Only for young ones!

Drifting Clouds (Finnish; 1998)
Written and Directed: Aki Kaurismaki

This modern world is only for the young, the well-heeled and the spendthrift. It is not interested in the older population who are less productive and tend to be miserly in their spending habits. The world revolves around generating economies, increasing debts and squeezing everyone out of their hard-earned money with the promise of giving them that elusive thing called happiness. Sure, there are avenues for one to make a living. It is hampered, however, by enslaving people to the bondage of their jobs. There is no leisure and no time to savour the fruit of their labour. At the same, people have to fulfil their biological purpose of existence and to bear the baggage that it brings, sweat, blood, tears, death and much more.

Big corporate firms are only interested in the big players with big capitals. Little people with only determination and tenacity as their collateral do not excite them. At the end of the day, it is only human relationships that save the day when the state fails.

This minimalist film is a melancholic one with its own quirky moments. It tells the story of a couple aged around the late thirties/early forties who had both lost their job. The economy is slow, and retrenchment is the order of the day. With a background sadness of losing their toddler (we are not told when and how), they battle unemployment, disappointment with securing jobs, humiliation and helplessness as they are denied finances and are told off to be old.

Even though the movie was made in the late 90s, the film has a retro mood setting with its jazzy and 60s rock-and-roll musical score. The cold Scandinavian climate set the perfect mood for the melancholia that hung throughout the film.

I was told most of Kaurismaki's takes are single takes, and the actors had to give their one and only best shot at the camera. The acting appears robotic at times, but apparently, that is the director's signature which augments his own sense of humour.

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/cinephilia.my/

All we hear is...

Singapore GaGa (2015)
Director: Tan Pin Pin


I would not have given a second look at this hour-long experimental show that was due to be screened in Kuala Lumpur as part of bilateral cultural exchange.

Unfortunately, the Malaysian censor board felt that one of the words uttered was deemed confusing. The committee decided that that part of the speech must be blanked to avert apparent confusions at the level of infantile minded audiences. The director refused, and the presentation was withdrawn.

The director had performed to sell-out crowds in Singapore and at various international film festivals just for the records.

The presentation is a collection of sounds in the daily lives of an average Singaporean as he travels the MRT, walks on the streets and his HDB flats. The familiar sounds are the basking at the stations, the loud succinct sounds of news read in local dialects and the public's murmur against their daily activities.

A senior citizen spends more of his daytime in the premises of an MRT station performing a one-man show of simultaneously blowing the harmonica with one hand, juggling two balls with the other while tap-dancing wearing a pair of clogs. He seems to have the delusion of grandiose that he is a national treasure.

Another lady who uses a wheelchair gets on by selling tissue papers for a dollar while breaking into a song quite so often. She is pretty contented that she has found Christ and has no qualms expressing her faith in public.

An interview with a 60-year-old harmonica player-teacher and another guitar player highlights the merits of learning the harmonica in school instead of recorders. A Singapore performer who performed in New York to rave newspaper reviews shows her mantel by playing a miniature piano alternating with a percussion. The percussion, a pair of bamboo canes, reminds her of the Tok-Tok Mee man of her childhood.

The 'controversial' part of the show is by a ventriloquist performing at a school function. The puppet 'Charlee' shows his language skills by translating words of his master - to the word 'kawan', he says 'binatang' (animal). I fail to see the controversy. Perhaps, I am just too thick!

Another scene that does not fit into the equation, perhaps the very reason it was included, is a sports day event at an Arabic school in Singapore. Even though their allegiance is to Singapore, singing the national anthem and patriotic songs, the lingua franca is Arabic!

What is the point of the presentation, you may ask? The way I see it, it is to showcase that even though Singapore showcases itself as a sovereign and unified state, it is divided with various identities deep inside. The old and the little people have been forgotten and lagged in the nation's race to reach first world nation status.

The one and only...

Pear ta Ma On Maf (The Land Has Eyes, Fiji; 2004)

Guess what? This film is Fiji's only known own production. It is a simple low budget fare made to look like a Disney family film about the legend of the spirit of a woman warrior who was left to fend for herself marooned on an island by her 7 brothers. Her spirit came to help a local girl whose father was cheated by a rich neighbour. The girl from the remote island of Rotuma Island, Viki, has big plans to further her studies in main Fiji Island. Her endeavour, however, is planned to be sabotaged by the same neighbour. The spirit of the female warrior comes to her rescue and helps to change her fate.

The highlight of the movie is the scenic landscape of the Pacific together with with its clear blue sky, waters and flora. Kudos too to some of the underwater camera shots.

The story otherwise is quite predictable and tame. Maybe because their pioneering effort on a shoestring budget, they were nominated for the 2006 Academy Awards and Sundance festival.

Bitten by the black dog

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Written and Directed: John Cassavetes

Just recently, I was introduced to yet another great director. John Cassavetes is said to be a pioneer in indie production movies and has his own way of bringing out social issues. This particular film is quite intense an dwells with the issue of depression in a family member,  how the family dynamics influences and deals with the disease.

For the first time I see Peter Falk acts in a cast different from his usual stereotype - a cranky detective ala- Det. Colombo in a trench coat. Here he is Nick, a hot headed overworked construction worker who tries to juggle a life between his colleagues, his well knitted Italian descendent family, his three young kids and a cranky wife (Mabel, Gena Rowlands) who is breaking under the pressures of playing her role as a good mother, a good wife and running her own life.


She is an attention seeking woman who gets little attention from his busy other half. She is trying to make herself happy but crumbles. She is committed to an institution. We see in the later part of the movie of an equally bizarre parenting by Nick during her absence. Six months later, family and friends prepare to receive Mabel back home amidst the confusion and uncertainty of knowing what is best for her.
In spite of the deficiencies, the couple find common ground and continue life as a family - father, mother and kids.

An excellent flick which looks at the pains, uncertainties and frustrations that the love ones go through when someone in the family gets bitten by the black dog.

This is reality...

Gadoh (Malay/ Cantonese, 2009)
So there I was hanging around the booths at a mini literary fest where DVDs of local indie productions were displayed. There was a unremarkable looking guy manning the stall. In the passing, I casually inquired whether he was involved in any of films displayed. To my embarrassment, he replied that he made all of them!
That is the state of local cinema scene. Your artistic brilliance is not appreciated and conversely, you have to market your product despite the obstacles and sacrifices they to endure in the first place.
This is another film not given approval by FINAS who thought that the story of the movie would confuse its viewers. FINAS went as far as to even attempt to stop a private screening!
When I found out that it was banned film, I grabbed one for myself. And an autographed one that too!
The theme of the film is actually nothing new. A secondary school was facing inter-racial disciplinary problems. The students were divided along racial lines, frequently ending in physical fights amongst students.
The teachers were at wits end trying to keep the bad press under wraps. One innovative teacher, Puan Anne, suggested organising a theatre group to bridge the racial divide. She engages an old friend, an renegade, a non conformist, for this purpose.

The main troublemakers are two group of students, one Malay and the other Chinese who cannot stand the sight of each other. Both group have their own reason for hating each other. Basically, they are parroting what they learnt from their elders. That the Malays are lazy, stupid and self centred and the Chinese are heartless lying immigrants who are unclean.
As predicted, any interventions will initially meet resistance. The other teachers themselves are not convinced that such an intervention would work furthermore as the students are involved in more fights.
By and by, the students managed to put up a joint venture modern theatre show where they basically express their own feelings about their insecurities in front of the full view of the Education Officers and media. The performance is not taken lightly by the forces that be. The Education Officer walks out in anger and the Headmaster is not amused.
The students are happy with their performance and the objective of unification is complete but...
What was deemed as offensive in this movie is actually done daily by our leaders through their proxies. What is seen in the movie is actually faced by people on the ground on a daily basis. True, we are constantly reminded that we are different by our leaders. Like a schizophrenic, they spread the word of unity and love in the one sentence and hate in the next!

Gadoh from Pusat KOMAS on Vimeo.