It was purely a coincident to watch two films based on almost the same theme, with only a one-word-title for each of the film, on the very same fateful day. It was more than two weeks ago. This one is completely way overdued but I am so compelled to include this in my blog. Two films - DORM (Thai film) and MUKHSIN (Malaysian film). The first one was at GSC Midvalley and the latter, my husband and I were graciously invited to a private screening by the director, Yasmin Ahmad herself. I have to thank her for that as we got to watch it even before the press does! DORM, directed by Songyos Sugmakanan, was very much grounded by the matured acting of this rising Thai young actor, Chalee Trairat. Even though it was marketed as a horror film, the main crux of the film was suprisingly nothing but haunting or scary, rather it was more about a deeply moving relationship between the character that he plays, Chatree and a ghost friend, Wichien (played by Sirarath Jianthavorn) whom he had come to befriend in the dorm, the boarding school that he was forced to attend by his father. I love the mood, the acting and the interesting use of music in the film. Of course, there were some spine chilling moments but the fact that the whole film was so much weighed down by emotions between the main characters that you feel for the "ghost" rather than being afraid by it. Excellent themes of coming of age, forgiveness, courage, honesty, redemption and more. MUKHSIN was very much an auteur piece, if one had seen her earlier works. I only saw RABUN, SEPET but not GUBRA. Though one could see what and why this film was made, I could only share some sentimental elements of it - the serene and simple life in the kampung (village) with kids running around, playing games in front of the house, riding bicycle down the padi fields, flying kites and such, but I personally found certain scenes contrived. Nonetheless I have to say that both lead actors, Orkid and Mukhsin hit it off pretty well. I especially like this tomboyish nature of young Orkid and Mukhsin is not a bad looking young lad himself to begin with. I especially appreciate the smaller details in life that Yasmin manages to capture on film, that most others would tend to deem them unimportant to the whole story to even care to include them in (for instances, a hole in the socks of a young school boy, the act of putting extra padding on the bicycle for the one he adores, etc.) My most favourite scene of all is the scene in the movie poster where Mukhsin dreams of himself floating away! Maybe I was already exhausted by the end of the day, or it could be just that two films were too much for me to handle, but somehow, I walked off feeling more satisfying watching the earlier film. But having said that, I would definitely watch Mukhsin again on big screen to see what I have actually missed out in my first viewing!
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Stories of Friendships
It was purely a coincident to watch two films based on almost the same theme, with only a one-word-title for each of the film, on the very same fateful day. It was more than two weeks ago. This one is completely way overdued but I am so compelled to include this in my blog. Two films - DORM (Thai film) and MUKHSIN (Malaysian film). The first one was at GSC Midvalley and the latter, my husband and I were graciously invited to a private screening by the director, Yasmin Ahmad herself. I have to thank her for that as we got to watch it even before the press does! DORM, directed by Songyos Sugmakanan, was very much grounded by the matured acting of this rising Thai young actor, Chalee Trairat. Even though it was marketed as a horror film, the main crux of the film was suprisingly nothing but haunting or scary, rather it was more about a deeply moving relationship between the character that he plays, Chatree and a ghost friend, Wichien (played by Sirarath Jianthavorn) whom he had come to befriend in the dorm, the boarding school that he was forced to attend by his father. I love the mood, the acting and the interesting use of music in the film. Of course, there were some spine chilling moments but the fact that the whole film was so much weighed down by emotions between the main characters that you feel for the "ghost" rather than being afraid by it. Excellent themes of coming of age, forgiveness, courage, honesty, redemption and more. MUKHSIN was very much an auteur piece, if one had seen her earlier works. I only saw RABUN, SEPET but not GUBRA. Though one could see what and why this film was made, I could only share some sentimental elements of it - the serene and simple life in the kampung (village) with kids running around, playing games in front of the house, riding bicycle down the padi fields, flying kites and such, but I personally found certain scenes contrived. Nonetheless I have to say that both lead actors, Orkid and Mukhsin hit it off pretty well. I especially like this tomboyish nature of young Orkid and Mukhsin is not a bad looking young lad himself to begin with. I especially appreciate the smaller details in life that Yasmin manages to capture on film, that most others would tend to deem them unimportant to the whole story to even care to include them in (for instances, a hole in the socks of a young school boy, the act of putting extra padding on the bicycle for the one he adores, etc.) My most favourite scene of all is the scene in the movie poster where Mukhsin dreams of himself floating away! Maybe I was already exhausted by the end of the day, or it could be just that two films were too much for me to handle, but somehow, I walked off feeling more satisfying watching the earlier film. But having said that, I would definitely watch Mukhsin again on big screen to see what I have actually missed out in my first viewing!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
A Family Birthday Gathering
Last Sunday we went over to OneU for a special gathering - Uncle Ming Lee's birthday dinner. We arrived earlier, Ryan and Aidan managed to persuade their "yeye" (grandfather) to buy them burger king before the actual dinner. As always, they usually get what they wanted for the grandpa loves them dearly! Ryan even sweet talked the "kakak" at the counter to give them each a free "burger crown" to put on! It is amazing to discover what a big family we have from the Moey's side, and that was not even everybody! Nonetheless, two of Patrick's aunties from Australia were here for holiday and one came with her family too. So, we had quite a number of adults and loads of kids to fill up the two tables. As usual, kids will always be kids. They had a great deal of fun running around and we adults had a great and fulfilling dinner all together. I was just glad that we could all come together and see each other again, amidst our busy schedule.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
My Favourite Animations On TV
Animations these days have gone beyond what the mind can imagine, and further. Of course, I watch a little more cartoons on TV 
nowadays then some other programmes simply because my two boys are glued to their favourite channels on ASTRO - Ryan his Cartoon Network, Aidan his Playhouse Disney and interchanging between Nickelodeon and Disney Cartoon Channel most of the time. As much as I have turned adult myself, I too adore what the exciting world of animation today has to offer - slick illustration, cool actions, interesting characters and at times, pretty adult and complicated issues and situations in certain animations. The one which top my list of all time favourite will have to be SAMURAI JACK. I love the way how music and visuals are used in this one. Minimal dialogues but packed with cool actions and I just like the use of split screens and the way tensions are built in each scenes. Of course, I just loved that whole notion of a lone hero fighting evil to uphold justice and finding his way back to his own time. My other favourites include:-
nowadays then some other programmes simply because my two boys are glued to their favourite channels on ASTRO - Ryan his Cartoon Network, Aidan his Playhouse Disney and interchanging between Nickelodeon and Disney Cartoon Channel most of the time. As much as I have turned adult myself, I too adore what the exciting world of animation today has to offer - slick illustration, cool actions, interesting characters and at times, pretty adult and complicated issues and situations in certain animations. The one which top my list of all time favourite will have to be SAMURAI JACK. I love the way how music and visuals are used in this one. Minimal dialogues but packed with cool actions and I just like the use of split screens and the way tensions are built in each scenes. Of course, I just loved that whole notion of a lone hero fighting evil to uphold justice and finding his way back to his own time. My other favourites include:-Justice League - interesting interplay of subtle adult themes
Batman - cool animation of my ultimate action super hero
Xiolin Showdown - interesting chinese elements and a twist to the approach of the martial arts
Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends - love the character of BLUE, so simple yet amazingly captivating
Pokoyo - Really cute
and some others
Now who says I am all grown up and can't speak the language of my kids? I guess there is always a kid in every adult :)
Blogger...Madness
Blogger should seriously look into improving their services...it has happened way too frequent these days - failure to upload images with the post in a blog. Why bother to put the feature in in the first place when it fails to function appropriately most of the time, I wonder?
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Excruciatingly exhaustive
Kitchen extension is quite a straightforward and simple thing but the cleaning up right after is the most tiring thing that I have to go through everyday for the past one and a half month and would still be doing so until next week or so...am really looking forward to an end to this!
Monday, August 14, 2006
Scattering Visuals
A sleepless night, fragments of visuals flash in my mind. Music, it always begin with music. These thoughts keep coming. Meaning, meaningless? Sense, senseless? One original idea, cheap duplicates? Can't believe I am debating this in my head? I must be going crazy, little by little...they are an extension, a continuation from what I have started earlier. Similar ideas, similar surroundings, but slight variations and they seem to evolve each time they surface, like our self, each passing day, we change, without us noticing it. A bride running away from love, a young girl running towards love, a pair of high heels they both had fallen in love with, but would never know what it holds for them until they bumped into one another on a special Sunday afternoon. I think I could almost see the title to my short film...gosh!! It slips away again...
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Love Is A Painful Thing
CLEAN (2oo4)
Directed by Olivier Assayas
Starring Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte
Falling in love with a man and having a child is two completely different kind of love in this world. I wasn't too sure I could be a mother when I was pregnant with my first child but I was pretty confident that I could get used to the idea of taking care of a child, of course, with some help from family (an older generation who has gone through a great deal in life and gained enough experience to know almost EVERYTHING one has to know about bringing up a baby).
But we all figure things out naturally, don't we? Is love an addiction, like how some can be potentially addicted to a life in the fast lane, with creative juices flowing but has to be fueled by the sensations of drugs? It is a life not hard to imagine and let alone, be translated vividly on screen, with such direct and frank approach to the subject matter. Maggie Cheung to me is one of those rare gems of actress in Asia (apart from Gong Li). As time goes by, she has proven to be a matured and smart actress by being selective in the work that she chose to be involved in and of course, her acting has also evolved along 
the way (just look at her in Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). Though she confessed, in her interview that she has not lived a life like how her character Emily in the film had, but after making the film, she could almost understood completely how much pain Emily had gone through to get her life straightened out and stay "clean" so that she could finally get to see her son. That sort of emotional journey is definitely a real one. Motherhood is something so magically beautiful yet weighed down with such enormous chains of responsibilities and commitments that one could 
barely comprehend if one is still not yet a mother. It is almost like second nature - it is like your own breathing, so precious that you feel you could instantly collapse if something were to happen to your child. You feel as though your life is being sucked right out of your body and rendered you paralyze beyond recognition. When we first came back from Vancouver two years ago, Aidan (my second son) was ill and could not eat and cried all night for more than a week. My emotion was crushed to the bone and was heartbroken to see how much weight he had lost then. But luckily, he got better. I never wanted to feel like that ever again but how could I say no? What the future holds is beyond my control. Sometimes, you feel so helpless but you
could only stay strong to face whatever that is coming your way. No wonder in Buddhism, the day we were born into this world, the day we all known as "birthday" is termed Mu Nan Ri (in Mandarin) which literally translated to mean "The Day Your Mother Suffers" (sounds so vulgar). It should be a day when we not only celebrate with candles and cakes and all the nice and sweet things in life, but to also remember the hardships and potentially life threatened danger that our mothers had to endure to bring us into this world. A day when all mothers should be remembered and celebrated 
together with. All right, enough said about being a mother. Let's talk about the film, CLEAN. I love Maggie's subtle gestures in the film - the way she moves, the way she lights her cigarette, the way she bites her fingers nervously before seeing her son for the first time after such a long time of separation, the way she starts breaking down in front of Nick Nolte, learning that her son refuses to see her...Maggie basically anchors down the role of Emily, the addicted yet determined mother so immaculately that it seemed almost natural for her. She definitely deserves to be awarded Best Actress at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. 
Of course, Nick Nolte is such a huge actor and he fits the forgiving and somewhat understanding role of her father-in-law perfectly in the film. Some of my favourite scenes: Maggie bringing her son on a motorbike ride along the busy roads of Paris, Meeting Nick Nolte and expecting to see her son but she broke down and cried for the son didn't want to see her, Finally breaking down in her friend's apartment admitting to the excruciating pain that she was feeling with her life in general. 
In the end, Emily as a character did get to live the dream that she had always been dreaming of. It symbolizes her final achievements in her roller coaster ride kind of life style after all. It is one hell of a film, a film that will make a dent in your heart and no doubt, it is one of the best films that one could hope for - personal yet deeply resonates a greater message in the mind of anyone, not just mothers. Maggie sings pretty well too!
Directed by Olivier Assayas
Starring Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte
Falling in love with a man and having a child is two completely different kind of love in this world. I wasn't too sure I could be a mother when I was pregnant with my first child but I was pretty confident that I could get used to the idea of taking care of a child, of course, with some help from family (an older generation who has gone through a great deal in life and gained enough experience to know almost EVERYTHING one has to know about bringing up a baby).
But we all figure things out naturally, don't we? Is love an addiction, like how some can be potentially addicted to a life in the fast lane, with creative juices flowing but has to be fueled by the sensations of drugs? It is a life not hard to imagine and let alone, be translated vividly on screen, with such direct and frank approach to the subject matter. Maggie Cheung to me is one of those rare gems of actress in Asia (apart from Gong Li). As time goes by, she has proven to be a matured and smart actress by being selective in the work that she chose to be involved in and of course, her acting has also evolved along the way (just look at her in Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). Though she confessed, in her interview that she has not lived a life like how her character Emily in the film had, but after making the film, she could almost understood completely how much pain Emily had gone through to get her life straightened out and stay "clean" so that she could finally get to see her son. That sort of emotional journey is definitely a real one. Motherhood is something so magically beautiful yet weighed down with such enormous chains of responsibilities and commitments that one could barely comprehend if one is still not yet a mother. It is almost like second nature - it is like your own breathing, so precious that you feel you could instantly collapse if something were to happen to your child. You feel as though your life is being sucked right out of your body and rendered you paralyze beyond recognition. When we first came back from Vancouver two years ago, Aidan (my second son) was ill and could not eat and cried all night for more than a week. My emotion was crushed to the bone and was heartbroken to see how much weight he had lost then. But luckily, he got better. I never wanted to feel like that ever again but how could I say no? What the future holds is beyond my control. Sometimes, you feel so helpless but you could only stay strong to face whatever that is coming your way. No wonder in Buddhism, the day we were born into this world, the day we all known as "birthday" is termed Mu Nan Ri (in Mandarin) which literally translated to mean "The Day Your Mother Suffers" (sounds so vulgar). It should be a day when we not only celebrate with candles and cakes and all the nice and sweet things in life, but to also remember the hardships and potentially life threatened danger that our mothers had to endure to bring us into this world. A day when all mothers should be remembered and celebrated together with. All right, enough said about being a mother. Let's talk about the film, CLEAN. I love Maggie's subtle gestures in the film - the way she moves, the way she lights her cigarette, the way she bites her fingers nervously before seeing her son for the first time after such a long time of separation, the way she starts breaking down in front of Nick Nolte, learning that her son refuses to see her...Maggie basically anchors down the role of Emily, the addicted yet determined mother so immaculately that it seemed almost natural for her. She definitely deserves to be awarded Best Actress at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Of course, Nick Nolte is such a huge actor and he fits the forgiving and somewhat understanding role of her father-in-law perfectly in the film. Some of my favourite scenes: Maggie bringing her son on a motorbike ride along the busy roads of Paris, Meeting Nick Nolte and expecting to see her son but she broke down and cried for the son didn't want to see her, Finally breaking down in her friend's apartment admitting to the excruciating pain that she was feeling with her life in general. In the end, Emily as a character did get to live the dream that she had always been dreaming of. It symbolizes her final achievements in her roller coaster ride kind of life style after all. It is one hell of a film, a film that will make a dent in your heart and no doubt, it is one of the best films that one could hope for - personal yet deeply resonates a greater message in the mind of anyone, not just mothers. Maggie sings pretty well too!Friday, August 04, 2006
The wandering thoughts
Derailed and disfigured, the words have deserted me and the mind has come to a halt and disappointment (partly with blogger)...
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