Archive for February 2009

Junior colleges seem to be the last bastian of idealism for Singaporeans who go through this particular academic route. Debates of a socio-political nature are common in the school canteen among acne-stricken teens in uniforms. Then, we are not entirely sure if its national service or entering the working world, we lose our appetite for questioning and unearthing puzzles in our life unless they are absolutely crucial. I think it is fatigue.

So rightfully, the JC coumpound is where the story begins. 2 boys finish their exams and are about face the next chapter of their lives. One has to enlist first because he did not make the mark for his physical fitness test. The other has a little more time to deal with the transition. So they talk about it. For the length of their conversation, we are often sedentary observers who try to keep pace with the intensity of thier abhorence of national service. Very little moves beyond their talking heads except for some cutaways. Inevitably, it reinforces the esoterism of their banter, making them appear a tad immature. Which makes me question if the filmmaker meant to question national service or is this a set-up for a reversal in the boy's attitude later in the film.

I would deem this film a mind journey. Many of the events that occur to the lead are there to steer his thoughts in certain directions. The treatment leaves much to be worked on because very often instead of letting the events or emotions speak for themselves, they are verbalised to him. The characters speak out the issues for him and perhaps for us to ponder.

First there was that friend who enlisted earlier. In reaction to his sympathetic well-wishes to his friend slights it, explaining that by being dampened by enlistment, he becomes victim to the system. Weeks later, upon meeting up, his friend shares that he chooses to hang out more instead of resting at home in order not to 'lose' any more hours to national service. Then at church, he faces an opposing view from a charismatic group leader. In rehearsing for a play, his mates counsel him (which i found a little odd), but it is the leader's words that had the most resonance. Then back home, he has a doting mother and a more composed father who chooses not to intervene. While I reckoned the parents' views matter marginally to the boy, the mum turned out to be a more significant voice than I thought in his mental sphere. When she catches the boy alone, she treads the fine line between baby-sitting him and flirting with him. So while all that she says is consequential, she does say something important towards the end of the film.

However, the voice that cuts most deeply seems to be that of the female schoolmate who rejected his pursuit. She epitomises a JC prototype, the intellectual, conscientious straight As Arts/Humanities Stream student who could possibly be the object of many boys' affections. She even has that typical JC scrungee on her hair. She didn't have to say very much but the grounds of her rejection of his love thwarts his thoughts about national service in an oblique way. Basically she wants a partner who chases, who protects, and who also probably fits well into the camouflage-green overalls.

Effectively, The Olive Depression seems to work better as a video essay. Characters and events are planted and removed like points deliberated in an essay. They don't weave in and out like how many things in life unfold. The points made do hit it on the nail and it has dissected so many thoughts and feelings so well. But the point of view is adolescent. In other words, to an adult audience, it could be narrative extension of a whine.

However, under a benign drizzle and amidst lush greenery in the camp, the film manages to end on a thoughtful and ambiguous note. There is even a little humour added when the sergeants take the parents on a euphemistic tour of the living quarters. Then quietly at a cookhouse bench, our leading boy ponders over a hundred things, not least of all, what his mother said,' You can think anything you want, just keep it to yourself'.

The Olive Depression is now showing at Sinema Old School.

Written by Jeremy Sing

For the past 20 years, old man Leong has been an ice-cream vendor plying his trade on the streets on Singapore. With his grand-daughter in tow, we begin to understand and experience in Singapore through the life of an ice-cream man. This is Kelvin Ke's latest short film - The Ice Cream Man. This film is photographed by Tay Yuxian from NTU, ADM and produced by Kwan Adelene and Gabrielle Seet.

Jeremy (J): What kind of film is the Ice Cream man (as in genre)?
Kelvin (K): It is a dramedy.
J : Your inspiration for it?
K : The character is based on a true life interview with a ice-cream vendor. From a simple act of wanting to buy a ice-cream cone turned into a four hour chat with the man. However the film isn't a biography about the man, but a capture of how this man of the street (literally) goes about his business selling a product.

J : Oh interesting. (beat) What made you want to capture this angle of it?
K : It started out as just a chat...a conversation between the two of us. And as months went on, the idea of this man and his attitudes towards life and work, and being in Singapore…it kept floating around somewhere in my head…and I decided to do something about it. (pause)

I thought it would be great to be able to honour hardworking, everyday people like him. In fact, if one were to recollect, ice-cream man, the 'Mama' stall owners, Game shop Uncles, Kopitiam Aunties, ordinary people with seemingly unimportance occupations actually formed a huge part of the growing up process. And it would be good if one were to say honour people like that once in while…on another level though...

J : In what way did you try to 'honour' what he does? As in what was the angle you took?
K : First of all, i wasn't going to try to create drama or something heartlander conflict but rather put forth as much of the real ice-cream man's attitudes in the film. Namely, he was proud of what he was doing, or rather he took pride in what he do. It is a great insight into a man, or rather into 'this' particular man. He was dirty(still had eye-dirt) in his eyes, reticent and slight drunk during our conversation. Uncle Leong was such a cool character that he allowed us to stay with him as he served melting customers under the Singapore sun. He is a bachelor living in a one room apartment. He drinks and smokes everyday. He wakes up at 11am.

J : Where is this ice cream man?

K : You mean, where he works?
J : Yes.
K : Uncle Leong works in Orchard. He is about in his sixties. He is a bachelor living in a one room apartment. He drinks and smokes everyday. He wakes up at 11am everyday and make his way down to Orchard Road to hawk his ice-cream. He is cool about competitors cutting into his space.
J : It sounds like it was easy to get him to agree to be featured?
K : Well, its a film actually, its a narractive or sorts. So Uncle Leong isn't in the film. He is played by another actor. The film isn't a documentary or a narractive film but a mixed between a visual essay and a story about this man.
J : That's novel.

K : Its not really actually...I borrowed the idea from Chris Marker - a noted and famous film artist in the 60s haha. He made La Jetee and San Soleil. I just thought I wanted to do something that i wouldn't normally attempt which is try to create essay film...not that I will succeed..but we'll have to see how things goes. So in a small way, its stretch personally for me...and I just really hope that people, when they watch it, they will like the film and hopefully they can look at working class people from another angle. They don't have to be always depressed. They don't have to be always unsatisfied with their lives. (pause) and I wanted to show a side of a character that is more optimistic and yet resolved in his attitudes towards life.

J : How did you prepare the actor? Did he have to understudy Uncle Leong for sometime?
K : Well, unfortunately, my producer, Kwan Adelene and I wanted to get Uncle Leong to participate in the film...However we tried calling his handphone number...we couldn't get through. So what happened was that...the actor Simon Ho, went through the job with another ice-cream man who we engaged to help in the film for prep work...the actor was in the same age group as Uncle Leong, so in terms of the mentality, the physical tiredness and energy, the idea that you got to take pride in your work, and how you can affect people, and how the simpliest thing in the world can actually mean a lot. (pause) I had also written a few articles on my interview with Uncle Leong, which I posted up on my website and I gave the actors to read and understand where i was coming from, who the man is and what sort of life he was living…and Simon came up with a lot of his own ideas and we try to incoporate them into the film.

Written by Jeremy Sing

Szu Kiong is one of the most prolific new independent filmmakers in the scene. Looking at his recent production, he seems to have drifted away from his initial experimentations to something quite upscale. His recent production 'The Triump' was shot using the Red camera. And it features a coolie, a trishaw, some cheongsams, a teahouse and several pistols!

Jeremy (J): Could you tell me what your story is about?
Szu Kiong (S): A student works in a tea house as a signer frequented by gangsters. She has a secret hobby, that is to collect the luacky charms of the gangsters. Just want to add also that this film is in Mandarin and was entirely shot using "Red" camera. Principal photography was done on 31st October 2008 and 1st November 2008. We are currently in post-production.
J : So I see from the pics that it is a rather big production

S : Yeah, it's SFC supported with quite a big sum

J : Wow. Is it a short film grant? or a special grant?

S : It's a short film grant...

J : I seee

S : The title 'The Triumph' reflects her triumph over the gangsters whom she despises very much.

J : What kind of triumph is it?

S : Her happiness when she successfully gets her price from them... you have to watch to see what kind of triumph I actually mean.

J : What inspired you to write this story? By the way, I have actually seen your other shorts before....quite spiritual.

S : Yeah... my short films usually have Buddhas or other gods or fairies. but in this 3rd short film of mine it's not going to be like 'My Keys', having the Goddess of Mercy appearing... there'll be something that's related to Buddha too. I can't give away too much, ya. (pause) This story is written after I visited the last village in singapore and I thought to myself it's a great location for filming something. I love period drama. I like film noir with femme fatale. but i want my femme fatale to triumph over the gansgter world.

J : Where is it?

S : It's somewhere in Hougang and Seng Kang area. that place is extremely nostalgic. I stay in rural area in malaysia and so I am quite touched by the nostalgia there.

J : Ah bingo!!

J : Just side tracking a little. I am just curious. Why are you inspired by these religious elements and deities?

S : I am a buddhist. I enjoy films with deities when I was a child. and when I was a child I am exposed to things like mediums and talismans.

J : I can imagine...I used ot watch loads of HK tv drama serials about gods and deities.

S : I also love classical Hollywood films. so in terms of style, I guess I am influenced by classical style of hollywood

J : Did u really shoot 2 days? Seems very arduous.

S: Well, the preparation took 3 to 4 months... we placed much emphasis on the preparation of props, costumes.

J : It is very evident.... I take my hat off to u for the mammoth effort!

S : Haha....thanks... fyi, SFC just granted me my 4th short film. genre is of wuxia (swordfighting but with other kinds of weapons, not swords) It's called The Forest Spirits. And I will shoot in May this year.

J : Lastly, anything you feel you do differently from other directors? Or what do u think makes u unique?

S : I think my stories are quite unique. I dun think I can make a good arthouse filmmaker. so I just stick to using very unique stories but deliver them using classical style. Kelvin sng says my films feel "zen". and so I shall stick to this as my unique character.

Written by Jeremy Sing

I watched Salawati one and a half times. Once at the Berlin Asian Hot Shots Festival and once at home on dvd. I was told the berlin screening was a littled watered down in terms of colour due to poor projection. So in fact, watching the dvd felt like a good post-mortem, which gave me the chance to appreciate the simple wisdoms and progression of the story.

Salawati is the name of a young Malay girl who lost her brother to the Kallang river. She is central to the film because her journey of coming to terms with the death is the film's journey. And in this journey, she relates to 2 other characters, related to the incident. One is a Chinese and the other Indian. Sometimes trespassing into a '12 Storeys' territory, the film portrays the parallel existence of 3 separate lives. Each are bound by a state of helplessness amidst social pressure. Like a complement to the subject matter, the colour palette of visuals seem bathed in somekind of a Formaldehyde greenish-grey overtone. This makes it sometimes a challenging film to watch but a little patience will pay off as I discovered how the storyteller in Mark, the director, wielded his craft quite gracefully.

The film wafts its way into your consciousness with the natural and effortless treatment of the scene. Right from the start, the details of the boy's demise are not clearly established. Hints are dropped but never enough to form an overall picture. They only serve to lead you on wondering further. Yet, along the way, when clues are broken, they add on to your sub-conscious understanding without screaming the words 'plot development'. In fact, the full details of his death are withheld right till the final portion of the film.

While the 3-races set up seems a little contrived, there is much license for that because this was based on a true incident. For many Singaporeans, the biggest surprise would be how an American director (Mark Grigoroff) managed to get his actors to deliver such convincing performances in their mother tongue. Despite the vernacular barrier, it was easy to tell that the actors were very much in their element and comfortable with the director. Perhaps the weakest link was the Chinese story in which the workaholic character bordered on becoming a caricature. Amidst the acting cliches in the character, there was still one saving grace - when he practised his sales pitch to the office chair.

Also quite glaring in the film is the portrayal of Singapore as a very straight-jacketed, stiff and humourless society. In the scenes at Salawati's home, her father's brooding presence apprehends the women in the house. And behind all this, a kind of religious puritanism. In the scenes with the insurance salesman, the intensity in his eyes are unnerving and foreboding of something disastrous to happen. In the bar scene with the Indian motocyclist and his beer mates, a raunchy joke bounces off an intolerant mind and results in a little but fierce scuffle. And to rub salt on open wounds, after living under so much pressure, you may even die from cancer.

This is why I like the slightly happy (though ambiguous) ending to the film. The Indian guy who had an accident later in the film recovers from his injury (maybe a little help from a little 'Ganesha' idol sitting next to the hospital bed). The Chinese man bags the best employee award and earns S$15,000. On the flip side, we are not sure what happened to his son (will not spoil the film). Finally, Salawati's father slowly grows to accept his daughter's way of coping with the incident while on the other hand, Salawati finds her way out of her emotional tunnel in a way that could be partly religious, partly secular.

Written by Jeremy Sing

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