Sophie Scholl

The setting is during the Second World War when Germany was facing great losses in battle and a resistance group against the Nazi regime called the "White Rose" was established. The story is about how three of the "White Rose" members, Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl and a friend Christoph Probst were caught and integorrated by the Gestapo.

Great acting by the actress who played Sophie! She displayed wits and courage during the interrogation and never losing her cool! Liked the brilliant arguments presented between her and the investigator when he tried to "correct" her thinking! One thing that I learnt is that although the integorrator or the judge tend to shout very loudly, the truth always speaks louder than that.

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More info on the White Rose

Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

An interesting documentary about the music that is played in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. Many different styles of music are featured, including rock, hip-hop, and pop, but all of them have a Turkish feel to it.

Very nice music! Liked how the camera focused on the musician's expression when they play the music or when they sing the song! The interviews with the musician's were interesting and insightful too! I also liked the advertisements in the film that were quite funny!

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A Scene at the Sea

The story is about how a cleaner, Shigeru, picked up surf boarding as a competitive sport and how his girlfriend, Takako, supported his passion for the sport. Both Shigeru and Takako are deaf and dumb, but they are able to communicate with each other and fit in with the crowd.

A nice quiet film by director Kitano Takeshi with a great soundtrack! The small little things that the couple do together and their facial expressions help us feel for the characters although they don't talk at all. I also liked the well executed ending!

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Singapore Shorts Showcase

Saw this after the Singapore Students Shorts Showcase and it comprised of the following:

Crocodile Journals
Last Drop
Flutter
Elephant: Ok
The Habit

I think the difference between the professionals and the students is that the message is brought out more clearly through a strong storyline and the sound track is better too!

Felt quite sad for the crocodile in "Crocodile Journals" who tried so hard to fit in with the rest. "Last Drop" reminds me of a German animation that I saw a few years back about a person finding himself in worlds made of different materials. "Flutter" had nice Indian music as background. Liked the storyline in "Elephant: Ok" and the message that it brought across. Didn't really like "The Habit" as I thought it was a bit gross.

Singpapore Students Shorts Showcase

Saw this during the Animation Nation 2005 at the Singapore History Museum and it comprised of the following films:

The Art of War
The Battle of Bukit Chandu
Evolution
Konnimo: Our Phantom Skies
Kung Food
The Other Side
Red/Blue
Restricted Roads
Team Innovation
Vincent

Liked "The Art of War", "The Battle of Bukit Chandu", "Kung Food" and "The Other Side" the best!

"The Art of War": The way the pac-man like soldiers slowly fall backwards when hit was quite cute!

"The Battle of Bukit Chandu": Most professionally done with a good story line and well choreographed action!

"Kung Food": Liked the matrix-like kung fu action and how the apple perspires out of fear!

"The Other Side": Interesting idea that the "person" on the other side of the mirror actually has to try very hard to imitate every action that one does! Pretty funny too!

Ah Sou

The story is about what happens when a triad chief, Gent, gets killed and his adopted child, Phoebe, takes over as the head.

Liked the use of animation to show the flashbacks of the adopted child! The story is not too interesting. I thought I could learn how Phoebe managed the team that comprised of her foster father's pals: Buddy, Whacko and Chance, but the film didn't show any of that! :( One plus point for the film is that Karena Lam acted quite well as Nova, a female triad chief who was an enemy of Gent.

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Valiant

Valiant is an animation film about how pigeons served the army during the Second World War by helping to deliver messages.

The story is quite good and the action in the air is well choreographed! I have seldom heard English accent in an animation but this is one of the few.

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The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D

Caught the last half hour of this film as I was channel surfing. The story is about the adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl who are creatures in a boy's dream that suddenly turned true.

The adventures are quite interesting as we see how shark boy and lava girl co-operate to defeat the bad guys despite being very different. Sharkboy is a hybrid of a boy and a shark and he can only live in water. Lavagirl produces so much heat that she destroys everything that she touches but she cannot stay long in water.

Lavagirl has the most radiant smile I have ever seen and the ice princess looks quite cute too! I also like the jokes told by the weird guy in giant goggles who is supposedly the boy's physics teacher in real life.

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Watched this Tim Burton film next as I missed the public screening in Singapore. The story is adapted from a novel by Roald Dahl and it is about Charlie visiting a gigantic Chocolate Factory together with four other lucky children who won tickets to do so.

Liked the adventures in the factory itself, the flashbacks to the factory owner's childhood days and how Charlie's house slant to one side! Didn't like the small little creatures who look horrific and the musical numbers that they performed though.

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Marathon

Saw this Korean film on an SQ flight back to Singapore. The story is about how much an autistic guy, Cho Won, likes running and how he trained to complete the Marathon. It also shows his relationship with his family, his coach and the general public.

Great performance by the actor who played Cho Won! He plays the autistic guy very convincingly! Was expecting to learn how a proper training program would be like but there is not much of it. The coach just said that pacing was important and to start slow and run fast when it rains. Not very helpful advice I would think.

Liked the depiction of how different the mother and the coach treated Cho Won! The former over-protects him to such extent that he is like an invalid while the latter treats him just like a buddy. Guess it is hard to strike a balance as an autistic does have special needs but still needs to learn to be independent like any other ordinary person.

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Korean Film Review

Densha Otoko (Train Man)

Saw this Japanese film on an SQ flight to Australia. The story is about how a shy Japanese guy, Densha Otoko, started dating a young woman, Hermes, after he saved her from a molestor on a train. Fellow internet chat users gave him lots of advice on what to do on his date.

Interesting use of split screen to show people from all walks of life reading about the protagonist describing how his day went and giving generous advice simulaneously! Seems like technology has advanced quite a bit since the days of "You've Got Mail" from one-to-one communication to many-to-many communication. It is fun watching Densha Otoko on each date although the character of Hermes never really got developed fully.

One thing that bugged me was the thick notes given to Hermes to choose her computer. I think it is too much information overload! It'll be better if there is only a single piece of paper that says buy computer brand W, model X from shop Y at price Z.

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Corpse Bride

The story is about the arranged marriage between two families and what happens when the groom, Victor, accidentally recites his wedding vows to a female corpse, Emily, who mysteriously died during her wedding day. Victor is brought to the underworld while his bride-to-be on earth, Victoria, is put into another arranged marriage.

The film is done using stop motion animation and it is visually stunning! I like the piano pieces played by Victor and Emily. Emily's fingerwork is dazzling! The relationship among the three people, Victor, Emily and Victoria is very interesting! Through these characters, the concept of a sense of duty and self sacrifice is explained and we see how it is being executed in different scenarios. Recommended!

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Original Folk Tale

Interesting Maths Question

I saw this interesting maths question on TV.

PQRS is a rectangle with PQ = 15 units, QR = 6 units and it is divided into 4 smaller rectangles by two lines, TU and VW. T is a point on PS, U is a point on QR, V is a point on PQ and W is a point on RS. X is the intersection point between TU and VW. If the area of triangle SXW is 4 sq units and area of triangle XVQ is 16 sq units, find the area of rectangle XURW.

Here is my solution:

Let WR = x and RU = y.

This means that
(XURW) = xy
SW = (15 - x)
UQ = (6 - y)

(SXW) = 4
==> (TXWS) = 8
==> (15 - x)y = 8 ---- (1)

(XVQ) = 16
==> (VQUX) = 32
==> x(6 - y) = 32 ---- (2)

From (1), y = 8 / (15 - x) ---- (3)
Sub (3) into (2)
==> x(6 - 8 / (15 - x)) = 32
==> 6x (15 - x) - 8x = 32 (15 - x)
==> x^2 - 19x + 80 = 0
==> x = (19 +- sqrt(41)) / 2 ---- (4)

Sub (4) into (3)
==> y = (11 +- sqrt(41)) / 5 --- (5)

(4)*(5) ==> xy = 25 +- 3* sqrt(41)
==> (XURW) = 25 +- 3* sqrt(41) sq units

Both solutions for the area of rectangle XURW satisfy the consistency check that 0 < x < 15 and 0 < y < 6. Note that the assumption that S, X and Q are collinear is not true.

Check out a related link here

Afternote: By replacing the hardcoded values with variables using (TXWS) = A, (VQUX) = B, PQ = w, QR = h and k = wh - (A + B),

I found that (XURW) = (k +- sqrt(k^2 - 4AB)) / 2

Control

I watched this at GV Plaza as part of the European Union Film Festival. As I made my way up the escalator, I saw gigantic banners of "The Legends of Zorro" and they look very good, especially the one with Catherine Zeta Jones!

The story is about the everyday life of a group of ticket controllers. They have to deal with many different types of passengers who refuse to co-operate. It made me realise how tough the job of the ticket controller could be. I also like the ambience in the subway and the cool soundtrack. The girl in the bear costume look quite cute too!

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The Brothers Grimm

The story is about the encounters of the brothers grimm who were witch hunters. A difficult task was assigned to them and it was to find missing girls who were taken away from the village to an enchanted forest with a deserted castle.

Monica Belluci who acted as the queen in the castle looked quite pretty! Liked the funny scene with the toad in a belly up position! Didn't like the scenes with the soldiers as I think they should be trimmed off to make the show more compact. Had fun identifying fairytales like "The Little Red Riding Hood", "Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty" and many others that were incorporated into the show seamlessly!

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When The Rain Lifts

The story is about a few days in the life of an unemployed samurai and his wife during the rainy season. They were initially staying in an inn before the husband got invited to be a fencing master at a castle.

The samurai is very skilful! I liked the way he dodges his opponent easily! A little disappointed with the lack of action, passion and suspense like in "The Incident" or "The Tragedy of W", but the film is still enjoyable as a quiet little piece peppered with a dash of humour!

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The Incident

The story is about a shipyard worker being tried for killing a woman who was his girlfriend's sister. The whole film is centered around the court, similar to that in 12 Angry Men and Rashomon.

My favorite film so far at the Japanese Film Festival followed closely by TTOW! Liked the exciting court room scenes and how the film slowly describes in-depth about each character! Very well written script! I also like the complex relationship among the chracters!

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Castle of Sand

The story is about detectives solving a murder case of an old man who had been a model policeman.

As in the previous film, I am amazed at how the detective can find out what happened from seemingly unconnected clues! The flashback about the son and the father is quite well done! The soundtrack is nice too! One thing that does not look quite right is the pianist doubling up as the conductor at the same time.

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Zero Focus

The story is about a newly wed wife searching for her husband who went missing during a business trip. Many secrets were revealed during the process!

For the first few minutes, I was distracted by the mole on the actress's face but I soon forgot about it as more clues pop up and the mystery deepens! The scenery at the countryside is very nice, especially that on the cliff! The rich man's wife looks quite fierce though!

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The Tragedy of W

My first film at the Japanese Film Festival. The Japanese Association of Singapore is showing a number of films for free at its auditorium and this is one of them. The story is about how an aspiring actress got the leading role of a play named "The Tragedy of W" through an unexpected turn of events.

Very similar to All About Eve that won the 1951 Best Picture Academy Awards but with more detailed explanation on the training and auditioning process. Well written script that shows how real life parallels the stage play! The actress looks quite pretty too!

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