Intentions of Murder

This DVD is the final part of the "Pigs, Pimps and Prostitutes" boxset by Shohei Imamura. The story is about how a woman dealt with a rapist who kept pestering her after she kept mum about the rape incident to her family. She was a former maid who became the unofficial wife after bearing a boy for the family.

Liked the flashbacks, the voice over and the beautiful snow scenery towards the end! The twists and turns of events also made me watch in anticipation of what would happen next! Great performance by the lead actress!

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The Insect Woman

This DVD is the second part of the "Pigs, Pimps and Prostitutes" boxset by Shohei Imamura. The story is about how a woman struggled to survive. The film showed her life from 1918 up to 1962, showcasing the major national events in Japan during that period.

Liked how well the protagonist adapted to her changing circumstances! The freeze frames were pretty interesting too! Learnt a bit about the history of Japan too!

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Clueless

This is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's "Emma" with the setting changed to the Beverly High School in America during the mid 90s.

Liked the voice over narration, the witty sense of humor and how the film encouraged people to do good deeds! Excellent performance by Alicia Silverstone! She acted really well especially the scenes when she felt discouraged after failing her driving test!

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The Weeping Meadow

This is the first part of a trilogy about the history of modern Greece that covers the period of 1919 to 1949 seen through the eyes of an orphan girl who fell in love with her foster brother.

Liked the beautiful scenery by the river and the lively Greek music! Very slow paced but the pace picked up towards the end after the guy went to America.

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The story is about the life of a mental patient in a hospital that has very innovative ways of treating the patients.

I wondered how a documentary about real mental patients would differ from this film? Did they also go trekking, fold plastic bags and have nurses personally check if they had taken their prescriptions like in the film? Felt that the director might have been influenced by the Japanese film "After Life". I also thought that the protagonist had pretty good handwriting!

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The story is about how two groups of robots fought against each other on earth. One group wanted to take over earth while the other group were friends with the humans.

Preferred the first episode as it described the background story better. It also showed how Sam and Bumblebee developed their friendship. The humor in this episode didn't work very well and I found it hard to differentiate the two groups of robots. Thought the part where Sam and his girlfriend had to run a very long distance to Optimus Prime was a little bit too long winded.

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The Housemaid

Watched this online for free at the auteurs website! The story is about how a housemaid in Korea during the sixties gradually caused a family to break up after the husband had an affair with her.

A scary domestic thriller! It was interesting to see the reactions of both the housemaid and the wife to the rat in the cupboard! I was undecided whether to pity the housemaid or to fear her throughout the film. Her actions could be partly due to her social status but she was also psychotic at the same time. Nice social critique of Korean society at that time!

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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

The story is about how a girl, Otilia, helped her room mate, Gabita, to get an abortion illegally in 1987 Romania. This film won the Palme D'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Interesting look at life in Romania during the Communist era under dictator Ceausescu's rule where there is little trust among people! Liked the negotiation scene with the abortionist and the dinner scene with Otilia's boyfriend's family as they explained the situation in Romania pretty well!

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Haikara Girl

The story is about how a rich man's daughter fell in love with her driver whom they knew each other since young. The setting is in the Taisho era (early 18th century) when Japanese society is rapidly modernizing.

Liked how the film explained how the daughter and the driver bonded with each other! They spent time chatting under a giant tree and experimented with her father's latest gadgets together. Felt quite sad for the driver when he had to drive the daughter and her rich snobbish suitor around. Thought the scene where the three people confronted each other in the forbidden room was very nicely executed!

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Pigs and Battleships

Quite happy that Criterion is coming up with more and more Japanese titles! This DVD is the first part of the "Pigs, Pimps and Prostitutes" boxset by Shohei Imamura. The story is about a Japanese couple living near the port. The guy is a gangster who is in charged of raising pigs while American battleships were docked nearby.

Learnt about the structure of the yakuza and the living conditions in postwar Japan. A little bit confused with the many characters but I liked the interesting plot, the black and white cinematography and the fluid movement of the camera!

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Long Live the Wife

The story is about how a wife manages her relationship with her family. Her husband borrowed money from her dad to start a business and had an affair. Her brother fell in love with her sister-in-law and her mother-in-law likes to nag at the servant.

There were several funny moments and I was impressed by how capable the wife was! Didn't realize that the writer, Eileen Chang, got divorced the same year that she wrote the script for the film until much later. I think it helped to explain how she chose to end the film.

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Alice in the Cities

The story is about how a German journalist who is writing an article about American life traveled back from United States to Germany with a little girl to search for her grandmother.

Great performance by the little girl! I also liked the scenery and the interesting dialog during their road trip!

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Young Cinema: Programme B

Watched the following short films as part of the Young Cinema Programme organised by the National Museum.

The Riddle in a Bottle
Liked the songs and the scenes with the wild animals!
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Arretes
Nicely drawn but not very well received by the audience that consisted mostly of little kids.
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Once Upon a Tide
The little girl looked quite cute! Nice story!
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Young Cinema: Programme A

Watched the following short films as part of the Young Cinema Programme organised by the National Museum.

The Animal Save the Planet
Very nice stop motion film in the style of Wallace and Gromit! The ideas were well thought out!
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The Story of Stuff
Too wordy and need to concentrate to get the message! Saw most of the kids got restless for this segment. Maybe it would help if subtitles were displayed?
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Garbage Angels
Nice abstract piece about simulated wild animals made of garbage!
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Papiroflexia
Nice abstract piece about the beauty of nature and paper folding!
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Goldfish
Really funny film about the unexpected side effects of watching too much "Finding Nemo"!
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Star Trek

The story is about how a group of cadets worked together on a space ship and saved Earth from being destroyed by aliens. It is based on the popular TV series of the same name.

Liked the chemistry among the characters and the catchy dialog! The dynamics between James and Spock is especially interesting!

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Kabei: Our Mother

The story is about the life of a Japanese mother narrated by her daughter. Her husband was thrown into jail for his left wing ideas during the early 1940s and she had to fend for her two daughters by herself.

The eldest daughter was quite cute with her two pony tails and the uncle was a lovable character in his own way! Great acting by the two daughters! Thought the director could have shortened the ending. A reasonably good film but I was a little disappointed as it didn't move me as much as "Twenty Four Eyes" and "Burmese Harp", both were Japanese anti-war films made in the 1950s.

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Umberto D

The story is about an old man and his dog. The old man owes the landlady money and is gradually being kicked out of his apartment.

Nice story and the maid looked quite pretty! Was quite impressed by the tricks that the dog could do too but I felt a little depressed for the old man towards the end!

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Sell Out!

The story is about the lives of the employees of "FONY", a fictitious Malaysian company whose focus is on making money at all costs. The main characters are an Arts show host intent on climbing the social ladder and an idealistic product manager.

Liked the songs and the black humor! I also liked the scenes where they showed the ordinary people in the streets!

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Milk

The story is about a milkman who stays with his mother and aspires to be a poet.

Very interesting opening sequence that showed how a snake crawled out of a woman's mouth who was hung upside down with a mysterious boiling pot of potion below! Don't quite understand what it all means though. Thought the scene where the son caught the fish and her mother plucking feathers off a bird was beautifully shot too!

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Sex is No Laughing Matter

The story is about the love between a teacher, Yuri, and her student, Mirume. Mirume had two close friends, En-Chan and Domoto. En-Chan liked Mirume secretly while Domoto liked En-Chan secretly.

Interesting exploration on how feelings between teacher and student could develop and their consequences! Both leading actresses looked quite pretty!

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