Naked

In comparison, the lead character of Johnny is like facing a bouncer heading towards your throat at 150km/h. This time around however, David Thewlis the central actor, hooks it out of the ground. There is nothing nice about Johnny - runs away from Manchester to London after raping a woman and afraid of being beaten. He then moves across the capital from person to person - mostly random acquaintances from the streets - in pursuit of nothing. Or possibly something that we are not aware of. Cursing the world, contemplating 'future', devouring books and spewing vitriolic shit - like this for instance, to a woman who spurns his advances: "And I hope that all your fuckin' children are born blind, bow-legged, hare-lipped, homeless hunchbacks" Over 120 minutes long, Naked should be far from being considered as misogynist - but a fantastic film that focuses on the lunatics on the prowl. Much like this one. Welcome to my world, Michael Leigh.

Rating: * * * +

Let the bullets fly

Talking of highest grossing films, I finally watched China's all time box office hit. Highly recommended by Nek, it took bit of an effort to get hold of a copy with English subtitles. After all that, I was left disappointed as the action was limited & with Bollywood style editing. Couldnt see what the deal was. But there was a whole load of crisp, bullet sharp conversation which seemed rather tame as I read the subtitles - I suspect all the wit was lost in translaton. 

Rating: * *

The Blue Mansion

After many months of waiting, finally watched Nek's first piece of contribution to the world of big budget films. Set in the beautiful Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, the film unravels as a family comes to terms with the death of the patriarch. Having been a heavy handed enforcer all his life, the death of the Old man understandably brings much relief all around. However, the visit of Inspector Suresh to the Wee household infuses an element of mystery to the death and the plot kicks foward with tension amongst the various family members boiling over. There is much humour/wit at every step of the way, and the presence of the ghost of the Old man proves to be an important cog in the plot.

The production quality of The Blue Mansion stands out considering that my previous experiences of Singapore cinema were such. Adrian Pang as the younger, angry Wee brother puts in a credible performance and pretty much carries the film. However it is Huzir Sulaiman as the inspector that steals the show for me. The rest of the acting does come across as rather theatrical - but from subsequent interviews of the director and the script writer, I understand that it was a conscious ploy. Maybe, but its not something that I could relate to in a film.

Rating: * * +

Eating Air

Ex-Journo turned writer Nek mentioned that this would rate amongst the better Singaporean movies out there. After watching it, one realises that there is only one way to go for Nek in his future career: Up. Takes a close look at a bunch of young guys riding around all-day in bikes, doing nothing, getting messed up in gang-wars, falling in love, dealing with adolescent stress: and all headed downwards. Very familiar story line - thats all there is to say really.

Rating: * +

Helen

Another of political reporter turned writer Nek's suggestion. He did warn as to how painful a randomly picked art house film in a film exhibition can be - which it indeed was. Its a deep, painstaking look at a tragedy that strikes a group of people in an English city. Helen is picked to play the role of a missing girl in a police crime-reconstruction film. Then the director shows us how, ironically, Helen herself is missing from this world.

Rating: * +

One Last Dance

Another one thats worth forgetting, but clearly havent been able to. As we (K Kuppuswamy and I) were cheated by the Singaporean publicity machinery and the picture of Harvey Keitel on the poster. Not the last time K Kuppuswamy was fooled by a poster.

Rating: *

Captivity

A good time to introduce everyone to a possibly a new contributor to this meaningless site - ex-political reporter K Kuppuswamy a.k.a the vietnamese pimp 'Nek'. It was his choice that cost us dear and I leave it to him to describe the disaster that was 'Captivity'. I agree with everything except that the 'Mission' being a flop - it just kind of reinforces the fact that Roland Joffe, in the little 20 minutes that we saw, is quite tight in his film-making.

K Kuppuswamy from here on:

Recent weather had suggested that fishing would not be a good idea, so Wenerd and I decided to take my girlie and his fiancee out to the movies. Problem was that there was nothing decent showing in the cinemas. In the end, on my prompting, we chose Captivity, which turned out to be a literally puke-worthy film. (The hint was director Roland Joffe, whom, I later found out, directed The Mission, a De Niro flop...)

Although the film looked well made - it was shot quite inventively, with lots of jarring close-ups and a play on mirrors and lenses - the content was something else. From what we could tell, the film centred on the torture of a beautiful woman and the raping of everyone's senses. This was sadomasochism of a kind which made Irreversible seem almost like a Disney cartoon. I would rather have watched an action movie starring Woody Allen.

The four of us, we left the theatre after 20 minutes, together with a German tourist who was blue in the face. As we stepped outside, the crusty old uncle who tears the tickets was roosting on his bench, and he said to us, "Wah so fast ah--Couldn't take it is it?" There was something ever-so-slightly mocking in his tone.

Rating: *

Rushmore

It was political reporter K Kuppuswamy who first drew my attention to the movie by recounting a dialgoue by Bill Murray's character: She is my Rushmore, in order to explain something from his past.

Rushmore is a funny movie, in which Jason Schwartzman makes his (rather, impressive) debut as Max Fischer, a talented rebellious student of Rushmore Academy. Things get a bit messy, when his best friend, a rich business man (played by Bill Murray), meets the subject of Max's student fantasy: his high school teacher.

The movie was apparently a turning point in Bill Murray's acting career: and I suppose provided the inspiration to specialise in portaying a man's tragic midlife existence. Wes Anderson and Bill Murray owe one each to the other and thats why I suppose they still link up. Neat soundtrack, as it pretty much does in a Wes Anderson movie. A simple movie, yet feels nicely complete.

Rating: * * *

Summer Palace

From director Ye Lou of Suzhou River, comes this latest one which was banned in his homeland China. For references to the student democracy movement in '89 and lots of explicit sex. However, the movie has been released in island Red Dot with the tag line 'Uncut version of the film banned in China'. So political reporter K Kuppuswamy promptly called and we decided to watch it.

Its a Passionate love story set during the period. And how the two protagonists get lost in their selves and the general chaos of the times. The director cleverly stays away from the politics (a pity though) and immerses himself in the characters. Laced with tragedy and the popular music of then. A fairly strongly made movie which highlights the passion of the youth with the background of a volatile situation - like many of the Indian movies made around the emergency / naxalite days. But somehow, the focus on the style makes it less gritty than what I would have liked.

Rating: * * +