Lust, Caution... Awe!

Watched Lust, Caution last week. It's a film in Chinese and is an erotic espionage thriller (as described by Variety), directed by Taiwanese, Academy Award winning director, Ang Lee (he's made a very diverse collection of films - Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hulk, Wedding Banquet). The film is based on a short story of the same name published in 1979 by a Chinese author and has already won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Personally, I back it for an Oscar...

Which brings me to the movie itself. OUTSTANDING FILM! It's set in 1940's Shanghai in the time of Japanese occupation and is about a group of patriotic Chinese students plotting to kill one high ranking Chinese official in the collborationalist government. Their plan is to penetrate the blanket of security around this official by using a young girl (one of the students) as a lure for him.

The story portrays the struggle of this young student as she gets more and more involved with this official. In the backdrop, the leader of this student gang is also in love with this girl and is torn between love and duty. The climax is gut wrenching and leaves you with a lot to think about.

The story telling is fantastic. The mood and pace of the film is perfect.

Note - Lots of explicit sex scenes, but all very tastefully done. No Brokeback scenes (I personally thought that was a bit much - but that's just my opinion). My only grouse was the armpit hair... watch the movie and you'll know what I'm talking about.

It's a winner. Check out the trailer...

The Pillowman - Not quite pillowtalk

This weekend, I watched one of the best plays I've seen in years. Seriously.

It's described as a "Viciously funny psychological thriller" - and it doesn't disappoint.

The humor is dark. Very dark. The plot is twisted. Very very twisted. The play goes for 2 hours and 45 minutes. But those minutes pass very quickly.

It's written by an Irish playwright called Martin McDonagh and the Singapore crew is directed by Tracie Pang. It features Adrian Pang (a big name in Singapore theatre circles), Daniel Jenkins, Michael Corbidge and others with fantastically powerful performances.

I honestly don't know how to describe the plot but here goes: The entire play is about the interrogation of a short story writer... the allegations against him are not revealed early in the play (so I won't reveal them either). His mentally retarded brother is also involved in the interrogation. The play goes into gruesome murders, social experiments, torture (including chopped up fingers that fell off the stage during our show!). And yes - there's a connection to a pillowman... and what a connection it was.

It's sick and exhilarating and really really funny all at the same time. Anyone who likes movies that shake you, will love this play. So if you like Crash, Usual suspects, anything by Quentin Tarantino, Butterfly Effect and the like - you'll LOVE THIS.

I strongly recommend a watch. It's playing in the DBS Arts Center, Singapore until the 25th of Nov.

Finally - the Cork Board!

For the past 2 years or so I've been looking for a cork board. Something I can put up on a wall in my study so I can put up some of my fave photographs.

My desire for the cork board and the lack of success in finding one led to a series of unfortunate events (with no reference to the movie or the book). Here goes:

1) I feel an urge for a cork board
2) I buy a polaroid camera so I can take random pics of ppl who will eventually graduate to being pin ups (approx $90 for the camera + another approx $100 for the cartridges)
3) I buy a photo printer so I can print some of my "fantastic" work. But I don't print anything coz the cork board is not there (approx $400 for the printer)
4) Printer ink dries up because it's been a year since I haven't used it.
5) I buy new printer ink (approx $120)
6) Still no cork board
7) Printer ink dries up again while the polaroid pics are stashed away in an envelope
8) New printer ink (approx $130... with the new GST ruling) is acquired
9) Got off the lift on the wrong floor in a mall today and saw cork board right in front of me! FINALLY - THE CORK BOARD... and for the record - with the pins - it was approx $14.

Search for a cork board (and related expenses) - $854, a cork board with your favorite photographs in your study - Priceless.

The numbers game

Watched "The Number 23", Jim Carrey's latest flick that didn't do too well at the box office. Well - I liked it!

It's a dark psychological thriller featuring William Sparrow (Jim), an animal control officer, and his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen). He has a fairly ordinary life until he chances upon a book called the Number 23. He is amazed by how similar his life is to that of the character in the book, leading him into an obsession with the number 23 and the fate of the main character in the book. A sinister sequence of events follows and his obsession deepens. The only way out is to find the author of the book and ask him some questions. Therein lie the twists and turns in the story.

Wasn't necessarily one of my favorite movies, but I thought it was well made (Directed by Joel Schumacher - Batman Forever) and told a dark, albeit not necessarily original, story very well.

And so another weekend goes by!