Moe No Suzaku: again

Moe No Suzaku is one of the timeless films that brings on different experiences everytime I rewatch it. It is such a sincerely genuine little jewel that I am completely overwhelmed in my second time watching. It made me tear lightly, in my heart a little, and in my eyes a little. I remembered my childhood while watching the movie, I remembered the sound of wind chimes blowing lightly in the breeze, I remembered the sounds of forest while hiking through Pulau Ubin with my JC friends, I remembered that I was once a 5 year old boy fascinated at everything around him.

Naomi Kawase, in her first feature film had brought to cinema history, a timeless classic that will be grows better over time, even when the film had faded, even when our memories are not so good. We still remember these little things that scatter over our hearts, like tiny petals.

Review of Clouds in a Shell by Jeremy Sing

The review is extracted from Jeremy’s Sindie blog:

http://sindieonly.blogspot.com/2008/04/siff-singapore-shorts-showcase-3.html

One should look at this film like a feature length film due to its lingering takes on many scenes. Otherwise, you may start checking your watch. Clouds In The Shell is story of 2 characters who live next to each other and are `orphaned’ by their circumstances. One is a girl who is a real orphan and is adopted by a woman who can never see her as blood-kin. The other is a National Serviceman who books out but cannot get home because he did not have his keys and his mum seems to have gone away (perhaps a holiday). Turned off her foster mother’s insensitive treatment of her, she dreads coming home. She takes a directionless walk around the HDB estate to dissipate her angst but does return in the end. She fishes out photos of the deceased real daughter helplessly studies the photo in envy and resentment. NS boy had a bad week in camp and is dealing with the double whammy of being locked out. Driven by his angst, he decides to AWOL (not turn up at camp). In reaction, his outraged buddy tries to shake the sensibilities out of him reminding him of the detention consequences of going AWOL. Then, a quiet resolution closes this chapter for both characters – a simple dinner, a Asian sanctuary for normalizing feelings. Army boy comes to his senses and sets a time to return to camp. Orphan girl’s succumbs to her feelings of gratitude with tears.

Peeving its contrived `Tarkovsky-an’ track shots and pockets of deliberateness in its visual signaling of the issues, the film still had a really weird and haunting effect on me. This is why I leave my last comment as one on the characterization. They are both well-thought characters with their contradictions and internal struggles made vivid enough to live in my memory.
JS

Dardenne Brothers: Le Promesse

I remember the first time I watched Le Promesse, it was in the form of a series of segments which my directing teacher Hakim Belabbes showed in class. He showed two scenes, the scene where the Roger is finishing Igor’s tattoo after hitting him in the house for lying to him. Hakim then screened the last shot of the movie, the powerful moment of truth when Igor revealed to Assita the death of Amidou, and then the haunting shot of the them walking down the underpass. The silence hurts the ears, the truth digs deep into the wounds, I must say that it was so evocative that I very compelled to write this review immediately after I finish the movie.

Before “Le Promesse”, I’ve watched “L’Enfant” and “The Son”, both of which are brilliant films littered with the trademark handheld aesthetic of the Dardenne brothers. The truth is that by using this handheld camera work, they had certainly made the audience follow the protagonists like a shadow, quietly witnessing the brutally naked events that unfold before their eyes. I really admire their filmmaking, and on this note, I certainly look forward to getting hold of a copy of “Rosetta”, their other film which I have not watched.

Hou Hsiao Hsien – 童年往事 (A time to live, a time to die)

A time to live, a time to die is definitely by all means a Hou Hsiao Hsien classic, littered with his signature static shots, and splendid performance by a cast that do not look like they are acting at all. One thing I had always wondered about movies, is that the titles sometimes do not directly translate, when comparing the original title with the English title. In this case, the original title “童年往事“ refers to childhood, days gone by, growing up. It has a strong nostalgic sense to it, justified strongly by the opening of the movie where a male voice over of the protagonist, Ah Hao, when he is an adult. The rest of the film traces a realistically protrayed family drama spanning over a period of twenty or so years. As Ah Hao grew up, he watches as his father, mother and grandmother passes away one after the other because of various circumstances; he also experiences learning ball juggling from his grandmother, joining a street gang in his highschool years and his eventual responsibility as the eldest son of the family.

The English title of the film in turn suggests what I can refer to as a summary of the essence of the film. It refers explicitly to the scriptural text in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Hou hsiao hsien is a master storyteller paradoxically because there is almost no “plot development” or so to speak in the film. He presents a very real image of what life is like in post-war Taiwan, subtly hinting a historical and political issues at that time, yet not neglecting the most simple moments of everyday life. What we receive in the end is a journey walking us through the experiences of mourning and happiness, of searching and receiving, of loss and gain. It is so true to the heart, that perhaps, it is up to the individual to really experience the film in a personal way.

Mysterious Object at Noon

Mysterious object at Noon is a fascinating film that negotiates the thin line between documentary and fiction. As filmmaker Apitchatpong employs the surrealist technique of storytelling in the moving image, he follows the stories told from the mouths and hands of school children, rural villagers, performance troupes, deaf students, etc. As the story pieces together bit by bit, what emerged was a rather nonsensical and absurd story of a crippled boy fighting with aliens born out of a mysterious object that fell out of his teacher. Yet as weird as it may be, it reveals underlying archetypes that comes through to be what is inherently true and real about the Thai culture – through the fascinating imagination of these random storytellers.

As a someone who had seen and liked the later works of Apitchatpong, such as “Blissfully yours”, “Tropical Malady” and “Syndromes and a Century” which were all masterpieces in contemporary cinema, I can truly see how certain thematics and stylistic qualities are being developed and carried through, stemming from this first feature film. The highly grainy film (which I suspect to be 16mm reversal film stock), also gave the movie a characteristic feel and look to it, which as rustic as it may be, only sought to gave a timeless, nostalgic pre-digital quality that reminds me of the century gone by.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan: Clouds of May

I watched “Clouds of May” with much anticipation, having been a fan of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s later works such as “Uzak” and “Climates”. I must say that this film never disappoints me; it is a beautiful portrait of a rural Turkish community – a filmmaker returns to his hometown to make a film with his parents and friends as the cast; yet just as he was engaged with the desire to capture his perception of the life of people in this small town, he missed out in the most important things. I think that the simplicity of the stories scattered throughout the film captivates me most: a kid had a wager with his parents, to keep an egg with him for 40 days and not to break it; a paranoid old man obsessed with keeping his rights to the land he had been living and cultivating; a young man whose only thoughts are to escape from the rural area and work in Istanbul.

The universality of these stories really made me connect to many personal memories and stories in my life growing up as a kid and becoming a young adult. All these stories were told with arresting imageries of the rural landscape, and finally the way the films end is simply poetic – the sun rising and engulfing the sight of the old man.

5th Singapore Short Cuts – Clouds in a Shell screening

5th Singapore Short Cuts
Co-presented by National Museum of Singapore, The Substation and the Singapore Film Commission
A programme of the National Museum Cinémathèque
Saturday 12, 19, 26 July and 2 August 2008
Free admission with tickets

In its fifth edition year, Singapore Short Cuts is one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore.

This year’s programme features new short films by acclaimed local filmmakers such as Kirsten Tan (Come), K. Rajagopal (The New World), Anthony Chen (Haze), and Boo Junfeng (Bedok Jetty) as well as premieres of outstanding work from new and upcoming filmmakers including Dreams of Youth by Daniel Hui and My Blue Heaven / 蓝蓝的天 by Yee-wei Chai.

In celebration of Singapore Short Cuts fifth year is a special screening on 12 July of some of the favourite Singapore Short Cuts films over the years. All screenings will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers.

SCHEDULE

Sat 12 July
(2 pm) NC16, Duration 80 min

Lorong 27 by Kenny Tan
Pontianak by Raihan Harun
Lim Poh Huat by Lee Wong
Embryo by Loo Zihan
Zo Gang + Zo Hee by Jacen Tan

Sat 19 July
(2 pm) R21, Duration 75:25 min

Wet Season / 水枪 by Michael Tay
Reflections by Ho Tzu Nyen
The New World by K. Rajagopal
My Blue Heaven / 蓝蓝的天 by Yee-wei Chai
Dreams of Youth by Daniel Hui

Sat 26 July
(2 pm) NC16, Duration 84 min

Twogether by Victric Thng
Bedok Jetty by Boo Junfeng
Caramel /黑默糖 by Kelvin Ke
Blank Rounds by Green Zeng
Speakers Cornered by Martyn See

Sat 2 August
(2 pm) R21, Duration 82:20 min

Four Dishes by Leon Cheo
Haze by Anthony Chen
Love through the Ages / 被 骗 by Wendy Chee
Come by Kirsten Tan
Clouds in a Shell / 壳里的云 by Liao Jiekai

TICKETING INFORMATION

Free tickets to the 5th Singapore Short Cuts can be collected at the National Museum of Singapore (Stamford Visitor Services Counter) on Saturday, a week before each weekend’s screening. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis, and limited to four per person. Any remaining tickets will be given out at the door on the screening day.

Sat 12 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 5 July)
Sat 19 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 12 July)
Sat 26 July screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 19 July)
Sat 2 August screening (Tickets for collection from Sat 26 July)

Stamford Visitor Services Counter (Level 1)
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897
10 am till 7.30 pm

For the latest ratings and more information about the 5th Singapore Short Cuts, please log on to www.nationalmuseum.sg, call 6332 4075 or email chua_li_koon@nhb.gov.sg

In Production! Relooking “Sand Wind and Dreams”

Still from rushes 001

I am currently working on my new film, a Halfelephant productions by the way :-p This film continued a more spontaneous way of working that I have been trying since “The Inner City”. It is a documentary about a previous film, “Sand Wind and Dreams” (SWD) which some have seen, some have not; about the relationship between Hiromi, the Lead actress in SWD and Hiroko, the role which Hiromi have played; about coming and going, states of sojourning and drifting.

Still from rushes 002

Productions continue as I held a couple of interviews with Hiromi, shot her in her dance class, and will be having a screening of SWD as part of the film shoot in the coming week. I think I’m thankful that I’m using a small handycam (Panasonic HDC-SD9) to make this film because of the convenience it had given me, both as a cameraman and a filmmaker. Being able to just switch on the camera in 1.5 seconds and start shooting is so important, especially when I’m so curious about everything that is happening during the interviews and shoots.

So, I hope that a rough cut can be assembled after next week, after which I will decide on what other footage I will need.

Jiekai

The Weeping Meadows

I remember after I first watched “Eternity and a Day”, it was one of those films where I just blanked out after watching, because it was simply oozing greatness. Like “Maborosi” and “Double life of Veronique”, “Eternity and a Day” was a film that I could not comprehend totally immediately, yet I fell in love with immensely. As such, “The Weeping Meadows” was a film of great anticipation for me. Indeed, after watching this epic of a film that was a mere first in a trilogy, I must admit that I was a little disappointed; yet every frame of this film screams of the signature of Theodoros Angelopulos: the powerful imageries that recalls only of Tarkovsky, the poetism that stages the film like a theater, the long and mesmerizing shots that drowns the audiences into the bleak Greek landscape that is as discolorized as all his films are.

Yet it was not a film without merits – in terms of story, it was an ambitious piece, to engage with the personal, the political, the historical, the mystical and the lyrical all within the same space is not an easy task, and Theodoros certainly did a good job in pulling the story together. I think that my disappointment lies in its failure to engage me deeply in a heartfelt way. I can never feel the same way towards Eleni, the female protagonist, as I felt towards Alexander in “Eternity and a Day” and the two children in “Landscape in the Mist”, perhaps this is a result of how in the second half of the film, the historical subtext completely overwhelms the film in a level that puts Eleni as a really small figure in the chart of tragedy. By saying this, I do not mean that Eleni’s plight was muted down in the film, but rather overshadowed by history and politics.

All in all, I recommend all to watch this film, the first of three. I certain look forward to part 2 of the trilogy, and hope that it will be rewarding as his previous films.

Moe No Suzaku

Moe No Suzaku, Naomi Kawase’s first feature film is lyrical and beautiful. I am very excited to be able to get hold of the DVD copy with chinese subtitles. The film is so different from her latest feature Mogari No Mori, which I saw at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam: it is a lot closer to the documentaries like Embracing and Katasumori which Kawase made in hear early years. I think the merits of the film lies in Kawase’s honesty towards her subjects and herself, which is really evident in the wonderful performances give by the cast, and also how she photographs the native people living in the region. I also enjoy a lot the Super8mm footage interspersed through the movie, it has a touching “family video” feel to it that adds a great deal more depth to the story.