Singapore Cinema

Ah Boys to Men ( 2012)

In Singapore, all singaporean aged 18 and above must serve the army. As this film, tells about a boy who first try to give excuse during his NS training and than later part became a men after he learnt that he need to play a part by guarding his nation. The main hero, Ken chow played by Joshua tan who was a spoiled child who relocated to enlist into National service. Ken chow tried all kind off tricks to be excused before and during his training. Lastly, things got worse, when he wit is army mates who are Lobang as know as (Wang liang), Aloysius Jin ( Max Lim) and I.P Man ( Noah Yap) as all of them find them self in trouble with the sergeant. Than all came to end, when Ken chow father met in a accident , which made Ken chow to become a men enough to complete the NS.

Taiwan Movies

Like most of us, we are new to Taiwan movies, but the success story of Taiwan New Cinema constantly winning prizes in international film festivals should be attributed to not only the talent of the directors themselves, but also efforts of film critics such as Peggy Chiao, Huang Jianye, and Chen Guofu at the time. They deliberately orchestrated the structuring of the auteur discourse while establishing connections with international film critics. One of their efforts was to approach people such as Tony Ryans from England, Marco Muller from Italy, Satō Tadao from Japan, and the French director Olivier Assayas, the then film critic of Cahiers du cinema. 33 The first article on Taiwan New Cinema published in Cahiers was Olivier Assayas’s seven-page essay,  “Our Reporter on the Republic of China” (Notre reporter en République de Chine) in December 1984. In the article he compares the new generation of Taiwan directors to the French new wave. According to him, the new wave directors in Taiwan are much more independent and audacious than those in Hong Kong, where the new wave is already “passes.”35 He describes in detail his invitation by Chen Guofu to Taipei via Hong Kong, including the visit to the Central Motion Pictures Corporation and the marathon- screenings of the young New Cinema directors’ works in a small projection room for him, and his interviews with them later over a wonderful dinner at a “French restaurant with a Beverly Hills look.” He is very much aware that his star treatment is due to his identity as the representative of Cahiers du cinéma, the most prestigious film journal in Europe. He is quick to perceive that, abhorring Hollywood and Hong Kong. Even if new generation of directors taking good movies Taiwanese cinema is now facing difficult times competing with Hollywood blockbusters.  Box office for local films is dwindling to less than 20 films annually and many Taiwanese viewers prefer watching Hong Kong or Hollywood productions, making the country 39s film industry dominated by foreign repertoire. The once successful Taiwan film industry went into decline in 1994 and collapsed in 1997 because of spiralling levels of piracy. There have been a few bright spots though, as in the high box office takings of Cape No.7 (2008), which had become so popular in Taiwan that on November 1, 2008, became her highest grossing domestic film, second in the country 39s cinematic history to Titanic (1997). Another recent popular local film is the gangster flick Monga (2010). For me, in the future Taiwan movies are going to take the world by storm with their innovation ideas.

Korean & Japanese movies

The way, I compare Japanese films mostly deal with (not all the movies that are made) story lines which deal with the goal for the protagonist and there is a villain who creates all sorts of troubles in the world to stop Hero. Korean movies deal with very subtle subjects like Internal  conflicts of hero, Hero searching for the long lost love of his life, Serial Killers with Mental disorder. For most of the people around world Including myself), the first thing that comes to our mind when we think of Japanese movies is martial arts! They have made so many movies of that theme that most of them are really sick. There are some really good movies. Korean movies as I mentioned above deal with natural and subtle stories and hence they cannot be categorise into one type of movies. Trust me some of the Korean movies can haunt you for many days with their stellar performances and story lines. There is many ways, we can contrast with Japanese and Korean movies, as some of us know about the fact that Japanese and Korean display remarkable structural similarities in morphs syntactic and lexicon. However if we investigate more carefully and systematically, the two languages manifest subtle yet consistent differences in form – meaning correspondence. This tells us that the nature of morphs syntactic contrasts between the two languages. Japanese tends to show greater surface structural ambiguity, whereas Korean is shown to be consistently more rigid than Japanese in assigning one meaning to one form (structure). 

Chinese 5th and 6th Generation

Chinese 5^th and 6^th Generation

1)     Raise the red lantern ( ZHANG YIMOU, 1991)

The film is set in early 1920s China during the warlord era, years before the Chinese Civil War. Nineteen-year-old Songlian ( Sònglián, played by Gong Li), whose father has recently died and left the family bankrupt, marries into the wealthy Chen family, becoming the fourth wife or rather the third concubine or, as she is referred to, the Fourth Mistress ( Sì tàitai) of the household. Arriving at the palatial abode, she is at first treated like royalty, receiving sensuous foot massages and brightly-lit red lanterns, as well as a visit from her husband, Master Chen (Ma Jingwu), the master of the house, whose face is never clearly shown. When Songlian started to live in a new husband’s house, she came to find out about the 3 wifes.   The First Mistress, Yuru (Jin Shuyuan), appears to be nearly as old as the master himself. Having borne a son decades earlier, she seems resigned to live out her life as forgotten, always passed over in  favour  of the younger concubines. The Second Mistress, Zhuoyun ( Zhuóyún, Cao Cuifen), befriends Songlian, complimenting her youth and beauty, and giving her expensive silk as a gift; she also warns her about the Third Mistress, Meishan ( Méishn, He Caifei), a former opera singer who is spoiled and who becomes unable to cope with no longer being the youngest and most favored of the master's playthings. As time passes, though, Songlian learns that it is really Zhuoyun, the Second Mistress, who is not to be trusted; she is subsequently described as having the face of the Buddha, yet possessing the heart of a scorpion. Lastly, after having tough time at her husband‘s home which Songlian, already in agony due to the fruitlessness of her life, witnesses the entire episode and is emotionally traumatized. The following summer, after the master's marriage to yet another concubine, Songlian is shown wandering the compound in her old schoolgirl clothes, having gone completely insane.

Yellow earth (CHAN KAIGE, 1985)

The movie Yellow Earth by Chen Kai-ge (Farewell My Concubine, Life on a String) was the first film of the so-called fifth generation of filmmakers who introduced a new aesthetic and social awareness to Chinese cinema. It is set just before World War II in Shaanxi province in Northern China near the Yellow River, an area referred to as gian shan wan he (thousands of hills and ten folds more gullies). Based on Ke Lai's novel, "Echo in the Deep Valley", the film shows the struggle of the peasants in the area known for its unyielding harshness and the folk traditions they drew on to express their anguish. As the film begins, cinematographer Zhang Yimou creates a feeling of desolation with panoramic shots of the vast landscape as a soldier from the Communist Eighth Route Army, Gu Qing (Wang Xueyin), walks over the barren hills to a small village. He says he is there to collect folk songs for the army to use so that "the people will know why they are suffering, why their women are beaten, and why they should rise up".

The world (JIA ZHANG KE, 2004)

The World tells the story of two workers at Beijing World Park : a performer, Tao (played by actress Zhao Tao ), and Taisheng (ChenTaisheng), a security guard and Tao's boyfriend. The movie tells about how humans have a difficult in bonding, full of jealousy ad miscommunication. 

Hong Kong Cinema

Movie name : Once upon a time in china (1991)

This film is set in Beijing, china in 1900 during the Qing dynasty just before the battle of Beijing . The main actors is Jet Hi, He was a martial arts hero and was running a martial art school. That was the time when china government. And together with his aunty Lee was returning from America advised Jet Li that Kuang Fu fighting cant't win the title but need to learnt how to use fine goods. Lastly with their new experience they were able to overcome their enemy.

Movie name : Chungking Express (1995)

This movie was directed by Wong kar Wai. The actors who acted in the movies were Brigitte Lim, Tony Leon chin, Faye Wong and Valerie Chong. The story tells the life of the Hong Kong cops whose girlfriend is a flight attendance and other one is bar worker and how this cops got along in their relationship. The film depicts a paradox in that even though the characters live in dessert place Honk Kong they are mostly lovely and live in their own inner world.

The New American Cinema

Movie name : The Graduate  (1967)

The graduate main here is played by Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin. Benjamin was been a straight A graded student during his college days. After, returning to California from his studies, he was given a big welcome party by parents. In the party Benjamin met his father's business partner wife Mrs Robinson Son, somehow the rather the two had an affair. They both had sex regularly in hotel room. Along the story, Benjamin had the chance to see Mrs Robinson daughter when her was Elaine. Soon after, both went out on date Than one day, Elaine come to find out that his boyfriend was loving affair with his own mother in the past before he met her. And because of this incident both of them left each other. From this story, what i learnt is that in life we need love good relationship with others not affairs which end of the day will hunt us back.

Movie name : The Godfather (1972)

In this movie some great actors brought the underworld to next level by their acting. They are such as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan as Robert Duvall. The story begins ass 'Don' Vito Corleone, the head of a New York mafia family. He had one daughter and son. After his son returns from the war he didn't want to be part of his father business, as Don Vito who lives his life in the way of the old country, Didn't want to change his life style in doing new business and because of this, he and his son had a often clash between them. From this movie it tells us that if we not going to learnt new things and give up our old way of doing things, We are going to be left behind in this ever change world. 

French New Wave

Ma nuit chez Maud ( 1969)

My Night At Madu’s

The Catholic Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) runs into an old friend, the Marxist Vidal (Antoine Vitez), in [[Clermont-Ferrand]] around Christmas. Vidal introduces Jean-Louis to the modestly libertine, recently divorced Maud (Françoise Fabian) and the three engage in conversation on religion, atheism, love, morality and Blaise Pascal's life and writings on philosophy, faith and mathematics. Jean-Louis ends up spending a night at Maud's. Jean-Louis' Catholic views on marriage, fidelity and obligation make his situation a dilemma, as he has already, at the very beginning of the film, proclaimed his love for a young woman whom, however, he has never yet spoken to.

Famous Line

Jean-Louis tells Francoise the choices he makes in his life are easy saying, "it seems to be for my moral good. For instance, a girl I loved didn't love me, and she married another. in the end it was good she married him and not me. I mean good for me, because I didn't really love her. He left his wife and children for her. I had no wife or children to leave. But she knew that if I'd had a family, I wouldn't have left them.

About Italian Neorealist & Hurt Locker

Italian Neorealist Cinema

To my understanding, the Italy directors those days like Roberto Rossellini , Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti who dared to bring Italy movie making known to the rest of the world even when their country was at war with Germany and where poverty was all around Italy. But now days  Italy’s film industry is reacting rather nonchalantly to the surprising absence of Italian movies in the canne competition for the first time in a decade and taking consolation in the expected presence of a robust contingent of young Italian directors set to screen across the fest’s other sections. “One year you have three films in competition, the other you don’t have any. It’s normal,” says producer Riccardo Tozzi head of Italian motion picture association Anica. If Italy movie industries one to play with the big boys firstly, they should take life stories of ordinary people with extraordinary  accomplishments as this movies will inspire large members of the country people to watch their country movie and able to know that even Italian directors are capable of giving good movies. Lastly, like the Italian paintings, which are some of the best examples of European art since the Middle Ages were particularly influential during the Renaissance periods can be seen in Italy movies in the near future with the upcoming directors.

In the past we would seen a lot of American war movies but. The Hurt Locker is the most authentic portrayal of post Iraq War. For those who have not yet seen, the story centers the special unit in Army whose profession is to defuse roadside bombs in Iraq. There had been way too many movies based on the Iraq premise, what makes this movie so remarkable is how well the narrative had been put to use. We get to see the war torn country in an absolute different perspective, adding legitimate elements to make this a stunning success. Every effort had been taken to capture the details of the risk involved for disarming live bombs adding it, the thrill factor. The director Kathryn Bigelow has successfully given us the true situation out there which we had always been yearning to see. The director had chosen actors such as Jeremy Renner, David Morse and etc to make this movie as a whole, if anyone is interested to understand the present state of Iraq The Hurt Locker should just be right to feel the heat. It does not carry any biased political message but a true depiction of life under constant threat. And most importantly, to my understanding about this movie is that it is not about the war or machine but men and women who is like you and me trying make our earth a better place to live in peace and harmony.