Perth and notions of freedom

Caught Perth at the Alliance Francaise. Haven't been there in a while. Since V stopped taking French. consequently, haven't been to Newton for dinner/supper in a while. Wasn't it suppose to be due for major renovation?

Had wanted to watch this from the time I saw it while checking out sites mentioning local film. And it was my source of joy when I finally got them tickets from the Art House.

Was almost late for the premiere because I left work later than expected and had to rush home to grab the 6 tickets then zipped down to Sarkies with only seconds to spare. Sigh...was there on time but being a premiere, there's got to be a certain "fashionable lateness" to the whole brouhaha. So I met up with V and mong and the rest (pin, wy and jeff) who were already there of course.

We got free movie posters! Wahey! Signed by Djinn (wahey hey). When the movie grows bigger, I'm gonna sell the movie poster on ebay. We exchanged our tickets to have seats allocated for us...

So where were the sponsors? the hall was like 3/4 filled. french dude said it was for the sponsors. sigh...

Mong was saying that she didn't realise the movie will get a commercial release 3 days later. Had she known, she would have watched it in town instead of coming down to Newton. She said it before french dude came up to introduce the cast and crew. I guess having Djinn, Lim Kay Tong, Liu Qiu Lian et. al. to go up and "say a few words" made the trip there somewhat, more worthwhile.

If you intend to watch the movie...try to stop reading here. *potential spoiler*

I shall move through the "bads" in the movie first.

The score!!! The minimalist piano bits worked brilliant for the first two, maybe three time. But there after, it's like watching some Korean drama (weepy) like Winter Sonata or something. IT was getting rather irritating.

Sound editing!!! Rather bad at times. Like when Harry Lee (GUFFAWS) starts throwing some stuff, they might have floated instead of landing on the ground cause like no sound leh.

Film editing!!! Rather bad at times. It was abrupt at times but not stylishly so.

The good:
The rest of the movie. So good somebody gave it a 8* rating on IMDB.

My take away from the movie.

It's about obsession. First and foremost-ly. While Harry complains about the "rest" of Singapore, especially youths, becoming materialistic, he sees it as some kind of a endless chase for things that are not important to him. He thinks that Singaporeans are obsessed with material goods and wants as exhibited in their relentless pursuit for wealth. And in order to generate wealth, hard work is no longer needed. Not according to him anyway. Education, and not values, give people the headstart. At the same time, he doesn't realise that he is equally as obsessed with two things as a typical Singaporean; firstly his dream of migrating to Perth (where the food is cheap, this is cheap, that is cheap and all his friends are there) and secondly, his past that was intertwined with some Cambodian chick. Harry and his perception of a typical Singaporean are similar. They are both trapped in their quest for their aims. While Harry thinks that we are no longer free when we pursue our mobile phones, country clubs membership, condominiums, he is trapped in his fixations as well. be it his alcoholism, his cambodian love baggage or his perth dream.

Freedom is a weird thing. Imagine the word. Try and describe it. Isn't it ironic that the concept of "freedom" has certain perceived notions? So I suppose Harry thinks that freedom (freedom from materialism, perhaps) can be found in going to perth. Therein lies the constraint. That he must got to Perth in order to achieve freedom. Shit. I am not expressing myself clearly enough. Next.

let's talk about loyalty. More straight forward here. He values it. Probably cause he was a former commando. hiak hiak... He thinks it is so important that the dog (should I call the dog a stray?) he "picked up" was named Faithful. He thinks his ex-wife doesn't have it. He might think his son doesn't have it. He probably thinks that he has it. But damn, he is leaving his own country behind. He argues that the Singapore he knew is no longer the Singapore he knows now but damn, he is leaving the country. So how loyal is that? And well, he thinks that by leaving Singapore for Perth, he is seeking an alternative but he doesn't think the same for Mai, the Vietnamese prostitute who left her debt-ridden family to work in Singapore. He doesn't think that her leaving her homeland and family was for the better. I suppose in a cruel way, they were both pursuing similar aims. To seek a better life for themselves (or family).

Selvam, who was brilliant, summarised how I feel elegantly. The ******(fill in any appropriate social institution) makes you think that you need certain things in life. It is like a trap because then you can never be free from these wants. It's like The Fight Club. You are not your job. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car that you drive. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

I thought Angry Boy's lines were very natural. If he isn't a very experienced actor or not trained professionally as an actor, it is quite obvious. There were certain scenes when his timing was a little off and his body language a little weird. But he dominated each scene with his words and ways. And that cannot be taught in acting school.

Excerpt from movie:

Harry: I'm gonna give it all up and migrate to Perth!

Angry Boy: So you thinking of quitting?

The whole movie suddenly became the geylang corkscrew massacre. Quite a dramatic turn of events. But still very watchable. No point comparing it to any other movie (even with the Harry Lee mirror scene ala Travis in Taxi). Watch it as it is, the simple dream of a simple man and reflect on our puny (it rhymes with peony?) lives.

Saw a number of familiar sights in Balestier, Whampoa and Geylang area. Balestier Point was featured too! So was the coffee bean shop along Balestier and the old school baker off Balestier into Whampoa.
Burning question! How did the prostitute die facing downwards with her hair still wet? erotic-asphyxiation?

narbeh, now the whole world knows SAF don't take care of their military personnel once they get to their retirement age. mind you, warrant officers retire later than commissioned officers. so where should anyone go at 42 years of age, after spending all their working life in the armed forces? beats me...shit...did i just blab that out?? someone made me do it.

Some scenes were beautifully shot. the isolation and desolation (cheem but I mean it) that sometimes forms the essence of paintings by Edward Hopper was also found in certain scenes. There was this particular petrol kiosk scene. It was so Americana. I don't know why.

a number of other reviews...
cinespot

E!

interviews...
cinespot


kung fu cult cinema

site of interest...

vacantfilms

damn, hiep thi le is Djinn's wife?


We try harder.