen time compared to what Gong Li occupied here. But this is still one recommended ensemble thriller that has a strong underlying romantic thread, beautifully crafted to highlight the frustrations of love, and that of survival in a black, white and grey world.

The Japanese Film Festival is Coming!

Call me a slow burner, but I only started to religiously follow the Japanese Film Festival in Singapore from 2005, and honestly, it's one of the premier festival for film buffs here given its eclectic programming from classics to contemporary offerings, with a free screenings to boot!

The Embassy of Japan and Singapore Film Society present the Japanese Film Festival 2010 - an eleven-day celebration of Japanese films - in Singapore. From August 19-29, festival-goers will be treated to 31 Singapore Premieres of groundbreaking Japanese classics, independent cinema and award winning titles that offer a rare glimpse into the Japanese film history, its culture and its filmmakers’ commentaries on the joys and perils of YOUTH. This year, the festival returns to the National Museum of Singapore's Gallery Theatre.

The showcase for this year includes:

1. Works of directors who led the revolutionary change in the 1960s which became known as the Japanese New Wave – a major turning point in the history of Japanese cinema, celebrating the works of OSHIMA Nagisa through his acclaimed works like Boy, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, Sing a Song of Sex and Sinner in Paradise. Other works in this showcase include YOSHIDA Yoshishige's Good for Nothing and Bloody Thirst, IMAMURA Shohei's Hogs and Warships and A Man Vanishes, SHINODA Masahiro's A Flame at the Pier and ICHIKAWA KON's Ototo.

2. Works by young, aspiring directors birthed from 2 current initiatives in Japan:

a. The independently funded PIA Film Festival in Tokyo, with selections here from its 14th to 17th scholarship films which include A Stranger of Mine, Water Flower, Fourteen, ASYL and Mime-Mime.

b. The Visual Industry Promotion Organisation's New Directions in Japanese Cinema (VIPO NDJC) program, which will feature 10 short films from 2007 and 2008.

3. Latest award-winning films from up-and-coming Japanese filmmakers that are blazing a trail in the international film circuit, which includes KORE-EDA Hirokazu's Air Doll, Live Tape by MATSUE Tetsuaki (who was here in 2008's edition), YOSHIDA Kota's Yuriko's Aroma, NAKAMURA Yoshihiro's Fish Story, MIYANO Masayuki's LALAPIPO and YOKOHAMA Satoko's Bare Essence of Life.

Phew! I doubt you can't find anything here that doesn't tickle your fancy. Mark those dates on the calendar, and head on down to the Related Links below to keep tabs on the full list of films and their screening schedules. See you at the Gallery Theatre this August!

Ticket Sales
Begins on 19 July at 9am from Tickets.com

Related Links
Official Festival Website with information about ticket sales, films, schedules and other Festival news and updates
FaceBook
Twitter
YouTube

Predators

Man I'm So Hideous!

Just to clear the air, this film is not a reboot or a remake of Predator and its associated follow ups. Rather, it is an able complement to the established mythos, adding its own two cents worth to an expanding franchise, even though it chose to ignore the crossover hybrids with the Versus Aliens films, and connects itself directly to the first Predator film by John McTiernan starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Produced by Roger Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal who did films like Kontroll, Vacancy and Armored, Predators clearly met its objectives it set out to achieve without flashy fanfare, with Antal providing assured direction in the many set action pieces that don't rely on the hair-tearing quick MTV-styled cuts so just to let you know everything's kinetic and hyper. Some scenes will also get your eyebrows raised at how gory and violent this installment can get, with in-your-face dismemberment, and even one which shows how cruelly wicked the Predator can be with a move that closely resembles a "finish him" from Mortal Kombat.

The story is kept simple with one primary plot, and that is to witness how a band of para-military personnel get to outwit and outlast the Predators as they learn that they're prey and game for the alien beings, which are armed to the teeth in advanced weaponry, armour and various sensors like infra-red, with electromagnetic pulses ready to discharge and wreck havoc on human rifles. It's not a fair fight, especially when it comes to the famed cloaking camouflage that gives the Predators an advantage.

But hey, who says hunting sport has to be fair anyway? In fact, this film only serves to cement the franchise plot point of having as many characters as possible to add to body count, and we're almost unlikely to hope for anyone to emerge unscathed when faced with such odds. But well, Schwarzenegger's character did it in the first film through a simple battle strategy, so perhaps this group of rag-tags have some of the same luck as well. Given the Predator's penchant to play with their game, don't expect instant blood and gore as a few teasers have to be in place, before the first death occurs (well, death to an unidentifiable actor, is no count)

Leading the team is Adrien Brody's reluctant soldier of fortune, who decides early on that while he's a member of the human tribe, he's not going to forge any emotional bonds with anyone, being quite dogged and determined to leave the gaming planet alive. This of course irks Isabelle (Alice Braga) the female soldier from Israel who holds a few secrets of her own, and others from the likes of Chechnyan soldier Nicolai (Oleg Taktarov) to the odd one out in Doctor Edwin (Topher Grace), given the rest have tasted real life action in the killing fields, now brought through alien abduction to a planet whose atmosphere is almost identical to Earth, for a game of survival skills.

The story also allows time to dwell on moral dilemma and ethical issues that fighters face in combat, with the strategies employed by the Predators seem to have come out of familiar theatres of war and rules of engagement, where traps are set not to kill but to maim, and fellow survivors forced to make hard decisions as to saving their new found compatriots, or whether it's all man for himself. While offering no surprise twists, with the A-list cast here you can bet that they are all roles which offer a slight challenge, and to see how what we have assumed is the rabbit of the group, able to flip the other way round gradually to reveal some violent, inner ambition.

One of the selling points here is of course watching Adrien Brody play the brooding action hero complete with bulging biceps and washboard stomach. The lack of young, emerging alpha-males in the action genre has somehow led to dramatic actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal and now Brody to hit the gym to buff up for films that require the baring of torso, to make the characters they play more believable, since they are soldiers of sorts hell bent on saving the day. Laurence Fishburne did what he could with his limited appearance in becoming the oracle that is to educate everyone on what conditions are like on the unnamed planet.

But one thing that will be missed, is those frequent POVs as seen through the Predator's eyes and hi-tech helmet. The filmmakers seem to want to steer clear of this since it doesn't offer anything new, but I always thought it was cool to adopt the Predator's first perspective. That aside, Predators delivered when it mattered, even though the story seemed like a shade of the original, and the aliens aren't really using the entire plethora of weapons available to them. One can continuously make the Predator films since this one opened doors, and it'll be interesting to see how others apply their take on the mythos now.

I Hate Luv Storys

Typical

The title plays up on how unbelievable love stories can get, and despite its ripping apart the classical romantic films by Dharma Productions and Yash Raj films in the opening, and throughout the film, ultimately this one proves to be quite hypocritical in a sense that it too cannot come to grips with its battle against cliche, and falls prey to the tried, tested and tired formula of a romantic comedy. As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them.

However it has its youthful, eye candy cast added to its advantage as it plods through its rather meandering and cumbersome plot, involving J (Imran Khan), a production assistant who has worked on countless of romantic films by hotshot director Veer Kapoor (Samir Soni), and Simran (Sonam Kapoor), who is employed under the same production umbrella. To J, work means a constant rolling of the eyes because he just doesn't subscribe to nor see the appeal of formulaic romantic movies, even if his employer is the best in the business. And for Simran it's just the reverse, feeling privileged to be part of movie magic, as she expounds her own blissfully perfect relationship with fiance Raj (Sammir Dattani).

So begins the clash of the believer and the non-believer, made worst when J is ordered to be working under Simran who is the new art director for Veer's upcoming love saga, Pyar Pyar Pyar, which I have to admit that writer-director Punit Malhotra managed to weave in a film in production within a film, that drew nice touches of parallels between J and Simran's developing love affair, until the final act which somehow had to conform to hammed up cliches. On one hand, I thought it was quite brilliant to get the audience engaged through two levels, one which is the reality the characters live in, and the other the ultra-hyped film reality which exists in Pyar Pyar Pyar, with extremely over the top performances and delivery used to elicit plenty of laughter, especially from fans of Bollywood romances.

We'd expect the usual clash of the opposites, where J the non-commital playboy unwittingly turns on his charm on the on-the-way-to-blissful-marriage Simran, who by the time the interval rolled by, is at odds with wanting to settle down with the man she thought will provide that level of stability through routine, or someone who's more of the livewire even if you started out hating the guts of the person? The story seems to play on the theme of close proximity having that big a role to play in demolishing stability, and like all nicely crafted cliches which you can see coming from a mile away, J and Simran inevitably fall in love, which takes one of them by surprise, leading to plot development reserved for after the interval.

If not for the young film starlets as the leads, it'll be quite hard to imagine how love can make them do silly things, with plenty of assumptions drawn up that the characters inevitably fall for. Nothing new gets added to the flavour of the story, and while it doesn't stand out, it also doesn't fall flat on its face as well, making this a simple, breezy romantic tale to sit through. Imran Khan pulls through his J quite effortlessly, since I suppose the easy-going, good natured guy is almost always easier to play as opposed to Sonam Kapoor's emotional Simran, who has ample opportunity to show her acting chops in what's only her third major role in her film career, compared to contemporary peers such as Ranbir Kapoor, or even Deepika Padukone.

Perhaps the only thread of interest here to sustain your attention will be the numerous film references from dialogues to sets and even downright spoofs, or if you're the incurable romantic, then yes, this film will be right up your alley.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Pawns of Indecisiveness

Dear Bella, if I happen to fancy you but you're openly flirting with another dude who spots some unbelievable abs, I'll leave you. Or if you're exhibiting this stubborn indecisiveness, I'll walk too, because I'll help you make up your damn mind. You're not the only tree in the forest, but unfortunately in this show, you happen to be the only sole object of desire who wears a skirt that everyone, from werewolves to vampires both nice and badass, all want a piece of. You're hot property, but still, make up your mind, will ya? Frustratingly yours, Stefan S

I'm not sure which wiseass touted this as the movie event of this summer/year/decade, but that person ought to have his or her sanity checked. The trailers though is crafted by someone who knows just how to entice the fence sitters to the film, because that's about all the action you're going to see from Eclipse, fast forwarded, with this climatic fight given to you as a reward for your 1.5 hours worth of patience in witnessing yet another slow rehash of relationship woes from the earlier films. Even then, what was promised to be the fight of the century turned out to be pretty lob-sided, and worst, full of CG shots against actors playing characters you have no idea who they are, other than carrying out their sole purpose of chalking up the body count.

Why then did I decide to watch this since I'm not welcome nor fit into its intended demographics? Well, I'm halfway through a saga and I'm not about to give up on it just yet. I'm still pretty much piqued by the gazillion dollars this movie raked in from its initial screenings, and how it contains this certain mysterious X formula that have droves, yes droves, of females hitting the cinemas, packing it right up to the front and corner seats, which to me is the worst possible seat to place one's bum on in a widescreen cinema hall, for 2+ hours. Apart from Sex and the City's obvious selling point, this film with vampires and werewolves caught up in some serious love triangle seem to play pied piper to womenfolk all around the world.

The gist of the plot, if there is one, is how Bella (Kristen Stewart) has to exercise her choice between Edward (Robert Pattinson) the vampire possessing that perfect face with lamb chop sideburns and skin that glitters in the sun, and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) the werewolf, who seems like the better deal when tackling laundry since he prefers to strut around shirtless to flaunt those perfect pecs and abs, so much so that Edward decided to keep his clothes on for this one, and making snide comments from the side that reeks of pettiness and envy. Each actor continues with their cardboard characters still dealing with the same old issues that if resolved nicely, wouldn't stretch so many books and films.

Yes my friends, Bella still cannot decide! And to make things worst, she's playing both sides whether intentional or not, especially Mr doggie boy there by sending out so many conflicting signals, you feel like knocking some sense into both those guys that she's not worth the trouble. And she's a Trouble Magnet (TM), with Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) assembling an army of newborn vampires you don't give two hoots for, to avenge her loss two films ago. So it's up to the Cullen family of immortal vampires to protect Bella, and forming an uneasy alliance with the howling pack to protect Forks from the Seattle invaders, or well as the animals put it, to want to get into a fight as a form of brutal exercise.

Credit can possibly go to Bella for uniting the long time foes together, and what could possibly be the only interesting plot point here, is the background stories of the wolf tribe ancestors, and some of the Cullen family members, which to me brought back memories of a more superior film about immortals duking it out, such as the Clan McCloud of Highlander. The first film focused more on the story of the vampires, the second on the wolves, and now, to bring them together in co-opetition mode. And the best scene to epitomize this will be that in a tent high up in the mountains, where a candid discussion between the boys brought out their innermost fears and desires nicely in a rare session of male bonding.

However, director David Slade of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night fame, still churned out what is possibly the worst of the series thus far, making the earlier Twilight movies look like the work of geniuses, and Slade putting an indelible blemish on his filmography. As mentioned, it's not as dark as it's touted to be, and the action is severely limited to the ending. Too many characters make appearances, such as Dakota Fanning, whose bit role in New Moon became yet another bit role in Eclipse, snarling through those red contact lenses and patsy white makeup. Bryce Dallas Howard takes over the Victoria role from Rachelle Lefevre because she's more famous, only to be nothing more than just another glorified supporting role frolicking in the snow with Edward, by virtue of a stunt double. D'uh.

So here's my verdict: Eclipse, like its name implies, is clueless in its darkness, and it stinks just as bad as how the characters complain about the odor from the wolves. Perhaps it's a calculated move, so that the finale, split into two halves to milk the cash cow, can more or less meet expectations since it's already driven so low by this film. Seriously David Slade, what were you thinking? Should have stuck to your guns and steered clear with a 10 foot pole and not touch this material at all. I cheered when the end credits came on, but only because I fancied the track "Heavy in Your Arms".