17 posts tagged “review”

I was in two minds about watching this, as I had heard really bad comments from a few friends. But I also heard of alot of friends enjoying the movie, plus I quite liked the 1st one, so off we went...

And my verdict is, I liked it! The movie was nearly 2.5 hours long, but it was so action-packed, it didn't feel that long at all. There were explosions aplenty, lots of scenes of exotic scenery of Egypt, injections of humour amongst many other features to keep audiences full attention. While it is definitely a story of good vs evil, it is also at heart, a story about choices and consequences - like Shia LaBeouf's Sam choice not to interfere with Megatron's battle with the Autobots which led to the death of Optimus Prime, and my favourite being an aged decepticon who actually told them he had secretly defected to the Autobots' side despite being a decepticon. Choices, that's what life's all about isn't it?

I also like the humorous scenes like the one where the irritating agent acting on behalf of Prez Obama got ejected from the military plane midair, where the aged decepticon had to walk with a "walking stick", etc. They just made a very "boy" movie into something much more fun and accessible. What I felt was lacking/missing was Megan Fox's Mikaela that much more cardboard-ish and less spunky. As compared to the 1st movie, the character seemed to have lost much of her edge, and the director instead had become fixated with her sexuality and sensuality. If her level of sexuality increases even more, she'd risk becoming just a vase in the sequels, if any. Josh Duhamel's Captain William Lennox was rather oogle-worthy, eye candy to me. :p I didn't realise he was in the 1st movie too, until after the show. 

I think... I may get the DVDs of the 2 movies afterall as well! The 2nd one was definitely of high and great entertainment value, and I wouldn't mind watching them again. Ha! 

Three-time Grammy Award winner for Best Traditional World Music, Ladysmith Black Mambazo hails from South Africa and had been around for over 40 years. "Ladysmith" is the name of the hometown of the founder, "Black" refers to the oxen and "Mambazo" is the zulu word for axe. Interesting. And so was the programme. 

For the entire evening, the group presented works from their 2009 Grammy Award winning CD, Ilembe, and selections from their rich and long history. Their performance was extremely polished and their harmonies were so tight, even when they incorporated movements whilst singing, they were still perfectly synchronised with each other. Amazing! The 1st half was a tad hypnosis-inducing, mainly because of the endless looping of South African tunes. But it was so comfortable listening to them, it would have been a sweet slumber indeed. :p

The 2nd half was more fun, with one of the singers heating things up with jokes and audience participation. At the end, they invited members of the audience up on stage to dance along with their melodies. It was really quite cool as 5 gung-ho ladies took to the stage. I thought it was a great way to reach out to audiences as the ladies seemed to really enjoy themselves. And from the very easy and comfortable way the singers interacted with the audience, it is no wonder they're the commercial success they are. 

Years down the road, these ladies would probably always remember those fabulous few minutes and other members of the audience would probably always remember the South African group that came and brought music and fun... Singapore's arts groups really need to learn more from this group.

Cast: Lin Zhaohua Theatre Studio (林兆华戏剧工作室)
Synopsis: Set within the onslaught of capitalism and a period of rapid social change, the play focuses on an aristocratic family's decline to the extent that they have to sell their estate, which includes a cherry orchard, in order to pay off their bills. Lead character, Lubov Andreyevna Ranevsky, rushes back from Paris to stop the auction of her estate and to save her beloved cherry orchard - a representative and reminder of her fond memories of her childhood. Despite the impending auction of the cherry orchard, the owners still indulged in old habits like spending hordes of money thoughtlessly, even though they were nearly broke, and spending time in self-denial and oblivion to their dire situation.
Playwright: Anton Chekhov 

It was not an easy play to sit through, though it was only half the length of Beijing Ren. In fact, nearly an hour into the play, I was struggling to keep awake. I finally had to prop myself forward to prevent any snoring from happening. The play was successful in the sense that, it managed to convey the sense of the characters living in their own world, in self-escapism and denial, such that although they were talking to each other, they were also talking past each other. No one was really listening to anyone else and no one really cared about anyone else - each lived in their own minds, each so burdened and weighed down by their own troubles, each encased in their own little universe, they couldn't and wouldn't realise the societal changes that were happening all around them. And for all that, the play came across as really tedious and heavy-going. But perhaps, that was what the director had intended - the point was conveyed successfully, but audiences were... put off.

The set was great though, in fact it was amazing. The entire stage was transformed into an orchard and there were overhanging layers, which I later realised (after looking at a picture in the house programme) to be rolling clouds in greyish-orange hues - to portray the desolateness of the situation, and there were also cherry trees which were bare - the obvious symbolism here which I needn't add.

This would not be a play that I would recommend for novice theatre goers. 

Pianist:
Joanna MacGregor (UK)

Programme:
1st Half - Bach & Shostakovich's Prelude & Fugues
2nd Half - Brazilian Piano Music (Villa-Lobos, Edu Lobo, Gismonti, Jobim, de Moraes & Piazzolla)

This wasn't one of my 1st choice concerts to watch, however as there were extra tickets, I couldn't pass up the chance. But I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of Bach... undoubtedly he's the great grandfather of music, but still... he's Bach... and somehow, his music brings back somewhat traumatising memories of the Preludes & Fugues I used to practise for piano exams in my youth.

It is rather admirable of Ms MacGregor to present the recital as such. Shostakovich's P&F were influenced by Bach and though the 2nd half was Brazilian piano music, the composers she chose all loved and admired Bach. In the 1st half, she played alternately Bach & Shostakovich for a full 45 minutes without stopping. It was really quite amazing though after about 20 minutes, I kind of got lost. Add to the fact that our seats were at an angle of 90 degrees to the stage, it made my neck extremely uncomfortable. I found solace in closing my eyes and enjoying her playing for what it was.

The 2nd half was livelier. Ms MacGregor's virtuosity and versatility in her techniques were displayed. I loved the 2 Villa-Lobos pieces, actually I've always loved guitar pieces which were rearranged for piano. I always liked the warmth in the music. The last piece of a medley of Six Tangos by Piazzolla was also really interesting and reflected Ms MacGregor's wide range of emotions and depths which she managed to express brilliantly. 

All in all, an enjoyable concert in a very uncomfortable seating position.

Musicians:
(i) Jeremy Monteiro
(ii) T'ang Quartet
(iii) Randy Brecker (Trumpet)
(iv) Ernie Watts (Saxophone)
(v) Richard Jackson (Vocals)
(vi) Shawn Kelley (Drums)
(vii) Christy Smith (Bass)

I wasn't quite sure at the start if I might enjoy this concert was jazz was also something which I don't really know much about. But I was fairly sure about one thing - I would definitely enjoy T'ang. The concert started off with Kelly Tang's "Tang-ology". The quartet was spirited and a joy to watch. And then the rest of the concert featured the jazz musicians. All I can say was that, the entire concert was really enjoyable. In particular, the pieces which featured both the trumpet and the saxophone were amazing. The pairing off of the 2 veterans produced a wonderful kind of spark, which sizzled throughout the concert. I learned something about jazz that night, the tunes just seemed to keep looping. And there's this "tendency" or "need" or whatever to feature each instrument singularly. So the trumpet might start first, then the saxophone, then the drums, then piano, then bass... It could get quite tiring, especially since the 2nd half was longer than the 1st half. That's not to say that it wasn't hard on the musicians of course, but for the audience, especially for the untrained ear for jazz, it could get quite exhausting.

However, the entire evening was so fun, the performers were all so great, the momentary exhaustion was quickly diminished and forgotten. The saxophonist was especially incredible. He played the instrument as if it was effortless and as if he had lungs the capacity of an oil tanker or something. 

A special mention to Jeremy - towards the end of the concert, he thanked the organisers, his team, his musicians, etc. And he even thanked the venue (Esplanade) staff. I thought that was a really great gesture. Most people would just thank the usual people and it's probably the only time I've heard a venue being thanked. Of course, the Esplanade people always do great work - I can vouch first hand - but it's still nice to be thanked. Kudos to Jeremy for remembering to thank the people that really mattered most to the production. :)

The day of the concert was especially hot and humid. And for some reason, the heavens decided they would like to toy with me. The second I got off the bus, rain drops started to fall. My bus stop was the one right in front of Victoria Concert Hall, and I literally ran the entire way to Esplanade, making me even hotter and stickier. Bleargh... And the moment I got into the cool shelter of Esplanade, the rain stopped. How... nice.

Title: Anna Karenina
Cast: Finnish National Ballet
Musicians: Singapore Festival Orchestra

Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy, the production is an Asian premiere. I thought that the set was pretty nice and versatile enough. I also liked the train. And the costumes were so pretty, especially Anna's red dress in her final scenes - very gorgeous. What's not to like about ballet? Beautiful costumes, elegant dance steps, graceful movements and arches, etc...

The dancers were really fine too. At one point, lead dancer Minna Tervamaki (Anna K) fell down. But she recovered so quickly, it could have been a blink-and-miss affair. SN later told me she suspected the dancer probably broke her shoe, but she was so strong, she recovered almost immediately. It's always such a pleasure to watch ballet dancers who're wonderful... :)

Anyway, next on my agenda of things to do will be to buy the book and finally read it. I'd been thinking of getting the book for years, but have always procrastinated. So, no more excuses now.

Synopsis: A young traveller, Tamino, fell in love with the daughter of the Queen of the Night, Pamino, who was kidnapped by an evil man. The Queen presented Tamino with a Magic Flute to aid him in his quest to rescue the young lady. Through a journey of trials and tribulations, the characters discover humility, compassion and tolerance.

Rearranged, restaged and revived from Mozart's 1791 The Magic Flute, this South African musical is totally un-high brow, and completely accessible, fun and an absolute delight to watch. The performers, who were all not mic-ed up, were powerful vocalists in their own right. They doubled up as singers and musicians, at times playing exuberantly on the marimabas, at times belting out the operatic tunes with heartfelt emotions.

I went because I was curious to see how Mozart's opera would be restaged. And it was quite an eye-opener to see how African music could be integrated with the operatic melodies. I also really enjoyed watching the performers' sheer sense of fun on stage. In fact, the accessibility of this production made me want to find out even more about the original opera. 

Just 1 tiny gripe... when I arrived at the Victoria Theatre, I saw hordes of secondary school children. I was initially stunned and wondered if I had arrived at the wrong venue. While it was really commendable to be able to sell tickets by loads to so many school kids, and indeed it was extremely good for the kids to be exposed to the productions, I had not been in the company of so many children since my school days. It was... to put it mildly, rather traumatising for me that night. Adding to that, a SO of one of the ministers decided to sit right next to me. His cologne irritated my nose so much I almost couldn't stop sneezing. And oh, I HATE the seats at VT... they're so old, every time I just moved my body very slightly, it creaked very loudly. Damn embarrassing.

Title: Sutra
Choreographer & Lead Dancer: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Visual Creation & Design: Antony Gormley
Cast: Monks from the Shaolin Temple

Prior to watching the performance, SN told me that people who like Shaolin's martial arts won't like this production and people who like Sidi Larbi also won't like this performance. So I decided, I shall just go with an open mind. And boy, an open mind can be a truly wondrous thing.

I confess that I'm a complete novice when it comes to dance performances. Most of the time, the choreography just escapes me and I absolutely reject most contemporary dance performances by default. However, I was rather awed by the rich imagery that Sutra had to offer. Gormley's use of wooden boxes was meant to "embody the Buddhist concept of the body as both vector of energy and as delimited space". What struck me was the everchanging design of the "props". At times, the monks would be moving around the stage and carrying the boxes on their backs, at times stacking them up into 1 single row (which reminded me of those portable toilets found at outside sites actually... :p), at times stacking them up into rows and columns of 4, reminding me of a bookcase, etc etc. When the monks moved around stacking the boxes, Sidi Larbi would actually be at a corner, stacking up little boxes into the exact same structure as the larger boxes - interesting!

What I also found intriguing was the scoring of the music. The 5-piece ensemble of piano, percussion and strings was amazing. The music was tentative at times, which eventually grew to be more and more energetic and powerful. But the intriguing part was really how a contemporary classical score can gel so well with the Chinese-ness of Shaolin's martial arts. The monks' performance also displayed their ability to 刚中带柔 which contrasted very nicely with Sidi Larbi's extremely flexible movements. The youngest monk in the production was also rather adorable and he drew laughter from the audience with his cute moments.

Anyway, all in all, it was a really enjoyable performance for me. I'm not sure if I learned anything more about dance after this, but it sure made me want to go read and learn more about movements & choreography. 

Short + Sweet is touted as the "biggest little play festival in the world". Indeed, the concept is an excellent one - a showcase of a series of plays, under 10 minutes. Originated from Australia, the festival came to Singapore last year (did I get my dates right?) and this year, a new component was added for Mandarin Theatre. In the course of a discussion with LL, we both agreed that this was an excellent platform for theatre practitioners all round, especially for Mandarin Theatre in Singapore, since its development lagged behind English Theatre. Anyway, here's a quick review of the top 10 shortlisted Mandarin plays:

(Note: The italicised words are quoted from the programme booklet - simple one-liners supposed to capture the spirit of the play - which, sometimes... did not always worked as planned.)

1) Futile (多余):
Would you choose to end your life or continue living in uncertainty when your love life, friendships, aspirations, religious beliefs and place in society no longer exist?

Play started off with a girl about to commit suicide when she was stopped by a, what I supposed was, Satan/Satan's henchman. He promised her a view of another life in an alternate world whereby she could stay if she liked. She was brought to a mer-world (mermaid, merpeople...) where she realised she had become something like a fish in an aquarium, and was subsequently frightened to death. What was the whole point of this plot??!! To make things worse, the guy brought out a tank full of goldfish (punning on the homonym of the Chinese title I suppose), scooped some out and made 2 members of the audience (one of the unfortunate ones was Saresha, by the way) hold the plastic containers, then made them pour the fish back into the tank. The whole play was really duh in my opinion, and it made an ominous start to the entire evening.

2) Help! (倭药墙坚拟):
Help! displays the emotions in two characters discovering what they would want out of each other. Would the need of their unfulfilled intimacy bring a struggle in their relationship?

The story was actually about a woman who wanted to act out a rape fantasy with her boyfriend; and after numerous self-declared NGs, the boyfriend got so fed-up (and probably super aroused) about not being able to make love, and the woman got so frustrated as she felt that her boyfriend didn't understand her nor her needs at all. She wanted to break up with him, and he got pissed off and then the woman suddenly felt that he did love her afterall, and they made love (and presumably lived happily ever after). The parts were reasonably acted and the ending sweet. However, we did not quite buy the "suddenly discovered true love" part. There're clearly plenty of unspoken unhappiness, problems and issues that were just swept under the carpet!!! However, the script had potential for development.

P/S: This play was the only one shortlisted for the gala finals this weekend.

3) Madness (疯):
Madness, confusion, and a family tragedy intersect.

The plot centered around a useless father (who depended on his wife to fund his gambling habit and decadent lifestyle) and a young son helpless from taking care of an overworked and dying mother. The young man, out of mistaken love for his mother, coerced his father to smother the dying woman to death and then went berserk when her spirit informed him that death wasn't what she wanted. He was institutionalised in the end. Unfortunately, due to the weak scripting and the, at best, superficial acting, the darkness of the entire plot wasn't well brought out. It probably would have some development potential, but I'm not a fan of such depressing plots (one depressing play a year at most for me!).

4) Night Visit (夜访):
A clash of values between the young and old inspires this tale of love and memories.

A young woman met her dead grandmother's ghost on the latter's death anniversary and through a series of painful recollections finally realised why her ghost would return every year that day. The script, while a bit dated, wasn't too bad. The 2 actresses also managed to invoke audience "participation" by pretending a member was the young girl's sweetheart. Neither the acting nor script was strong, but there was nothing much about to dislike this play.

5) No Where, Now Here:
At a bus stop, strangers are discussing their journeys. Have you decided on your journey?

The play started off with a fight between two men over a girl at the bus stop, then the scene changed to about 10 strangers on a bus - each with their individual problems, idiosyncrasies and agendas. I thought the play actually started off with promise (although LL said that the beginning could be done away with, which I now agree), but the direction of the play eventually really went... like the title... NOWHERE.

6) The Laptop (手提):
A father and his son are at the airport with a laptop. Danger lurks ahead.

Can I just say that... this is the WORST of all the plays that evening. Firstly, the plot resolved around a MOTHER and her son (note the errors in the programme booklet). Then the plot really stank. It was about how a mother so feared that her son would commit the crime of (probably) drug-trafficking again, that she took away what she suspected was drugs hidden inside his laptop in his bag. (It's porn actually). The script was completely pointless and repetitive to the point of being painful. I could feel the mother's pain (in the wrong way) as I literally wanted to strangle both of them to death so that the play could come to an end. It was only 10 minutes, but it felt like 100 minutes. I also didn't like the end message of the play - even though she believed her son had fallen back into his evil ways, she continued to 包庇 him by taking his "loot" away, to shift the crime onto herself. This is the act of 溺爱 at its worst - the very worst thing a parent can do to his/her child!

7) The Last Straw (终极):
Ring... Ring... Ring... Oh mmmmm... #$*&%!!!

We liked this play best. A man was so caught by his nagging mother, unfaithful wife, wilful daughter, unreasonable colleague, messenger-of-bad-news friend and bullying travel retailer that he couldn't even have a personal yoga session in peace. At the end, all the internalisation of the frustration that life dealt him (with nowhere to vent nor any way to resolve his problems) and the pain at his wife's betrayal came to a head. I thought it was nicely scripted and the acting was controlled. Unfortunately, seems like Singapore audiences prefer love stories to scripts that dealt with the very real, but unpleasant sides of life.

8) Qiang's Winter Days (强子的冬天):
How different are love relationships between parents and lovers? Will they affect one's identity and role in life?

Set in (what I assumed to be) feudalistic China, a widow literally desperately married her son to another widow (because how can one be unmarried and/or childless right? That'd be so 大逆不道 because 不孝有三、无后为大 right??!! Of course such feudalistic thinking persists till today!!!) because she'd only die in peace if he's married (happy or not doesn't matter). The wife promptly threw her mother-in-law out once she married into the family and forbade the husband to even visit his mother. Things eventually came to a head when during a festival the filial son tried to bring his mother some dumplings, got discovered by the wife, and the mother had to go on her knees to beg her daughter-in-law for forgiveness! Eventually, in order to allow her son to extricate himself between the 2 women, the mother killed herself. Is this like a super dated script or what? By the way, the mother was addressed as "娘" ok! I seriously hope I'd never have to watch such a play again because the message behind the plot just sends shivers down my spine. Marriage is supposed to solve all problems??!! Jeez...

9) Shelter from the Rain (躲雨):
Two characters are playing a game in the rain. Why?

In retrospect, I kinda liked this play. Taking shelter in a phone booth from the heavy downpour, Woman A refused to let Woman B share the shelter, even after the rain had stopped. In retaliation, Woman B resorted to all kinds of 小动作 to irritate Woman A, which eventually led to a cat-fight between the 2 of them. It was quite hilarious watching the fight, as they took the banner (the prop for the phone booth) and did some very simple acrobatic-like stunts. The fight only ended when both admitted that they needed the phone booth to make very private phone calls to their lovers, hence, their unwillingness to use their mobile phones. I thought that was the twist of the plot, but the twist actually came at the very end. Ha!

10) That Was A Big One! (那根好大哟!):
How does one man measure up against another?

This play would rank third last in my personal ranking. It started off with a midget having sex with a prostitute, then the prostitute fights off his constant pawing to ponder about (of all things!) love! *roll eyes* And then halfway through, they discovered the house was leaking and the stupid midget stuck his arm into the hole to stop the leaking. All the crude jokes and vulgar sexual innuendos aside, the script really amounted to NOTHING! And the acting was worse! The actress's acting "chops" consisted mainly of running around madly on the stage in her super high heels and looking bewildered in her bad make-up. Oh Godz, it gave me such a headache, I couldn't stop laughing for 15 seconds after the play ended.

Retrospective:
Even after the evening, I still felt that Short + Sweet is still an excellent platform to develop local theatre practitioners. It'd be a great platform for the industry players to learn from each other and hopefully, in 5-10 years time, Mandarin Theatre would have developed a much greater way ahead. 

I always thought that my reviews wouldn't invite much interest and they would primarily serve as my archived documents for me to remember when my memory dimmed in future, but Saresha and Wwolf had proven me wrong. *really touched*

"QNG - Quartet New Generation is a recorder collective founded in 1998 by 4 recorder players (all young ladies by the way) who met during their studies in Amsterdam and Berlin. Its innovative programming has attracted enthusiastic audiences throughout Europe and the America, demonstrating the recorder's ability to be a modern classical instrument. The instruments played include a large number of accurate copies of authentic historical instruments plus modern recorders called Patzoldbasses. These square box-like recorders produce a different structure of overtones and therefore an extraordinary sound, further enhanced by the percussive nature of the keys." (From the programme)

And it was an eye-opening experience. The girls performed 9 contemporary and early music works using over 20 different types of recorders. There're bass recorders which were much bigger than the ones used by primary school students, and also recorders in shapes of rectangular boxes. I'd never seen so many different types of recorders in my life! Some of them were positively beautiful, especially the colour of the wood used to make them. Michiel Mensingh's 2007: A Space Odyssey was great fun to listen to and I also enjoyed JS Bach's The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080. I also liked that each of the four ladies took turns to describe the work they were about to perform, thus making it more accessible to the audience.

I wish I could say more about this performance, but my knowledge of recorders's really limited to the small instrument I once held in my hand more than 20 years ago. The flair the girls displayed last night also included a myriad of woodwind-performance techniques I know - 花舌、双吐、颤音, etc - you name it, they did it. Of course, they sounded nothing like the pathetic melodies we used to force out as kids. Having said that, however, there're limitation to the sound, timbre and range of the recorder. Oft times, the quartet sounded merely soothing and sweet - almost lull-inducing indeed, but in a good way.

Oh yes, a special mention must be made with regards to a member of the audience. Somewhere in the middle of the last song before intermission, a loud rustling noise (of plastic bags) could be heard from the front. I was seated somewhere in the middle but from my angle, I couldn't see who the person was. But I could see and hear a man, seated across the aisle, snapping his fingers at the "rustler" and then moving his hand across his neck to indicate to the person to stop making that noise. He was ignored to the point of frustration whereby he threw his programme at the perpetrator! Only then did the rustling noise stop.

Thereafter, I heard from the grapevine that the "rustler" was an Indian woman in her 60s, and she was trying to find food from the plastic bag within another plastic bag!!! Hmmmm, did she perhaps think that Jubilee Hall was a cinema where food and drinks were allowed??!! In any case, I further heard that, during the intermission, another man tried to tell her nicely that she was disturbing the other patrons. But this woman, instead of being apologetic, told that man off!!! The world had changed man! The perpetrator could become a victim in the blink of an eye! Perhaps the woman thought that she paid good money to watch the performance, hence she should be allowed to do anything she liked, including eating and drinking in a theatre whereby food and drinks were PROHIBITED. But I'm sure this woman had also forgotten that about 300 other patrons also paid good, if not better money, to watch the same performance. So what gave her more right than the others to behave in such an outrageous and atrocious manner??!! Seriously man, Singapore audiences needed to be taught proper concert-going etiquette and their behaviour needed to be cultivated to become more considerate and cultured! Otherwise, no matter how many performances one attended in a year, one would never be able to attain any sense of culture.