Produced by Royston Tan
Debut films by Liao Jie Kai, Kirsten Tan, He Shuming, Jun Chong, Eva Tang
Nocturne by Liao Jie Kai
Loved the interesting twist made by narration style. Tells of a husband who escaped into the jungle during the height of Communism in Singapore and government efforts to flush them out. Shock to see the behind the scenes portraying the vulnerability of actors and actresses. And filming of a filming set. And seeing Boo Junfeng on set!
Wu Song Sha Sao by Kirsten Tan
Love the contemporary feel of this old tradition - opera. With pool tables, jaggermeister and techno, fine art and digital reality
Letters From The Motherland by He Shuming
Had a hard time trying to keep up with this due to difference in moving image, reading subtitles and listening to Hainanese. It was slow moving and tells of two brothers. The Singaporean brother funds the study of his niece in China, while the other brother raises six children. Based on a true story.
Ke by Jun Chong
The entrance song caught me! And expression on the woman's face, of exasperation and tiredness and despair. Camera pans out to this cemetery amongst HDB - Shuang Ming? She can't find her grandfather's grave and there were no records in the temple. It reminds me of the time we went into the uncut and untrimmed first in Bidadari but couldn't find our great grand grave either. We gave up. Roots disappearing.
The Veiled Willow by Eva Tang
This was pretty good too. In the depiction of declining traditions and culture due to Westernisation. And all that Cantonese food - yam ring, stuff with that salted egg in the center, veiled willow, chicken... And surrounded by a love story between a Chef and his beau, who refuses to marry him for fear of talk by others. When Chef Tam's first wife was still alive, she was always jealous of this lady. She becomes a "ma jie" and devoted her time and life to Second Wife. The irony of it!
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Friday, May 19, 2017
Alien: Covenant
Caught this with my movie buddy on GV Popcorn Tuesday
Director: Scott Ridley
Starring this lead female (played by Katherine Waterson) who appears demure but can singularly take down an alien. This was towards the end when they finally depart weird land and this spend hops on. All but 3 of them survived the ordeal, tw of whom are humans, from the initial 15 people team.
Shows you what happens when a woman is on fire. Damn pissed and goes all out to protect her home.
The show starts a bit slow trying to lay the context and recount the previous episodes. While on their way in search of habitable land which will take 7 more years, the shuttle takes a hit which Walter the robot (ever dashing Michael Fassbender) tries to contain. A few sleeping crew were incinerated in their sleep as those cacoons they were sleeping in could not disengage. Talk about dying in your sleep!
Anyway amongst them was the captain, our female lead's husband.
While repairing the shuttle, they detected a familiar American country tune and suspects there is Earth-like land nearby. "Country home, take me home, to the place, I belong..."
First ship lands and investigates. Two of them accidentally breathed in some spores and that's when things went haywire. One made it back to shipa and was contained in the room. The alien sure grows fast and is so strong! All 3 perished and the ship caught fire. The sad thing was the other friend was trapped in this room and did not even have the equipment to fight.
The other group and the depressed Captain were saved by this mysterious hooded being which brought them to his lair. David the robot, which is identical to Walter, brought them to his trap where he is obsessed with creating life.
All dies here except the female lead
Director: Scott Ridley
Starring this lead female (played by Katherine Waterson) who appears demure but can singularly take down an alien. This was towards the end when they finally depart weird land and this spend hops on. All but 3 of them survived the ordeal, tw of whom are humans, from the initial 15 people team.
Shows you what happens when a woman is on fire. Damn pissed and goes all out to protect her home.
The show starts a bit slow trying to lay the context and recount the previous episodes. While on their way in search of habitable land which will take 7 more years, the shuttle takes a hit which Walter the robot (ever dashing Michael Fassbender) tries to contain. A few sleeping crew were incinerated in their sleep as those cacoons they were sleeping in could not disengage. Talk about dying in your sleep!
Anyway amongst them was the captain, our female lead's husband.
While repairing the shuttle, they detected a familiar American country tune and suspects there is Earth-like land nearby. "Country home, take me home, to the place, I belong..."
First ship lands and investigates. Two of them accidentally breathed in some spores and that's when things went haywire. One made it back to shipa and was contained in the room. The alien sure grows fast and is so strong! All 3 perished and the ship caught fire. The sad thing was the other friend was trapped in this room and did not even have the equipment to fight.
The other group and the depressed Captain were saved by this mysterious hooded being which brought them to his lair. David the robot, which is identical to Walter, brought them to his trap where he is obsessed with creating life.
All dies here except the female lead
Friday, May 12, 2017
Alt Screening: IN TRANSIT - Journey to the West (Singapore Premiere)
Organised by Asian Art Archive, a subsidiary of the National Library Board
With post-screening discussion by A/P Dr Sin Harng Luh from NUS Dept of Geography
Filmed by a French director, Jill Coulon, and enacted entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles
Shows a group of China Chinese tourists on a tour group package to six European countries in twelve days.
Picture gruelling schedules, ticking off photo moments at iconic monuments with most of the journey spent on a tour bus.
Why? Why would anyone spend so much money to do just so much in so little time? Are they really so busy? Is there just so much left undone? Is there some sort of "kiasu" mentality inherent in Asian culture?
I found out that China Chinese only had 10 days of annual leave after working from 1-10 years. These guys in the film must have been in the workforce for at least 15 years to have accumulated so much leave!
Which made me feel slightly grateful for the mandatory minimum 7 days leave we have here, even if we've worked less than a year. That is until I look to the long annual leaves in the Western states.
There was some discussion of how one's self-identity is formed by comparison with the Other.
There was a hint of the background of China Chinese with the Communist, Maoist background and the regime that they were brought up in. But in the show I saw another perspective. The China Chinese tour guide related his experiences with westerners. How the Westerners mistook them for being suppressed and poor. That was in the past hon. Look at where they are now. Everything!
I felt so sorry for them because they are just not living. But have I not been on such trips myself as a kid? Is it capitalism at play which made my parents sign up for such package? I do know that my parents really don't remember much of where we went, especially when it was such a rush trip. It tired then out more easily.
Yet my mom was still in praise of the convenience of such tours. Maybe it's what these China Chinese sought too.
I really like the film, which had so many layers to be dissected. If only I could watch it again!
With post-screening discussion by A/P Dr Sin Harng Luh from NUS Dept of Geography
Filmed by a French director, Jill Coulon, and enacted entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles
Shows a group of China Chinese tourists on a tour group package to six European countries in twelve days.
Picture gruelling schedules, ticking off photo moments at iconic monuments with most of the journey spent on a tour bus.
Why? Why would anyone spend so much money to do just so much in so little time? Are they really so busy? Is there just so much left undone? Is there some sort of "kiasu" mentality inherent in Asian culture?
I found out that China Chinese only had 10 days of annual leave after working from 1-10 years. These guys in the film must have been in the workforce for at least 15 years to have accumulated so much leave!
Which made me feel slightly grateful for the mandatory minimum 7 days leave we have here, even if we've worked less than a year. That is until I look to the long annual leaves in the Western states.
There was some discussion of how one's self-identity is formed by comparison with the Other.
There was a hint of the background of China Chinese with the Communist, Maoist background and the regime that they were brought up in. But in the show I saw another perspective. The China Chinese tour guide related his experiences with westerners. How the Westerners mistook them for being suppressed and poor. That was in the past hon. Look at where they are now. Everything!
I felt so sorry for them because they are just not living. But have I not been on such trips myself as a kid? Is it capitalism at play which made my parents sign up for such package? I do know that my parents really don't remember much of where we went, especially when it was such a rush trip. It tired then out more easily.
Yet my mom was still in praise of the convenience of such tours. Maybe it's what these China Chinese sought too.
I really like the film, which had so many layers to be dissected. If only I could watch it again!
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
The Vault: Dialects and Dialectics
A reprisal of Kuo Pao Kun's Monologues in two Chinese dialects
Nelson Chia as Director
Nine Years Theatre
Staged at Centre 42 Black Box
Hang Qian Chou performed "No Parking on Odd Days" in Cantonese and Tay Kong Hui performed "The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole" in Teochew.
These performers had to perform in a language they were not familiar with. So apart from picking up a new language and the nuances, they had to understand and soak up the cultures.
It was packed there that night and I was surprised that actually a large majority of audiences were working adults in the 30-50 range. There were hardly any seniors in the room. Maybe there is growing interest on the ground about understanding our Chinese culture better and why did they all disappear? What happened between the mid-1960s to 1990s?
The plays themselves were about systems and the rigidity of the systemsin our country. How totally ridiculous such rigidity sounded and when spoken in Cantonese and Teochew took on each dialect's flavour.
Bring Teochew myself, I was transported back to being in my Dua Yi's home where she will converse with us in pure Teochew, which takes this very lyrical and poetic singsong rythmn. It was beautiful and I was almost moved to tears.
The post-screening dialogue was insightful and linked spoken language to body language and how inherent it is to a person's identity. What was remarkable was seeing a famous Malay playwright taking notes. He shared his comments and insights and as this was my first time crossing paths, I was very impressed by his openness towards other cultures.
Who am I? Where did my ancestors come from? Which part of China was it? Who can answer these questions before it becomes too late? Where did our ancestor disappear to? Why did it disappear in the first place? What happened in between?
I left the play with more burning questions.
Nelson Chia as Director
Nine Years Theatre
Staged at Centre 42 Black Box
Hang Qian Chou performed "No Parking on Odd Days" in Cantonese and Tay Kong Hui performed "The Coffin is Too Big For the Hole" in Teochew.
These performers had to perform in a language they were not familiar with. So apart from picking up a new language and the nuances, they had to understand and soak up the cultures.
It was packed there that night and I was surprised that actually a large majority of audiences were working adults in the 30-50 range. There were hardly any seniors in the room. Maybe there is growing interest on the ground about understanding our Chinese culture better and why did they all disappear? What happened between the mid-1960s to 1990s?
The plays themselves were about systems and the rigidity of the systemsin our country. How totally ridiculous such rigidity sounded and when spoken in Cantonese and Teochew took on each dialect's flavour.
Bring Teochew myself, I was transported back to being in my Dua Yi's home where she will converse with us in pure Teochew, which takes this very lyrical and poetic singsong rythmn. It was beautiful and I was almost moved to tears.
The post-screening dialogue was insightful and linked spoken language to body language and how inherent it is to a person's identity. What was remarkable was seeing a famous Malay playwright taking notes. He shared his comments and insights and as this was my first time crossing paths, I was very impressed by his openness towards other cultures.
Who am I? Where did my ancestors come from? Which part of China was it? Who can answer these questions before it becomes too late? Where did our ancestor disappear to? Why did it disappear in the first place? What happened in between?
I left the play with more burning questions.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy Two
I'm your father (hear this familiar soundtrack playing at the background with light Sabres swishing away). Turns out father is this crazy psychopath who wants to take over the world
The theme of family and blood ties are strong in this edition. Between sisters, biological father and son, adoptive father and son, the guardians as the family unit...
Interspersed with many humourous moments, and tragic ones like when I find it how Theos is this sadist dad who replaces the losing sister's part of herself with a robot part, sacrifice of Yondu, dream arcade when no one dies but battles may be won, amd six short teasers after credit rolls, this movie never has a dull moment (though some parts just feel so long and draggy).
The theme of family and blood ties are strong in this edition. Between sisters, biological father and son, adoptive father and son, the guardians as the family unit...
Interspersed with many humourous moments, and tragic ones like when I find it how Theos is this sadist dad who replaces the losing sister's part of herself with a robot part, sacrifice of Yondu, dream arcade when no one dies but battles may be won, amd six short teasers after credit rolls, this movie never has a dull moment (though some parts just feel so long and draggy).
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