Archive for April 2008

Dear Yee Peng,

Every good film festival allows you to take home something that you can't get at other film festivals. The Singapore International Festival has never meant much to me. I never had luck. Or timing. They say they want only world premieres, so I could not submit my work. So often, SIFF is a lonely affair for me, creeping into cinemas alone, not really feeling part of this spirit. This year's decision to give these 12-13 Singapore feature films a viewing platform made a big difference. To get to the most importnat point, it gave me a chance to watch your film and attend your Q & A. The experience on that Saturday afternoon gave me that something to take home from SIFF this year.

I know nothing about kampungs or farming. I grew up in a HDB flat straightaway. And the topic is not interesting to me. So I came to watch DM2 with little expectation but with a hope that the documentary would not be too long.

Your choice of a personal style, and I dare say angry style, made a lot of difference right from the start. The fact that you aimed straight at the points that were directly relevant to you made it very watchable indeed. This includes pin-pointing that the danger sign was the former location of your kampung. Like having a good tour guide, I knew I was in good hands and followed you from one issue to another. You were even funny, like how you never managed to pull out the Chye Sim without its muddy roots while the expert next to you nailed every attempt.

As the documentary progressed, that persistent, skeptical and somewhat adamant voice in you surfaced slowly. It defined the flavour of your documentary but on the other hand, made it all the questions you were asking seem rhetorical because you already took a stand right from the start towards the current and imminent changes seeping into the area. I somehow recalled vaguely how DM1 was a much-talked about documentary and suspected your very unique voice in it was the reason so. And as you probed further into the wisdom of these new agri-tainment developments and lament the the real kampung flavour that was diminshing, I felt like something of a collision was going to take place.

And the turning point came when you interviewed a middle-aged lady whom I learnt moments later was your mother. Her message was simple - to `move on'. Thereafter, you finally questioned the flaw in your initial argument and came to a resolution about leaving the redevelopment matter to rest. And to reinforce the conclusion, you captured another defining image of Lim Chu Kang - the cemeteries. This struck an immediate chord in me because I remember the depressing Sunday night bus journeys across these cemeteries back to the Sungei Gedong army camp.

Thinking back, if you were so level-headed about the whole agri-tainment issue, maybe the voice of the documentary would have been more of a whimper. It was truly nothing less than a shout, a scream from you. Maybe stylistically, it could have been more restrained, eloquent and less preachy. But you showed me something that I would keep for a long time. Mission.

The sense of mission did not end with your film, it had only begun for the following Q & A was about to make me helplessly emotional. At first glance, you look like the quiet sort. But your spirit is more than palpable. The best word I can think of is unabashed. Many filmmakers work hard but are sometimes too afraid to wear that badge of mission and drive on their sleeves. They don't want to seen as trying too hard. Because if they fail, maybe less people will take notice. I can't help but feel this is a very Singaporean trait, not just in filmmaking. I succumbed to it somehow along the way. But seeing how you pursue your goal, I am going to change that and find back the `devil-may-care' in me.

Honestly, the portion of your mother's interview in the film felt a little incomplete. Like I was missing the bigger picture and you just took out some hard-hitting points and included them in the film. I mean, it still had its effect but it was a fraction of the resonance that I felt from the `live' sharing by your mother later on. She said she was concerned that you only came out of the room to eat the fruits cut by her. She remembered how much you sacrificed and lost weight for your craft. She said she did not agree with your choice of career at first. Finally, she cited that the family is not rich and that she could not support your films like other parents and all she could do was offer little manual tokens of help here and there.

Money is not a dirty word. It is something I would often think about. My parents often talk in circles about things that link back to money. It is a very pertinent issue that ties in so many emotions in it our context. My parents would never think of giving me money to make films. More importantly, I will never ask them to do so. Despite loving films and making them, I can't help but feel like it's against my conscience to ask them. What I heard that Saturday afternoon will make me remember that someone who also had no recourse to deep pockets and warm familial support had gone on to make 2 very strong feature-length films. By the end of the Q & A, my cheeks were soaked in tears and I walked out of it already knowing what my concluding thoughts for this year's SIFF would be. This is bearing in mind, I still had 2 very good films to watch - `Flower in the Pocket' and `18 Grams of Love'.

I want to thank you for making it special for me. I assure you none of this is dramatised for sensationalising my write-up. I wish you all the success in your future projects.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy

If your watched DMII , please leave comments in Yee Peng's website ( http://diminishingmemories.spaces.live.com/ ). She is very eager to know more about what people think.

Written by Jeremy Sing

Ellery will set the standard for pushing the boundaries of local independent films in a new direction. The extravagant and BIG. Let's analyse the still above. Brass chandeliers. Premium crystals. Plumes aplenty. Melwani-type furnishing. a pair of good-looking talents (I really mean Debra and the French guy, can't see the other girl). The total cost of it: a Citibank Visa perhaps.

While this film will set many tongues wagging for various reasons (which it already has mostly for being paired up with Road to Mecca), it is really a very well executed piece. The script is a credible effort. The direction is sturdy and trained. The art direction needs no comment. The photography and lighting is immaculately sleek. Debra and Rodney were comfortably watchable as the leads.

However, I felt the goodness of it all seemed to fit more into the framework of television viewing. Perhaps the main driver could be how the storytelling tended to account for too much, leaving little to guessing, doubting, suspecting and playing along, like the characters themselves in the house.

Basically DOAMM is about a married couple whose relationship is on the rocks. They fail to see eye-to-eye on things and have a son at stake. The husband takes her out to a party one night. It is not an ordinary party as it turns out. The colonial mansion (looking like Supreme court from the outside) is filled with beautiful people, somewhat reminding you of Stanley Kubrick's `Eyes Wide Shut'. And the draw? Everyone is part of and can participate in a flesh buffet. Things happen and hours of confusion later, the husband sees something that rekindles his love for his wife. So, that's moral of this modern marriage.

It is a refreshing and rather memorable topic for a film. I would imagine an increasing number of people can relate to in Singapore. Debra and Rodney each played their role to an intensity that allowed me to follow that emotional roller coaster and understand the psyche of people engaged in a swinger's party. In fact, taking away the spectacle of the party and the sexually informative scenes, the couple was really holding most of the film together.

Check out Ellery's website for more of Dance of a Modern Marriage and his other short films : http://www.elleryngiam.com/

Written by Jeremy Sing

Singapore did not experience a serious bout of haze last year. For those who are not familiar, at least once a year, Singapore gets shrouded in haze caused by the drifting smoke from forest fires in Indonesia. From the shots of `Haze' the short film, one could tell that the heavens worked against the intentions of the film - there was really NO haze. But despite that, `Haze' evoked feelings of precariousness, blindness and finally misdirection that brought to life the figurative meaning of the word more than the tangible presence of this weather element would have.

2 secondary school students decide to skip school one day. Between them, the boy assumes the role of the instigator while the girl follows. At the boy's abode (his parents have gone on a trip to Malaysia) they let their natural instincts flow and dally with whatever pleases from TV, to instant noodles to sharing ice-cream. Noticeably, the girl is often keeping up with the boy more than being an equal partner in crime. And in between all that, is a pervading blanket of humidity associated with the physical weather that also seems to mirror the growing uneasiness she is hiding inside. Then, the showpiece happens. Moist limbs interlock. The girl takes a leap of faith in succumbing herself to situation.

While she was not physically bruised from her maiden experience, she unknowingly opens herself up to hurt when she pops the commitment question to him in the aftermath. Naturally, she learnt a big lesson in that one hazy afternoon.

Like a exercise in punctuation, `Haze' delivered a story with various its plot points dotted in the right amounts and timing to produce drama that did resonate with me. And delightfully, it tackles adolescent behaviour very maturely. Subtly visible under all that frivolous, delinquent talk are a clash of comfort zones, directions, values. So when the girl realises the folly of her sacrifice, my empathy was almost immediate.

Behold and let the haze fill your computer screen at http://fisheye-pictures.com/

Written by Jeremy Sing

I watched Boomtown Beijing not emerging wiser from an understanding of Beijing people's Olympic fervour. I wondered why. But Siok Siok provided the answer later in the Q & A when she shared more about this rather unique documentary.

Boomtown Beijing started off as a video essay on how Beijing is prepping itself up for the Olympics. I can imagine if you were stationed in Beijing for a period, you can't really run away from being bombarded by slogans, advertisements and campaigns hyping up the Olympics. I would imagine a video essay would take a less expositional and interogative approach towards storytelling. But according to Siok Siok, circumstances have influenced her to also zoom in for more in-depth stories on a few characters. But from the kaleidoscopic (or rather broad-based) visual treatment, I felt the video essay tone was still pretty much there.

The main characters featured were a very socially-conscious and civic-minded taxi driver, a boy who plays the Olympic angel in school activities, an old man who upkeeps the Chinese tradition of twirling the big ribbon and a partially blind athlete who still thinks he stands a chance for national glory. The common thread across them is of course Olympic fervour. Some of the more comic manifestations include the taxi driver doing his skipping routines in shirt and pants to keep fit in the open walkway.

Boomtown Beijing approaches its subjects very factually. It neither questions their zeal nor attempts to read in between the lines of what is being shared. I wondered if the sensibility in all this fervour can only be understood if you live in their midst, or if Siok Siok aimed to prove that Beijingers are not always smogged in oppression like how the foreign media likes to portray them. For me, I would rationalise it as a cross breed of confucianism and capitalism.

Panorama Crosstalk #8

J : Do you know there a few things that I learnt during the Q & A about the approach to BT Beijing, that really changed my perception of the documentary?
S : How's that so?
J : Siok Siok clarified the following : It started as a video essay. Its subjects were found by students.
S : Yup, it's an elaborate school project, as she put it.
J : Exactly, the documentary felt very `classroom', as in the issues were not probed deep enough and there was little sense of conflict.
S : I guess that comes with the focus on 3 totally distinct subjects, each with their own lives. (pause) I thought it had its moments with some candid moments caught on screen. (pause) I also felt that each had dreams which were somehow beyond their grasp, but they still go for it anyway, keeping to the Olympic spirit of pushing oneself to the limit. (beat) And probably beyond.
J : Agree.
S : Perhaps Siok Siok would attempt a follow up, or include in a DVD release as an extra short film, on what happened to those 3 subjects nearer to the Olympic Games in Aug, or after.
J : Mmm. that would be interesting! (long pause) Did you feel moved by their struggle and aspirations or did you feel more incomprehensibility at the extent of their fervour?
S : I was quite ambivalent actually
J : Interesting . Why?
S : At times difficult to comprehend why they would go to that extent, or whether the Olympics truly aspire them to dream, or issit just because it's the "Olympics". Maybe we'll get to understand this a bit more when we host the Youth Olympics in 2010. (beat) Someone better get a camera ready lol!
J : True true. In Beijing, Tan Siok Siok. In Singapore, Tan Pin Pin. Haha!
S : Haha.
J : Honestly, I felt something wrong about their fervour, very bordering on a state of being brainwashed. Did you feel it?
S : Haha, actually no. Why do you think so?
J : Maybe it is the cab driver (being the film opener and closer) who epitomised it the most.
S : I really was surprised that they, as cab drivers, bother to conserve energy and do their bit part to help their environment.
J : Yes!
S : You can safely bet your last dollar what they did, will not be done here lol.
J : No need to think, it WILL NOT be done here. (pause) Back to the cabbie, he sounded like a representative or spokesman for the China tourism board, echoing campaign-like messages, and skipping in his office wear to keep fit in the spirit of the Olympics!
S : Lol. Well, I'm sure we can get the equivalent over here if STB looks hard enough
J : Agree. Our taxi drivers are one of the most vocal in the world. They talk to many strangers.
S : But not sure if they would like to express their feelings ON camera.
J : Mmm….which brings me to another point - those China interviewees are so forthcoming!
S : Hard to imagine eh? One would think they'd be more reserved.
J : But you know, I learnt from Siok Siok's Q & A, a docu's content is who you choose and how you manipulate.
S : Yes, cos I think it's usually crafted during the editing phase. But still, u gotta have enough interesting material in order to craft something out of it.
J : I learnt somewhere that you would rather save a film at the script stage than the editing stage.
S : Does it apply to a documentary?
J : Well, at the Wed night session Q & A which you did not attend, Siok Siok mentioned that she specifically asked her students if they could find a crippled athlete.
S : Really!
J : Yes.

Written by Jeremy Sing

On a rainy day, under a shelter, our protagonist meets a stranger who, like him, has been left stranded by his circumstances. They share fags and their precarious futures.

`Why don't you go to Batu Cave?' the stranger matter-of-factly suggests.

Jump cut to the damp-looking opening of Batu Cave and the image stays for a good moment.

For its oddball detraction, its randomness, under the hands of an unassured storyteller, the film could end up being pub rambling, brilliant in its conception but diffused in its conclusion, like it's just a `dream' from someone's world.

Knowing it is coming from Kan Lume, there is little doubt of a strong proposition and question(s) posed in the film. He is after all, known for his strongly pointed films and even more so for his unabashed commitment to his personal beliefs. Sometimes, a voice that speaks louder than his films (or at least those he has managed to materialise).

Well, the set up was clear and very easy to follow right from the beginning. Man stays out from home after a tiff with his disillusioned wife. His fascination with the human body and the carnal endeavours it could undertake breathes new life into his morale. In a gush of voyeurism more than hardcore filmmaking geekiness, he sets off with his DV Cam to liberate a series of bottled up fantasies.

If you don't have that many close female friends, and your wife is the nemesis of your filmmaking ambitions, it leaves you with no choice but to turn to people who can already get past the hurdle of stripping for a man, i.e. a prostitute. This was the point where I discovered Kan's comic streak. The set up is enough to make you anticipate the laughs (think I was only one of the few who took the risk of vocalising my laughs). Protagonist is proud to be his own filmmaking`towkay', complete with suit and tie (the army socks peeping out between the black of his trousers and shoes are quite giggle-worthy). Malaysian-accented prostitute approaches him thinking she could dig up a harvest for the day. they enter a room and he sincerely expresses his wish for her to `cooperate'. And the humour runs along this set-up.

And it runs quite a long way actually. From the hotel room, they move to a beach. At the beach, he spots another girl and experiments with shooting a homoerotic scene between the 2 girls. Back in the hotel, he tests his limits even further by coercing the prostitute to stay on for him to complete his project. As a meagre token, he buys her styrofoam packet lunch to her fed. But when she is not looking, he sneaks his hand out to steal the `liao' (main dish) from her economical rice pack. On the other hand, Ms dunno-know-her-rights Malaysia seems to be allowing herself to be dragged along in the game, perhaps with the delusion that he will pay up eventually. And for that, became one of the most naked characters in the film. In a deeper way, of course.

This is what was apparently the first half. The second half is centred on the exposition of the strained relationship between the protagonist and his wife. His wife is disillusioned with him and stops loving him. He fails at getting a proper job and keeps a lie about it while continuing with his filmmaking attempts. And in between all that, the wife experiences little bouts of annoyance like his failure to fix the tap, his request for sex and the petty theft of $50 from her purse. In return, his wife taunts him with all kinds of insults like `all your projects are failures', delivered a little non-chalantly, as if to lessen the pain of knowing she has ended up with a loser husband. As expected, she asked for a separation towards the end.

The wife chapter is a pretty-straightforward exposition that perhaps helps us break the codes of his oddball behaviour in the film. Hence, driven by these pressures, he is out to seek an answer. In the film, it comes in the form of flesh, then, the curious or perhaps intellectual obsevation of flesh. When it fails, he is brought back to the original battle ground which is his home. He grapples with it and when it finally gives way, we are brought back to a repeated frame - that familiar cave. Owing to the circularity the storytelling uses by introducing the cave right at the beginning, it seemed that the cave had always been the answer. Like you finally read that self-help book you chose to ignore.

It seems paying a visit to Batu Caves works, like he has found something at the end of this `dream-like' journey. At least for the time frame of the story. But glaring like the spotlights in Batu Cave, were questions posed in the film that obviously made `Dreams from the Third World' the discussion film it really is. And to be specific:

Is it our protagonist a mirror of Kan's personal experience as a filmmaker and a young husband?

Does the protagonist speak for Kan or us as indie filmmakers or does he represent something more general?
Why porn?

Why the strange eccentric behaviour of the protagonist (somehow reminding me of Xiao Kang in many Tsai Ming Liang films)?

Why Batu Caves? (So random)

What's in that long take in Batu Cave?

If I believed Kan really had an answer `tattooed' on his flesh, this would be how I see it:

`Dreams' is mostly allegorical to a filmmaker's experience. It is like a Freudian voice hidden in the minds of many filmmakers (myself included). Perhaps not all, but certainly in Kan for he chose to tell this story. While, our voice of sensibility steers us towards conventions, rules and societal acceptance. There is this other voice that makes us sometimes really want to make a porn film deep in our hearts! And it is not just about porn, it is about letting loose your spirits.

While I am not sure about the state of Kan's married life, I am sure the inner dilemmas he faces balancing the role of a husband and a filmmaker did lend some inspiration to our protagnist in the film. About the idiosyncratic behaviour of the protagonist, I would like to draw some parallels to Xiao Kang in many of Tsai Ming Liang's movies. In The Hole, Xiao Kang urinated into the sink instead of the toilet bowl to prevent water leak. In What Time Is It There?, his desperation led him to adjust the times on all clocks to Paris time. If we let our animal instincts take over, this is how we will behave. So, in this context, it can be seen as quite natural. As a result, I did find Kan's protagonist funny, for his antics reflected the extent of his desperation.

Batu Caves was probably an intended displacement. And for this spiritual journey to be exhaustive and thorough, you need an off-shoot. But what exactly did he find in Batu Caves? I raise both hands in surrender on this one.

From his interviews, Kan did imply during that `Dreams' is a flawed experiment. So I am inclined to believe that its merit would lie in the concept behind making it and that this genre-bender will leave us with questions inevitably. Why would we then bother answering those questions in our head? For me, it's (rather bluntly) his reputation, his approach to filmmaking and finally, it is that Freudian voice in me that somehow wants to make porn films as well.

Reputation is an unspoken bargaining tool in convincing your audience. The boundaries he has pushed with The Art of Flirting and Solos makes it difficult for me to walk away from `Dreams' without disentangling those knots in my head. Approach. When someone has bothered to take an unapologetic artistic leap, you are secretly curious about what new benchmark this will set in local cinema. And it is for the same reason, people will go to watch Lucky7, except that Lucky7 has much better packaging and the `safety net' of being directed by several SIFF past winners.

Finally, no need to repeat about why every filmmaker secretly desires to make porn someday.

The last I spoke to Kan, he is in the process of removing his famous `FILMMAKER' tattoo on the back of his palm. He did share that `Dreams' coincides with a `crossroads' phase he might be going through - that he might want to make commercial films thereafter. In my heart, I would say to him that I have not heard enough from him and `Dreams' could hardly be a `crossroads' piece. There must be more he wants to say. And for that reason, I hope he keeps the other tattoo on his other palm that reads `LEADER OF THE LIGHT'.

Panorama Crosstalk #7

Stefan (S) : I got this comment on my blog by a reader who didn't mince his words... and I quote "Dreams from the 3rd world was crap. With no disrespect, I think Kan should stick back to basics or maybe do some short film before deciding what he wants to do and not just try this and that and say he is at some crossroads etc. If his skills are raw, if he doesnt know, go back to school. Don’t give excuses and expect everyone to take this nonsense. "
Jeremy (J) : Ow Ow Ow! (Beat) I got to understand this visionary of a filmmaker this year better and I am impressed with him really. Kan has a reputation certainly but I think more than half the time, his intentions are misunderstood.
S : Yup, that's what I called Kan Lume back in 2006.... and he proved me right, with the movies he's made so far, all pushing the boundaries, and producing really diverse works to see what can work, and what couldn't.
J : He has a stand (which can explain the reason for doing 3rd world), that I fully applaud - don't be afraid to fail. And making films can a sure way to teach one to make better films.
S : (Approving nod).

J : The problem is Kan is still experimenting and maybe he got famous too fast. And people judge him by conventional standards already.
S : I mean, I can give you two examples that support Kan’s motto. Han Yew Kwang with Unarmed Combat and 18 Grams of Love, and Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen with Talking Cock and Singapore Dreaming. Look at the progress from 1st to 2nd film.
S : I thought 3rd World had its moments.
J : I know! I know!
S : The cheeky sight gags. What with the strategically placed water bottle (lol) and those anti-establishment breaking the rules pot-shots.
J : The whole flesh-seeking episode gave me stitches inside out. Rather funny in a Tsai Ming Liang way.
S : Did u see Kan's cameo? I thought I was the only one laughing.
J : You can’t hear me though, remember , mine are `inside-out’ laughs (silent lol)
S : Lol. (Beat) I think that marks the first time he's not behind the camera.
J : I also wondered if the prostitute represented the phenomenon of underpaid independent films talents.
S : Interesting thought, how so?

J : There are so many in Singapore who are being exploited by ruthless filmmakers kekeke!
S : You mean work for free and tasked to do everything?
J : Look at Sunny from Lucky 7! (pause) He had not one but 7 slave drivers.

S : You know, I was actually quite surprised his wife and him are quite well to do. So he's not really that poor a director, despite having little money in the pocket.

Jeremy is trying imagine how Kan’s wife looks like.

J : But these days condo doesn’t mean very rich hor.
S : Still.
J : Anyway, this was the straight-forward part. A Marilyn Lee reprise somehow too.

S : Until Kan throws you a curveball with Batu Caves, extremely open ended and subject to your own interpretation.
J : They say if you look closely enough at the cave, you `see'` something.
S : Really ah???
J : The cave as in the cave in the movie.

Ponderous silence not different from that Batu Cave moment.

S : Nothing leh. Just a shadow. Leon’s.

Jeremy ponders another Mas Selemat joke but refrains from it.

S : I thought his Hokkien friend should've accompanied him to Batu Caves. At least you can be sure of some interesting dialogue.
J : He is like those aunties who ask you to go pray this temple that temple for 4D, kids, better sex and many other things.
S : But he (Hokkien friend) encapsulates a lot of presumptions toward local films - the notion that all local films suck, without even watching anything other than `Money No Enoug’.
J : Yeah I remember now.
S : Sums up probably how local audience in general view local films, which is quite a pity. I do know people whom each time I recommend a local film, without thinking, or even seeing the trailer, the first word that comes out, or the first few words that come out, is "nah, it'll suck" or "wtf".
J : I feel like making them do 2.4 up and down the steps to Sinema. Bunch of traitors!
S : I mean, where's the sense of adventure, of discovery, or taking that plunge and leap of faith? I think it's quite unfair to pass judgement on something without first experiencing it

Music rises to a crescendo. Stefan begins to sound like Sun Yat Sen from `Road to Dawn’ the SIFF closing film.

S : So back to the commenter at the start of our conversation. At least he/she took that leap of faith, didn't suit his/her taste, so fair rant he/she's entitled to, don’t you think?
J : Of course. I have something to say about local filmmakers too. (Pause) If that commentator is the example of taking the leap of faith in watching. Then Kan Lume's certainly the equivalent for filmmakers, as in taking another sort of leap.

Extras:

Excerpt of Kan's interview with Sinema http://www.sinema.sg/ in which Kan touches on how he develops his scripts.

I like working without scripts as a starting point of a film because it allows actors to be free to fail. In fact there are no mistakes because there is no script to tell them they are doing things wrongly. This method is born out of desperation and necessity. Firstly, I was never formally trained in scriptwriting. Secondly, many of the actors I used at the beginning had no formal training in acting. I still wanted to make films, so I made things up as we went along and found ways other ways to develop story and structure. Instead of being a mess, it was fun, lively, spontaneous and felt powerful and instant. I honed my instincts to know where to push my actors and what scenes to develop.

There is also another write up and full-length interview and review on http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/ by Stefan Shih, my partner in crosstalk.

Written by Jeremy Sing

There is always a special sense of nostalgia whenever I stop to pay attention to the thunder that signals an impending downpour. I could almost say it is a universal feeling. And somehow, the thunder really mattered more to our lives as children. It made us shudder as toddlers. It meant a boring weekend at home having no control over our family's program. In school, it meant the cancellation of our school excursion. As adults, that thunder loses its resonance gradually. But so do the people in our lives who were intertwined with those moments, your parents, your siblings, your classmates, you school-bus mates.

This is an integral motif to Royston Tan's `After The Rain'. It is about a boy whose family relocates from a Kampung to a HDB flat in the 1970s. It reinforces a shared army experience between father and son. Manifested in idyllic and intimate visuals and backed up by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (not sure how they pulled the strings!), it is a glossy showpiece that borders on looking like an extended commercial for the army. And I was not wrong. For the diluted artistry and dramatic cliches in the film, I really thought Royston's lost his bite. But when the Army Museum logo manifested in the end credits, all was safe!

Panorama Crosstalk #6

Jeremy (J) : Royston always has a knack for selecting pretty faces for kampung kids.
S : Too clean looking for starters. (Beat) Then again it's Singapore, we have clean and green environments, even for kampungs.
J : I watched `Flower in the Pocket’, those were the real kampung kids! Scruffy and creatively naughty.
S : Maybe because they still exist.
J : Felt any `thunder’ you felt in `Rain'?
S : Nope. In fact I didn't know where it was going. Like a tale of 2 halves… and I can't really feel the connection... For sure we can SEE the connection, but can't feel a thing for it.
J : That's my biggest question for you actually. Cos it was done with SO MUCH FLAIR and yet it was so dry in the poignancy it was trying to create.
S : Probably the clue is in the credits.
J : The Army Museum logo.
S : However, I read somewhere that the powers that be did not interfere with the creative process though.
J : Ouch!
S : I preferred the father-son tale told in Royston's Sons to this.
J : I felt it was hard to decide whether the changing of the times (two eras of army) was the focus or the father-son relationship (which was poorly dealt with and it also used many cliches).
S : Well, we didn't see much of the earlier army era, except for the temasek green uniform. Felt the latter shots can qualify for army recruitment advertisements.
J : True. (pause) Hey Stefan, you hear something?
S : No.
J : Press your face next to my chest.
S : Oh ya. I hear something.

J : It's time for lunch.

The only other place to catch this short film perenially is the Singapore Army Musuem.

Written by Jeremy Sing

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