Against The Hype

A woman getting pounded into by a man oblivious to her distraction, turmoil, inner life: Any cinema that attends to such an image surely has an eye to that woman’s strengths and vulnerabilities in other ways that surprise and resonate.

Which of these performances do you most admire, or look forward to seeing? Do you know of others like them?

• Melanie Lynskey in Heavenly Creatures (1994)
• Julianne Moore in Safe (1995)
• Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• Nicole Kidman in Birth (2004)
• Tang Wei in Lust, Caution (2007)

Lina Lamont as “Yvonne”: Pierre will save me. Pierre!

“Rouge Noir”: Pierre is miles away, you witch!

Lina as “Yvonne”: No, no, no!

“Rouge Noir”: Yes, yes, yes!

— Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Stromboli: There! This will be your home, where I can find you always!

Pinocchio: No, no, no!

Stromboli: Yes, yes, yes!

— Pinocchio (1940)

How do you prefer your “No, no, no” and “Yes, yes, yes”?

• With Jean Hagen’s helium-frizzed flutiness and an uncredited actor’s mustachioed villainy in Singin’ in the Rain
• With Dickie Jones’ fear-struck protests and Charles Judels’ hulking malevolence in Pinocchio

Mention your pick in the comments below!

Schindler: There’s no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing. In every business I tried, I can see now it wasn’t me that had failed. Something was missing. Even if I’d known what it was, there’s nothing I could have done about it, because you can’t create this thing. And it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.

Emilie: Luck?

Schindler: War.

— Schindler’s List (1993)

Valmont: Now, yes or no? It is up to you, of course. I will merely confine myself to remarking that a “no” will be regarded as a declaration of war. A single word is all that is required.

Merteuil: All right.

Merteuil: War.

— Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

How do you prefer your “War”?

• With Liam Neeson’s suave amorality in Schindler’s List
• With Glenn Close’s vindictive divadom in Dangerous Liaisons

Mention your pick in the comments below!

I just bought tickets to eight of the 11 shows that I’m planning to watch at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival! A heads-up to other buyers:

Potentially unavailable tickets
For some reason, Jang Hun’s Secret Reunion, François Ozon’s Potiche and Heiward Mak’s beside(s,) happiness are not available for booking through SISTIC at the moment. I’m not sure what’s going on here, and what other showings might also be unavailable, but this unpredictability makes ticket-buying rather inconvenient.

Misleading “bundle discount” [REDACTED: See comment below]
On the SIFF Ticketing page, it mentions a bundle discount in which you can “purchase 10 tickets in a single receipt to enjoy a 10% discount”. But according to the SISTIC ticketing agent from whom I bought my tickets, this only applies if you’re buying 10 tickets to the same screening. This would make the wording on that discount far too misleading, unless I’ve been misinformed. (It made no difference to me, since I’m still a student, but it would certainly be an annoyance to others.)

Now that I’ve given you an overview of what I’m watching at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival, here’s a list of movies I wish I didn’t have to miss out on, even though I’d still be here in Singapore.

Treat this as an alternate set of recommended movies if the ones I’m watching don’t take your fancy! I’d go to these myself, except I can’t possibly be in two places at once.

WHAT I’M MISSING (BEFORE FLYING OFF):

A Night with Boo Junfeng
Lido 7 – 16 September, 9.30pm
Why I want to watch this: Boo Junfeng is one of Singapore’s most promising young filmmakers, with a knack for the familial drama of unsaid things (and pensive semi-autobiographical leading men). I’ve only seen three of his films (Katong Fugue, Keluar Baris, and his only feature film Sandcastle), so I’d have loved to have seen his handpicked selection of five of his own short films.
Why I’m missing this: It overlaps with Yu Li’s Buddha Mountain, which was nominated for Best Film, Best Director and Best Performance at the Silver Screen Awards—a tripartite I can hardly bear to miss out on, especially since Junfeng’s rising status promises a DVD anthology or festival tribute of his short films sooner or later.

Everyone’s Gotta Start Somewhere: The Singapore Edition (90 min)
Sinema – 17 September, 3.30pm
Includes: A Family Portrait (dir. Boo Junfeng, 2004), Dick Marlow (dir. Wesley Leon Aroozoo, 1995), Paradise (dir. Liao Jiekai, 2005), Nadim (dir. Loo Zihan, 2005), Tak Giu (dir. Jacen Tan, 2004), The Nightmare and the Wedding (dir. Wee Li Lin).
Why I want to watch this: Argh. The debut short films of all these now-established directors among the Singapore filmmaking community: what a thing to miss!
Why I’m missing this: I might not mind dropping Werner Herzog’s 3D cave-painting documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams for this, but I wouldn’t miss Wim Wenders’ far more acclaimed 3D modern-dance documentary Pina for the world. Sadly, I can’t possibly teleport right from the end of this short film screening to the Lido theatre where Pina will immediately begin, so I’d just have to forego this one.

Floating Lives (dir. Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, 2010, Vietnam, NC16, 113 min)
The Arts House – 18 September, 1.30pm
Why I want to watch this: It’s been nominated for Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Silver Screen Awards.
Why I’m missing this: I’d have to rush down to the Arts House from the Lido theatre after a screening of Jang Hun’s Secret Reunion, only to somehow teleport back to the Lido afterwards for Jeon Kyu-Hwan’s Animal Town. On a day when I already have three screenings scheduled? Forget it.

Nosferatu (dir. F.W. Murnau, 1922, Germany, PG, 94 min)
LASALLE – 21 September, 7.30pm
Why I want to watch this: Murnau is one of the genius directors of the silent movie era, and Nosferatu is perhaps his most acclaimed work after his glorious and humane Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, the last great silent masterpiece. Plus, vampires! People like those, right?
Why I’m missing this: Another issue caused less by direct scheduling clashes than the inexplicable distances between the festival’s various screening venues. I wouldn’t relish racing down from LASALLE to the Lido for my next screening, Park Jung-bum’s The Journals of Musan. I’d expect, thankfully, that Nosferatu will still be screened in rep theatres for many years to come, and readily available on DVD.

On Tour (dir. Mathieu Amalric, 2010, France, TBC, 111 min)
The Arts House – 22 September, 9pm
Why I want to watch this: GlenH kindly recommended this movie as “pretty genial (although ultimately melancholic), loosely structured and surprisingly well-directed film with Amalric front and centre (upgrade to a must see if you’re at all a fan of the guy).” I’m not familiar with Amalric beyond his unmemorable villain in Quantum of Solace, but Glen’s recommendation (and the movie’s Cannes 2010 Best Director prize) really seals the deal…
Why I’m missing this: … except that I can’t get from Sinema, where I’m seeing an anthology of Singapore short films, to the Arts House in just ten minutes. Local short films are notoriously hard to watch apart from festival screenings such as these, so I’ll take my chances coming across the Cannes award-winner at some other time and place.