samuelding85
Joined Sep 2004
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Inspired by Korean director Park Chan Wook's Revenge Trilogy, Singaporean director Sam Loh creates Angels of Vengeance Trilogy, which combines food with abused female victim turned femme fatale. Siew Lup (Roast Meat in Cantonese) is the second chapter of Angel of Vengeance Trilogy, preceding the 2015's first chapter, Lang Tong (Boiled Soup in Cantonese). Featuring new and young actresses, the trilogy serves to push the boundaries of sex, violence and cannibalism in Singapore film history.
Siew Lup focuses on Mia (Rebecca Chen), an ex-prostitute who was rescued from Quan (Sunny Pang), a roast meat shop owner from the pimp who terrorizes her and Mia's mother. Mia enters a loveless marriage with Quan, which his sexual impotency leads to poor self-esteem, hence venting out his frustration through physical violence and rape on her. An encounter with Wu (Louis Wu), the owner of a funeral service company, Mia decides to live with Wu forever and leaves Quan for good. When a sinister plot of getting rid Quan and Wu's encounter with Xuan (Melody Low), a beautiful lady whose days are numbered due to terminal illness, Mia is out on a road of revenge and cannibalism is making its way to the roast meat shop serving unsuspecting diners.
Premiered in Singapore International Film Festival 2016 (SGIFF 2016) with a sold-out screening, Siew Lup seems promising when it comes to pushing the boundaries of graphic sex and violence on Singapore's big screen. Never before did any Singaporean film-makers dare to make a film which promises large amount of carnal pleasures and bloodshed on the big screen, considered that this is a taboo which not only challenges the censorship regulations in Singapore, but also makes us question if Singaporeans are ready for such content. Hence it is no surprise Siew Lup fills the curiosity among Singaporeans to see how the country is ready to make a movie which lashes out sex and violence openly.
While graphic sex and violence is the main selling point of Siew Lup, the story line was however, needs much substantial content to strengthen up the overall presentation of the film. Though the plot seems to be easy to fill up a film with duration of only 82 minutes (5 minutes shorter than the original 87 minutes SGIFF 2016 version), there are some pointers which were left unexplained. Quan's attraction towards Mia and Wu's affair with Xuan were quickly featured without deeper explanation.
Being a newcomer in Singapore film industry, Rebecca Chen has what it takes to portray the role of Mia: hot figures, beautiful looks. While it seems that Chen's Mia was a ready-made femme fatale, not much reason was given to justify her sudden change of personality and her penchant of killing her victims and turns them into roast meat. As the story develops, we can see how the people around Mia drives her to where she is: Pang's Quan is like a typical average Joe, whose profession and low-self esteem turned hot tempered individual, draws the attention of the audience. Not only did we see how it helps him to bring Mia into his life, but also drives her to become a femme fatale. Wu and Low's respective role of Wu and Xuan serves as a fuel for Mia to seek her freedom and paving the road for revenge.
Siew Lup may not suit everybody's palate, considered that it is an 82 minutes worth of sex and violence. Though the story is easy to understand and pretty straight forward, an expansion on the duration to build up the development of the story will definitely serve as a bonus to the audience, which marks a sweet and delicious end to a meal.
Siew Lup focuses on Mia (Rebecca Chen), an ex-prostitute who was rescued from Quan (Sunny Pang), a roast meat shop owner from the pimp who terrorizes her and Mia's mother. Mia enters a loveless marriage with Quan, which his sexual impotency leads to poor self-esteem, hence venting out his frustration through physical violence and rape on her. An encounter with Wu (Louis Wu), the owner of a funeral service company, Mia decides to live with Wu forever and leaves Quan for good. When a sinister plot of getting rid Quan and Wu's encounter with Xuan (Melody Low), a beautiful lady whose days are numbered due to terminal illness, Mia is out on a road of revenge and cannibalism is making its way to the roast meat shop serving unsuspecting diners.
Premiered in Singapore International Film Festival 2016 (SGIFF 2016) with a sold-out screening, Siew Lup seems promising when it comes to pushing the boundaries of graphic sex and violence on Singapore's big screen. Never before did any Singaporean film-makers dare to make a film which promises large amount of carnal pleasures and bloodshed on the big screen, considered that this is a taboo which not only challenges the censorship regulations in Singapore, but also makes us question if Singaporeans are ready for such content. Hence it is no surprise Siew Lup fills the curiosity among Singaporeans to see how the country is ready to make a movie which lashes out sex and violence openly.
While graphic sex and violence is the main selling point of Siew Lup, the story line was however, needs much substantial content to strengthen up the overall presentation of the film. Though the plot seems to be easy to fill up a film with duration of only 82 minutes (5 minutes shorter than the original 87 minutes SGIFF 2016 version), there are some pointers which were left unexplained. Quan's attraction towards Mia and Wu's affair with Xuan were quickly featured without deeper explanation.
Being a newcomer in Singapore film industry, Rebecca Chen has what it takes to portray the role of Mia: hot figures, beautiful looks. While it seems that Chen's Mia was a ready-made femme fatale, not much reason was given to justify her sudden change of personality and her penchant of killing her victims and turns them into roast meat. As the story develops, we can see how the people around Mia drives her to where she is: Pang's Quan is like a typical average Joe, whose profession and low-self esteem turned hot tempered individual, draws the attention of the audience. Not only did we see how it helps him to bring Mia into his life, but also drives her to become a femme fatale. Wu and Low's respective role of Wu and Xuan serves as a fuel for Mia to seek her freedom and paving the road for revenge.
Siew Lup may not suit everybody's palate, considered that it is an 82 minutes worth of sex and violence. Though the story is easy to understand and pretty straight forward, an expansion on the duration to build up the development of the story will definitely serve as a bonus to the audience, which marks a sweet and delicious end to a meal.
While Hong Kong may not be well known for its sports development, many people may not know the existence of The Shatin Martins, Hong Kong's first government baseball team. First time director Chan Chi Fat brings the story of The Shatin Martins onto the big screen, where Weeds on Fire answer the question: Who are the Shatin Martins?
The story is told from the perspective of Lung (Lam Yiu-Seng), a teenager growing up in Shatin during 1984. Coming from a neighborhood high school well-known for its poor disciplinary control, the students are enthusiastic in sports. The school principal, Mr Lo (Liu Kai-Chi), decided to turn a bunch of students with poor disciplinary records into Hong Kong's baseball team pioneers. Lung and his classmates were recruited by Mr Lo, where the boys undergo harsh training from the iron fist of Mr Lo. The harsh training builds up strong discipline among the boys, which not only makes the team enter the final round in the baseball tournament, but also creating an unknown glory in the sports history of Hong Kong.
The movie is not just a bunch of rowdy underdogs into a champion with remarkable results. Rather, it covers a wider aspect of a teenager in his growing up years: facing the dilemma of breaking undesired truth to his best friend, crush with a girl he loves, discovering his mother's infidelity and taking care of his aging father. While this doesn't seem to have any relationship to the theme of the film, it helps the audience to understand the struggle any typical youth will undergo while juggling with training and tournaments.
Apart from showcasing the tough training the boys undergo, it also carries an important message: giving up equals to losing. The message Mr Lo wants to instill on the boys are more than just winning the competition. It is also about developing their inner characters to prepare them from the reality the moment the boys join the working society. This can be seen from the opening and closing scene, where we see an adult Lung walking on the streets of Central occupied with protesters during the Yellow Umbrella Movement in 2014.
Weeds on Fire is one of the few Hong Kong independent productions which deserves its limelight, considered that this is a lesser known indie productions which fails to get the publicity it deserves. Watch this if you are a sports lover and you have never really came across a really good baseball movie after Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992).
The story is told from the perspective of Lung (Lam Yiu-Seng), a teenager growing up in Shatin during 1984. Coming from a neighborhood high school well-known for its poor disciplinary control, the students are enthusiastic in sports. The school principal, Mr Lo (Liu Kai-Chi), decided to turn a bunch of students with poor disciplinary records into Hong Kong's baseball team pioneers. Lung and his classmates were recruited by Mr Lo, where the boys undergo harsh training from the iron fist of Mr Lo. The harsh training builds up strong discipline among the boys, which not only makes the team enter the final round in the baseball tournament, but also creating an unknown glory in the sports history of Hong Kong.
The movie is not just a bunch of rowdy underdogs into a champion with remarkable results. Rather, it covers a wider aspect of a teenager in his growing up years: facing the dilemma of breaking undesired truth to his best friend, crush with a girl he loves, discovering his mother's infidelity and taking care of his aging father. While this doesn't seem to have any relationship to the theme of the film, it helps the audience to understand the struggle any typical youth will undergo while juggling with training and tournaments.
Apart from showcasing the tough training the boys undergo, it also carries an important message: giving up equals to losing. The message Mr Lo wants to instill on the boys are more than just winning the competition. It is also about developing their inner characters to prepare them from the reality the moment the boys join the working society. This can be seen from the opening and closing scene, where we see an adult Lung walking on the streets of Central occupied with protesters during the Yellow Umbrella Movement in 2014.
Weeds on Fire is one of the few Hong Kong independent productions which deserves its limelight, considered that this is a lesser known indie productions which fails to get the publicity it deserves. Watch this if you are a sports lover and you have never really came across a really good baseball movie after Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992).
What is 'collateral beauty'? Not many will know about this term, which director David Frankel is using this term as his theme for his latest feature film.
Howard (Will Smith) is a successful entrepreneur who runs a media agency together with his three best friends: Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet) and Simon (Michael Pena). After losing his daughter to a rare brain tumor, he drowns himself in sorrow and isolates himself at work and personal life. An encounter with Amy (Keira Knightley) leads Whit, Claire and Simon came across with a struggling theatrical group which was co-run bu Bridgette (Helen Mirren) and Raffi (Jacob Latimore). Howard's friend intercepted three letters written by him, which the recipient turns out to be: Death, Love and Time. To assist Howard coming out from grief and sorrow, his friends engage the help of Bridgette, Amy and Raffi to play the role of death, love and time respectively. Meanwhile, an encounter with Madeleine (Naomie Harris), the founder of a self-help group for parents who have lost their children to death makes Howard decided to start life all over again. When the trio (Bridgette, Amy and Raffi appear in the form of death, love and time) appears in Howard's life, it makes him question the meaning of life and the importance of overcoming the grief.
The term 'collateral beauty' can be simply defined as parents unable to see the damage of their child's death in full picture, but the love and beauty that comes after the death helps to bring people closer to one another. Frankel explores the definition in the film through the connections between the people around Howard. Here, we have seen how Howard has isolated himself from the outside world, which worries his loved ones and his friends (damage). Through the intervention of Bridgette's trio, it helps Howard to pick up the courage to restart his life, while at the same time seeking the possibility of connecting with Madeleine and give himself a second chance in life.
Looking at the bigger picture, Frankel also touches on the life of the people surrounding Howard: Whit is patching up his broken relationship with his ex-wife's daughter, Allison, to redeem his infidelity; Claire is seeking a sperm donor to conceive a child due to her age after spending most of her time establishing the career for Howard; Simon fears his family will be unable to support themselves financially after a relapse of cancer he has recovered. The subplot supports the story to move on, which it only helps the audience to understand the term, but also shifts the focus on Howard's grief to avoid boredom. While these subplots seems to be valid and reflects the actual life an individual will encounter, it may be heavy for some who are seeking to entertain than to reflect on their life. Towards the end of the story, audience can feel that emotional toils takes the center stage of the story, though it is not much of an emotional roller-coaster ride.
Smith carries the same usual self from his previous films in the similar genre, such as The Pursuit of Happiness, Seven Pounds and Concussion. Though he is the main focus of the story, he has unfortunately unable to engage the audience in the emotional toil he has been through. Not much explanation was given on Smith's Howard wallowing in sorrow, which audience may not be convinced on what has happened, which leads to the undesired behavior he displays when his friend is helping him. Instead, the focus has shifted to Helen Mirren's Bridgette, which she came in as a form of enlightenment to Howard. Besides applying her theatrical knowledge to the role she was given to, her age and appearance have also help the role to look more convincing without too much giveaway. At duration of 97 minutes, there isn't much room for Norton, Winslet, Pena, Knightley, Latimore and Harris to explore their respective roles. The casting is strong to draw the crowds, but it seems to be a waste since not much chance was given to explore the role.
There aren't many films like Collateral Beauty which helps an individual to understand social terms in a layman's term. While the star-studded casting makes the movie look promising, there are many areas left unexplained, which makes the movie feel under-whelmed.
Howard (Will Smith) is a successful entrepreneur who runs a media agency together with his three best friends: Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet) and Simon (Michael Pena). After losing his daughter to a rare brain tumor, he drowns himself in sorrow and isolates himself at work and personal life. An encounter with Amy (Keira Knightley) leads Whit, Claire and Simon came across with a struggling theatrical group which was co-run bu Bridgette (Helen Mirren) and Raffi (Jacob Latimore). Howard's friend intercepted three letters written by him, which the recipient turns out to be: Death, Love and Time. To assist Howard coming out from grief and sorrow, his friends engage the help of Bridgette, Amy and Raffi to play the role of death, love and time respectively. Meanwhile, an encounter with Madeleine (Naomie Harris), the founder of a self-help group for parents who have lost their children to death makes Howard decided to start life all over again. When the trio (Bridgette, Amy and Raffi appear in the form of death, love and time) appears in Howard's life, it makes him question the meaning of life and the importance of overcoming the grief.
The term 'collateral beauty' can be simply defined as parents unable to see the damage of their child's death in full picture, but the love and beauty that comes after the death helps to bring people closer to one another. Frankel explores the definition in the film through the connections between the people around Howard. Here, we have seen how Howard has isolated himself from the outside world, which worries his loved ones and his friends (damage). Through the intervention of Bridgette's trio, it helps Howard to pick up the courage to restart his life, while at the same time seeking the possibility of connecting with Madeleine and give himself a second chance in life.
Looking at the bigger picture, Frankel also touches on the life of the people surrounding Howard: Whit is patching up his broken relationship with his ex-wife's daughter, Allison, to redeem his infidelity; Claire is seeking a sperm donor to conceive a child due to her age after spending most of her time establishing the career for Howard; Simon fears his family will be unable to support themselves financially after a relapse of cancer he has recovered. The subplot supports the story to move on, which it only helps the audience to understand the term, but also shifts the focus on Howard's grief to avoid boredom. While these subplots seems to be valid and reflects the actual life an individual will encounter, it may be heavy for some who are seeking to entertain than to reflect on their life. Towards the end of the story, audience can feel that emotional toils takes the center stage of the story, though it is not much of an emotional roller-coaster ride.
Smith carries the same usual self from his previous films in the similar genre, such as The Pursuit of Happiness, Seven Pounds and Concussion. Though he is the main focus of the story, he has unfortunately unable to engage the audience in the emotional toil he has been through. Not much explanation was given on Smith's Howard wallowing in sorrow, which audience may not be convinced on what has happened, which leads to the undesired behavior he displays when his friend is helping him. Instead, the focus has shifted to Helen Mirren's Bridgette, which she came in as a form of enlightenment to Howard. Besides applying her theatrical knowledge to the role she was given to, her age and appearance have also help the role to look more convincing without too much giveaway. At duration of 97 minutes, there isn't much room for Norton, Winslet, Pena, Knightley, Latimore and Harris to explore their respective roles. The casting is strong to draw the crowds, but it seems to be a waste since not much chance was given to explore the role.
There aren't many films like Collateral Beauty which helps an individual to understand social terms in a layman's term. While the star-studded casting makes the movie look promising, there are many areas left unexplained, which makes the movie feel under-whelmed.
