Sunday, March 15, 2020

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

The story revolves around the people visiting a dining place in Tokyo that only opens at midnight.

For season one, I liked "Tonteki" about a girl who knit sweaters for people she fancied and "Omelette Rice" about the love between a Korean girl and a Japanese scientist. For season two, I liked "Salmon and Mushroom" about a barber couple and "Kitsune Udon" about two voice actresses who struggled to keep their friendship. All the other episodes are interesting in their own ways!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, March 08, 2020

Cheer

This is a documentary about an award winning cheerleading team in Texas.

Liked the interesting stories of the members of the team! Had a better idea of what it means to be fair, strict and empathetic from the coach, something that I should learn as a parent.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Arietty

The story is about how a family of small people stayed in a house of normal people but had to move as they were discovered.

Liked the friendship between the daughter Arietty and the young boy! The action sequences of climbing around the big house looked exciting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, March 01, 2020

Mad World

The story is about the effect of bipolar disorder on a family.

Liked the flashbacks that gradually explained what happened in the past! The friendship between the little boy and the protagonist was quite cute too. Guess sometimes we have a pre-conceived notion what someone might be like but it may not be true once we get to know the person better.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Certain Women

The story is about how four women in a small town deal with loneliness in their own ways.

Liked the last story of the rancher the best! Great acting by all the female leads! I learned that talking a lot doesn't necessarily lead to good communication.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, February 13, 2020

American Factory

This is a documentary about the people working in an American Factory owned by a Chinese billionaire.

Liked how the film presented both the Chinese and the American points of view! There was no real bad guy here but I thought it was a bit ridiculous for the chairman to have a self portrait of himself hanging in his office.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 08, 2020

37 Seconds

This is a coming of age story of Yuma, a manga artist who suffers from cerebral palsy.

Liked how independent Yuma was despite her disability! The animation effects were great for both the father holding a baby girl high in the sky drawing as well as Yuma's portfolio sketches for the new company!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, February 02, 2020

Ocean Waves

The story is about how two countryside boys fell in love with a girl who came from the city.

Liked the depiction of school life but didn't really like the city girl who didn't show much teamwork at all!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, January 30, 2020

A Sun

The story is about how a family mended their broken ties across a few years.

Thought the father looked like Ma Yun from Alibaba! Liked the parts where they showed different pairs of people walking around together. Was surprised by the twist at the end!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, January 27, 2020

I Lost My Body

The story is about the life of a young man who became disabled and how his hand travelled around the city to search for him.

Liked the interesting point of view from a hand! Bad idea to try to catch a fly while operating on the workbench!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, January 09, 2020

Boogie Nights

The story is about the life of a group of pornography actors and actresses from the late 70s to the and early 80s.

Liked how the film portrayed the community as ordinary people with dreams! Quite sad that some of them were looked down by others because of their occupation! Good to see Roller Girl back to school!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Toy Story 3

The story is about the adventures of a group of toys in a childcare center.

Learned not to judge the book by its cover after watching the movie! Another lesson I learned was to pass to others what we don't need instead of throwing them away.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 07, 2019

Marriage Story

The story is about a married couple with an eight year old son getting divorced.

Liked the opening scene that introduced the wife and the husband in sequence! The small details make the characters come alive! Also liked the giant zoom ins and descriptive monologues! Reminded me a bit of Bergman's movies.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, November 04, 2019

Children of Men

The story is about a dystopian world in the future where all women were infertile and most places in the world were unsafe except for Britain.

Liked the nice serene soundtrack! Realized that a world without children would be horrible!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, October 28, 2019

The Imitation Game

The story is about the life of an English mathematician Alan Turing who was involved in breaking code during world war two.

Liked the flashbacks across the present time, during the war and Turing's childhood days. Could identify with his frustrations when the program didn't work as he expected the first time round.

Internet Movie Database Link

Bento Harassment

The story is about how a mother made innovative bento lunches for her daughter for 3 years until her graduation day.

Liked the depiction of the ups and downs of the mother daughter relationship! Was amazed by the creativity of the mother!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Toy Story 4

The story is about the adventures of a group of toys during a road trip on a rented caravan.

Liked how Woody and Gabby Gabby found their purpose in life in the end! The action sequences were exciting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Modest Heroes

This is an anthology of three stories with a common theme on life. "Kanini & Kanino" is about a crab family uniting against external threats and celebrating when new members arrive. "Life Ain't Gonna Lose" is about a boy with a serious egg allergy. "Invisible" is about a man being invisible to others in life.

Liked the exciting encounter with the giant fish in "Kanini & Kanino", the realistic plot in "Life Ain't Gonna Lose" and the imaginative mood in "Invisible!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Art of Racing in the Rain

The story is about the life of a dog living with a man who aspires to be a great racer.

Liked the interesting animation sequence with the zebra in the middle of the film! The plot is a little predictable and I didn't quite understand the technical details on how the protagonist was able to do better in the rain.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Project RED

The project consists of four short stories. Each of them explain how we have more in common than we think.

Liked the dynamics between the two Indian couples in "Singapore Flying", the montage of the lives of two people in "Merging Lanes", the new friendship forged in "Common Ground" and the impact of the parents' biases on their children in "The Dispute"!

Link

P.S. Short Films

There are four short stories in the series. Each of them describes what the unsung heroes in the public service does.

Liked how the youth guidance office believed in her girl in "P.S. Finding L", the nice sports action with the legends in "P.S. Farrer Park", the beautiful scenery in "P.S. Nothing Gold Can Stay" and the determination by the officer to understand the ground situation in "P.S. In One's Shoes"!

Link

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The story is about how a fan of spider-man became a spider man himself together with other spider-people from other universes.

Liked the nice comic strip style of animation! It was interesting to see so many different types of spider-people!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Searching

The story is about a man searching for his daughter online when she suddenly went missing.

Liked the interesting idea of getting the audience to watch the computer screen to find out what was happening! Nice twist in the plot towards the end!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Memory Games

This is a documentary about the lives of a few memory athletes around the world.

I had imagined all of them to have a nerdy look but I was surprised! The interviewees included a woman with purple hair and a tall man who was into mountaineering and crossfit among others! None of them wore spectacles!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, June 04, 2019

The Red Turtle

The story is about what happened when a man met a red turtle on a deserted island.

Liked the beautiful sounds of nature and operatic voice! Was a little bit shocked by the twist in the middle of the film but the plot flowed quite smoothly forward after that.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Brene Brown: The Call to Courage

This is a talk by best seller writer Brene Brown on the meaning of courage.

Liked the many real life examples of courage that were peppered with humour! My mental image of a courageous person used to be a young fit man fighting a tiger with his bare hands, but I realized that anybody could be courageous after her talk.

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, April 02, 2019

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower

This is a documentary on Joshua, a young activist in Hong Kong who protested against mandatory National Education in 2012 and was one of the leaders in the 2014 Occupy Central movement.

Liked how passionate Joshua was about his cause! Not sure if civil disobedience really helped in achieving his goals though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

A Clockwork Orange

The story is about how a young delinquent tries to turn over a new leaf after he was caught by the police.

Liked the nice classical music soundtrack! The film made me reflect on whether punishment is really the best way to make a child behave. It is sad if they do something out of fear rather than out of their own free choice.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Arrival

The story is about how the arrival of aliens changed the life of a linguist who is trying to understand their purpose of coming here.

Liked the interesting twist towards the end! The mandarin spoken by Amy Adams was really terrible though!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Ten Years

The film consists of five short stories on what might happen in Hong Kong ten years later in 2025.

Liked the "Dialect" the best as it related the story of an ordinary taxi driver. "Extras" and "Self Immolator" were action packed but most controversial as they portrayed the central government as a big bad bully. "Season of the End" was too abstract for me. "Local Egg" was a nice reminder that we should think for ourselves.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, March 09, 2019

Beyond the Curve

This is a documentary on people who believed that the earth is flat.

Liked the interviews with psychologists, physicists and the flat earth society members! They helped me to understand why people would think differently from others despite evidences that showed otherwise.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?

This is a documentary about women who modeled for a photo book about feminists during the late 1970s.

Liked the interesting personal stories of these women! I think present day society would be very different without the feminist movement. Women might still be stuck at home being a housewife, earn less pay than men and have no legal means to abort their babies.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, February 14, 2019

The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms

This is a documentary on how algorithms are essential to our modern life.

Liked the real life examples given by the narrator! Algorithms are useful for sorting things in order, matching things by preference and finding the shortest route over multiple places.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 09, 2019

Sing

The story is about how the owner of an old theater gathered a group of wannabe singers to create a fantastic show.

Liked all the nice songs! Was surprised that Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson were behind the voices of Rosita and Ash as they sang really well!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, February 07, 2019

The Barkley Marathons: The Race that Eats Its Young

This is a documentary of the 2012 Barkley Marathon which is a 100 mile trail race with a cut-off timing of 60 hours.

Liked the quirky organizer who created the race with inspiration from a prison break that lasted about 60 hours! The cuts on the racers' feet looked terrible!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, February 05, 2019

Karl Meltzer: Made to be Broken

This is a documentary about a man's quest to beat the speed record of completing the Appalachian Trail which is about 3500 km long.

Liked the nice mountain sceneries! I am amazed by the determination of the runner to fulfill his dream!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 02, 2019

Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru

This is a documentary about a professional speaker named Tony Robbins at his 2014 "Date With Destiny" seminar.

Liked the day by day account on the six day seminar which is filled with personal anecdotes! I was amazed by how he could ask the audience really deep questions about themselves to find out the root cause of their problems!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Coraline

The story is about the adventures of a little girl called Coraline when she found a secret entrance to a parallel world.

Liked the nice animation but found it a bit scary at times. Guess it celebrates the unique quirks in each one of us!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

This is a documentary on how a famous Chinese artist came back to his hometown to complete his dream project.

Liked how the artist explained his works using Chinese history as a backdrop! Nice tribute to his grandmother!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Wall-E

The story is about two robots falling in love with each other and helping humans return back to earth in the process.

Liked how Wall-E made a cosy home for himself despite such difficult conditions! It pays to have spare parts for everything!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, January 13, 2019

The Redeemed and the Dominant: Fittest on Earth

This is a documentary of the 2017 Cross Fit games to find the fittest person on earth.

This felt like a sequel to "Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness", same few athletes but one year older. I learned more about the actual Cross Fit games events in this film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Brave

The story is about how a Scottish princess improved her relationship with her mother through a series of adventures.

Thought this was a precursor to the film Frozen. Both films had someone exiled from the castle and both films were about the love between family members. Liked the action sequences in Brave better but the songs in Frozen better.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Shirkers

The story is about a young woman's memories of an old film that she was making with her friends many years ago.

Liked the scenery of the old streets in Singapore and the scrapbook style of film making!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, January 05, 2019

The Bucket List

The story is about two cancer patients trying to complete their bucket list.

Liked the wonderful places that they visited and how they reconciled with their families before they died!

Internet Movie Database Link

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

This is a documentary on how to cut down on the useless things that we buy and to live more simply.

Liked the interviews with the experts as well as the person in the street who practices minimalism. The ending quote "Love people and use things. Not the other way round." was nice too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Angela's Christmas

The story is about what happened during the night of Christmas eve in a small Irish town.

Liked the nice plot with Angela trying to warm up the baby doll! How considerate of her!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, January 03, 2019

Golden Time

The story is about an old television who wants to get out of a dump. His friends are a broken wind-up toy, a spoiled fan and a small chair.

Liked how the old television remembered the good old days where the whole family would gather in front of him! Also liked how someone picked him up when he has already given up trying to leave.

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness

This is a documentary of the 2016 Cross Fit games to find the fittest person on earth.

Liked the tough but interesting physical tasks! There were a total of 15 physical tasks completed in 5 days and nothing seems to faze them!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, December 31, 2018

The Breadwinner

The story is about life in Afghanistan in the late 1990s seen through the eyes of a little girl called Parvana.

Liked the stories told by Parvana that mirrored reality! The animation in those stories reminded me of shadow puppets. The ending was exciting too as we wondered what would happen eventually!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

The documentary is about the history and impact of the internet and artificial intelligence on society.

Liked the open ended questions posed by the director to his interviewees. Didn't realise there were people who were allergic to wireless radiation!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

This is a documentary on Kevin Clash who was the main puppeteer for Elmo from 1985 to 2012.

Liked Kevin's passion for what he does and his willingness to share what he knows with younger people! Was amazed by the different types of voices that he could make.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, December 24, 2018

Roma

The story is about life in Mexico during the 1970s seen through the eyes of a maid.

Liked how the camera just panned around to show what was going on! Also liked how the family stayed together despite of the internal and external challenges.

Internet Movie Database Link

Bumblebee

The story is about how one type of alien robot came to earth and almost destroyed it if not for the help of another type of alien robot. The two types of alien robots lived in a planet called Cybertron and were able to transform into different objects.

Liked the friendship between Bumblebee and the human girl! The inclusion of the group of arrogant rich teenagers and the boyfriend was a bit unnecessary though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Wreck-It Ralph

The story is about the adventures of a bad guy in a video game called Wreck-It Ralph. He was tired of his life and travelled to other video games to gain recognition and to be a good guy.

Liked the friendship between Ralph and the little girl! Also liked how they depicted code and glitches in the film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Flavors of Youth

The movie consists of three stories connected by a common theme; what is it like to be a youth in China?

Liked the delicious noodles in the first story, the sisterly love in the second story and the innovative use of the tape recorder in the last story.

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, December 21, 2018

AlphaGo

This is a documentary about how a team of computer programmers developed a program called AlphaGo to challenge one of the top Go players in the world, Lee Se Dol.

Liked the human aspect of the story for both the team of computer programmers and Lee Se Dol! I rejoiced when Lee Se Dol finally found a weakness in AlphaGo to win in game 4!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Frozen

The story is about a queen who could freeze objects by shooting beams with her hands much like how spiderman shoots webs from his hands and her sister who longed to be closer to her.

Liked the nice songs in the film! The duet by the sisters was my favorite song followed by "Let It Go" by the queen. Was quite surprised by the twist towards the end that showed what true love really meant!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, April 13, 2018

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

The story is about how an old couple came across a young baby girl in the bamboo forest and raised her to be a princess.

Liked the nice water color animation and the dream sequences! Was really surprised by the ending when the true identity of princess Kaguya was revealed!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, March 16, 2018

Still Alice

The story is about how a linguistic professor's relationship with her family changed after she discovered that she had Alzheimer's Disease on her 50th birthday.

Liked the leisurely pace of the movie and the inspiring speech at the care centre! Great acting by Julianne Moore! Thought the part where she watched her own video but forgot what she was supposed to do after she went upstairs was a little bit funny.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 02, 2017

In This Corner Of The World

The story is about a young Japanese woman's life during World War II.

Liked how the protagonist endured the hardships of food rationing and countless number of bomb shelter visits! She was mad only when she learnt that Japan had surrendered to the enemy. I also liked her creative paintings of the sea, the sky and the experiences that she encountered!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Your Name

The story is about how a boy and a girl lived each other's lives occasionally when they switched bodies in their dreams.

Liked the nice soundtrack, the interesting incidents during the body switches and the complex plot that kept me in suspense on what would happen next! The girl looked beautiful with the ribbon tied to her hair!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, June 19, 2017

Senior Teacher

The story is about what happened to a teacher after a student whom he hit became deaf.

Liked the black and white cinematography, beautiful soundtrack and interesting plot! I also liked the use of hand written words on composition paper to divide the film into different parts.

Movie Link

Thursday, May 04, 2017

The Manifest

The story is about two astronauts taking part in an inter-stellar mission.

Liked the nice voice of the artificial intelligent assistant and the little arguments between the two astronauts!

Movie Link

Beijing, Mumbai, Tampines

The story is about how recruits worked together as a team despite their different backgrounds.

Liked the realistic depiction of basic military training and the carmaraderie among the group!

Movie Link

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

The Life of Bob Lee

The story is about how an ex photo-journalist coped with having an autistic son.

Liked the father-son bonding moments in the film!

Movie Link

Sanjay

The story is about the encounters of an Indian couple who just moved to Singapore.

Liked the friendly neighborhood spirit of helping each other! Didn't quite understand what the boss of Sanjay was angry about though.

Movie Link

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Little By Little

The story is about two children who had to overcome the trauma of seeing someone falling to her death.

Liked the T-shaped paper plane and the drawings made by the little girl! Nice plot and great acting!

Movie Link

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Poor Bro, Rich Bro

The story is about how a brother and sister helped their grandmother collect old things to sell.

Liked how the grandmother taught her granddaughter to stay positive despite her classmates laughing at her! Nice plot and great acting!

Movie Link

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Remember

The story is about a son trying to put his father suffering from Alzheimer's disease into a home.

Liked the flashbacks and how the father and the son remembered about their past!

Movie Link

Friday, April 14, 2017

Close Circuit

The story is about how a Lego child grew up in a Russian doll family.

Liked the tension between the mother's expectations and the child's desires! Great special effects!

Movie Link

Sunday, March 19, 2017

The Leader

The story is about how two young kids in a childcare center learned to co-operate with each other while their parents who happened to be colleagues had a small argument.

Liked the nice plot about how people with different races worked and played happily together!

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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Hanging On

The story is about an old man trying to hold on to old voice mail recordings of his daughter as the telephone company phased it out just after she died in an accident.

Liked how the film showed the human side of technology! Thought this was quite similar to Emoji except that one was about voice mail and the other was about messaging apps.

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Monday, December 26, 2016

Crumb

This is a documentary about Robert Crumb who is an American cartoonist.

Liked the interesting interviews and how Robert brought the viewers through several of his cartoons! It made me question if there should be bounds to freedom of expression as one man's view could be offensive to another.


Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Like Someone In Love

The story is about different types of love: a student's respect for his teacher, a girl worrying for her grandmother's safety, a grandfather's longing for his loved ones and a boyfriend's concern for his girlfriend.

I was browsing through the Criterion catalogue and this title caught my eye as it was directed by an Iranian director but filmed in Japan. Liked the interesting conversations and the pretty actress! The film taught me not to judge a person too quickly by first impressions. I thought the boyfriend was a good for nothing initially but changed my mind after seeing him working diligently in his uniform. Similarly, I thought the professor's neighbor was just being nosy until I learnt more of her situation later in the film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, December 05, 2016

PSLE-GO

The story is about the stress that children and parents face when taking the PSLE exams.

Liked the happy go lucky father who saved the day in the end!

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Saturday, December 03, 2016

B Mine, Would you?

The story is about how a fat guy dated the new girl in class.

Liked the nice beauty and the beast plot! A bit skeptical that running is faster than driving though.

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Second Chance

The story is about a woman reminiscing about her past as she chit chats with the nurse at a nursing home.

Liked how the director showed two different perspectives of the same scenario! Think people usually choose to remember the good parts of their past.

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Friday, November 25, 2016

Grandfather

The story is about how a spoilt little girl changed her attitude towards her grandfather after staying with each other for a few days.

Liked the close ups on both characters and how the little girl managed to discreetly passed a gift to her grandfather towards the end!

Movie

Thursday, November 24, 2016

The Longest-Distance Relationship

This is a documentary about four girls' attempt to understand each other's religion better.

Liked the informal approach to a serious topic! The interviews were interesting and I especially liked how they included their own responses seamlessly to the interviewer's answers towards the end!

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Saturday, November 12, 2016

Sunflowers

The story is about how a makeup artist found a job beautifying the dead.

Liked the nice plot and the carmaderie spirit of working together like one big family!

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32°C Fall in Love

The story is about how the cashier at a mini-mart and a security guard who liked her encountered a robber in the middle of the night.

Liked the interesting plot and the twist towards the end! I wonder where the robber managed to get the gas mask?

Movie

Friday, November 11, 2016

Otosan

The story is about a father whose daughter is getting married soon and he is reminded of the happy times that they spent together in the past.

Liked how the film is able to convey the father's mixed feelings without the use of much dialogue!

Movie

Yukuharu

The story is about a little girl's sadness towards the impermanence of things or mono no aware in Japanese.

Liked the conversation between the protagonist and the little boy who is his classmate as they walked home from school! They reminded me of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in "Before Sunset". The dream sequences were interesting too! The ending was a little bit too sad though.

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Monday, November 07, 2016

Lollypop Love

The story is about the friendship of two pairs of couples in the hospital.

Nice music and pretty actresses but not much of a plot. Think I preferred the director's earlier film.

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Sunday, November 06, 2016

Cine Twilight

The story is about two actors finding difficulty acting in an intimate scene.

Found this film when I read the newspaper. Thought the monologues by the two actors were quite interesting! The gigantic videos on the wall reminded me a bit of "Persona" by Bergman.

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Friday, November 04, 2016

To Mum (Love, Me)

The story is about how a mother learnt that her daughter was a lesbian and slowly accepting this fact.

This film helped me to understand the anguish felt by the LGBT community when they were treated as abnormal people.

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Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Emoji

The story is about how a mother tried to communicate with her workaholic daughter through messaging apps on the phone.

Liked the interesting plot and the reminder to spend more time with our loved ones!

Microfilm Music Festival

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Monday, October 31, 2016

Farewell September

The story is about how the lives of two unwed mothers are inter-twined together.

Liked the nice plot but thought there was a little bit too much narration.

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FYP

The story is about how a woman who thought she was dying in three months time followed her passion to learn the piano. FYP stands for "follow your passion".

Liked the good chemistry between the protagonist and her piano teacher!

Microfilm Music Festival
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Sunday, October 30, 2016

Sweet Day

The story is about how a band struggled to stay together after many years.

Liked the little details that showed the bond among the band members and how they managed to keep their passion alive!

Microfilm Music Festival
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God Knows

The story is about how a man fell in love with a deaf girl who plays in a band.

Was really surprised by the twist in the middle of the film! The director tried to explain what really happened towards the end but didn't think it was too convincing.

Microfilm Music Festival
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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins

The story is about how a rich amateur singer called Florence Foster Jenkins loved operas and sang to a large audience despite negative reviews.

Liked the positive can-do attitude of the protagonist played by Meryl Streep! Thought the singing lessons would start from basic, so was surprised that she knew quite a bit of the song already!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

La Ronde

The film consists of several inter-connected short stories about affairs by different couples.

Liked how everyone was linked together in one big circle! Thought the maid and the girl who loved to eat looked quite pretty!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, April 08, 2016

Our Time, Our Story

This is a documentary about Taiwan New Wave cinema that is packaged together with the "A Brighter Summer Day" criterion DVD.

Liked the interviews and the old film clips that showed how people lived more than twenty years ago! Learnt quite a bit about Taiwan film history from this documentary!

Saturday, April 02, 2016

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

The story is about how Prince Achmed fought against a wizard to save a beautiful princess with the help of a witch.

Liked the interesting shadowy effects in the animation and the exciting fight scene towards the end!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley

This is a British documentary on different types of cybercrimes around the world.

Liked how the presenter slowly introduced the audience to the subject on location and the interviews with the relevant people!

Internet Movie Database Link

Somm

This is a documentary on how a group of young men prepared for the master sommelier exam, one of the most difficult test in the world.

Read about the exam in the newspaper some time back so was interested to learn more about it. Liked the glimpse into the history of wine making around the world!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Blind Date

The story is about two neighbors falling in love with each other despite not having seen each other. Their wall is not sound proof and they could talk to each other.

Liked this charming little film! Can't really tell how great the piano performance was though except through the audience's reaction.

Internet Movie Database Link

After Porn Ends

This is a documentary on a group of people formerly from the porn industry.

Liked to hear how different people coped with the stigma of being in the industry and it affected their relationship with friends and family! Quite amazed to hear that one of them even ran for the governor of california elections!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, February 08, 2016

Tesla: Master of Lightning

This is a documentary about Tesla the scientist who enabled electricity to be distributed to the masses in the early 20th century and who was a pioneer in radio communications.

I have seen the lightning demonstrations at Science Center but didn't realize that they originated from Tesla. I was impressed by Tesla's contributions but I thought some of his ideas could be far too ahead of his time to be implementable.

Internet Movie Database Link