Don't Look Back (Ne Te Retourne Pas)

Who Am I?

Selected for competition in Cannes this year and the closing film at Singapore's French Film Festival, Don't Look Back is a rather straight-forward psychological drama starring two European actresses who would need no introduction in Monica Bellucci and Sophie Marceau playing the same role of Jeanne, or so it seems.

We're introduced to Sophie's version first, where she's attempting to write a novel after a series of successful non-fiction works, for the sole reason of revisiting her much forgotten, and likely repressed past. Despite her publisher's persuasion to abandon the idea because it's only to dig up some skeletons best left hidden, she forges forward and bit by bit discovers that she's starting to lose her mind, where furniture starts to be in places she no longer remembers, and family members start to look physically different, which of course is enough for anyone to freak out. And the icing of the cake, she morphs from French looking Sophie Marceau, to the Italian babe Monica Bellucci. Which is not a bad thing of course, considering one can morph into somebody less attractive or endowed even.

In the meantime, we're left to wonder if Jeanne (in whichever version) is starting to lose it, whether it could be an extreme and early onset of the Alzheimer's, as roads become unrecognizable, husbands become someone else, and scars disappear and reappear. It's an extreme case of severe identity crisis where one is thankful that it doesn't take the cop-out route and make everyone wake up from a bad nightmare.

It's an extremely well made psychological piece which explores the fear that comes with losing the things that we hold dear, and also the uncomfortable sense of being outside an established comfort zone, journeying into the big unknown, deducing what actually is happening, despite not knowing where to start, and the developing suspicion that everyone is in on the joke, except for yourself.

It's tough to compare who was the better Jeanne, because Sophie disappears for the most part from the second act onwards. Screen time shared by both actresses in the same frame is extremely limited as well, so we'd only get to savour one sold performance after another, turn-based. There's a proper explanation to everything that's happening, though one has to be patient in order to allow the narrative to reveal itself in due course. So meanwhile, accept what's presented, and try to piece together the jigsaw yourself.

The Princess and the Frog

Pucker Up!

The Princess and the Frog may have gotten off the wrong foot with certain quarters who decide to see this through a tainted, racial prism, but what this film actually did, was to reaffirm that old school animation still has its place amongst CG and 3D offerings, bolstered by an impressive storyline, which is always important if to entertain children and the kids who accompany them.

And Disney surely knows what it needed to do given its years of established experience to know what works, and what don't. Like most of its classics, it takes on a well known tell, and gives it its own Disney spin complete with a Happily Ever After. It's the same excellent spin applied on the frog prince who wants to be human again, and only so if kissed by a princess. The joke of course, is to have the princess turned into a frog, though no fault of her own because that's just what's needed to turn the classic on its head. We've had Disney-fied versions of tales from the little mermaid under the sea, to the Chinese Hua Mulan, and now, an ambitious African-American girl Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) determined to fulfill her father's dream of opening her own restaurant.

Ron Clements who came up with this version of the story, deserves that pat on the back for its really wacky humour that got put into this tale, and the design of one of the most determined heroines in Disney's fold. Set in New Orleans, the first 20 minutes set the stage with its neat introduction and the back stories of every key character all spelled out, before mixing them up altogether to present that amphibious problem to solve, no thanks to a dash of black magic by Dr Facilier (Keith David) to turn a visiting Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) into a frog, although still keeping his glib tongue intact.

And what is a Disney flick if it doesn't come with the requisite talking animals, and plenty of song and dance numbers? You'll be hard pressed not to like the firefly Ray (Jim Cummings) who pines after his Evangeline (a star by the way), or the Jazz crazy crocodile in Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), whose only dream is to play with the humans, in front of a crowd, without scaring everyone away. But the one who steals the show each time she comes on, is that dumb blonde Charlotte (Jennifer Cody), the childhood friend of Tiana who grew up with that silver spoon in her mouth, where her demands no matter how ridiculous, will always get met. You cannot help but laugh at her naivety, and I suspect she just might get her own direct-to-dvd film soon enough.

The message of the story's quite clear too, for everyone to clearly distinguish between a need and a want, which for the characters, and ourselves in real life, sometimes struggle to identify. It's feel good, although I was quite surprised with certain darker elements in the characters' battle against the chief villain, which while violence is shown off screen, the effect it has on kids still reverberate quite strongly. Then again, it wrapped itself up very neatly and clearly, one of the better animated films out there this year, standing proud that it's done in classical 2D, Disney style, through and through.

Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year

Rush to Sell!

When I started to look at Bollywood films more seriously, it was at the time when Saarwariya was released, starring the rookie Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role as a man pining, and scheming to get the girl of his dreams. Then came films like Bachna Ae Haseeno in 2008, and the acclaimed and successful Wake Up Sid and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani this year, propelling him to become one of the promising young actors who could take over the reins from the reigning, ageing Khans of Bollywood. And his latest film Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, just cements his position as a front runner of emerging stars.

One cannot talk about the movie without first raving about his delivery of the role, where he disappears behind the heavy beard and turban, and plays not a romantic superhero, or an unbelievable all singing all dancing lead, but an everyday, average joe in Harpreet Singh Bedi whose mediocre grades (pass with grace marks, as the trailer puts it) spells out his destiny of hard work, supported only by an old, doting grandfather who has no qualms that his grandson can become a somebody in the world.

As with any graduate, Harpreet enters the work force full of idealism, if only to see that being shattered early on, together with his wide-eyed amazement of how the world actually works, with the greasing of palms to get appointments, insider information, and even the closing of deals. His foray into Sales, which once he would have thought was his calling with his slick ways of persuasion and negotiation, was to turn into a nightmare given his uncompromising stance on integrity and principles.

I suppose in the world of business, you can either make your millions through corrupt means, or with solid work ethics. In some ways the film, written by Jaideep Sahni, serves as a critique that old and corrupt ways of current (Indian) society can be changed, and everyone will likely be in a better position through fair competition and an even playing field. Business ethics based on sound values of customer service, and non-exploitative profits could be working business models, as opposed to one with deeply seeped corruption across all levels.

There's also the focus on the ethics of the workforce, where rookies are belittled, and those who make mistakes ostracized without remorse. The first half of the film, with Harpreet Singh joining the firm "At Your Service", a computer assembly company, sees a myriad of caricatures in a typical office environment which piles on the laughter. Rocket Singh is not a one man show, and the ensemble here, though at times cardboard, do present enough avenues for laughs, with the emphasis on teaming and the leverage of one another's strengths to achieve results. After all, there is unity and diversity in strength, where people count and shouldn't be just treated as digits.

And on Harpreet's side are carefully recruited partners from within the AYS firm to form a renegade competitor Rocket Sales Corporation from right under the nose of AYS Managing Director, Mr Puri. Rounding up the supporting cast are Mukest Bhatt as the tea-man Chotelal Mishra, Gauhar Khan as the multi-tasking and under-appreciated receptionist, Naveen Kaushik as the slimy sales manager Nithin, and D. Santosh as Giri the computer genius with a penchant for scantily-clad pictures of women on the internet, and almost steals every scene with some of the most hilarious lines and antics.

The film has an effective, delicate balance between comedy, drama and being a social critique from within the confines of the office eco-system, and there's always that sense of immense danger once Harpreet's plans kick starts itself into action, given that there's an angle of fraud and the abuse of company resources in going about doing his own thing, and not to mention being in direct competition with the company and the director he loathes. You know two wrongs don't make one right, and each slip up they make comes with it the threat of being found out, especially when business for RSC starts to boom.

Rocket Singh also departs from the usual Bollywood masala formula, and there's no musical song-and-dance interludes to detract you from its very pacey narrative that makes this quite the definitive film for those in the sales line. One will probably chuckle at how sales folks tend to over-promise and under-deliver (or at least it's left to the service folks to fulfill), and contains many real world elements and treatment that you'll come to expect from the profession. Definitely one of the best I've seen this year, and it's no doubt highly recommended!

Planet 51

Follow My Footsteps

The trailer was funny enough, with an astronaut so full of himself thinking that his planetary visit was an open and shut case, only to discover that it's inhabited and he's the alien in the truest sense of the word, like a fish out of water trying to make his way home lest he becomes an experimental subject.

And the aliens, well, are just like us, with plot conveniences such as having the same mixture of atmospheric gases like Earth's, and hey, the green things with four fingers on each hand speak English too! They're city folks with a penchant for 50s musical oldies (that pepper the soundtrack), with a whole host of modern day, earth-like references all over the place in a desperate attempt at being recognized for being smarty-pants. Unfortunately though it tries too hard to be funny at every turn, and it only brought about the occasional mirth.

It's about time that filmmakers realize that pumping a film with too many references for its own good, is something of a tired formula. You'd wonder when such references will seize, to allow a good story to shine. Planet 51 suffers from too much wink-wink moments, complete with blatant rip offs that bring too much attention to themselves. One look at the pet named Ripley and resembling like a Xeroxed replica of an Alien complete with acidic pee, you're likely to roll your eyes. Or how about that robot probe that functions and looks like R2D2/WallE and comes without dialogues but plenty of whirrs and beeps while going about doing cutesy stuff?

Despite a relatively A-list voice cast with the likes of Dwayne Johnson (who doesn't sound like the real deal if you ask me), Justin Long, Gary Oldman, John Cleese, Jessica Biel and Seann William Scott, Planet 51 felt like a Frankenstein monster, stitched together from ideas of other films, and plastered together forcefully to try and make the narrative work. Characters too are a little boring and one-dimensional, with little heart.

Bottom line is, CG graphics and copycat characters don't make an animated film entertaining. A sincere story does and this one is found lacking, and too talky too for kids to enjoy, in my opinion.

A Perfect Getaway

Duck!

This is one of those films which the trailer tells too much, so much so that I was quite certain who the mystery killer couple was amongst the three featured, and proven right. I think I'll steer clear of trailers for a while, since the better ones will keep your interest piqued, but the poorly made ones tend to spell everything out.

A Perfect Getaway proved to be quite a well made whodunnit thriller, where we follow a couple, Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) on their honeymoon to Hawaii, only to learn that there's a serial killer couple on the loose where they are. Bumping into other couples Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez), and the creepy hippies Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton) only provides that extra element of guesswork as to just who amongst them could coincidentally be those on the police wanted list, and sadly the way the trailer was constructed, laid it all out transparently.

So I'll just talk about the couples instead. Written and directed by David Twohy, Zahn and Jovovich behave like your common newlyweds who are up for just about any adventure, and despite bumping into nasties, almost always try to make the best out of their situation. Having Zahn's Cliff as a scriptwriter also allowed the film to have its fair share of movie references, which would appeal to any film fan especially when Timothy Olyphant's Nick starts chatting up and contributing story ideas, the most telling and ironic being the discussion on red herrings.

But it is the characters of Nick and Gina that are the most fleshed out and the most interesting of the lot, the former being an ex-clandestine operative whose cool looks could just kill, and Twohy's story has enough moments to showcase just how deadly this Man can be, especially when there are continuous praises by girlfriend Gina on just how indestructible he actually is. Gina herself is no pushover, being a butcher skilled at carving meat out for dinners.

And when so much focus is placed on these two couples, unfortunately Kale and Cleo got somewhat relegated to support roles only. Much as I would hope they had enough screen time to balance things up and to become ample suspects as well, somehow Twohy probably ran out of steam to fill these two characters up with as much back story as the others.

It's these relationship dynamics, of secrets and details shared between themselves, and between couples, that set things up for the big reveal, and thereafter some excellently crafted action sequence set on primal survival instincts, with enough gory moments that don't go over the top or done for the sake of. Watching with perfect hindsight, the secrets here were beautifully masked, with suggestions made at ample time so that the keen eyed viewer would at once know that there's more to things than meets the eye. Frankly if one was as situationally aware as the Nick character, you'll see through the charades soon enough.

Recommended.

The Storm Warriors (Fung Wan II / 風雲Ⅱ)

Poseurs

It has been a long wait, but better late than never. When the first Storm Rider film was released I remembered it caused a stir, for its relatively seamless combination of special effects and martial arts, and for its departure from the established mythos by creator Ma Wing-Shing. Then there is the casting, with popular idols Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng in the leading roles, overshadowed by the magnificently charismatic Sonny Chiba! That was some 11 years ago, and given its box office success, a sequel was thought to be expected and imminent, with big name stars like Andy Lau even thrown into the hat at one time as Nameless, but alas the project got stuck in development hell.

It was during an interview session for movieXclusive.com that my friends and I had the opportunity to meet up with Ekin Cheng, and toward the end of the interview he had revealed to us quite candidly that the next Feng Yun film would be made soon, which was why he's keeping his locks after a bald turn in the television serial Huo Yuanjia. We thought he was kidding, or we had heard it wrong, but here we are now, with the Pang Brothers taking over the helm from Andrew Lau, and no, there's no Andy Lau, but long-time-no-see Kenny Ho taking over the role of a pugilist master.

While the Pang Brothers are famous for their horror-suspense-thrillers, they had brought with them those sensibilities honed over the years and tweaked them for this sequel. Gone are colours from the first film, and in comes grittier shades, complete with plenty of metallic clang courtesy of heavy armors, and cloudy shadows possessing powers of sword energy. The story here is pretty straight-forward and had dove straight into the thick of things, with the first film having established the background of the key duo already, and here we see a more mature take probably taking place years where the earlier film had left off.

To get there though, we have to read a lengthy prologue, where Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and son (Nicholas Tse) had invaded China and are seeking the fabled Dragon Spinal Cord (or at least it looked like one to me). They magically managed to capture most of China's top pugilists including Nameless and Cloud, and basically presented a scene to demonstrate just how badass the Godless father and son team can be, which translates to an opportunity to showcase how advanced the special effects have evolved in the Chinese martial arts arena.

Danny and Oxide Pang managed to retain signature key elements from the first film, such as the CG generated, fantastical backdrops in which our heroes do battle in, and little things like the animated opening credits scene. The fights though was a mixed bag, some brilliantly executed though falling for the slow-motion fad, while others succumbed to too quick a cut and too close an angle to make out what's going on between the sparring partners.

Those familiar with the mythos would welcome both Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng back into their roles of Cloud and Wind respectively, and frankly I couldn't fathom how anyone else could have stepped into these roles. Simon Yam as Lord Godless unfortunately didn't bring to the table the kind of charisma that Sonny Chiba had, and struggled to fill those shoes, made worst by a very poor characterisation of what's ultimately a weak villain, though one would expect that the combination of Wind and Cloud would render all their enemies powerless against their sheer combined destructive force.

The story here took a chunk out of the fact that Wind turned evil at one point, and thus that actually became the crux of the story, although I felt this was more of a Cloud story than a Wind one because the scenes in which one had over the other, was rather obvious, with screen time significantly devoted to training montages, and rescue missions, versus Wind turning into an incredible hulk through an immersion in evil waters (yes, seriously, he just stepped into a wading pool, and voila!)

So story aside, watch this for some of the mind-boggling action sequences between Wind and Cloud which the trailers had included, and had almost the last 30 minutes solely focusing on some massive action sequences that didn't seem to want to end. One of my favourites was the Battle of the Minds sequence, where no self-respecting martial arts film can find itself shying away from using tonnes of water, though Storm Warriors had a legitimate reason to (with rain the aftermath of a wind-cloud combination). If there's a fight scene that stood out, this was it, other than Nameless Vs Lord Godless which left you wanting for more right from the start.

Alas this film is but half a movie, ending with a literal cliffhanger. But if all bodes well, we should see the next Feng Yun film hit the screens sooner than the 11 year wait that we have been subjected to. It's true about the limited dialogue here (some of which were quite hilariously nonsensical, such as the naming of sword strokes), but hey, one comes with the expectation of a flashy, style over substance sequel, and it duly delivered.

Couples Retreat

I'll Give You Private Lessons For Free

I would have expected a riot of a time given what's in the trailers, but what turned out was plenty of bore, with a story that went way off its potential, having mediocrity stamped all over the film no thanks to the lacklustre narrative written by Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Dana Fox, who all seemed more eager to insert smarty one liners whenever they can, rather than to focus on the predicament of the four couples featured in a paradise island.

It's irritating to find that in comedies especially, narratives sometimes get pretty much chopped up due to ad-libbing, NGs, or just for the plain insertion of a funny line that became too difficult to replicate for another shot. Here, this disconnect gets very much pronounced because of how little it tells of one couple's backstory, relying on the audience's memory of what was shown in the trailer to fill in the gap. Call it lazy or slip shoddy presentation, but it was a sign of bad things to come.

The couple in question here is Jon Favreau's horny Joey and Kristin Davis' sexually charged Lucy, who have the hots for everyone else but each other, sticking together for the sake of their daughter until she's old enough to move out, then they can separate to support their respective gallivanting ways. Then there's heavyweight Shane (Faizon Love), a divorcee who recently got hooked up with 20 year old Trudy (Kali Hawk). Vince Vaughn's Dave and Malin Akerman's Ronnie seem like the perfect wedded couple with their nice little family, and being the informal leader of the group of friends, and to round things up, Jason Bateman's control freak Jason and wife Cynthia (Kristen Bell) who are on the verge of a breakup due to their inability to conceive, until a foursome package was signed up to bring everyone to Eden West, a paradise island for adult couple therapy.

But to get to the island, we got to get through, like the therapy sessions in the film, the boring bits to establish each and every character and key relationships, before a hokey powerpoint presentation and some arm twisting managed to finally shift gears and get the characters to where they should be. Unfortunately though, it only got worse, as the laughs dried up very fast, giving way to some very tedious moments of relationship theories being forced down your throat. I suppose couples whose relationships are on the rocks may benefit from some of the ideas bounced about, but to everyone else, we, like the characters, want to get to the fun parts, fast.

Which didn't materialize, and ended up becoming like a series of disparate scenes and incidents being stitched together in a day to day itinerary. One would suspect that plenty of material got saved for a DVD deleted scenes or ultimate uncut version, which makes this theatrical release not so cool, not to mention the final act being totally predictable, and very draggy in getting each couple to their expected resolutions. One also wonders how Jean Reno got himself involved with a dud like this, playing Marcel the founder of the radical therapy programme, if only to build up his resume for not too funny comedic films such as the Pink Panther series.

The only truly funniest moment would be the entire yoga sequence with Carlos Ponce as the instructor Salvadore, who comes with chiseled body and a very large package. Filled completely with full on physical sexual innuendos, it's vulgar and crude, yet extremely funny to watch how disgusted and intrigued the different characters felt as his touchy-feely approach. Nothing else stood out, nd Faizon Love faded out for the most of the film once they've reached the resort, leaving the focus firmly on the other three characters. What more, A.R. Rahman was credited to providing the movie music here, but try as hard as I can, I didn't catch anything that was remotely memorable in the soundtrack.

Couples Retreat comes with the standard messages of treasuring your loved ones, not taking them for granted and to always continue finding that romantic spark to spice up the relationship, but other than that, it's a tired comedy that has to be injected with cleverer ideas other than the usual frat boy sex jokes.

Zombieland

Picking Me Some Zombies

Note to self: Lose weight and start working on that cardio program!

Should recent apocalyptic films be believed, one of these days we're going to be hit with a virus out of the blue, either engineered or a force sent by Nature, that we're going to turn into angry blood-lusting zombies eager to munch on our fellow man, and woman. And should that day arrive, like in 28 Days/Weeks Later, the Resident Evil franchise, and now Zombieland, working out will become too late too soon, since these new aged zombies sprint with full force compared to George A. Romero's lumbering undead.

In fact, Zombieland could spawn a franchise of its own too, since it has solid back stories established for each of its main characters - the geeky Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), redneck ace zombie killer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), and con-sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who together just seem to be always one step ahead of the boys, thanks to the advantage of gender and some major trust issues, which in any zombie flick you'll know come into play since one can be expected to off a close one in the event that they turn, for self-preservation reasons naturally.

Narrated by Columbus, do remember to look for this film from the video store (or your home video library which I will urge you to get) should things outside start to suggest the onset of something ugly. Things like when your wildest fantasy, or Columbus' with that hot chick neighbour from apartment number 406 (Amber Heard, whom all the boys love) start knocking at your door from out of the blue. Contained within this film are 32 rules - OK, so most didn't make it to the final cut but the important ones definitely did - to surviving a zombie onslaught, #1 of which is Cardio (note to self again).

Director Ruben Fleischer plays it fast and loose, with plenty of sight gags to boot, especially when reminding us all, like an instructional video, on all the positive examples from Columbus' rulebook, complete with an animated take of the rules themselves. And the relatively short runtime of coming under 90 minutes just makes you beg, yeah beg, for more, which of course is a good thing.

The casting here's something to die for as well, with Woody Harrelson heading up the motley crew as the cool as a cucumber zombie executioner with a sensitive heart, continuing his comedic turn in recent years and from his last big budgeted action film 2012. Jeese Eisenberg's relatively new, but plays the formula geek down to a subtle pat. I haven't really seen Emma Stone as a tough-as-nails cookie, so here's one for the road, and Abigail Breslin might just have taken on her first action-movie role aside from her usual dramatic ones.

It's been a long time since I experienced that much fun from a film, so I'll go ahead and rate this as highly recommended and a firm contender for one of the top films of this year. Last I heard a sequel's coming up too!

[In Flight] Where the Truth Lies (Itaewon Salinsageon / 이태원 살인사건)

Suspect

Based on the true story of a murder that took place at a fast food outlet in Itaewon, Seoul back in the year 1997, Where The Truth Lies follows in the footsteps of Korean crime thrillers like The Chaser and Memories of Murder, both excellent true-crime films in their own right, and anchors itself as a contemporary peer comparable to the edginess that both films brought to the table, and holding its own against others that the likes of David Fincher can turn out, such as Zodiac.

Presenting itself at times like a documentary, the film also serves, like the others mentioned, as a critique on the state of justice in the country, the challenges and inadequacies faced not from the cops this time round, but from the office of the public prosecutor Park (Jeong Jin-yeong), surrounded by staff who are none too competent, and always very eager to take the short cut in closing the case soonest possible. In an investigation I'd gather it's always prudent to check everything, and not just lap up what's being presented on the silver platter if it comes on one.

Director Hong Ki-seon gives us the Rashomon treatment, in having the prime suspects to the gruesome, senseless crime, pit themselves against each other, leaving little room as well for the Prosecutor to manuver. We have Pearson (Jang Geun-seok), whose ownership of the murder weapon puts him as a suspect, but then his finger is firmly pointed on buddy Alex (Shin Seung-hwan), whose finger is correspondingly pointed in the opposite direction back at Pearson. In presenting both sides of the argument, anyone who has done investigations will know that one man's words against the other is extremely difficult to break down, especially when both seem to be seasoned liars, and are too smart to say anything more that would incriminate the other or themselves. The lack of any other evidence also compounds the difficulties, especially when eyewitnesses are friends of the accused who don't bat an eyelid to change their statements in the courtroom.

The frustration of constantly hitting the brick wall, for Prosecutor Park as well as the audience, will prove to be what makes this film all the more riveting. On one hand you're led to believe one over the other, but on the other hand, the arguments on the other side seem all the more appealing. It's extremely difficult trying to figure out who's guilty and who's not, and the acting by both Jang Geun-seok and Shin Seung-hwan as the accused were superbly delivered to present this exact dilemma. To throw in my two cents worth, I do have my theories, but they remain just that, in the light of further accounts that were probabl, and deliberately, not made known in the narrative.

Fans of true crime stories will definitely not want to miss this, and the outcome is something quite heart-wrenching, especially when you realize that the system is out there to be manipulated by those able to, either with money, or a very determined lawyer.

[In Flight] Quick Gun Murugun

Mind It!

His name is Quick Gun Murugun, mind it! And I think the passengers around me would have thought I was mad enough to watch an Indian film, and an Indian cowboy one at that, laughing out loud in almost every scene which I can't help to because it's just so funny.

I mean, face it, here's probably the only Indian vegetarian Cowboy hero whose main objective in life is to take care of the cows (well, at least that's what cowboys do he believes), as well as being the guardian of the sacred animal of course. Armed with no more than two 6-shooters and a fancy gunplay technique, Quick Gun Murugun (Dr Rajandra Prasad) protects the meek from meat-eating gangsters such as Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser) who has megalomaniac plans to rid the world of vegetarianism!

Sounds dastardly, but not if our hero can help it, while juggling with his relationship woes with Locket Lover (Anu Menon) who resides in, well, his locket! For all the garish colours in his outfit of choice, the villains he goes up against is just as colourful, with names such as Gun Powder (Shanmughraja) and Rowdy MBA (Raju Sundaram), each with their own comical quirks that fans of Indian cinema would come to appreciate, and chuckle at. And despite our hero possessing some great skill with his pistols (head shots only, no less), he comes with an inherent weakness, and that's the number of bullets his pistols can store, before getting soundly beaten.

It's actually two films in one, with a time travelling and supernatural elements brought in for good measure, and more laughter. In present day Mumbai, he continues to seek out his arch enemy Rice Plate, who has gone on to start McDosa, a fast food chain bent on making Dosa from meat thanks to the recipe of Dr Django (Ashwin Mushran). And while waiting for more gunslinging action, there's another romantic subplot thrown in which involved Rice Plate's current moll Mango Dolly (Rambha), and how Quick Gun's now a fish out of water,

If you find the plot quite ridiculous, it actually is! And everything is just so hammed up, from the saturated colours, acting and dialogue, that it's actually incredibly smart in knowing when to hit the right notes, making you do double takes at just about every scene. Sight gags are galore too, and I reckon with every re-watch you'll find something new to laugh at, either from signages in some corner, or by the dialogue which come in healthy doses of Inglish.

If you're game for some irreverent comedy and one that has plenty of gags, then watch Quick Gun Murugun, which I endorse, I say!

5th Asian Festival of 1st Films - Results

Double Happiness for Looking For Anne, as it scores a first for Japan at the AFFF with dual awards for Best Film and Best Director (Takako Miyahira).

For Real (India) bags 4 awards for Best Screenplay (Sona Jain) which Land Gold Woman (Avantika Hari, Vivek Agrawal) also shared, Best Producer (Sona Jain), Best Actor (Sriharsh Sharma Churai) and Best Actress (Zoya S. Hasan).

Documentary, Superman of Malegaon (India) sweeps Best Documentary, Best Director for Documentary (Faiza Ahmad Khan) and Best Cinematographer/Editor (Shweta Venkat).

Happy Holidays

Friends

Santa is making his list…are you? Independent film lovers are unwrapping the thoughtful and timely movie entitled HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and director/producer James Ferguson hopes that his cinematic gift ends up on your list of holiday viewing recommendations as well.

After entertaining audiences at the 2007 Woods Hole Film Festival, the 2007 SNOB Film Festival and the 2008 All American Film Festival, HAPPY HOLIDAYS is now available in home theaters worldwide. When the weather outside is frightful (or sunny and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, for that matter) HAPPY HOLIDAYS can be downloaded directly from happyholidaysthemovie.com as well as the web services run by iTunes, IndiePix and EyeSoda. The film can also be viewed via DVD purchases from happyholidaysthemovie.com, Indieflix, IndiePix, or via DVD rental from CinemaNow.

You can read my review of Happy Holidays here.

[DVD Release] Paper Heart

PAPER HEART, starring Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up) and Michael Cera (Juno, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, and Superbad), will available on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, December 1st 2009, which is today.

A story about love that takes on a life of its own, PAPER HEART is directed by Nicholas Jasenovec and co-written by Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi, who won the 2009 Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. SRP is $29.98 for the DVD and $39.98 for the Blu-ray edition.

The PAPER HEART DVD and Blu-ray™ bonus features include Paper Heart Uncut; “The Making of Paper Heart”; live musical performances by Charlyne Yi; “Heaven” music video by Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera; love interviews with the comedians; and deleted scenes.

[In Flight] One Night in Supermarket (Ye Dian / 夜店)

Crazy Shift

There's a certain familiar ring to this slick comedy that made it enjoyable to sit through, from characters wonderfully portrayed to the premise of having the zaniest of events play out in one overnight mad caper, and it's even more surprising when it's helmed by first time writer-director Qing Yang who delivered this definite crowd pleaser almost like a veteran

Things seem almost routine at Wang Wang Supermarket, where geeky staff Li Junwei (Qiao Renlang) continues his voyeuristic activity spying on fellow staff, the pretty Tang Xiaolian (Li Xiaolu), recording her movements slyly from his camera phone. Unable to muster any courage to ask her out, the circumstances that will unfold over the next few hours will put him in direct contact with the girl of his dreams, although he has to figure out how to get them out of their predicament when He Sanshui (Xu Zheng) barges into the shop demanding that the shop owner gives him his lottery winnings because of a botched up ticketing.

There are plenty of reversal of roles here as to who's the captor and the captive, coupled with the a handful of hilarious incidents that happen in the supermarket when Sanshui, in executing Junwei's plan of running the supermarket as his own and recouping his losses through sales, encounters a myriad of clientele walking into the store. What more, having his henchman Lun Tai (Wang Dongfang) on the loose and very much hungry, adds on to the spot of laughter, especially when a taser gets thrown into the mix.

While the first half was fun, the second half dragged a little in having the premise become a lot more complicated as if searching hard for the perfect way to end it. The final act with the robber threatened to unravel all the good work done earlier on, throwing in the subplot of a diamond heist gone wrong a tad too late. Nonetheless it still had many positives going for it, with the coda after the credits being something predictable from the start.

[In Flight] On His Majesty's Secret Service (Dai Noi Muk Taam 009 / 大內密探靈靈狗)

My Left Hand

One can trust Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Jing to continue with the making of comedic films that lampoons the double-0 moniker, given that Stephen Chow had his dabbled quite successfully with his secret-agent-gone-wrong comedies using 007 (From Beijing with Love) and 008 (Forbidden City Cop), both which are some of my favourite comedies from the man. However this film falls on the side of a Wong Jing hack-job, which unfortunately is neither genuinely funny, and looked formulaic and tired.

Louis Koo plays 009, or translated literally from its aural pronunciation, double-O Dog. He's one of 12 special Royal Bodyguards of a simpleton Emperor (Liu Yiwei) who named these 12 guards after the Chinese Zodiac, hence 9 translated to Dog. Unlike his peers, Dog is a scientist, and relies pretty much on his brains and fantastical gadgets to protect his Majesty from evil ninja assassins. However, the danger lurks much closer to home, with the chief villain being the eunuch (as always) Lord Unicorn (Fan Siu-Wong), and the Empress herself (Sandra Ng in yet another loud-mouthed role).

That very much sums up the extremely flimsy plot, which also has a romantic angle thrown into it with the presence of Barbie Hsu's Faithful, a pretty maiden who has powerful kung-fu skills, a mighty good compliment to Dog's brainier demeanour. Despite star billing though, she disappears for almost half the movie, appearing mainly in the first and last acts only, and instead the focus on the problems of the relationship between Dog and Faithful, became second fiddle to that of Dog's peer Royal Tiger (Tong Dawei) and Princess Rainbow (Song Jia), where a competition sees many suitors come knocking on the door to want to obtain her hand in marriage.

Wong Jing may be the king of raunch if he wants to, but in this film he stays surprisingly muted, opting instead for safer, PG-rated gags. It's either that, or the inflight entertainment system I was watching this on, has a parental safety button in effect. I wasn't able to detect any huge narrative gaps or sudden quite cuts, though it could have boiled down to entire sections being removed. Whatever the case is, what's presented is truly nothing to shout about, and to find oneself breaking into a laugh is more of the surprise instead, due to the fact that you'll half expect the type of jokes that Wong Jing has up in his sleeves.

Recommended only if you're a hard core fan of any of the stars mentioned, just to see how they ham it up in a film that will do no wonders for their filmography.

Travelling

By the time you read this I should be on the way to China for an overseas business trip.

As always, normal services would resume by next week. I think China doesn't like blogger, so updates to this site is heavily reliant on any pre-scheduled posts I managed to do up.

An Education

Ingenue

We’ve seen a number of coming of age story where the protagonist learns about the real meaning of life, or a snapshot of it as presented, and they either get corrupted by that earlier bit of education, or emerge all the more stronger from the episode. An Education here very much presents that dilemma at times when life throws us a path to a short cut, where hard work can be substituted with a taste of instant success, seducing us to go off the well beaten, proven track and head toward the thrill of having material success presented on a silver platter.

Carey Mulligan plays Jenny, a wide-eyed 16 year old high school girl who’s quite brilliant in her studies save for Latin, and with the examinations just around the corner, parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Majorie (Cara Seymour) urges her to drop her co-curricular activity of cello practice in order to mug and improve her grades. Little do they know that a chance encounter with David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man about twice the age of Jenny, would throw Jenny’s life upside down with the promises of a settle relationship, coupled with the systematic seduction of the high life – fast cars, swanky apartments, exotic goods – plenty of wining and dining, contacts with the who’s who and a pedigree history,

This story has plenty of bite to it, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable to sit through. While we can see the warning flags being waved all over the place, there’s a certain evil glee in witnessing how Jenny decides to ignore them and follow her heart instead of her head. But what really took the cake here is the portrayal of the role of parents. While parents generally always have our best interests at heart, and probably the fundamentals is to provide education on which we can build our foundation upon, sometimes we rely a lot on their wisdom and judgement to guide us out of troubled waters. However they too are susceptible to being blindsided and not blowing the whistle when the red flags get thrown up, and in this film, both Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour are at their element in fleshing out their roles of the difficulties in parenting, and actually being none too bright and too innocent in their pretense, to the point of contradiction and hypocrisy as well.

A lot has been said about Carey Mulligan’s performance as Jenny the jailbait, and it’s pretty much raved about almost everywhere as being single-handedly the attraction to the film thanks to her sensitive performance, or with Peter Sarsgaard, one of my favourite modern day character actors, in his portrayal of the roguish schmuck David who gives this sense of intensity beneath a calm demeanour exhibited. In fact, the ensemble cast is almost what holds the film together and moves Nick Hornby’s screenplay along, such as Dominic Cooper’s Danny, and Rosamund Pike’s hilarious turn as the bimbotic blonde Helen. Look out too for Emma Thompson’s small role as the headmistress and Olivia Williams’ Miss Stubbs, who for all their good intentions and wisdom, get slighted quite unceremoniously in a sharp critique on their brand of education.

An Education is a film that reminds us, as much as I hate to admit, that there are no short cuts in life. We learn in the hope that our lives can be improved in time to come when we reap what we sow, and if some things are too good to be true in presenting that quick route to success, then it probably is just that. Just watch out for the pitfalls as you approach that route with eyes wide open. This is a highly recommended film for its message of how easily we get enticed by impressions, and for its all round performances by the ensemble cast. Clearly one of my favourites of the year!

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

On Trial

I had thought RKO Pictures was already defunct, but it's quite telling that a film from its archives got pulled out for a remake, and although I've not seen the original film in the 50s directed by Fritz Lang no less, this remake had that similar promising premise which soon gave way to ridicule. Suffice to say that without the twist element, it's no better than a standard, average courtroom drama cum investigative thriller that already laid out its cards and was just going through its motion to the finale. Assault on the justice system this is not to be.

Since Michael Douglas' name got a bigger font size on the poster, let's start with his character, the District Attorney Mark Hunter who is one case away from sealing his man made destiny to become governor. He's quite the confident schmuck who can mesmerize any jury and his straight convictions of the accused through circumstantial and DNA evidence, raises the suspicion of investigative journalist C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame), whose research seem to point to Hunter artificially engineering evidence in his favour.

An audacious plan gets concocted, and for the sake of a Pulitzer prize, C.J. and career pal Corey (Joel Moore) decide to entrap Hunter into using his deceiving tactics against them in a real murder which they will engineer the circumstantial evidence to point towards C.J., though I wonder if the quest to become famous and climb that corporate ladder would warrant something as risky as this, and what more, the lack of purposeful planning, which allows you the audience to stay one step ahead into just what would happen next.

The second half of the movie then shifts its attention to Amber Tamblyn's Ella, while being the assistant to Mark Hunter, gets romantically involved with C.J. and decides to do a little probing herself, which of course led to her being a target. The rest I'm sure you can pretty much guess for yourself, as this just floats like a buoy in calm waters, not being the investigative thriller it can be, but something that's really, really bland and stands out like an amateur hack job.

Give it a go if you must, but don't expect anything spectacular. The obligatory action sequences all seemed too contrived, boring and pretty much illogical, such as the taunting of someone using a car. I have to admit though that the final words uttered here was quite a ballsy way to end a story, although it can also mean the same words directed at the unsuspecting audience member who didn't come expecting B-movie through and through.

De Dana Dan

Wanted in Singapore

I got to admit I wasn't quite plugged into the fact that Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif were in Singapore earlier this year to film this movie, and it wasn't until after they had left did I come to learn of their presence, and a new Bollywood film after Krrish that had decided to set itself on our island. Having watched Saint Jack again earlier and gone on the Jack of Hearts Mystery Bus Tour, my interest was piqued more on how landscapes have changed, and wondered if what had been captured here in this film, would still survive the test of time some decades down the road.

So yes, Singapore itself was the character I was looking out for, and the film managed to feature Clarke and Boat Quays of today, with those shown in Saint Jack still vividly fresh in my mind. The trailer for this film had highlighted many venues in which this film was shot at, from Sentosa to Fusionopolis, but alas this was only in the music video of one of the songs shown early on. Otherwise, since the Pan Pacific was listed in the credits, the bulk of the film actually took place in and around the hotel (if memory serves me right, there was an old Hong Kong comedy which was also shot in and around the same hotel), and thus was shot within or in any generic soundstage.

Storywise, both leads Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif were only representatives of a larger ensemble cast, and sad to say though that they disappear as well for a significant portion of the film, with Akshay in particular when the limelight had to be shared, and his character was written to be stuck in a cupboard of a location unknown to him. The gist of it, at least in the first act, tells of two men Nitin (Akshay Kumar) and Ram (Suneil Shetty) who are both drowned by their debts and stuck in jobs with no prospects. Their respective girlfriends Anjani (Katrina Kaif) and Manpreet (Sameera Reddy) happen to be from wealthy backgrounds, and their parents see it as material benefit should they be wedding other well to do folks.

Both men now become desperate in not wanting to lose their lady love, and crack up the most insane of plots involving kidnapping, which soon spiralled out of control to involve an Indian ambassador, their girlfriends parents, a sneaky hotel employee, a bumbling hitman, a mafia Don, a corrupt practices police inspector (though his rank is only that of sergeant), a mistress, and plenty of mistaken identities to make everyone beat around the bush in a convoluted manner, leaving you the audience having to open your eyes and ears to link everyone's relationship, motivation and intentions, both real, perceived and deliberately under deceit.

As for the comedic element, personally it's fairly hit and miss, though I wonder if there's anything that could be lost in translation since the audience were rip-roaring laughing at the slightest of sight gags, much credited to Akshay Kumar's comedic timing especially in the first act which shows his being exploited under his female employer played by Archana Puran Singh. What impressed more though was the series of special effects that had the Pan Pacific Hotel facing quite the disaster, and while some shots did look quite artificial, I have to admit it was quite the blast (pardon the pun) to see how landmarks here in Singapore get their 5 minutes of fame in being nearly obliterated in a motion picture. But this scene too fell prey to the largest bugbear of the movie, and that's where scenes were dragged out longer than its welcome.

While I had looked forward to some great comedy, and having to bear witness to yet another Bollywood film shot here, the end result was somewhat less than satisfactory.

Jack of Hearts Mystery Tour

Kinda Interesting
While I had watched Saint Jack previously, nothing beats having to watch a 35mm print of it on the big screen of the National Museum's Gallery Theatre amongst a group of film fans, which curiously was made up of a more international community which outnumbered the locals, probably being more intrigued at how this film, the only Hollywood one shot entire in Singapore to date, was made with our authorities being hoodwinked all the way, resulted in a ban which was recently lifted. Rated M18 now, this is not the first time the film was shown of course, having a one off screening during SIFF eons ago, and 3 years back at the Arts House.

This season's screening was all the more special, because it marks the 30th anniversary since the film was made, and was graced by cast and crew such as Pierre Cottrell, Tony Yeow, Noel Joseph, Teo Bee Hui, Lisa Lu who was also producer, and of course, the female lead Monika Subramaniam, who flew from the USA where she now resides to attend this screening, as well as to partake in the Jack of Hearts Mystery Bus Tour, so called as “Jack of Hearts” was the title of the “fake” movie that was submitted to the authorities for vetting, and we're embarking on that historical pseudo-recce of locations that Jack of Hearts, aka Saint Jack, was to be filmed in . Hosted and conducted by Saint Jack expert Ben Slater, who also authored the book Kinda Hot which recounts the entire filmmaking process, I knew I just had to sign on for this excursion, joined by the cast and crew as well, to be brought around the places that were, and are now standing.

Running some 2 hours, the rain disrupted some plans to disembark from the bus to do a quick walk around at some rare instances where some recognized landmarks still exist, but no matter since a lot of buildings and roads have already morphed into our gleaming facades of today. I love Saint Jack for the reason that I can quaintly remember some of the sights and sounds that were captured on film, being born in the 70s and growing up in the 80s, such as the old Boat Quay area prior to the Singapore River cleanup, the General Post Office aka Fullerton Hotel, and the non pristine version of Chinatown and her unglam shophouses, which were of more character then, than those standing now can ever hope to exude.


The tour bus also had screens inside, so clips from Saint Jack at the various points, including its making of documentary, could be played and compared with what's exactly outside through the bus' large windows. A tinge of nostalgia crept up especially when I see rickety SBS buses captured on celluloid, versus the gleaming air-conditioned ones that are the norm these days, amongst other sights captured, and I'm pretty sure the older cast and crew members would have fonder memories of an unrecognizable Singapore.

Anyway there were only two bus tours organized, and both were sold out days before. For the curious, here is the rundown of the tour checkpoints:

1. Institution Hill, where Jack Flowers' whorehouse stood.
Now: the hill has been flattened (?) somewhat to make way for the construction of the condominium Aspen Heights which now stands on site. A little bit of the hill still exists, but it'll only lead toward that private property and you can't proceed any further.

2: Clarke Quay, Melacca Bridge

Rain Meant Staying Put
Now: the bridge still stands, though its surroundings are clearly different, with more sanitized looking shophouses and shopping malls on both sides of the river. The bumboats have also disappeared. Unfortunately the rain had prevented us from disembarking and walking across the very same bridge that Jack Flowers did, but (as of the time of writing on a Sunday morning) the group in this morning's session should be in for a treat.

3. Chinatown, Smith Street drive past. This was where Jack Flowers and William Leigh were chased by Chinese gangsters.

4. Chinatown, Amoy Street drive through and disembarkation point. Jack Flowers had strutted along this street to Hing's shop, meeting Gopi at the door.

Ben Was Here (Gazzara That Is!)
Now: Unit 110 has become the “New Taiwan Porridge Shop”, and the environment is clearly more sanitized now, with various shops and eateries now occupying the neighbourhood shophouses.

5. Chinatown, Club Street drive past. This was where Jack Flowers confronted the Chinese gangsters and showed off the modifications made to the offensive words tattooed on his arms.

6. Empress Place, drive past. The makan place where Peter Bogdanovich's Eddie Schuman, Monika and Jack sat down near the waterfront, and that famous line uttered by Monika where she doesn't eat prawns with their heads still intact. The food centre is no longer around.

7. Fullerton Hotel / One Fullerton. The opening pan where the camera moves 360 degrees to show Collyer Quay, The General Post Office, and what the waterfront looked like in the 70s. Also the ending where Jack Flowers was standing at the road divider calling it quits.

Camera Probably Pivoted From Here
Calling It Quits at the Divider
Now: One Fullerton now stands at where once was the sea, and The Fullerton Hotel now operating from that iconic colonial building. No change to the number of lanes on both sides of the road though.

8. Raffles Hotel. 'Nuff said, although the courtyard where Jack Flowers met Yates and Mrs Yates is now concrete.

9. Bugis "Boogie" Street / Village which we get to see in abundance in the film, where transvestites and transsexuals once ruled the night life.
Now: Shopping Centres, and more Shopping Centres. The last bastion of what once was, is a "pasar malam" row of shops. Gone are the night time entertainment of course.

10. Shangrila Hotel is where George Lazenby's Senator stayed, and whom Jack Flowers tailed along 11. Orange Grove Road to 12. Hilton Hotel, where a proposition is made by both the Senator and Jack to a Chinese chap, separately of course.

Then it's a drive through along 13. (Lower) Orchard Road, before catching a glimpse of the spire of what was the 14. York Bandung Hotel, and then ending the tour at the 15. Goodwood Park Hotel, where the bus followed the almost exact same route of entry into "Paradise Gardens". Goodwood Park Hotel also served as the interior for The Hilton as well as Paradise Gardens. This served as the tour's end point and final pit stop, before heading back to the National Museum.

The tour would be a blast for both tourists and fans of the film alike, despite some of the locations being no longer in existence, which is a pity of course, but compensated by the lively discussions and reminiscence by both cast and crew. I'm not sure if this would be another feature some time down the road for those who had missed it this time round, and hey, how about including that Telok Kurau Lorong (J?) where the sex acts were performed :D

Here's another take on the bus tour, and another one here which was based on the dry run.