The New World by K Rajagopal

After watching `The Diving Bell and the Butterfly', I cannot not write about it for it could possibly be one of the best movies I would have watched this year. And my apologies for breaking the dedication to local films.

I would not say it has changed my life (I mean it was those films that changed my life that remind me why I make films). It has haunted me with its afflicting yet beautiful images. It has made me remember my bed-ridden days of suffering from slip-disc. It reminded me how I felt tortured in the MRI capsule when i woke earlier than the set time and had to stare at the white lining which was about 5 cm from my nose. But most of all, it taught me what makes a shining example of a film in an often used (in Singapore) `contemplative' genre.

I will not write about it (I know I am contradicting myself). But I will urge my friends with this.... If you have ever fallen ill in bed, there is no chance this film about the last days of a stroke patient can alienate you.

As I took the grimy looking lift up to the 6th floor on the HDB block that `My Blue Heaven’ was being shot, I was anticipating a very testosteronically charged crew of people around dancing bodies under the glare of a dozen spotlights. But it turned out to be much quieter set than I imagined. And there were no heavenly bodies but heavenly bodies on print though, plastered throughout the carefully-art-decorated flat (courtesy of Wan Ping).

When I entered the flat, there were 2 tables laden with opened peanut shells, crushed cans of Tiger beer other remnants that reeked of a something hedonistic that had taken place. Somehow, that phone and that plastic-blue lampshade had a very mod-like look that evoked the cocaine and sex filled days of the 70s. But of course, with the Japanese soft-porn posters, and the video tapes, it was clearly the time of my childhood that was the setting for this homage to porn.

So I moved on to take a glimpse at the shoot in progress. Right in the centre of the action stood unmistakable Catherine Sng, still in the same `Unarmed Combat’ hairdo fleeing from a pint-sized and boyish-looking policeman. Well, my sixth sense told I have yet to watch the most crucial portions of the principal photography, if the name is anything to go by. But judging from the style of the acting, it was probably going along the route of Kung Fu Hustle (must be Catherine’s curler-made hair) and other familiar Stephen Chow-type comedies. Probably from the onset of casting Catherine, I could somehow feel the direction the film was taking.

Clement was so welcoming as the AD on set. Well, I think it is just the initial phase of starting this kind of a blog featuring productions and reviews. Over time, as I continue to visit more productions, I will have the title of `the Resident Kay Poh of Singapore Cinema(the less spoken ones)’ . So, they will all GET USED to me! Nevertheless, I enjoyed talking to him and knowing him better as a friend. A good conversation was really like getting your soul and heart massaged properly. And thanks to him, I had a chance to read the script. SORREE No spoilers here! But it is definitely a comedy done in a more unabashed manner. And I liked the initial portion about this relationship between father and son in the story. Felt it is a good way angle to depict how porn affected lives. It has definitely affected mine in more ways than one.

Since this is really for Yee Wei (ooopss, I completely forgot to mention the director’s name – Chai Yee Wei), I wish to leave more room for him to comment about his own production. So more in this account when I can get some scoop from him.

I did not stay long for the shoot because I had to rush off to Sinema to do some editing. So Ah Gong, anything interesting happened after I left????

By the way, I must get Catherine to be on my shooting set some time in future. She is a real storyteller. Got us all cracked up with her stories on Sex Education. Think when the going gets tough in shoots, crew could do with a little `education’ from her.

I now have the book sitting on my desk in front of me. A gaunt looking Keira Knightley and her co-star (not sure of his name) appear on the cover. It must a book pregnant with so much unsettled feelings,despair,and most of all guilt..... if the movie that I watched and the expression in the author's eyes that i saw were faithful to book.

Atonement the movie was a good study in storytelling which I am really paying great attention to these days because I am about to embark on writing a screenplay. The posters and movie stills suggested to me that it was a `war movie'. But in the first portion of the movie, there was anything but war. There were family drama that involved suspicion, jealousy and other inner demons of the mind. But as I was to find out later, it was this episode of family drama that caused a major tragedy. Which made war , which was the backdrop, seem even more cruel than in many other war movies. No spoilers here. And will not do full review since a place like Rotten Tomatoes would have done better justice to the movie in terms of this.

But I strongly urge all to watch it not just because it won the Golden Globes. But because it is a remarkable story that you are not quite sure where it begins and where it ends. Coloured by guilt, the author has penned a book that both recounts and also `recreates' the relationship btw the two lovers. But that is according to what had been adapted from the book into the movie. It is now for me to uncover whether the chicken came first or the egg.

Thanks Dan for the invite!

Here are some pictures of 2 food movies I watched this week. I call them food that just happen in movies because no one will ever prepare them unless you are a French aristocrat (I happen to know one) or you have loads of money. They are Babette's Feast (on DVD) which won the Oscar Best Foreign Film in 1989. And Le Grand Chef whose cute male lead has been pulling in the sales. The former is Ang Moh cuisine (French). the second is Asian(Korean). Apart from food, both have comedy and morals in them. The former is a kind of wry, dead-pan comedy the Danish do so well. The latter is slapstick.

But the best part has to be the morals. In the former, Babette, the French maid whom 2 Danish sisters hired as a maid threw all her lottery $$$win into cooking a yummy French dinner to thank the sisters for providing her with asylum (she was escaping the French civil war). When they found out she spent all her $$, they were obviously shocked. Babette replied, she used to be the head chef of some high official's club in Paris and she is an artist, an artist 's reward is creating the work.

The commercial Korean flick had the surprising ability to mourish me with another thought. When Japan occupied Korea back in dunno when (think end of Chosun dynasty), the royal chef cooked the emperor something that broke his hunger strike (protest against Japanese conquerors). Drinking it made the emperor weep buckets. Cos underlying the simple soup (which had a home-made feel) were ingredients that had patriotic significance.

How true this was, I am not entirely sure but I think I am such a sucker for food movies!!

The National Museum presented Radio On today as part of its World Cinema Series.

The audience turn out is more cosmopolitan than the usual Singaporean Film buffs you would expect at Royston Tan's next film. It must be the `eurocentric' content of the film and fact that the write up and publicity are in fact very well-done. I mean, besides being a `cult' movie, it also has a great commentator, Ben Slater, whom himself had been involved in the Radio On REmix, a short video that revisits the elements in the 1979 film.

From the opening long take of a voyeuristic look into someone's private space with lots of shadows, walls and furniture and a light-rock, slightly dreamy soundtrack, i sort of guessed it would be largely an evocative kind of film that sort of paid homage to the music and spirit of the late 70s.

More like contemplative actually. The movie started with the protagonist seemingly losing sleep over something troubling. And the reason for its lack of clarity (which I found out later) was the poor sound mix (music too loud, dialogue too soft). He was actually curious over the cause of his brother's death. Then when I saw the POV shots of the passing countryside partially and beautifully shrouded in snow, it rang the bell that it was a road movie featuring the music from that era. It was a musically driven movie in fact.

The man met one peculair person after another. Starting with the Irish soldier who escaped from his regiment. I loved his slang. It kinda reminded me of what I am supposed to look into in 2 weeks time for the `Speak Good English Movement' organised by Substation. It proved there is no way you can separate an accent from the way a character speaks. The spoken content and the sound come together. And his accent made me realise there is no need to be ashamed of unabashed Singlish on screen in front of a foreign audience.

Sorry, still on the Irish. The scene was special because it presented a certain moment of truth, though not necesarrily conforming to any rules of narrative continuity. All through the trip to the end when he deserted the soldier when the soldier got out of the car to pee.

Then there was Sting's cameo. Apparently, Sting was not that famous yet. So he sang a ballad about the rules of chasing women at a gas station. tender moment there.

Finally, he met 2 German girls by the street who were stuck without transport. Kinda of reminded me of Babette's feast which I watching on DVD now, which also feature a story 2 pretty young ladies in a small town. Like a kind of social armour, they switched between English and German (but mostly in German and to themselves) when talking to the male protagonist. And I thought it felt like a statement scene. Quite strong in the dranatic point it made. It was surprising to find out later from Ben Slater that itb was half a token German scene, i,e, placed there because German money went into the production.

Overall, the `punk' factor in the film was strong. As I had already given up on the narrative halfway through, i allowed myself to be transported into the post-industrial, sombre-looking town of 1970s Bristol. (incidentally was there in yr 1999, 1 yr after Radio On Remix was made). the grey council flats, the forsaken quarry, the dinghy pubs and the pinball machines.... Together with the music, it was evident that these iimages coupled with the music (very indie) had a lot of era-significance. Though the whole point of view taken by the narrartive was of a very non-chalant and nihilistic nature.

During the Q and A, Ben shared that the protagonist's hair was actually dyed blue but we cant see because it is a B&W movie. Well, I have to leave up to my dreams to help me `revisit' Radio On again. Goodnight!

Watched a short film in Black and Wite by Eric Rohmer, who must either be dead or very old now.
The film was set in the 1960 where women had beehives as hair.

The one about the baker girl was so interesting. A man sees a stranger he likes and wants to chase her. But chances are slim for they dont have a reason to meet up. But yearning for her made him accept the signs of advancement by a girl who works at the bakery. It's a weird human behaviour but it is so familiar to me! but it was not sure whether the baker was really flirting with him or his ego was just losing some balance. Eventually he asked the baker girl out for dinnner. but on the day of the dinner he bumped into the lady who first ignited his passion. He conveniently missed the earlier date to have dinner with Miss hard-to-get.

They married six months later.

Watched Ah Ma finally at the Esplanade National Library after so many missed opportunities!!!
Of course, before I anxiously pressed on the play button (which i was not sure which it was from the confusing design), I tried to erase all impressions of it from Dan (`was in tears at the end'), Vel (`really very well-made piece') and all over town (..............).
I was expecting a very personal intimate drama but it turned to be a study of human reaction across different brranches of the family tree.

There were 6-7 varieties of crying, the army boy in poignant-looking camouflage weep, the muffled-voice cry of Ah Ma's brother, done to perfection, the macho `real-men-do-cry' cry of the father, the silent `cry in the heart' cry of the the elder daughter (must be, if not, then is the in-law), esp with her slow-mo putting down of phone receiver. The cigarette shrouded watery eyes of our dear Big Papaya, Yea Yann Yann (which somewhat resembed a scene in the Bracelet, except that she has the horrible 80s maggi mee hair in this).

But the cry that probably sealed the fate of Ah Ma the film was the last one. Sweet, gentle and haunting. Will not post a spoiler here. For those who have missed this out and many other local and reginal short films, do visit the National Library, they now hve the Asian Film Archive collection. But have to view it there.

I met Jun Feng for lunch today. I eagerly awaited this opporutnity to meet up because I missed the Keluar Baris Preview at High Street. The first thing he told me was he was going to Clemont Ferand for the film festival. And Katong Fugue was in competition. Suddenly, I recalled the excitement of going to a film festival again. If you ever lost steam in making films, going to a film fest restarts your engine again. But this is flawed perspective because it should really be your love for films that keeps you working at it even if there were no signs of reward at bay.

We had lunch at this Nasi Padang place in air-conditioned comfort (after last year's experience, I am making a point to keep my clothes sweat-free). I shared about my trip, he shared about his future plans in NY. Without a doubt, it is good to be abroad periodically. I felt lost and like I could start all over again in Vietnam. Of course to any layman, this is like a dream. And refreshingly, JF acknowledged his privileged circumstances. I remember in school after the exams, a certain class of behaviour would always annoy me. There were sometimes these people who would hair-splittingly share with you the silly stand-alone vocab, grammar mistakes they made in their essay and expect dedicated audience when in comparison, there were speaking to someone whose essay skidded off-tangent from the question. Well, speaking to JF in person is as amazing as seeing his works.

Which was what i going to uncover just after I scrapped off the last spoonful of rice from my plate. The image of the control tower at Changi T1 flashed on the screened, off-centre, but still distinct from everything else. A familar exchange across an obvious generation and cultural gap is heard. This is where directorial work makes the difference. When I first read the script, it was a 2-party exchange that demonstrated some kind of communication breakdown. Watching the film, I saw the impatience of Darryl when dealing with his granny and skeptical eyes of his father seen on the back-view mirror. Reminding me what Shu Ming once mentioned of the character palette, the characters demonstrated a hues of emotions and amidst their primary disposition and reactions.

There are some filmmakers who are agenda/theme/story driven and they usually have a a great grasp of driving the narrative and making a strong point in the film. There are also some who have strong visual sense and can deliver a good film out of a simple and sometimes, navel-gazing topic. It's pure `film-eye' I guess. What's good about JF is he is a very balanced and sensible person. He can marry both. the Stadium shots were of course haunting and affecting. The wides, the 1-shot close ups of the cauldron, clock, light tower etc. And the tracking in. (I hate it when tracking is used like a convenient dramatic tool) And besides being beautiful, of course, the agenda was clear.

I read somewhere in a magazine (or was it a website) while in Vietnam about how a singular clear vision is so important for a film to be good. When a director can achieve, the audience simply sits back and allow themselves to be `taken away'. the surprise with seeing Keluar Baris on screen as opposed to script is narrative build up. The need to develop photos fast, the urgency of seeing the National Stadium before it gets teared down, the nagging of his father. Here is a story that is simple and natural, yet still able to deliver its point and undertones.

While I was watching the movie from his slim and sleek ibook, I lost track of what he was doing in the meantime. Only to notice him again when he returned with a drink for me. I cant remember the last time I did that for somebody but that gesture was a wake up call to me. If you want people to sit up and watch, you have to serve them up at their doors and someday, you will convince people to take you seriously.

My friend, Hou told me that 2008 would be a good year for pple born in the year of the snake.
Having lived through a year of eye-bags, eating biscuits for lunches (a few occasions), begging, borrowing, sweat-filled lunch hours and many more enduring episodes in 2007, I was biasedly inclined to keep that in mind.

Some good things have happened since the end of 2007, like the fantastic trip I had in Vietnam.
So maybe the clouds are starting to clear.

So to all who's had a bad 2007, let's drink to a better 2008. For those who already had a good 2007, if things dont turn out so well, at least you can always look back in nostalgia..... haha