Sunday, March 30, 2003

In 1971, Mao's Cultural Revolution swept over China, shutting down universities and banishing "reactionary intellectuals", boys and girls who had graduated from high school, to the countryside to be "re-educated" by the poor peasants. This is the backdrop for Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, a beautifully shot movie depicting the experiences of Ma ( who is actually a depiction of Dai Sijie himself ) and Luo sent to a remote mountain village The Phoenix, where they met a local tailor's daughter known only as the little seamstress. Caught in the daily, menial routines of labor and re-education, the trio sought little escapades and delight in reading the literary works of western authors like Balzac and Gogol, plus playing music on Ma's violin, calling sonata names like "Mozart is Thinking of Mao" to convince the local authorities that the merrymaking is Mao-worthy. One can argue that while the potential for underlying political or satirical messages can be numerous and varied, I was more obsessed ( and contented ) to simply indulge myself in the richly filmed scenery of the mountains and textures of the villages, the soothing music, both of local taste as well as western, the tunes of the violin forming a strange, yet binding aural dichotomy in the face of a complete asian setting.


Tuesday, March 25, 2003

I was earnestly happy today when I heard on the radio that Miyazaki's Spirited Away has won the Oscars for best animation feature. Whilst its nice to get some decent recognition from western audiences, Miyazaki's films have simply transcended the need for any awards to justify its merit, and I would support it, Oscars or none. I eagerly await their next animation feature, and hopefully, with Miyazaki himself at the helm again.

Friday, March 21, 2003

After a languid stalemale at the board of censors Royston Tan's 15 have been passed with an RA rating and ready for screening at the SIFF. Royston, age 26, already a director of a reputable feature film, with invitations from dozens of film festivals worldwide. I'm already near 24. What can I achieve in 2 years time ? I'm pretty sure I can be the proud owner of a couple of movie dvds that I really like, but beyond that, I'm not too sure.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

SIFF update

Films confirmed ( tickets booked )

1) Dolls 3rd May Saturday 4pm
2) A Tree of Palme 26th April Saturday 4pm
3) City of God 29th April Tuesday 915pm
4) Winged Migration 25th April Friday 7pm
5) Man Without a Past 23th April Wednesday 7pm
6) Dazzling 21st April Monday 7pm

Films for consideration

1) Bowling for Columbine 27th April Sunday 7pm
2) Bokunchi 1st May Thursday 915pm
3) Russian Ark 30th April Wednesday 915pm
4) September 11 2nd May Friday 915pm
5) Love ar 7-11 27th April Sunday 7pm

For movie synopsis please visit www.fimfest.org.sg. Film recommendations welcomed.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

16th Singapore International Film Festival - Movie List ( April 13 - May 3rd ) Tickets go on sale from March 14th

Ok. To avoid the potential disappointment of missing any good shows, I've drawn up a list of films that I have decided or am deciding to watch. Films marked with an asterisk * are decided shows, bearing any unforseen events like sold out movies, terrorist explosions at ticket branch, etc. Disclaimer : The films in the list were drawn after considerable time done on reading positive reviews in Sight and Sound magazine ( which is a difficult magazine for any movie ), online reviews, past viewing experiences, and in some cases, calculated conjectures. There's no guarantee that it'd be a blissful movie experience, but heck, it'd be a pretty good bet.

*DOLLS ( JAPAN ) - DIRECTOR : TAKESHI KITANO ( HAHABI, KIKUJIRO ) DATE : SATURDAY, MAY 3RD, 4PM

*A TREE OF PALM ( ANIMATION, JAPAN ) - DIRECTOR : NAKAMURA TAKESHI ( ANIMATION DIRECTOR, AKIRA ) DATE : SATURDAY, APRIL 26TH, 4PM

*CITY OF GOD ( BRAZIL ) - DIRECTOR : FERNANDO MEIRELLES DATE : TUESDAY APRIL 29TH 915PM

*WINGED MIGRATION ( FRANCE ) DIRECTOR : JACQUES PERRIN ( THIS IS MY OWN SELECTION FOR GOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY ) FRIDAY APRIL 25TH 7PM

*BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE ( USA ) DIRECTOR : MICHAEL MOORE SUNDAY APRIL 27TH 7PM

BOKUNCHI - MY HOUSE ( JAPAN ) DIRECTOR : JUNJI SAKAMOTO TUESDAY MAY 1ST 915 PM

RUSSIAN ARK - ( RUSSIA ) DIRECTOR : ALEXANDR SOKUROV ( THIS MOVIE WAS SHOT WITH ONE SINGLE, 96 MINUTES TAKE ) WEDNESDAY 30 APRIL 915PM

For more information on these films please go to www.filmfest.org.sg. Also please get back to me asap on shows you folks want to watch so we can arrange for ticketing. Cheers.