Gubra - Multiple Nominations in 19th Festival Filem Malaysia

In case you aren't aware, Yasmin Ahmad's Gubra is in the running for 12 nominations out of 18 categories in the upcoming 19th Festival Filem Malaysia!

You can read more from Bernama, The Star and New Straits Times.

Pretty Persuasion

I Know What You Watched This Summer

I kinda liked this film for almost all the wrong reasons. It's politically incorrect and doesn't make any apologies for doing so, but yet demonstrates a notion that we can be bigots, and yet not be consciously aware of it. After all, it's what has already been internalized, but it becomes exposed quite naturally through our actions and dialogue.

Evan Rachel Wood is the star of the movie. As Kimberly Joyce, she's the high school frat girl like Alicia Silverstone's Cher in Clueless, but in terms of character, she's on the other side of the spectrum. Way on the other side. She's looking for fame, and would do absolutely anything to obtain her 15 minutes worth. She's a temptress, a seductress, highly intelligent, and so manipulative, she can stab you in the back while smiling in front of you, with you none the wiser and probably still worshipping the ground she treads on.

Which brings us back to the title, and makes you wonder if beautiful people can get away with almost anything. I guess it's probably almost human nature to be enchanted by the pretties, and anyone would most likely be lapping up at anything they say. It doesn't take much for a beautiful bitch to realize the power she wields on men who are drunk in her aura, and then to exploit this weakness of people around her.

There are two more key reasons why I enjoyed the movie, besides being enchanted myself by the Kimberly character. The first is the dialogue in the movie - there's so much wit, and it's fast and laced with plenty of double entrees and satire, delivered in a deadpan manner by Rachel Wood no less, you would likely need to re-watch it again to grasp them all. The second is having Kimberly chaperon a newbie in school, an Arab girl called Randa (Adi Schnall), raising some eyebrows as the religious girl gets exposed to pop culture and blatant insensitive racists remarks, and inevitably too becomes a pawn in the whole scheme of things, as does Kimberly's best friend Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois) discover that it's not always fine and dandy being the hunter, as there is always something or someone else higher above in the food chain.

The host of supporting characters raised the movie to another notch. James Woods shines as the foul mouthed father of Kimberly, who sprouts words of wisdom peppered with colourful vulgar, racist remarks. Jamie King completes the household as the long suffering trophy wife/stepmother in the Joyce household, constantly bearing the brunt of insults hurled at her by Kimberly. At school, we have Ron Livingston as Percy Anderson, as the meek and mild mannered school teacher who indulges in role-playing games with the wife at home (Selma Blair), and inadvertently becomes the target and public enemy #1 of Kimberly and friends. And Jane Krakowski in a bimbotic role, stars as a news reporter who finds it increasingly difficult to stay objective when covering possibly the juiciest scandal to hit town.

There's a sub theme running that touches on "saving face", which is an issue to the successful in ensuring that their reputation does not get tarnished in the face of scandals, and is a trait that most Asians are familiar with. It's important that face is not ruined easily by careless actions, as face is something that is most difficult to build in an environment of shame. Having lost face and losing the faith to rebuild it, can lead people to an untimely sad demise.

So if you're up for some scheming betrayal, and plenty of slimy tactics, if you want to observe how seemingly good intentions are actually poisoned barbs that kill slowly, then I hope I've already persuaded you enough to watch this flick.

The Ant Bully

Because I Can!

First, let's get the obvious out of the way. The ants in The Ant Bully look suspiciously similar to those in Antz (1998). Powered by voices from recognizable stars, Antz had a more direct romance theme applied to it, whereas I felt The Ant Bully had a stronger social message to put across, given atrocities that are happening in our world right now.

With The Ant Bully, I find that it is a surprising coincidence that this movie is released during a time when countries are whacking other countries, just because they can. Kinda like a bully, as Lucas Nickle in the film is. However, put into context, this troubled kid is a victim too, and can only lash out at others who are smaller in size, and helpless at being in a situation where it's almost impossible to retaliate. Things like the ants in his lawn.

OK, so hands up those of you who had been guilty one point in time or another, tortured some innocent ant going about its daily chores of collecting crumbs. I have. Ranging from barbaric acts like burning them with a lighter until they become crisp, or dropping them onto the rice cooker lid when the rice is cooking, having this sick glee in watching them run around escaping to no avail, or even splicing them into half with a blade.

Lucas Nickle (voiced by Zach Tyler) is dubbed "the destroyer" by the ant colony (populated with familiar star voices like Julia Roberts, Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, Bruce Campbell and Paul Giamatti), given his atrocious acts on their habitat. It's a pretty magical like colony that nature designed, with various ant work groups working with efficiency in keeping their colony alive, and they even have their own version of a Merlin, Zoc (Cage), who conjures up magical potions to teach Lucas a lesson.

And it is precisely this lesson that is taught, with Lucas serving "community time", that gives strength to this animated film. As with most arguments, disagreements and such, it usually boils down to the fundamentals of the lack of understanding. Like the rascist bloggers who are sentenced not to jail, but to serve time in living with a community they fail to understand, so that they can learn and hopefully, be enlightened.

It's also about the building of friendships from once enemies, and included here, though fleetingly, is both a subtle reminder and a commentary about the innate selfishness of human beings in general, in our pursuit for individual self gain, as compared to the natural cooperation amongst a colony of ants, for the good of the community.

What makes The Ant Bully stand out, is its departure to a lot of elements which have become staple to recent animated flicks. Gone here are the pop songs played during the movie, or characters breaking out into song and dance. While jokes are still incorporated, it's more witty than slapstick, and there is a severe lack of references to current pop culture, which I thought was a refreshing change. However, there was only one sequence which reminded me of Star War's X-Wing fighters and their attack on the Death Star, right down to the same plot details of having just 1 shot down a shaft to take out the enemy.

Don't be put off by the animation similarities to Antz. By itself, there isn't any flaws in the graphics, which turned out superbly when watched in a digital format. Its storyline will be able to engage you, even though at first glance it might seem a little simple at a superficial level.

Oh, and I was laughing hard at the peanut joke here too :-)

[Cine.SG] Money No Enough

I've watched Money No Enough on VCD a year after the movie made its theatrical run, and relished the thought of having the opportunity to watch it again on the big screen, together with a host of complete strangers to replicate that cinematic experience. Surprise, there was a good mix of audience at the screening today at Cine.SG, and I had a blast of a time, even with the recycled jokes the 2nd time round.

Money No Enough is still holding the record for the highest grossing local film to date (over S$5 million), and with its tremendous box office success, this movie sparked a thought that made-in-Singapore commercial films do have a chance at the box office. It also heralded a slew of various copycats trying to jump on the same bandwagon, such as Where Got Problem and Lucky Number.

Written by Jack Neo, and directed by Tay Teck Lock (not Jack Neo, contrary to popular belief), this movie contained plenty of dialect dialogue, which probably was unprecedented for its time, as well as a slew of vulgarities which flew off the characters tongue with ease. Naturally these were unheard of in Jack's popular Comedy Night television variety cum comedy show, given strict television guidelines, and hence, having screen characters SWEAR and in DIALECT, was a bit of a novelty for local audiences so used to hearing the same thing at home, amongst friends or at coffeeshops.

And speaking of coffeeshops, it is almost de-facto that a local movie needed to feature one in order to be a bona-fide local movie. Money No Enough opens with a montage and a theme song, before settling down at a kopitiam (coffeeshop), where three friends, an office worker (Jack Neo), the ah-beng contractor (Mark Lee), and the kopi-kia (coffee boy) Henry Thia, converge and presented the first of many social commentary on the government and the people, of course, laced with comedy.

While many of the characters are stereotypes and caricatures, such as the aunties (mis)behaving in a hospital, loansharks and on insurance agents, most roles are politically incorrect and make no apologies for it, as they are exaggerated for local audiences to laugh at ourselves.

Some of the issues brought up might seem dated, but still hold certain truths in this time and age (it's only less than 10 years old, but already some landscape changes can be noticed). Issues like money or the lack thereof in a materialistic society, the graduate-non-graduate divide, and the keeping up with the Joneses are a reflection of the times in the late 90s during the economic crisis.

In any case, the hallmarks of a Jack Neo (written) movie can be seen to have started from here (although there were already some obscure HK/Taiwan movies that he had starred in). With the fusion of topical events from any coffeeshop talk's flavour of the moment, comedy, catchy songs, and caricatures, perhaps these is the success formula of making a viable commercial movie, given he's one of the few local filmmakers who almost consistently delivers at the box office.

Money No Enough is not without flaws, and it is fairly obvious from the raw delivery in sound. The ending is particularly weak, which is quite wasted given that it has an engaging beginning and middle portions in the vein of a good Hui Brothers styled movie, just that it didn't know how to end with a bang.

Nonetheless this movie has already set a record, and remains the local film to beat in terms of dollars. I would reckon for those interested in the revival of local films, or to chart the progress and sophistication of Jack Neo movies, then this is perhaps the movie to begin with.

Umizaru 2: Test of Trust

It's the Test of Trust

Umizaru belongs to the kind of movies glorifying whichever the uniformed group under their spotlight. Those which I have enjoyed include the obvious US Navy pilots in Top Gun, the firefighters in Backdraft, and the Secret Service in In The Line of Fire. While those are Hollywood movies, Japan also had in 2004 made a movie about a rookie team of Coast Guards in Umizaru, and this follow up sequel brings back search and rescue diver Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito) and his team into what is probably another Poseidon like adventure.

Titled "Limit of Love", it's a strange moniker for a movie which is high on the action, and soppy on the romance. This movie continues the romantic relations between our hero Senzaki-san and his fiancee Kanna Izawa (Ai Katô), or rather the strained relations between the two after the former rejected the obvious hints of the latter to marry her, because of some strange personal reasons of skeletons from his closet which continued to haunt him. Brooding hero must exorcise these demons before he can commit to settling down, get it?

Therefore perhaps for similar reasons, we had it retitled as Test of Trust instead, as there are plenty of moments with reference to the title. In trusting your buddies to come back for you, in trusting the experts to do a job they are trained for, in trusting your fiance to take care of himself and come back alive, the list goes on. But fret not even if you haven't watched the first movie, you'll be orientated soon enough to be in the thick of the action.

The filmmakers spared no expense in making this movie big, with planes, helicopters, ships, rafts, and tons of extras to make it a grand spectacle. Water-Underwater sequences are always never easy, and I dare say, given that this premise is similar to an earlier Hollywood stinker bore Poseidon, Umirazu 2 triumphs with its action sequences if they are compared side by side. It's not the special effects or the razzle dazzle (in which Poseidon wins hands down), but it's by its delivery. Keeping the cast and rescuees intimately small also helped in not having too many characters who can be brushed off easily as fodder, making them the regular, though cliched, folks that you would actually care for.

If there is a gripe however, it'll be at how the melodrama gets drummed up into dizzying heights with plenty of lingering shots coupled with rousing crescendos from the soundtrack. While these are there probably for emphasis and dramatic effect, one can't help forget that in order for it to be a bit more believable, hey, it's a rescue operation! Cut the crap and the ra-ra talk, and just get on with saving lives or getting the hell out of whatever danger zones you are in!

I can't help but smile inside when certain scenes are shot in typical Japanese fashion with characters looking hard at each other and giving constant nods of assurances, especially in the control centre. Some things don't change do they? But all in all, this is a pretty interesting action movie, after a dearth of non-romance or horror movies from the land of the rising sun.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Three's Always A Crowd

Look! Up in the Sky! It's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's G-Girl! New York City's newest superhero, with powers and origins adopted from Metropolis' Man of Steel. She can fly, has super-strength, can hear the frequency of a police radio, able to shoot beams from her eyes, looks like Uma Thurman... she's the ultimate hot babe any dude can ask for.

Unless of course, given her powers, she's also a tad insecure and can turn out to be any dude's worst nightmare with her clingy, needy nature. If Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent is mild mannered, G-Girl's equivalent in Jenny Johnson is the bespectacled arty type with a touch of neuroticism. It's basically a romance between her and an unlikely, fairly ordinary bloke Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson), who picked her up during a train ride with the encouragement of good friend Vaughn Haige (Rainn Wilson), and with a stroke of luck, managed to snag a date and more.

It's a fun movie about relationships, or the desperate lack thereof, and given it's reversal of super-being gender, provides a different perspective altogether. While the comedy's fun at certain points, with its load of sexual innuendos and situations (somehow it's almost always about sex), the movie felt like it went on autopilot, relying pretty much on its strong links to its adapted source material, right down to the parody of her weakness, You have that dastardly evil genius villain Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard), and many scenes taking a mickey out of the Superman movies.

It plays out similar to the earlier Ivan Reitman movies, like Ghostbusters and Evolution, kinda kinky, kind funny, formulaic and pretty much children friendly (despite the sexy bits). I thought that the cast had a pretty fun time doing the movie, with supporting characters like Anna Farris providing additional eye candy as the love rival. The special effects by Digital Domain were pretty nifty too, and I liked those swirly-bits when G-GIrl takes flight.

Don't bother too much about the uber-thin storyline, but just enjoy the ride right up until the quirky, amicable settling of outstanding issues. And if you really wanna try to look hard into it, it's a reminder to us guys that soon enough, women will rule the world, and we probably don't mind sitting back and enjoying that odd beer while they bring home the bacon.

Stay tuned after the animated end credits for an easter egg scene involving Vaughn and his apparent secret beneath his cool-cat demeanour.

[DVD] We Are Family (2006)

Mediacorp Raintree Pictures is one of the unique film production houses in Singapore, and because of its budgetary muscle, besides making its own films, they have the luxury of teaming up with production houses in the region too in various collaborative effort.

In what is essentially a Hong Kong production starring Alan Tam and Hacken Lee, this movie is co-produced by Raintree, and local actors such as the likes of Jeff Wang, Ng Hui, Abigail Chay, Patricia Mok, Bernard Tan, and a whole host of others in various supporting or cameo roles, make an appearance. Gurmit Singh as Phua Chu Kang has a role in it too, unleashing his barrage of trademarked one liners in his only speech in the movie.

You can read my review of the movie at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below:

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Written and directed by Miranda July, Me You and Everyone We Know is an indie film that has gone on to win several film awards around the world. It finally opens in the theatres here, but it's difficult to see what the fuss is all about.

Miranda plays one of the two major leads, Christine, in a community tale with an ensemble cast of minor characters. Her role as a contemporary artist looking for her break and earning a livelihood driving an "Eldercab", spews too many philosophical lines and basks herself in many contrived situations, and gets herself involved romantically in an unconventional manner with Richard (John Hawkes), a shoe salesperson recently separated from his wife and tried his hand (pardon the pun) at self-immolation.

The Everyone We Know here refers to the ensemble cast in the movie, ranging from Richard's younger son dabbling innocently in internet romance / online sex, the elder son who got lucky when 2 arguing teenagers wanted to know who gives the better blow job, a little girl preparing her dowry in 20 years time when she marries, her mother whom she seldom sees, to Richard's colleague at work who teases with the 2 teenagers, and the list goes on. Basically it refers to the neighbours they live with, and the very limited degrees which separate them.

In my opinion, it's actually quite an ordinary movie about the ordinary lives of ordinary people, but perhaps therein lies its charm. It's not the usual romance filled storyline between Christine and Richard, nor are the relationships between any of the characters the usual cliches that you'd come to expect. Not that it's dry, but it's quite different.

However the movie does have its moments, and somehow I enjoyed the stalker like instances when Christine courts Richard, the dowry made up of everyday household items stored in the chest of Hope, and of course the more risque bits, especially the one where the identity of the online sex chat partner is finally revealed, and you'd get to see the reactions of both parties when they meet up. Pure unadulterated magical moment, if I could say so.

And the gag which really cracked me up, was an innocent quip about this "back and forth" smiley:
))<>((
You got to watch the movie and find out for yourself what it means.

See No Evil

Time to Feed My Pet

WWE (or WWF back then) stars are no strangers to taking that leap into the movie world, with legends like Hulk Hogan starring in B-movies like Suburban Commando and Thunder in Paradise, or more contemporary figures like The Rock starring in various action movies like Walking Tall and The Scorpion King. Not only the lead roles, but they take on smaller bit roles like Diesel's stint as The Russian in the Marvel comic book movie The Punisher.

Being a heroic or an evil character doesn't matter, as they entertain in the wrestling ring switching allegiances and trade karma like changing underwear, and since it's mostly action movies, the acting chops are not required, as their physical presence more than make up what's lacking, not that they don't do a lot of acting in ring though.

See No Evil stars WWE's Kane as a psychotic killer with a penchant for digging out the eyes of his victims. Some which you'd get to see on screen, some which the censors deem too graphic for an NC16 rated flick and left on the cutting room floor (better luck with M18 or R21 I'd say). Anyway from those scenes, it looked as if it's so easy to claw anyone's eye out (is it really?). So with his assortment of weapons like the axe, the hook and chain, or just his bare hands with brute strength befitting a 7 footer, he cuts one mean looking reject from the recent The Hills Have Eyes zombie character.

I hate to use a classic as a comparison, but suffice to say that the premise stinks of being a poor man's cousin of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho filed with generous doses of MTV styled quick cuts. Instead of Bates motel, you have Blackwell Hotel, together with the suggestion that it is the all domineering and crazed mother whose warped upbringing nurtured humanity's monster. Taking yet another swipe at religious zealots too, as flashbacks show the young psycho kid being tortured by a mom who cages him and the punishment dished out for looking at porn (hence the title see no evil lah).

Packed into the movie are the various fodder for him to maim and kill. Character development, or at least the attempt in trying to weave in a tale of revenge, seem to be abandoned halfway, as characters start to drop off like barflies. It doesn't take you too long to realize who's on which side, and who'll survive (according to horror slasher flick lore that the blondie and those having sex must die) given the cliches. Starring relative unknowns as a bunch of inmates sent to the Hotel to perform cleaning fatigues, it's a pity that most of them were not given glorious cinematic deaths in a movie like this.

Perhaps with movies like Hills Have Eyes, the Saw franchise, and Hostel, we're all a bit jaded from the rehashed dark and dankly film sets and throwaway characters. There's nothing new presented in this movie, and is only made for Kane's fan base. Even then, with so little of their star seen in the flesh, they might as well be better off with his exploits in the wrestling ring.

Stay tuned until after the initial end credits roll for a cheeky scene, which absolutely will never happen in the ring against Kane.

[3rd Singapore Short Cuts] 3rd Week

This week's selection presents a blast from the past, and the most obvious thing that strikes you when you sit through all 4 shorts, is how much technology has advanced, and how much sophisticated short film makers have become. The look of the film might be dated, the sound quality found wanting, but in the rawness of the shorts, you can feel the enthusiasm and the difficulties that the filmmakers faced back then in having these shorts made.

Absence - K Rajagopal
This short explores how a mother and son cope with the loss of their husband/dad. While one mopes, the other chooses to clam up and channel his feelings into art - be it sketching navels, or in paintings. It's beautifully shot - I liked the rain/dance sequence, and it ends off with one heck of a surprise which throws what your perception is of certain characters out of the window.

Datura - Abdul Nizam
I like the bomoh scene, for some strange reason I cannot put a finger too. I don't sit through well with experimental shorts, and I couldn't enjoy this one. I suppose there's also a motive to having an English voiceover running concurrent with the Malay/Arab language track. Perhaps I'm really missing something out here.

Ragged - Nisar and Nazir Husain Keshvani
The much maligned Karang Guni Man stars as the local version of the bogeymen, used to frighten misbehaving children into submission (or at least back in the good old days. A substitute will be the Policeman). But what's life behind the stereotype? This short gives us a fictional account on the life, love and loss of one such fellow.

Sense of Home - Lim Suat Yen
I don't dig the storyline, but I do dig the visuals. Some of the places caught on the camera, I think do not exist anymore, or exist in a different form. The director was brave enough too to cast herself as the lead though.

LtoR: Wenjie, Nizam, Rajagopal, Nazir, Suat Yen, Kristin

I didn't manage to cover the entire Q&A Session cos there was someone special amongst the audience today, and my friends and I wanted to chit-chat with her. So my apologies if the writeup below seemed to end abruptly. If you have attended it in full, please feel free to finish it using the comments box. Also, this is transcribed as best as I could, any inaccuracies are my fault alone.


Q: When was the last time you saw your short?
A (Datura): A few years ago, and when I saw it again, "shit!". This was a final year school project, and there were some things which I wished I had done differently, as I was still looking for identity and direction.
A (Absence): Saw it on television couple of years back on Arts Central. This was my 3rd film, and I was making short films to win a "Best Film" prize but didn't make it. It's a personal film and in my films I put in whatever issues that bothered me.
A (Ragged): 10 years back. It's lo-fi quality as there was no film school back then, and it's just embarassing just to see it again.
A (Home): 12 years ago, until now.


Nizam then shared that he made films not to win prizes but to get finances for the next film. Suat Yen revealed that her short was made on 16mm and there was no budget for proper sound mixing, hence the synchronizing problem we observed.


Q: How much did it cost back then to make the shorts, and how was the prize money used?
A (Datura): Most of the post production was done in school, and the prize money that this short won barely covered half the cost.
A (Absence): The cost was S$15K and the prize money was S$5K. Had no regrets as it was worth a try.
A (Ragged): Can't put a cost down because it was done with help from friends. You can't put a value on the time we spent using a post production studio after midnight. The prize money was spent on dinner for the people involved in the production, as well as to buy a camera to make more films.
A (Home): Spent S$100-200 on transportation and food for a 3-men crew, and had to "beg, borrow, or steal" the camera. The prize money was used to do a feature film - The Road Less Travelled.


Q (Datura): Could you share with us the identity you mentioned you were looking for?
A: I was looking if I could make films relevant here and elsewhere. I was looking for and asking questions to know what kinds of films I want to make. It's been 10 years down the line and I'm still looking for it.


Damn confusing Question: about being disturbed when watching Sense of Home, about the simplification of the east-west binary (wah)
A: It was made 16 years ago, and the perspective I had then was different from now. It's part of me in the past (For those who didn't realize, Suat Yet was playing the lead character)
Dunno why, but Suat Yen was apologetic if her short made the person who asked the question, feel disturbed.


Q (Absence): The cinematography was well done. Which portions about the short were based on personal experience?
A: I lost my dad when I was very young, and I was in denial for a whole year after he died. 10 years later I put into this film, issues I had about religion, death, god and sexuality, to get the skeletons out of the closet, to get it out of the system.

Q: What are you doing now, and any film plans in the future?
A (Home): I've started Oak3, and am still very much in the film industry.
A (Ragged): I'm in the publishing industry and am doing some freelancing as well as editorial work. I've a closet full of proposals and ideas, but budget is the main problem.
A (Absence): I'm teaching. I did telemovies, documentaries, music videos, and am not in a hurry to do a feature film, just waiting for the right time.
A (Datura): I'm still making films, and I did a documentary with Nazir. I'm also doing TV work, and have spent the last few years trying to get something off the ground.


Q: Do you feel it is easier now than back then when you made your films?
A (Datura): It's easier in terms of technology, given the PC environment. Technology is kind, but it's the same issues about trying to convince people to fund the fims you want to do.


Q to Organizers: How do you think the films have aged?
Wenjie: Although the films were from the 90s, there are quite a lot that we can learn from them. These four films were selected for its sense of home in Singapore.
Kristin: One obvious significant change is the use of technology, and the quality that comes through technology. However, these films selected are strong in expressing one's identity.


Q (Ragged): Why the use of the Karang Guni Man for your film?
A: My mum was always using the Karang Guni man to scare my brother and I, and the depiction of the Karang Guni man was as I remembered as a child, with the gunny sack. Nowadays they no longer ask for old newspapers but old TV sets. These are people on the margins of society whom we don't see anymore. We originally got someone else around the same age as us, casted as the Karang Guni Man, but during the post production, the person who owns the post production studio we went to, commented "Is that the best? I can do a better job", and so he became the Karang Guni Man in the film.

*****

Next week's selection will be da bomb, as we have shorts from at least two prolific local directors - Kan Lume and Eric Khoo, with the latter having his short commissioned by Jeonju International Film Festival, screened. Also got Pontianak, you know? Boo!

An American Haunting

Thoroughly unimaginative, utterly disappointing. While you thought the trailer was pretty scary, the scares were actually drowned out by the overusage of horror movie cliches, and I suspect that this movie, supposedly based on true events, belongs to one of those that are jumping on the Emily Rose bandwagon.

You can my review at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below



But don't say I didn't warn you that the movie's bad. Watch at your own risk, but do so on a weekday at least!

[DVD] He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (À la folie... pas du tout) (2002)

Hello? Is It Me You're Looking For?

This is a relatively short movie, and to dwell on it too much might just take away the enjoyment of discovering what the story has to say.

The tagline's quite apt for this movie - Every love story has two sides. So you might think that you love someone, and how sure are you about that feeling? And to the other person, does he/she feel the same, and reciprocate? It might be a bad case of infatuation, lust, or just plain miscommunication and misinterpretation of mixed or wrong signals.

Audrey Tautou plays Angelique, an arts student who is in love with a doctor Loic. Problem is, the doc's married and his wife is expecting a baby. The premise already hints of an unconventional love story, that from the point of view of "the other woman", who in her own reasoning, doesn't see herself as a family wrecker. And of course it's all too easy to blame Loic as the cad who can't keep his trousers zipped.

Did I already mention that this is an unconventional love story? If you think that the above premise is nothing new (since it's done to death in various drama serials), this film pulls the rug from right under your feet, by having go back in time (like, literally rewinding!), and watching the entire sequence of events again from Loic's point of view. Without spoiling it at all for you, I can say any audience will be in for a bit of a surprise, along the lines of perception, gestures, body language, as well as having a mystery built into the narrative. Things are not quite what they seem, especially when that strong emotion called Love comes into the scheme of things.

It's a major departure, at least for me, to see Audrey Tautou take on a role like this. I think she already has this quirky sweetie pie image projected from her Amelie days, and this role was something vastly different. A refreshing change, though she still maintains those whimsical forlorn gaze from her huge eyes, and that I so adore (hmm... think I am starting to have this thing for eyes now....)

It's not a feel good romance in that sense, but one which demonstrates that Love has this ability to captivate you, and probably make you behave in some irrational manner. Although this one takes that notion to the extreme, you can't help but wonder, isn't that what stalkers do all the time?

Code 3 DVD comes with no extra frills besides English and Chinese subtitles, and scene selection.

World of S11 Interview

S11 is the latest Singapore movie to make its general release, under the Picturehouse Exclusive banner. You can either click here for my review of S11, or read the collaborative review that Richard and I did for movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below




We had the opportunity to interview both directors of S11, Gilbert Chan and Joshua Chiang over the weekend, and they shared with us plenty of anecdotes on the production of their debut feature film.

Joshua and Gilbert

And as always, there's always the classic "Richard Moment" where he mixed up the two names. Anyway it's the 2nd time we're meeting them, after a very brief less-than-a-minute quick introduction when we were at the press screening. So I suppose something like this was bound to happen (to Richard no less :P)



You can read the proceedings from the interview, now up at movieXclusive by clicking on the picture below:

Click to read what we're discussing!

Oh, and special mention and thanks to Annie, who helped hooked us up with the directors for this interview, and for providing the pictures you see in this entry. Here's one for the album!

Back Row LtoR: Me, Richard
Front Row: LtoR: Joshua, Gilbert, Annie

As for the pictures by our official photographer Lokman, you gotta head on down to the movieXclusive article to see his handiwork in designing the entire page.

S11 opens at the Picturehouse today!

Click

I Like A Happy Family

Oh, I thought the world of you.
I thought nothing could go wrong,
But I was wrong. I was wrong.
If you, if you could get by, trying not to lie,
Things wouldn't be so confused and I wouldn't feel so used,
But you always really knew, I just wanna be with you.
- Linger, The Cranberries

With comedies, I half expected the best bits to make it to the trailers. They always do these days, and leave the actual movie much to be desired in the laughs department. Click however, was a totally different ball game altogether, not that it was lacking in laughs, but never did I expect the 2nd half of the movie to go where it went. It might be formulaic, but the message it has for the audience, rings through so effectively through Adam Sandler's performance.

Sandler plays Michael Newman, an extremely busy architect trying to find his way to the next big promotion, to be the business partner of his company alongside his boss Ammer (hammed up by David Hasselhoff). To Michael, he is working his butt off in order to provide for his family, and places work priority always as number 1, at the expense of family and quality time. He's uber mean, and vents his frustrations at the neighbour's kid (not that he's any way likable to begin with). In an effort to get a remote control to universally control all the electrical appliances at home, he chances upon a quirky salesman Morty (Christopher Walken) who gives him for free, one such device.

Not before long, Michael learns of the power of the "universal remote", and his entire life becomes a DVD menu - where he can playback, fast forward, and even watch certain milestones in his life with a James Earl Jones' voiced commentary. And it is here that the movie constantly churned out comedic situations after comedic situations, with all kinds of humour flying around at every turn.

But in the second half, the movie takes on dramatic proportions as in Sandler's earlier movie Spanglish, which I also enjoyed. Beneath the laughter, comes a serious reminder about our priorities, and it made me think, hard. Sure we all strive to excel at what we do, in order to eke out a living. It's always easier said than done, but it served as a good reminder, to those with families and kids, not to neglect them. The importance of putting family first, and achieving some form of work-life balance, sometimes get overlooked as we run the rat race.

Time never looks back, and once you miss the boat, that's it, and there's no practical way to rewind to key moments in life, like a movie can. In living life, there are always bounds and bounds of challenges. After all, aren't those challenges supposed to make life interesting? Instead of sidestepping issues and sweeping them under the carpet, we must learn to face them with gusto instead of looking for the easy way out. At times, choosing the easy way out will mean the missing out on the experience, which to me is a whole lot more costly.

But no worries, perhaps I'm just looking too deeply into the message in the movie, but you get my drift. And the cast is picture perfect, with Michael's parents (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner - she voices Marge Simpson) providing an extended family feel to Michael's wife (the beautiful Kate Beckinsale) and two kids (Joseph Castanon and Tatum McCann). Sean Astin has a bit role here as a swimming coach, and there are plenty of "vase" babes in this movie, like Sophie Monk (Date Movie)

Fans of The Cranberries will also be pleased when a beautiful ballad from the band is played, and Dolores O'Riordan actually made an appearance too performing Linger. And by the time that happens, some in the audience would already be standing by, or using tissues already.

Click managed to keep its entire second, more serious act under wraps in the trailers, but when revealed in the movie, provided a more layered, adult theme in this comedy which makes one wonder, have you told your family you love them today?

The Beat That My Heart Skipped

Learning to Play, One Key at a Time

I think Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris) could be any of us in the working class. Stuck in two worlds about what he really wants to do, versus what he has to do. In the shady corner of the real estate business relying on underhand tactics, he finds no joy. In the other world which presented itself as an opportunity to start again, he must upgrade in order to be accepted. It never is easy, then again, life never is to begin with.

Constantly frustrated at his predicament, you begin to wonder towards which characteristics of his parents would he gravitate to - the father, who's about to remarry, and is living the life that Thomas secret disapproves, and that he fears he's subconsciously becoming his father's son, or his deceased mom, an accomplished pianist. Given the chance to dig deep into his potential of following in his mom's footsteps, he thought he could find joy in emulating his mother's success, but success always is the outcome of hard work, and plenty of frustrations along the way.

With the help of a Chinese pianist (played by Linh Dan Pham), he sets himself a goal to be ready for an audition to set a new future for himself, and the classical music numbers greatly contrasts with Thomas' choice of Euro-techno music which he plays over his beautiful earphones, and I enjoyed prior to watching the movie, thanks to a friend who introduced me to Telepopmusik's Just Breathe, which was used.

While juggling between real work, and his potential aspiration, things go awry with his love and sex life, when he falls for one of his friend's wife, and when his dad gets mixed up with and swindled by Russian gangsters. I particularly liked the scene where he sought out the Russian Minskov, where he goes about without a clue to try and straighten things out with the mobster, only to have him call and threaten him loudly over the phone, in the sudden presence of a passer-by. And what he did for revenge, was totally comical too, in context.

There are moments in this film which painfully brings out themes of frustration, of being lost at a crossroads, and of deciding for oneself what your calling is. Decide for yourself if you're up for some serious fare about the choices presented in life, and about that leap of faith that you take in trying to achieve some of those goals.

S11

Kua Simi?!

Besides the directing duo of husband and wife team Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen who did the upcoming (and excellent may I add) Singapore Dreaming, there was another duo team who did a feature length film, and S11 is it.

It's very different from all the local fare this year, because they dared to tell a tale in a non-linear style. Centered around the worst night of their lives, 3 characters converge at a Paya Lebar petrol kiosk, where their lives will forever be changed. The loner Terence, perpetually stuck in mono because of his lack of lam-pah-ji (balls) to break out of the monotony of his existence. The loser Ben, who was fired from his job, and is always cowering in the presence of his domineering mother. And finally, the lolita-like babe Michelle, who owes loansharks a debt of money, and has only the night to figure out how to repay it.

The 3 characters do not have equal screen opportunity though, and their segments are fairly obviously split with the use of intertitles. While the character motivations are obvious for the loner, who has to decide if it's worthwhile to risk it all for his mundane job, or the scooter riding hip chick Michelle, in the rebellious years of her school days, to determine how to wriggle her way out of trouble with a capital T, the best segment would have to be the loser's.

Ben, in his Doraemon pink t-shirt, brings in the laughs throughout his segment. He stammers in life, but in his day-dreams, he's the confident hero with a swagger, who can inspire awe amongst the evil-doers with just his name - Chen Hao Nan, from the Young and Dangerous Hong Kong gangland franchise. Not to forget too is his fantasy self spewing gung-ho threats, which sound more funny than they are theatening. His had the most opportunity for character development, as he decides to change his life by smoking it away.

Besides the three leads, there are a host of supporting characters, but they are mainly gangsters and thugs, who provide cannon fodder for comedy and with dialogue laced with colourful Hokkien vulgarities, crude as they may, but funny they sure are (ok, so sue me, but I crack up each time a screen character swears).

There are plenty of cool shots in the movie, from the opening animated credits, to a memorable gambling sequence. There's also a running gag with the Red Fur Dog label, either as a subtle dig at Caucasians, or at Guiness Stout, since there's no product placement fee, nor was there (probably) any intention to flout with trademark infringements.

But it's not all fine and dandy though, as the third segment with Michelle, being the last segment, may have suffered from an overkill of scenes being repeated (though at different angles and point of views). The repetition may have slowed the pace of the movie, as the audience would more or less deduced what had happened from an earlier segment, but I guess this is part and parcel of having a non-linear narrative. Also, some dialogue pieces with Michelle, explaining her predicament, felt slow and dragged the pacing somewhat, with a fairly out of the blue scene that looks at her family background.

Although there were familiar elements and scenes like the riding of motorcycle scene (comparing it with Kelvin Tong's Eating Air), S11 is a daring attempt at a story which is rather challenging given its premise, and style of narration, for a local film. Watch it if you can, and you'll probably open your eyes to the different styles and stories that local filmmakers are capable of spinning.

S11 opens exclusively at The Picturehouse from 3rd August.

[DVD] Gubra (2006)

One of my favourite films this year from one of my favourite directors, you can read about Gubra from blog entries that I've put up on the right column, under the Yasmin Ahmad Spotlight.

Instead I'll touch solely on the DVD, which was highly anticipated until its release last week. The DVD will give fans another opportunity to watch the fantastic movie all over again, and to share the experience with friends too.

First up, I half expected the menus inside to be on a black background (since the poster and all are so dark mah), but it's a surprise that the menu's coloured in light pastel, with favourite scenes played out over songs featured in the movie. Subtitles are available, either in English or Chinese, and the visuals are crisply transferred. Damn clear ok?

The interactive scene selection also allows you to zoom straight into your favourite moments in the movie. Mine? Simple, it's scene 4!

But what's special in this DVD, is the treatment of the Making Of.

Combined with the theatrical trailer, this 25 minute Making Of contained interviews with almost all the main cast, and interviews with Yasmin herself, so sorely missed in the Sepet DVD. Here, you'll get to see footage from the sets, as well as those taken from the rehearsals too!

The DVD's available now at all good stores, so don't waste time, go get ya?

Adam's Apples (Adams æbler)

The Motley Crew

The premise of this movie seemed simple enough, about Neo Nazi called Adam (Ulrich Thomsen) being sentenced to community service at a church. A priest, Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen), informs Adam that in order to complete his hours of service, he must have a goal in mind. And that goal actually turned out unexpectedly, as a passing remark, to be as banal as baking an apple pie, with apples found in the apple tree grown on the church's premises.

Written and directed by Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen, Adam's Apples is a black comedy about God and the mysterious ways in which He works. Sometimes He does things in an indirect manner, in order for you to explore and find out exactly what He wants you to do. Or He might intent to pose some challenges in order to shake you up, or have a sublime message in which you are to learn from.

Adam didn't have it easy, as in his opinion, it is as if God was punishing him by making things extremely difficult. Weird stuff kept happening with nary a warning, like having crows infest the tree and eating away at the apples, or by having worms invade from within. All these clue Adam that perhaps he wasn't meant to finish serving his time as soon as possible, but rather has to find meaning in the extended period of time of him being at the church.

The story actually got more interesting when the audience is introduced to the host of quirky characters who seek refuge at the grounds, such as Khalid (Ali Kazim) the Pakistani with a thing for robbing petrol kiosks, and Gunnar (Nicolas Bro), the fat kleptomaniac. And the plot actually allowed more to ponder upon, with the Bible playing a key plot device with its reference to the Book of Job - is there a modern biblical reference to Ivan, or is he living one himself?

But no worries about this portion of the plot getting too stifling for comfort. While it actually had a really dead serious mood throughout, there is plenty of comedy delivered, which came at times, fast and furious, but yet still maintained that deadpan feel, as if these comedic situations happened as "a matter of fact"-ly. Certain (violent) scenes stood out and made you think about how those shots were actually achieved.

Watching the movie actually made me wonder about the existence of an omnipotent being, and actually had this uncanny feel good factor about it at the end. If you're up for some unconventional fare, then this nominee for this year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film might just be your cup of tea.

Hard Candy

Stop Ogling At My ...

Hard candy is an internet slang for an under-aged girl. And this actually reminded me of a social experiment that a friend and I conducted in the internet chat rooms some 5 years back. There were always plenty of talk and reports about how dangerous the Internet is, with the chatrooms being a gold mine for pedophiles and perverts chatting up little boys and girls, and then doing dastardly deeds with them when they're enticed to meet up in real life.

So we decided to check it out ourselves. My friend and I posed as "sweetgal18" and entered a local popular chatroom. Even before you can say Hello, pop ups after pop ups of private messages come flooding the screen, some started innocently, others were more direct, asking for sexual favours. In this experiment however, we stopped short of arranging to meet these people, and turn up just to take their photos from afar and put it online. However, I recall of late some local blogsite actually started a crusade against these perverts, and went the extra mile which we couldn't. Bravo!

Now back to the movie. With a cast of essential 2 leads + 3 extras with extremely limited screen time, the story and dialogue pieces had to be extremely engaging to hold the audience's attention. And that was successfully done. It begins with a sexually charged tease over a chatroom conversation between Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson), a 32 year old photographer, and Hayley Stark (Ellen Page), a 14 year old student whose level of maturity surpasses her age.

They decide to meet up, and we play witness to a seemingly innocent face to face introduction, before things start to become a little loaded with double entrees, and dialogues laced with innuendoes. Before long, Hayley decides to follow Jeff home, and there's where the "fun" begins, where little red riding hood goes up against a probably "coloured wolf".

It's in the same vein as Saw, except that the explicit violence is exchanged for psychological warfare, and throughout the entire movie, you're constantly wondering and changing positions of thought, as to who's possibly right, or wrong, doing the right thing (vigilantism?) - who's actions can be justified, or should you pity the victim caught in a tables about turned situation? You'll be second guessing a lot, as the psychological play gets stepped up and you wonder just who should you thrown your support to - could Hayley just be a crazed kid, and could Jeff possibly be maligned and actually is a harmless soul? The characters straddle both ends of the good-evil spectrum, until certain hints start to prod you in the right direction.

But as psychological play is concerned, this means plenty of dialogue, and thankfully the leads were credible in their delivery. However, it also means that not much happens, until the frantically paced set action pieces that never relents up till the end. There is however one major scene which will definitely make you squirm. I know I did, and my stomach actually churned, even without having the scene explicitly played out on screen as punishment is dished.

All's revealed at the finale, and despite so much drama-mama, it'll actually make you smile with (sick) satisfaction about the grandeur plot, which to some, is a loophole akin to a typical Bond villain's monologue. But one thing's for sure, you cannot fault Ellen Page's Hayley - while she's capable of doing what she did, there's still a scene in the movie I felt inserted purposefully, which highlights and reminds of her girly inexperience with being the grand schemer of things.

The movie serves as a timely reminder for anyone with children or young siblings, to warn them of the clear and present dangers of the dark side of the internet, that they should reveal any personal information about their personal lives, or in the first place, not to chat with strangers. On the net, everyone can be anyone. Then again, strangers should not talk to seemingly innocent children, lest they really turn out to be psychopaths. I wish these perverts ill fortune that something of his nature will befall them, and that they get their just desserts.

I smell a possible franchise that could happen.

[3rd Singapore Short Cuts] 2nd Week

I missed the very first week of the 3rd Singapore Short Cuts, no thanks for being duty bound and got recalled back to camp for a silent mobilization exercise. As usual, there's the usual cock-up in the activation (will be activated advance notice given -> cancelled -> reactivated), then again, what's new?

So all I could do was to lament loss of not being able to watch Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen's short 3Meals (the duo did Singapore Dreaming),

Then again, cock-ups also extended to the 2nd week of the showcase, as you can see for yourself in the pictures below, none of the shorts printed on the ticket, were screened, which led to a mini-confusion as to what the lineup was.




Printed on the left side of the ticket was actually next week's lineup, and on the right side, last week's (and I thought there will be a repeat of last week's shorts *grin*)

Anyway, I was a little irked by some of the nitty gritties, like how it would be preferred to have a short introduction by someone before the lights just suddenly dimmed and the shorts played, or the fact that walk-in folks were allowed into the darkened theatre to fill up the seats of those who did not turn up. At least get these guys to enter the theatrette before the shorts start, and when there is still light.

Logistical gripes aside, the collection of shorts shown today was quite disappointing in my opinion. Here's my quick take:


Heave - Gek Li San, Ngiam Shin Shin
Didn't really get what it was trying to put across, since it contained mini segments with characters bitching just about everything, until the culmination in a news reel about the Nicoll Highway collapse. Only the segment about the man and his kid on the rooftop sort of provided the link to the newsreel. Other segments included two office ladies complaining about the weather, a sperm-bank delivery man complaining about his work, a couple trying to conceive (boob shot from far to earn NC16 rating, but there were kids in the theatrette anyway). The synopsis mentioned something about being in a pressure cooker environment, but I felt the segments were too disparate to bring out the theme the filmmakers wanted to tell.

Di (Little Brother) - Michael Kam
Sibling rivalry at its keenest, with 2 brothers in all too familiar situations, and the fights looked quite real too.

Passenger - Green Zeng
Perhaps the most polished of them all, this film had basically two characters, a taxi driver and an old dialect-speaking lady, both played by familiar faces. It's about an old lady who wants the taxi driver to bring her to places of old where she frequents, or hold precious memories, to visit them for one last time before she departs for China. I could imagine the exhorbitant cab fare already, as she engages the driver in a dialogue of remembrance of her life with her deceased husband. It was a bit repetitive in its travelling shots, and shots of the old woman from the taxi cab window.

Peter Ho - Yee Cheng Kang
The longest of them all, Peter Ho tells the story of a very angsty local tour guide, whose colleagues and boss are stereotypically amusing. It's part comedy, part art-house (!) as there were portions which showcased the loneliness that Peter Ho experienced. The best bits are those involving Peter Ho and Ah Neh, and the short at certain scenes, look like a tourism board's advertorial. Despite being the longest short today, this was also the most difficult to watch given the handheld-camera-without-the tripod-motion-sickness syndrome.



The directors were all on hand for the Q&A session, and here I'll try and reproduce faithfully, some of the questions asked, and answers given.

Q: What was the inspiration behind Passenger?
A: The director had a conversation with a friend about his grandmother who wanted to go back to China, and was combined with another idea of a man suffering from cancer, going around to certain places he wanted to go again before he dies.

Q: Who directed what in Heave?
A: Shin handed most of the art direction and the first part of the first segment, while Li Shan handled everything else.

Q: If there was anything you could change with the shorts, what would they be and why?
A (Heave): The whole thing as many people didn't understand what it meant. It has this pressure cooker metaphor of the environment we live in, and if you notice, the pressure was increasing with the different segments. There are 5 segments in which the pressure was progressively increeasing until the Nicole Highway collapse. There was plenty of experimenting with the pacing, and the technical aspects like increasing the run time as the segments progressed, as well as reducing the number of cut scenes to no cuts at all for the last segment with the man and the boy.
A (Passenger): To shoot it in fiom if they can, but no budget.
A (Peter Ho): Nothing will be changed, as the director was happy and had loads of fun with the cast and crew. One thing he noticed though, is with the shakiness of the shots. He will use a tripod for his subsequent shorts.

Q: In some of the shorts, was there a conscious decision to showcase Singapore?
A (Passenger): Singapore was the "third character", but there weren't any "touristy" places used. Done in 4 nights of shooting.
A (Peter Ho): If it's shot properly, perhaps it can be used by Singapore Tourism Board. The story accounts a love-hate relationship with Singapore. We might complain a lot, but we still love the country.

Q: It's common lore that the hardest to work with in film are with animals and children. Was that true for Di?
A: The director was actually surprised that the kids were quite mature, savvy city kids. They are brothers in real life.

Q: How was the dialogue done - improvised or scripted?
A (Passenger): The language used in the entire film is Teochew. The script was written in English, then sent to a translator to translate it to mandarin. The actors read the script in mandarin, then interpreted it in Teochew.
A (Peter Ho): The director shared an anecdote that he never had taken a grant from the Singapore Film Commission, because of the lack of a proper script. Peter Ho was done without a proper script. The short film was done towards the end of the year, after absorbing scenarios from daily life earlier in the year. The director knows about 70% of what he wants in the film, while the remaining 30% were ad-libbed with the actors. For example, the scene with the delivery man was ad-libbed by the actor (who incidentally, plays the bass in the director's band).
A (Heave): Relied on the actor's input during rehearsals.



Q: What about that toilet and the showing of the backside in Peter Ho?
A: My shorts, since poly days, always have a toilet scene!

Q: How much did the shorts cost, in terms of time and money spent?
A (Heave): From conception to delivery, about 1 year (non full time). Cost S$16K with the help of an earlier award and payment in kind from SIFF.
A (Di): S$8K, and 4 years (non full time)
A (Passenger): Got sponsorship for camera and editing system. Got a grant from Singapore Film Commission of less than S$10K. The taxi hired for the shoot was partially sponsored.
A (Peter Ho): It's not about the money. Get the story right, and get the right people.

Q: What was the significance of the dog scene in the expressway?
A: The director wanted the audience to work that out themselves. Usually when people watch a movie, they want things presented to them.

Then there was a comment about the subtitling of Passenger which didn't do justice to the short, as well as Cheng Kang explaining that the movie was made for himself as a showcase of his ability.

Next week's selection are shorts made in the 90s. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!