Thursday, October 27, 2011

Bedevilled

The story is about the reunion of two childhood friends when one of them took a long break from work and returned back from Seoul to her home town on an island.

Watched "Io Island" by Kim Ki Young prior to this, so I was prepared for the strange behaviour of the people living on the island! Liked how the director let the audience slowly piece together what happened in the past themselves.

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Hahaha

The story is about two friends chatting about their encounters in the city.

Liked the interesting plot and how everything came together so nicely! The various girlfriends looked quite pretty too!

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Saturday, October 15, 2011

My Perestroika

This is a documentary about a handful of middle-aged Russians explaining the impact of Perestroika on their lives.

Liked the old black and white footages of the children! Thought the girls looked quite cute with the gigantic ribbons on their head! The songs were nice too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, October 14, 2011

Images of Singapore from French Television 1964-1973

This consisted of several French short documentaries on Singapore shortly after becoming part of Malaysia.

Liked the footages of old Chinatown and depiction of what people liked to do during that era such as watching Chinese Opera in the streets! Didn't know even small children were interested in it back then!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fear and Trembling

The story is about the working life of a Belgian woman in a Japanese company.

Liked how humor was used to introduce us to Japan's working culture that is highly hierarchical! The reference to "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" was interesting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, October 08, 2011

The Red Lantern

The story is about how a Eurasian girl who was born out of wedlock in China decided to take part in the Boxer Revolution to fight against the foreigners.

Liked the interesting plot and the dramatic acting!

Internet Movie Database Link

Impressions of Asia from Early French Cinema 1897-1933

This consisted of several short films about Asia.

Liked the first segment of films with special effects especially the one with the Japanese Acrobats! The street scenes of Singapore in the early 20s was interesting to watch too!

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Tatsumi

This is a story based on the life and works of Yoshihiro Tatsumi who is a famous Japanese comic writer.

Liked the interesting study into human psychology in the short stories! Also liked how the film showed the comic writer in person at work towards the end!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, September 30, 2011

The Silence Before Bach

This is a tribute to the music of Bach where we learn about Bach's life and how modern people play and appreciate his music.

Liked the nice music and the interesting anecdotes! I thought the cello, piano and vocal ensembles were grand and impressive!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Breakfast Lunch Dinner

This is an omnibus of three stories, each happening during a meal in the day as described in the title.

Liked "Lunch" the best as it had a cute Thai school girl who was funny and smart at the same time! "Breakfast" was not bad too for its simple plot. "Dinner" had many threads going on at the same time which made it hard to understand.

Internet Movie Database Link

Strangers No More

This is a documentary about an international school in Israel who admitted mostly refugee children.

Liked the big family concept of the school! The teachers really went out of their way to even help the parents of their students!

Internet Movie Database Link

Donor Unknown

This is a documentary about the sperm donor industry shown through the "family" of Donor 150 from the California Cryobank.

Liked the great story telling and the interesting characters!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Green Days

The story is about a young girl's life during the seventies in Korea. She has an artistic girlfriend who is good at singing and writing poems as well as a techie boyfriend who wants to be an astronaut.

Liked the nice coming-of-age story and the nostalgic feel of the seventies!

Fairy Tales

The story is about how three teenagers who were neglected by their parents were led astray by bad guys.

Liked the pretty Siona Wu who played Amanda and the funny Indian couple! Thought it was a little outdated to be selling VCDs in this internet age. It puzzled me how the model agency boss managed to locate the taxi driver father so quickly though.

Gangs

The story is about gangs in Singapore during the seventies.

Great acting by Xiao Lang! The torture scene was quite innovative too! The dying person had too much dialogue and should have run out of breath before she could finish them in my opinion.

Muppet History 101

This is a documentary about Jim Henson's early muppet making career when the idea of "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show" started to take shape.

Liked Jim Henson's great sense of humour in his shows as well as the promotional video of "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show"!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Nosferatu

The story is adapted from Bram Stoker's Dracula. It is about how a vampire killed innocent people and how it was finally defeated in the end.

Liked how scary the vampire looked and the exciting music from the xylophone! The ending was a little bit anti-climax though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Autumn Gold

This is a documentary about old people from different countries taking part in the 2009 Oslo World Masters Athletics Championships.

Liked the interviews with the old people who didn't seem old at all! They are an inspiration for people who are too lazy to keep fit.

Internet Movie Database Link

Yellow Sea

The story is about a cab driver in China who smuggled into Korea to be a hitman and to gather news about his wife whom he has lost touch with.

Liked the tough survival instinct of the cab driver and the exciting fight sequences! One of the bad guy looked a bit like Sammo Hung.

Internet Movie Database Link

Animal Town

The story is about life in Korea after the financial crisis seen through two Korean guys: a former child molester out on parole and a family guy whose life was ruined because of him.

The pacing was slow but thought it helped to demonstrate the monotony of the lives of the two men. The little girl and her sister looked quite cute! The unexpected twist at the end was also interesting.

Internet Movie Database Link