一人一半，感情不散...........
i cannot shake off the melody of this beautifully arranged and written song from Royston Tan's latest movie 881.
881 is Royston's effort in capturing the life of getai (歌台) singers, and getai being a very Singapore thing, i therefore expected a very Singapore film.
and i was not disappointed.
it is a very Singapore film and i love his cinematic eye for local movies. Unlike another local movie maker 梁志强 whose local flavour is very much restricted to a very tv style. In Royston movie, u don't hv a feeeling u are watching a telemovie. It is not easy bcos he started with short films and some people juz get stucked doing short films and cant move on.
but having said all these, i am disappointed with the weak story line. It could hv been a very moving story. Imagine how colourful the lives of these people can be. But the characters in the movie are not fully flesh out and i suspect it's the director's fault - since he also wrote the story.
there is not enough said abt their inner emotions, why they love the geitai so much and most redundant of all is the mute character and his bird. Really, except for the silly jokes made abt him & his 'bird', i cant see why the guy kept his pet. It didnt help when the actor playing the mute guy looked and acted, well, dumb. Hey u think it's easy playing non speaking roles? Tony Leong Chiu Wai was made to play a mute in Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien's City of Sadness bcos his mandarin was so bad, the director couldnt take it! But Tony Leong, oh how should someone describe those soulful eyes, speaking to the audience in words and volume much better than spoken lines! (no, i am not comparing him to Tony, it will be very unfair to him. they are not in the same league.)
and the magic realism part didnt work either, too thin a spread, it's a very weak attempt.
but i really love the sound track, it is the best sound track from a local movie. Really wish i could get my hands on the CD if there is any.
and the costumes! my oh my they are so wonderfully loud and riotously imaginative i want to be wearing them too!!! Wondered whether they were all newly designed or modified from existing ones owned by the real singers. Anyways, kudos to the costume designer.
and all Singaporeans should watch the movie once.
Papaya 万岁！
3 comments:
I watched 881 too, and loved it.
Although the storyline is thin, main characters' lives not fully flashed out and some of the jump from real life to fantasy-like wayang singing seems strange, I still applaud the film because it is different!
I applaud the director's imagination, the actresses' dare to be fun attitude and the producer's gut.
Let me repeat after you - "everyone should go watch 881!"
is it in the theatres or on DVD already? I realise now that we are living overseas, it's become even more exciting to watch local or homemade movies/dramas..maybe for the nostalgia..wah, your name on some walk of fame somewhere? cool!
it's in spore theatres but i suspect will be in dvd later. the sound track got sold out!
when u come back should be still showing leh.
aiayh my friend created the stars from facebook but dont ask me how
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