Make a whole new religion

If you are serious about upholding the spirit of Transformers and you're fussy like me when it comes to film making, you'll agree with me that Transformers 2 sucks.

Labels: Films

Aachi & Ssipak

Wildly inventive and irreverent, this superb Korean animation is destined for cult status. The hilarious story is set in the future where the world's energy sources have run out. Consequently, human faeces have to be used as fuel for engines. Each time a person defecates, his government would reward him with an addictive drug-like candy known as the Juicy Bar, which soon becomes the root of crime and warfare. Absolutely wacky and unforgettable and a sure sign that Korean animation has arrived.

Director: Joe Bum-jin
Country: Korea
Duration: 90min
Year: 2006
Rating: M18
29/04/2007 11:00 Lido 3



The Boss of It All

The master of Dogme returns with a black comic form of his early days. Ravn, the owner of an IT firm, wants to sell out. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a non-existent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face, the owner has to take on Kristoffer, a failed actor, to play the part. The actor suddenly discovers he is a pawn in a game that goes on to sorely test his (lack of) moral fibre.

Director: Lars Von Trier
Country: Denmark
Duration: 100min
Year: 2006
Rating: M18
29/04/2007 19:00 Lido 3


quick links:
20th Singapore Film Festival

Sistic

Labels: Films

Tower of Babel
According to the narrative in Genesis Chapter 11 of the Bible, the Tower of Babel was a tower built by a unite humanity to reach the heavens. God, observing the unity of humanity in the construction, resolves to destroy the tower and confuse the previously uniform language of humanity, thereby preventing any such future efforts.

The story is found in Genesis 11:1-9 as follows:

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel (confusion); because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Babel (2006)

In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out--detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo. Separated by clashing cultures and sprawling distances, each of these four disparate groups of people are nevertheless hurtling towards a shared destiny of isolation and grief. In the course of just a few days, they will each face the dizzying sensation of becoming profoundly lost--lost in the desert, lost to the world, lost to themselves--as they are pushed to the farthest edges of confusion and fear as well as to the very depths of connection and love.

HG2G
The Babel fish is a fictional species of fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, that can instantly translate any language to any other language. It is described thus:

“ The Babel fish is small, yellow and leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish. ”


We all try to communicate in our own ways.
And maybe my wanting to be a director has nothing to do with my interests.
It's just my desire to communicate my feelings.
So is the function of this blog.

I enjoyed the film a lot.
But since you can't understand what I feel, the next best alternative is to watch the film yourself.

Labels: Films

Helmed by acclaimed director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer), this film tells the story of a bond that develops between Jun (Ryuhei Matsuda, Cutie Honey) and Shiro (Masanobu Ando, Black Kiss), two inmates of a juvenile hall - and the tragedy that comes from it.

I searched for a while to find a good sypnosis. And the above is it. The director didn't choose to depict the love between the two characters in the way we are used to seeing. And if you are thinking about Big Bang Love Titanic style.. (or whatever), you will probably hate the film.
But has its Bang in its way..

I do enjoy the film, though I did not understand it fully.
Maybe it wasn't meant to be.

I particularly love the one scene when the two characters are talking about their life path.
It goes something like this:
Jun: Where will you choose to go? To heaven or into space?
Shiro: Space.
Jun: Why?
Shiro: It's less crowded, I guess. What about you? Where do you want to go?
Jun: Into space, maybe..
Shiro: Be honest.
Jun: Maybe to heaven..
Shiro: Ah.. That's why..
Jun: Maybe you will see aliens in outer space.
Shiro: maybe..
Jun: Don't you believe there is afterlife?
Shiro: Well, if there is, there is. If there is not, there will not.
Jun: What about ghosts?
Shiro: You must be joking..
Jun: hmm.. Do you mind if I follow you to where you are going?
Shiro: To where?

I'm sure I left out some lines from the real script. But I do love how it layered the relationship and added so much emotions in just these few lines.

I also learnt a few technical things from the film.
The editing.
The direction.
The sound and music arrangement.

To be honest, if you are not art film fan, save your money.
If you do not take joy in the technical side of film, you will not enjoy it as much.

There is more than one way to enjoy a film.
Just like in the film, there is more than one way to love somebody..

Labels: Films, Thoughts

Here's the site to my film class.
I hate my film but I have to face the music.

It's called Along.

ADM Website

Enjoy some fine films done by my friends though.
I promise I'll work harder.

Labels: Films

Nine Emotions
Shot during the Koovagam festival in Villipuram, Tamil Nadu, the film tells the story of people belonging to the third gender (or Aravanis) who Hindus believe are the reincarnation of Lord Krishna. Seen through the innocent eyes of Sweta, a 13-year old girl, the film throws light on the mindset of such people, their agonies, and their ecstatic moments at Koovagam. Santosh Sivan takes you on a journey into the world of eunuchs. In Nine Emotions all the characters belonging to the third gender play themselves. The film has bagged several awards including the Public Award in the New Asian Cinema Section at the 11th Lyon Asian Film Festival.

Director: Santosh Sivan
Country: India
Duration: 95min
Year: 2005

~
What a great start. My first Film Festival Film is very nice. It took me almost 5minutes to find my seat. But it was worth it. Thanx to Winston! You got me a centre seat. hee
I liked how the film had introduced its main theme. The little girl, Sweta, had her first menstruation and the whole family celebrated her womanhood.

But how does a boy know when he will become a man?

The ending of the film really got to me. Sweta's uncle, who wants to live as a woman was driven out of the house. But he called a year later to say "Happy Birthday" to her. She asked him if he had found a job, but he only laughed. So Sweta ended by saying that she has hope for the future. And she knows that everything will be alright. But in the last scene, we found out that her uncle is still homeless (The third genders are rejected and no one will offer them a job or rent them a place to stay.)
Then it occurred to me that we are all like Sweta. So full of hope. Because the troubles are far away from us. Sometimes we are hopeful, other times we complain about our busy lives, or our inconsiderate friends, or our lack of sleep, or anything.

We sympathize with the homeless, or the people with kidney problems, or the
malnutrition children on TV. But once we switch the TV off, our lives are back
to normal.

I know we have our own problems. But if you can read this from where you are, I firmly think that you are lucky. Let's stop all our nonsense and start living.
Because there are many in the world who don't have this luxury.

_

_

Tori

Tori is the directorial debut of successful actor, musician and artist Tadanobu Asano. It is a visualisation of dreams through live action and animation in five seamless episodes. With Bird as a starting point, it spreads its wings and flies on and on, beyond time and space. In Sword Of Mind, a samurai’s sword keeps cutting people down against his will. ATO is a visual poem depicting graffiti art and skateboarders. In Eternal Duo, a comic duo is captivated by a beautiful living thing. In the last episode, or, a bird puts on the costume of a beast, and dances in the air.

Director: Tadanobu Asano
Country: Japan
Duration: 50min
Year: 2004


Sorano

Poet, artist, musician and cult actor-turned-director Tadanobu Asano concedes that life would be dull if he just acts in movies. This documentary analyses the processes and creative energy that compel him to visualize the sketchy images of his dreams into Tori: five distinct worlds of live action and animation. It discusses the joy and artistic freedom in filmmaking and suggests that the reserve in Japanese culture translates into an unusual freedom in the depiction of art.

Director: Nobutaka Yamaoka
Country: Japan
Duration: 80min
Year: 2005

~

Tori is a strange. Though I loved the comic duo and the last dance is beautiful. I like the lighting.
And the documentary Sorano had no subtitles. Too bad, cause it would have helped me understand Tori more.

_

Look Both Ways
Set over a hot weekend, seven people confront mortality as they try to deal with unexpected events. Nick, a reporter, was told he had cancer. He meets Meryl at the site of a train accident returning from a funeral. They develop a relationship and so does a host of other concentric stories, including a woman widowed by the train accident, the train driver, his family, Nick’s colleague Andy, and Nick’s family. A humorous look at death, interspersing live-action with animation, this is director/ animator Sarah Watt’s debut feature. Winner of five awards including Best Film and Best Director at the 2005 Australian Film Institute Awards.

Director: Sarah Watt
Country: Australia
Duration: 100min
Year: 2005

~
I was honestly hoping that this film will be dark and cruel. But it wasn't.
Same message about Death.
Live Life to the Fullest. Greet Life before you think about greeting Death.

I'm not saying that it's a bad message.
But I really want a cruel film about death.

Something like Dancer in the Dark. So cruel that it shocks you.
Not cruel because its characters are being tortured, but cruel because reality is not longer sugar coated like what we see in Hollywood movies.

_

Blue Cha Cha
With two love affairs gone awry, ex-prison mate Yu-hua seeks solace in a cabin overlooking the harbour. Director Cheng Wen-tang’s Blue Cha-Cha is a refreshing take on the resilience of the human spirit and explores the camaderie and sisterhood between women in a fun, light-hearted manner. Love and hope spring eternal if only you open your mind to possibilities you have never even noticed before. Yup! Life may be hard, but let’s cha-cha-cha when things go wrong. Best new director at Venice in 2002.

Director: Cheng Wen-tang
Country: Taiwan
Duration: 108min
Year: 2005

~
Typical. Didn't care for it. You shouldn't too.

_

This year's film festival is fun. Hopefully it won't clash with my exams next year :)

Labels: Films

A friend asked why buying 5 film tickets that cost S$8.40 each is a lot to me.
Considering that I can spend over S$80 on CDs in one go.

Well, this is the reason...

Click to see bigger picture

Let the bleeding begin!

Labels: Films

14/04/06, 21:15, Prince 2, Nine Emotions (India)
22/04/06, 14:00, Prince 2, Blue Cha Cha (Taiwan)
22/04/06, 19:00, Lido 3, Look Both Ways (Australia)
23/04/06, 19:00, Lido 3, Little Fish (Australia)
27/04/06, 21:15, National Museum of Singapore, Tori/ Sorano (Japan)

19th Singapore International Film Festival

Labels: Films

12th March 2006
What a day!
My first short film.
Finally I get to taste what it means to actually shoot a film. I can't say it was fun (because it was Crazy Town!) but it was a great experience.
I think I grew a little more after yesterday. And in that time, I had a secret realisation as I looked at the tired and sweaty faces of my 'crew and actors'. I am very lucky to have a group of friends who are willing to suffer so much just so I can fulfill my dream to be a director. Very lucky indeed. And if I weren't so proud, I would have cried when we screamed "It's a wrap!" together after our very last shot.

Day before my shoot. CK and Jayna came over to help me with my last prop. We slept at 4am; woke up at 7am and started shooting at 9am.

8am. Reality of film making. Wearing the lousiest clothes (because you will be dirty and sweaty) and carrying weird props in the middle of orchard road. Oh! I was calling my actress. Nearly freaked out because I couldn't get her on the phone.

Moving to my first location. I love this shot. I cropped the original but the credit is all CK's

Setting up my equipment. And this was where we stayed the whole morning. Everyone was burnt!

A peek of the behind the scene footage for those who weren't there. My male lead - Hsien.

Bless the trees! So that my actors and crew can get some shade :) Setting up a shot can take from 5 minutes to an hour. But acting isn't that great too. Imagine feeding the mosquitoes as they waited for me to set up.

Tracking shot. So far, I am the only person to see this beautiful shot. hee. My actors - JacQ and Hsien. And thanx to the pro (He is the one pushing my track).

Thanx to Xiushan. She's the one holding reflector for me.

This was after lunch. And we were doing the indoor shoots. JacQ had to drop her scarf. But her first few attempts looked weird. So Hsien hid under to pull the scarf as she acted. Ha.

My final location. It was already 5pm. Gareth holding the reflector. Hsien waiting for his turn. Jayna and Xiushan helping me look out for sweat on JacQ's face. Me shooting close up on JacQ.

Now you can see Xiushan (I was blocking her in the picture above) and the chair I was standing on. Hee.

It is a wrap!! From left: Hsien, JacQ, CK, Xiushan, Gareth, Jayna and me. And I must point out that CK was the photographer of the day - that's why he's missing in action in all the pictures above :)


I guess we all learnt a lesson yesterday. Filming is very tiring. Geez. Now I have to start to look for another group of actors and crew. Wonder if I can trick them to do my next film. hee.

Million thanx to everyone there once again. I am really very grateful. Really.

Labels: Films, Pictures