i like motion pictures

okay what a mindfuck, this Unlucky Plaza. it starts slow and has its flaws when taken against Hollywood, but good films are a journey and this one keeps you glued. thriller, mystery, comedy, caper, noir, Western, farce, whodunit, story within story, social commentary, Tarantino -- what's in a genre? refreshingly layered for a local film, with nuances that put Jack Neo to shame. he won't smash the box office like Neo, but after The Blue Mansion, Kidnapper, Sex.Violence.FamilyValues and now this, Ken Kwek is one to watch.

Off Centre (The Studios: fifty)

for a lack of words: "Off Centre breaks your heart in several places and salts open wounds. Its characters are often frustrating. But you emerge from it with an enduring empathy for all humankind."

so far, 'The Studios: fifty' has been good albeit slightly artificial. but this, one of the best productions i've seen in a while. seamless, a near-perfect script, very well directed, very well acted, down to the smallest part.

Emily of Emerald Hill (The Studios: fifty)

so tragic, this Emily of Emerald Hill. karen tan, good with all the code switch, even better with the simplest, subtlest drop in register to shake the audience with her son's death; but she remains a motormouth at times. the symbolism of the final quilt, a life's work yet used in solitude. and the paradox of control, where the more one has of it, after a certain point one stops being indispensable. likewise, those without power are free. those who say the text is dated and has lost its relevance need only look at the debates of the last fortnight.

i like motion pictures

even by jack neo's standards, ABTM3 is an epic piece of trash. it has no dramatic structure, it has no flow, it has narcissistic acting, it rips off the original ABTM, it lets NDU down, and "product placement" is a very generous compliment. pockets of humour are no redemption.

Oscars 2015 predictions

Birdman, Boyhood too close to call, while Selma, Whiplash deserve special mentions. Redmayne, Moore, Simmons for me. Whiplash, Inherent Vice, Nightcrawler and Birdman are probably the best screenplays. I hope Birdman doesn't get cinematography even though it's really wow.

i like motion pictures

superb Eddie Redmayne, not-so-superb film. five-star love story, one-star science story. less a tearjerking Bang than a cruel motor-neuron disease that slowly eats at you and fills you with sadness. pity for the excellent Felicity Jones, who pales in comparison. i also hope it's a reminder that the Big Bang Theory is not just an American sitcom.

i like motion pictures

polarising film. visually, aurally the standard bearer, thematically heavy and assured, but smacks too much of 'science geek' (albeit very, very good science). Nolan has astronomical imagination and intelligence, but this film is hampered by its writing, from character to dialogue, and with its attempts at heart smothered by science. the fact i wished it's shorter when objectively it should be longer says a little about Nolan's pacing and control of his material. also i'm sharing this article (The 7 biggest problems with “Interstellar”) cos it's so damn hilarious.

i like motion pictures

"Everything is a performance, everyone pretending to be something they are not, editing and rewriting themselves for the public – and for one another." (The Guardian)

watch Fincher if you wanna understand what people mean by auteurs. the stamp of his art embodies the film. this is Mr & Mrs Smith in Fincher's misanthropic style. constantly baiting and duping. beneath the fiction, a study on relationships, gender-based violence, and the media. not to mention that score - delicious. pity it was classic Fincher two-thirds the way, then went downhill.

i like motion pictures

《等一个人咖啡》. 第一念头一定是能否跳出《那些年》的影子. 不是高期望就是没期望.

《等一个人咖啡》. 无厘头 天马行空 乱七八糟. yet thoroughly disguised with twists and clues, peppered with baits and references.

《那些年》谈的是错过, 《等一个人》谈的是等待. 别人叙述的爱情是主动, 它叙述的爱情是被动. 爱情不仅仅是追求.

怎么说它成功? 当陈妍希在片尾客串, 观众最疼, 最支持的还是思萤. 这一定是它成功的代表.

Nanjing 2014 Young Ambassadors' Seminar

an exclusive customs counter. a hotel entourage of about 20 to receive us, including a guard of honour serving desserts and hot towels. too much. i felt bad for opening my own car door - hope i didn't get the suited man who rushed over in trouble. no Facebook in China. lunch with Vincent Defrasne. invited to an IOC-NYOGOC technical meeting. communicated to them that the Games news service shall have editorial independence and not be censored. conducted media training for 104 Young Ambassadors. helped screen the final two Nanjing 2014 Young Reporters. bumped into Gilbert Felli in the lift. earned mentions in the Chefs de Mission seminar and IOC Coordination Commission meeting. too pampered. addressed as 陈先生 everywhere in the hotel and served daily by visiting Capella Singapore restaurant staff. what was supposed to be a week-long assignment turned out to be one of my best experiences. shoutout to the IOC YOG CEP team, NYOGOC, Xinhua, Han Yue Lou Hotel and all the Young Ambassadors. how to adjust back to reality?

i like motion pictures

12 years a slave portrays a dark period of American history, has gorgeous shots, and has strong backing - all ingredients for success tonight. but even if it wins the statuette, Gravity was the best film of the year. because it achieved what filmmaking should - it constructed an unusual premise and surprised.

Olympic Record

has to be a personal record.

my flash quotes of luge gold medallists Tobias Wendl and Tobias Alrt were out 18mins after the medal alert. between them winning and reaching the mixed zone, they still had a podium ceremony. my quotes were filed before they were halfway through the broadcast pen, before they reached the wire agencies and the rest of the German media.

so, i've come a long way since the days i was told i was too slow.

我在最好的时候遇到你

宫二： 你在台下，我唱你看。想想那样的相遇，也怪有意思的。

叶问： 我怕到时候一票难求啊。

宫二： 您真捧场。你看戏，我送票。

叶问： 其实人生如戏。这几年，宫先生文戏武唱，可是唱得有板有眼，功架十足。可惜，就差个转身。

宫二： 想不到你把我当戏看。我的戏，不管人家喝不喝彩，也只能这样下去了。今晚请您出来，也是想把该了的事了一了，该说的话说一说。

叶问： 宫先生要出门？

宫二： 在北方有句老话：人不辞路，虎不辞山。这些年，我们都是他乡之人。我是真的累了，想回老家。临走前，有样东西要还给您。

六十四手，我已经忘 了。我在最好的时候遇到你，是我的运气。可惜我没时间了。想想说人生无悔，都是赌气的话。人生若无悔，那该多无趣啊。

叶先生，说句真心话，我心里有过你。 我把这话告诉你也没什么。喜欢人不犯法，可我也只能到喜欢为止了。这些话我没对谁说过，今晚见了你，不知道为什么就都说出来了。就让你我的恩怨像盘棋一 样，保留在那儿。你多保重。

叶问： 人生如棋，落子无悔。我们之间本来就没恩怨。有的只是一段缘分。你爹讲过，念念不忘，必有回响，有灯就有人。希望有一日，我可以再见宫家六十四手。
　　
宫二： 我爹常说，习武之人有三个阶段：见自己，见天地，见众生。我见过自己，也算见过天地，可惜见不到众生。这条路我没走完，希望你能把它走下去。

i like motion pictures

i went in assuming what many would - That Girl in Pinafore is a rip-off of 那些年，我们一起追的女孩.

i came out thinking: it probably is, but by looking past the obvious flaws, it's also a film with a lot of heart, and one that surely strikes closer to home than 那些年.


this post may be titled as such, but it's in fact less about a movie than about our way of life, the Singapore story. what do you remember about the 90s? whether you know it or not, Xinyao probably played some part in your story.

make no mistake, there's lots of shortcomings in this film. for a film, being called "lame" is probably one of the biggest insults. at the top of my list, the direction too is mediocre. yet you get a sense that Chai Yee Wei still might be the best person to lead the project. after all, i read the director's a huge Xinyao fan.

direction aside, his screenplay is commendable - or, using my synonym, unbelievable. how so? it's quite impressive how Chai squeezed so many nuggets of 90s life in. i can't say i relate completely to that period but since those that struck a chord were already quite awesome, i can't imagine how it is for someone who can relate completely.

the schooling days (surely more so than 那些年), the lingo (how every generation of youths speak differently), taking one too many buses (before the advent of map apps and gothere), phone calls (the landline sort) and boy-girl banter... so on and so forth.

the dark underbelly received airtime too - the strict, ambitious parent preaching an "English education", and underlying, passive racism, for instance.

and talking about Xinyao, that's where Chai (and Liang Wern Fook without a doubt) really comes to the fore. i also can't say i know Xinyao well, yet the film, its music, and its soul genuinely moved me.

just like how i would discuss this film with anyone, the plot is rightfully secondary to what is essentially an homage to Xinyao.

one nuance: when May asks Jiaming if he's singing his love for her, he instead says he's singing about the coconuts. as a student of Literature, i was completely blown away. between the lines, Jiaming seems to nudge May. Xinyao itself was very much poetry, wasn't it? when the masters of that era saturated simple lyrics with such deep references. it can be about coconuts, while it also can be about my love for you. by doing this Xinyao also captures, as it always does, an idiosyncrasy of that Singapore, when overt affection wasn't common.

what's not a nuance, at least judging from the moviegoers' reaction, was the turn of the plot and the lack of a happy ending.

i thought it's so apt, entirely consistent with Xinyao's DNA. Xinyao sings of a generation, of ideals balanced with reality. Xinyao is optimistic, but it's also life, and not all stories have a happy ending. its optimism celebrates the generation and life.

拍的是爱情 与友情 讲的是新谣. 新谣唱的是人生 而人生就是有起有落. 它唱的年代和理想 你怎么把握 只有今天的你知道. 新谣从未追求天长地久 只祝福你珍惜曾经拥有. 这应该就是细水长流的意思吧.

my final thought: there are great films that you can watch many times. and there are bad movies that you watch just once. then there are the rare films you can also only watch once - for the right reasons.

我身旁 我朋友

很奇妙地 你那天再次坐上我车 我旁边

好奇怪的感觉

那 又陌生 又熟悉

原来已经三年了

还能谈大家的感情事 你真的是和我散得最好的情人

虽然这让我感到更亏欠 但我也很珍惜现在的你