You Need To See This
Please, please, please, please don't let this pass you by.
I'm just so damn proud of this movie. Who would have thought it would be a New York-based 'quitter' (if you want to use some government-sanctioned lingo) that would end up making the best ever film about Singapore? I laughed out loud at many parts, the audience (almost full house) lapped it up, and at some points I thought I heard sniffling. Wonderful.
About half an hour in, I was already thinking to myself : I can't believe I watched The Host last weekend over this. (And ladies and gents, The Host isn't a bad movie by any means.) I actually love what Mr Miyagi said about this, most especially this line : "I was drawn into the stories as soon as I unconsciously gave up trying to look for flaws in the movie. It picked up after 10 minutes and became a compelling flow of stories which you won’t just identify with. You’ll live them, you’ll dream them."
Yes. Of course there are flaws. It's not a perfect movie. It's not Hollywood production values. It's not arthouse noir. It's not even started on the festival circuit yet. It's not going to win Singapore a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (not because it isn't good, but because the powers that be are likely to submit 4:30 instead, because "arthouse mah, we also can do it like the North Asians and the Europeans").
If I wanted to nitpick on it, I could go watch it again and spend the entire time looking out for flaws (though I suspect I'd still have a really good time watching it). Most often, we are hardest on ourselves, and I think maybe this goes the same for our films too.
"The ending, like not very resolved leh."/"The plot, like not unrealistic leh."
Of course we wouldn't say the same thing if it were a European film. It'll just be "oh, it's just a typical European film".
"Wah, she was really over-acting man." (no, I don't think anyone overacted in Singapore Dreaming)
Please remember Halle Berry's Oscar-winning "performance" in Monster's Ball.
"How come we are always talking about all these things one? Condo lah, country club lah, credit card lah..."
Because this is a film about Singapore. And this is what a lot of people here talk about. (People who make comments like that are usually the 'have's, and as a friend once told me, we always compare up, and it's difficult for us to compare down. In other words, it's easier to envy than to count our blessings.)
So, I'm not suggesting that you should go watch this because it's gonna win some big prize in the film world. And it's not because we should support every single piece of local cinema (you guys know me - I have my standards to uphold). I'm suggesting that you watch it because this is a film about us as a society, about what the Singapore mentality is like; and it's a film made for us, to showcase that. 4:30 (and I'm comparing these two movies because they are the best local films I've seen) could foreseeably be a Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese movie, but Singapore Dreaming is quintessentially a Singaporean film. You've got to live in this country spend a good amount of time in this country in order to be able to make a film like this.
I won't go on about the plot. I thought that despite the movie's 'heartland' focus, it steered very very deftly away from slapstick Jack Neo schtick. I think the superb acting (especially Yeo Yann Yann and Alice Lim) helped, plus the very realistic screenplay (I would never be able to write a screenplay as realistic as that). It was also wonderfully subtle - it works as a commercial piece, and it can also be 'arthouse' if you want to dig deeper, unlike Jack Neo who sledgehammers his theme across all the time. Neil Humphreys from Today paid the movie this compliment : "Damn fine film. I've seen my first 'Mike Leigh' film on Singapore. And I had to wait 10 years to watch it." You know, Mike Leigh films are seldom this commercial, so I'd say this might be one-up on that.
Anyway, most of you know that as things stand now, I don't see myself in Singapore beyond the next 2-3 years. I love my country. It will always have a special place in my heart. But too many things here have made me disillusioned.
Wherever I may end up, I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing along a copy of this DVD. One evening, in the future, maybe I'll invite some friends home. I'll put the DVD into my portable DVD player and we'll sit round my 14" television set by the light of a kerosene lamp and I'll show them this movie, explaining all the little quirks in the movie. And then, after it ends, I'll turn to them, maybe with tears in my eyes, and I'll say "This movie is about my home. There ain't no other place on earth like it." And they'd ask "So why did you leave?" And I'd say "Because I always wanted to sing".
I'm just so damn proud of this movie. Who would have thought it would be a New York-based 'quitter' (if you want to use some government-sanctioned lingo) that would end up making the best ever film about Singapore? I laughed out loud at many parts, the audience (almost full house) lapped it up, and at some points I thought I heard sniffling. Wonderful.
About half an hour in, I was already thinking to myself : I can't believe I watched The Host last weekend over this. (And ladies and gents, The Host isn't a bad movie by any means.) I actually love what Mr Miyagi said about this, most especially this line : "I was drawn into the stories as soon as I unconsciously gave up trying to look for flaws in the movie. It picked up after 10 minutes and became a compelling flow of stories which you won’t just identify with. You’ll live them, you’ll dream them."
Yes. Of course there are flaws. It's not a perfect movie. It's not Hollywood production values. It's not arthouse noir. It's not even started on the festival circuit yet. It's not going to win Singapore a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (not because it isn't good, but because the powers that be are likely to submit 4:30 instead, because "arthouse mah, we also can do it like the North Asians and the Europeans").
If I wanted to nitpick on it, I could go watch it again and spend the entire time looking out for flaws (though I suspect I'd still have a really good time watching it). Most often, we are hardest on ourselves, and I think maybe this goes the same for our films too.
"The ending, like not very resolved leh."/"The plot, like not unrealistic leh."
Of course we wouldn't say the same thing if it were a European film. It'll just be "oh, it's just a typical European film".
"Wah, she was really over-acting man." (no, I don't think anyone overacted in Singapore Dreaming)
Please remember Halle Berry's Oscar-winning "performance" in Monster's Ball.
"How come we are always talking about all these things one? Condo lah, country club lah, credit card lah..."
Because this is a film about Singapore. And this is what a lot of people here talk about. (People who make comments like that are usually the 'have's, and as a friend once told me, we always compare up, and it's difficult for us to compare down. In other words, it's easier to envy than to count our blessings.)
So, I'm not suggesting that you should go watch this because it's gonna win some big prize in the film world. And it's not because we should support every single piece of local cinema (you guys know me - I have my standards to uphold). I'm suggesting that you watch it because this is a film about us as a society, about what the Singapore mentality is like; and it's a film made for us, to showcase that. 4:30 (and I'm comparing these two movies because they are the best local films I've seen) could foreseeably be a Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese movie, but Singapore Dreaming is quintessentially a Singaporean film. You've got to live in this country spend a good amount of time in this country in order to be able to make a film like this.
I won't go on about the plot. I thought that despite the movie's 'heartland' focus, it steered very very deftly away from slapstick Jack Neo schtick. I think the superb acting (especially Yeo Yann Yann and Alice Lim) helped, plus the very realistic screenplay (I would never be able to write a screenplay as realistic as that). It was also wonderfully subtle - it works as a commercial piece, and it can also be 'arthouse' if you want to dig deeper, unlike Jack Neo who sledgehammers his theme across all the time. Neil Humphreys from Today paid the movie this compliment : "Damn fine film. I've seen my first 'Mike Leigh' film on Singapore. And I had to wait 10 years to watch it." You know, Mike Leigh films are seldom this commercial, so I'd say this might be one-up on that.
Anyway, most of you know that as things stand now, I don't see myself in Singapore beyond the next 2-3 years. I love my country. It will always have a special place in my heart. But too many things here have made me disillusioned.
Wherever I may end up, I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing along a copy of this DVD. One evening, in the future, maybe I'll invite some friends home. I'll put the DVD into my portable DVD player and we'll sit round my 14" television set by the light of a kerosene lamp and I'll show them this movie, explaining all the little quirks in the movie. And then, after it ends, I'll turn to them, maybe with tears in my eyes, and I'll say "This movie is about my home. There ain't no other place on earth like it." And they'd ask "So why did you leave?" And I'd say "Because I always wanted to sing".