Only Yesterday

A Studio Ghibli film

Produced by Hayao Miyazaki

JCC at Festival Theatre (Tampines)

27 year old Taeko rehashed her 10 year old self as a kid in Tokyo where she still lives and works. She's still unmarried, a taboo in Asian civilisation, and just turned down a suitor's proposal. She goes to pick safflower in the countryside of Yamagata where her second cousin's family friend lives, Toshio. It's her second time to the city, this time for 10 days vacation. This safflower is used to make rouge and sold in cities, with the by product used to dye clothes.

As a 10 year old, we see her first crush with a baseball expert, how badly she did fractions (D grade), how she threw tantrums and got slapped by her dad, the pumpkin show she watched and could recite with Toshio, how they had menses chat with the school nurse, how the boys found out and made fun of them, how she refused to skip PE because she would be seen as having her period, how she went into so many onsens she fainted and had her vacation shortened. Her 2 elder sisters, one was an artist, another studies economic, and grew up in the age of the Beatles, while she was only good in essays and reciting her lines with enthusiasm, even though it was a minor role, Child Villager A. How she hated someone in class so much he refused to shake her hands. 

The grandma and mother encouraged her to stay in the village and marry Toshio and this made her embarrassed and hypocrite because it's not like she has thoughts of being a farmer's wife. 

On the day she left for Tokyo, her 10 year old self and all her 10 year old classmates encouraged her to stay. Listening to her heart, she finally stopped and took the train back. Toshio had to hide his happiness many times and this was one of it. He wanted to hug her but restrained. When it was raining outside with them driving around, he wanted to console her by holding her hands. It is strange but I think that was a sign of those times, where people were unable to be expressive.

He reads her thoughts and she opens up to him well. Upon reflection, she took that as a sign of her affection for him. For E.g. He asked why is she not married? She says most women who live in the city work so they're still single, like most of her friends. Presumably too busy to get married. Then does she love the work so much? She doesn't love it or hate it; it's just a job.

I think I try to find a job that I love so that it's worth my efforts. But what's the point? If it doesn't bring happiness or fulfillment? How can it replace more everlasting things like relationships?

The moving pictures were all beautiful, with each frame like a watercolour painting.

The film ends with the Japanese version of the song "The Rose" by Bette Midler which was very moving.

Taeko is much like a dreamer like me and I identify with her a lot. In the end she decided to follow her heart.

Avengers: Infinity War

Loki is killed by Thanos and Thor dies under his hands as well. Thanos already has 3 of the 6 stones and goes around getting the rest in the name of sacrifice for peace by exterminating worlds. He killed his daughter Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy for the Gold soul stone. To get this stone he had to sacrifice the one he loves which he did it without much hesitation, just some tears. Next he took the green Time one from Dr Strange. Finally he wields the last yellow Mind one from Vision while fighting Black Panther and his army in Wankanda. Thor is revived and rescued by Guardians. Fox, Groot and Thor get his hammer done, while Gomora's bf, muscle man and slug lady fight it out after joining forces with Dr Strange, Ironman, Spiderman against Thanos. 

Well Thanos crushes all of them, wipes out 50% of Earth including Black Panther, Black Window, Scarlet Witch, Agent of Shield head...

Depressing.

The Great Buddha Plus

SFS film screening
Leading up to Chinese Film Fest

Starts with a funeral and a Chinese band playing Auld Lang Syn. The lead character Belly Button was kicked and bullied because he didn't play to the beat. His band mates did not help him. He is a security guard for a philanthropist, Kevin, a rich boy schooled overseas in NYC and now makes Buddha statues and drives a Merc Benz.

Pickles the vagrant make a living picking and selling trash. He has one friend, Sugar Apple, another vagrant who appeared about 3 years ago and lives in a tower by the sea. They call it Seaside Villa. 

They have one other friend, Peanut, who takes care of a shop Savon, beside Seven Eleven. It's an arcade which also sells nick knacks.

Every other night, Pickles goes to the security shed of Belly Button. One night, Pickles instigates BB to look at the web cam of his boss's Merc. They find recordings of tryst with Cindy a student trying to earn some money for further studies, Miss Peh his ex-flame in her forties and Gucci, his secretary and current toy. They gave surveillance of Miss Peh waiting for Kevin. While Kevin and Gucci were having sex, Miss Peh called and asked to meet at the usual. 

One night, they discover footage of Miss Peh threatening Kevin and recounted the scene that night. Abortion, Kevin not leaving his wife, allowing Kevin to do anything with her, Kevin bringing home a man for sex, Miss Peh goating him to compare sex between both genders, followed by a loud bang. Next we see the Merc being driven to the factory and Kevin knocking Miss Peh unconscious before dumping the body into this gigantic Buddha statue for the Dharma Assembly.

Pickles and BB sit in silence for many days. They seek help from useless mediums, Peanut helped them by seeking out his useless scam uncle of the Li Kai-Shing temple and Sugar Apple knew they were in trouble from a dream. Pickles ate his last meal from auntie at a shed which cooks for prisoners upon requests from family members. It was a sumptuous hot rice meal, fresh with vegetables and chicken wing. It's like aunty, somewhat his mother figure, knew his fate.

He was found dead in a ditch with alcohol in his blood. He doesn't drink but was killed drunk. Most likely by Kevin. BB is afraid he'll be next. His boss already warned him not to say anything by testing if he knew of his wig. That was a really tense moment.

Kevin asks BB to bring his mom to the upscale hospital. They couldn't find anything wrong with the Mother and puts her on drip, just like the first scene in a community hospital. But in that BB has to beg for the drip cos it's past 5pm. He drives mom with the drip home on a motorbike then. In this upscale hospital with all expenses paid for, BB feels trapped because his boss's bribing him. He opens the window for release and for a moment there I thought he was going to jump. His mom pleas with him through her eyes not to. 

I bet the boss has CCTV in the security room and already knew what they were doing a long time ago. Kevin was brought in for a chat by a plainclothes police officer. Another high ranking person demanded for his release. 

The day of Pickles funeral is also the day the Great Buddha is moved to the assembly Hall. Belly Button plays the drums, Peanut holds the picture, Sugar Apple holds this spirit lantern. They don't even have the picture of Pickles. Peanut did a screenshot of Pickles when he was arrested for picking trash by a policeman. The police wanted to confiscate his bike, his only means of livelihood, and Pickles refused so they fought. This was caught on National TV and that's where Peanut captured the screenshot. It is very sad how as friends they knew little of each other. It also portrays police as bullies abusing their power. And the villains escape punishment.

The gang realises how little they know of Pickles when he was alive. They never even visited his home. The first time they visited his home, it was nothing like a vagrant's home. Cosy with many knick knacks. And a UFO spaceship as a bed. Filled with toys he won from those vending machines. Which he plays cos it's therapeutic. 

The one liner that struck me: how Man has conquered great distances and walked the Moon but the greatest distance is that of the heart.

Belly Button is alive but at what price? Pickles is dead, so what?

In the end during the Dharma Assembly all the faithful gather to chat scriptures. Suddenly Buddha silences the chants and casts a disproving gaze on the faithful. Someone had betrayed me. 

Ready Player One

Directed by Steven Spielberg

It is the year 2045 and the world is on the brink of collapse. It is in this ghetto world that Wade Wyatts (Parzival) is born. An orphan sent to live with his aunt and her useless bf, he escapes reality by gaming in Oasis, where he can be cool, handsome, full of superpowers, smart etc. When James Halliday, the creator of Oasis died, he left 3 keys and an Easter egg for gamers to find. The prize money is control of Oasis.

He meets Samantha Evelyn Cool (Art3mis) and falls in love with her. Just like him, she knows everything about James Halliday and can complete all these sentences the creative mentioned. 

Parzival finds the Cooper key by driving backwards to the finishing line, which resembles a Michael Jackson Neverland gate and driveway. Art3mis finds it next. As the first on the scoreboard, IO1 is alerted to kill him.

IO1 the evil corporation, hires thousands of games, scientists to crack codes to be the first to win and rule Oasis. They also incarcerate people who owe them real money in the real world to power up this virtual world.

Sorrento from IO1 offers Wade a job which he turns down of course. IO1 bombs his place and killed his aunt and bf. Art3mis saves him and brought him to their hideout.

They constantly go to the Halliday Journals or digital library where the curator shows virtual records. Second key was found by Art3mis in The Shining. They enter room 237 where scary zombies kill them and crazy father with axe chops them up. Eventually only Art3mis reaches Halliday's gf and only love by stepping on those zombies and got the Silver key. 

Before that Parzival and Art3mis go on a dance date in this club where people dance by skydiving. 

The bad guys catch up and incarcerate Art3mis. The hi 5 team is formed with Shoto, Acheh. They go to the virtual land, where Sorrento has cast a protective spell over where the third key is hidden. Parzival gets help from all gamers who came in the throngs. The Iron Giant helps them fight to the gates where Parzival and Art3mis witness how Adventure is played, but he still lost. The key is to wonder in the dark and find a box to bring to the other side. Parzival did it by sacrificing Art3mis so she can escape IO1. He found the Crystal key, meets James Halliday, got the golden Easter egg but didn't sign his life away. They got all the rights to Oasis, made it such that no one can monetize this, and close on Tues and Thursday because the real world is just if not even more important.

Ramen Teh

Screened by SFS

With post screening dialogue with Scriptwriter and Director Eric Khoo

Japanese Chinese boy works in Ramen stall in Japan with dad and uncle. Dad is totally uncaring about son. He passed away suddenly one fine morning. He prepared breakfast for son, ate his share and left for the shop. Son and uncle find him dead.

Son leaves for Singapore in search of his roots. His Chinese mother always feeds him bak kut teh and bee hoon. He pines for them. His uncle is a bak kut teh owner where his mom worked. She met her husband, a Japanese man much older than her, who often goes BKT hunting on his off days. She brings him ard Singapore to try other delicious food like chilli crab, dim sum. Hokkien mee, chicken rice, sambal prawns... He makes sushi for her. However, turns out her father was killed by Japanese soldiers during JO. Her mom objects this union and disowns her. She goes to Japan with husband and son of ten years old and dies there due to an illness. Dad is heartbroken and since withdrawn. 

Son finds out about this through mom's diary entry and goes to Singapore to search for uncle and grandmother. Uncle played by Mark Lee, teaches him BKT. Son was angry at grandmother because his mom is not at fault and mom died of a broken heart. To make up for telling at her, he cooked the best BKT ramen for her. She loves it and teaches son the mom's receipes. They eat a meal together thinking of the mother and grandmother seeks forgiveness from mother through son. Son opened up Ramen Teh shop in Singapore and when the shop is closed, his parents enjoy tea in the shop, before he meets his new gf, a Japanese food blogger and divorcee, who lured him to Singapore with all that Singaporean spices. 

Black Panther

The movie begins in a apartment where two black men stock taking their guns. One turns out to be the brother of the King and the other is also from the country Wakanda. They identity themselves by glow in the dark barcodes on their lower lips. Brother hears someone coming and they keep their stash. Turns out one of those hot chicks (army of the King Wakanda) is the King himself in disguise. They confront the brother who now realises his fellow mate is also from Wakanda and had informed about him stealing vibranium. Brother wants to get back at companion but was stopped cold by the King. The King killed his brother and left his nephew behind who became Killmonger. 

The son of the King, T'challa, return to get the throne. They remove his ex-lover, Nakia, from an undercover assignment so she can attend the coronation with his mom and super smart sis. At the coronation, the leader of the Jabari tribe, Okoye, that is not united as Wakanda, challenge him to fight. They lost and T'challa showed him mercy by not killing that leader.

Klaw and his accomplice, Erik, want to steal the Wakanda artefact from UK Museum. Okoye, T'challa and his lover, Nakia, go to stop the sale between Klaw and Everett K Ross. They didn't pursue Klaw and brought Ross back to Wakanda so that Shuri, T'challa sister can heal him with that Vibranium technology.

Killmonger challenges T'challa to combat and T'challa lost. Killmonger flings him to his death. Killmonger ingests the heart-shaped herb and gets superhuman powers. He orders the rest to be destroyed but not before Nakia takes one.

Mother, sister, gf and Ross flee to Jabari tribe and they find T'challa there saved by them as gratitude for not killing their leader. T'challa eats the last herb and fights killmonger. He dies and doesn't want to be healed so that he remains free. 

T'challa sets up an outreach Centre run by Shuri and gf in memory of his uncle. He appeared in the UN to show Wakanda's true nature to the world and helped heal Bucky.

The Florida Project

Documents the life of this single teenage mom, Halley, and six-eight year old daughter, Moonee, who lives at The Magic Castle, this motel at the outskirts of Florida's Disneyland. They hang out with Halley's friend, Ashley, from downstairs unit 232 while they live at 323. Ashley works as a waitress in presumably Disneyland, where Halley, Moonee and Ashley's son, Scott, gets lunch from leftovers. That is until Ashley found out his son Scott started a fire in this suite of garishly painted houses. No longer friends and without the source of food, Halley steals Disneyland bands and resells them at a quarter of the price. 100 bucks each instead of 425 bucks. Halley buys cheap perfumes wholesale from stereotypical Chinese stall, and peddles them to rich customers living in Disneyland. With this she manages to scrap by and pay weekly rent. And soliciting while her daughter baths in the toilet. 

The manager of the motel, Bobby, is stem on the exterior but so compassionate E.g. by offering to pay the difference in rent for Halley when they move to the next door motel. 

Halley is unable to provide emotional stability for her child and dirties the motel lobby, sticks pad on doors I.e. throwing tantrums. Smokes pot or weed. 

At the same time they have real good fun as mother and Child. They celebrate Moonee's friend's birthday, Jancey, with cake, candle and a fireworks display from the outside of Disneyland. 

They play in the rain. 

Moonee and Jancey have the sweetest childhood together. They explore terrains to observe cows, pretend play at abandoned houses, beg money for ice-cream, shout obscenities at strangers and spit at Jancey's grandmother's car which is how they first met. 

Moonee is street smart E.g. carrying luggages for tips.

Their journeys are interspersed with beautiful billboards and billboards of "pregnant"? Which hints at the teenage pregnancies outside this idyllic fantasy. Like Moonee and Jancey whose parents are teens. Isn't it better they chose to keep their children?

When Halley beat up Ashley, social security is summoned and they threaten to take Moonee away. Moonee panics and finds Jancey and they flee into their Utopia, Disneyland.