You are the Apple of My Eye | 那些年, 我们一起追的女孩 [ Movie Review ] ★★★★1/2

The Pitch

Touted as Biggest Ever Opening Day and Weekend Box Office for a Taiwanese film (remained as Taiwan Box Office champion for three weeks), You are the Apple of My Eye ( 那些年，我们一起追的女孩 literally means The girl that we wooed during those years ) marks a revival of Taiwanese films that getting commercial release here in Singapore. This coming-of-age movie is based on a popular autobiography book by Giddens (九把刀 or Nine Knives) and it's selling like hot cakes in Hong Kong (No.1 at Hong Kong box office and out selling it's nearest competitor Life without Principle by about 2.65 times). 

What makes this school days romance movie so popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong? The trailer gave the impression that it's going to be another routine romantic comedy with good looking actor and actress. The director. Giddens is primarily known for his novels and this movie somewhat marks his first directorial debut. To have such a result for his first main feature is pretty impressive. 

Perhaps there's something special about this box office champ that getting a commercial screening like it's predecessors, Monga and Cape. No 7. Let's find out what the X-factor in this movie.

The Plot

The movie started with the introduction of the protagonist, Ko-Teng (Ko Chen-tung 柯震東) and his close friends. They are distinctively different with their own special quirks However all his friends had something in common and that's having a crush with the class monitress, Shen Jiayi (Michelle Chen 陳妍希). For the longest time, Ko-Teng could not understand why his friends got the hot for her as he felt that she was only slightly prettier than the rest of the female classmates and there's nothing special about her.

After getting into trouble with their homeroom teacher, Ko-Teng was made to sit in front of Shen Jiayi. Being one of the top students in school, Shen Jiayi was tasked to keep close tabs on him and supervise his school works. The two of them resented the arrangement initially and started bickering until an incident in class changed the dynamic between them.

Shen Jiayi started to prepare extra homework for Ko-Teng and forced him to stay back after class for revisions. Romance blossom between the both of them but the usually outspoken Ko-Teng couldn't find the courage to propose to Shen Jiayi. With graduation looming, could their puppy love withstand the long distance test as they head towards different universities?

The Perspective 

You are the Apple of My Eye turned out to be surprisingly good. I didn't have much expectation for this coming-of-age romcom but it came out of nowhere and stole my heart. Without any surprises for this coming two months, You are the Apply of My Eye is likely to emerged as the best movie of 2011 for me. If I would to narrow down why this movie worked for me, it would because this movie got heart and soul. It wonderfully captures the wooing process and school days romance. Folks who had "similar" experience at school, they would find this movie easily relatable and heart wrenching in many ways.

Before lapping it with more praises, this movie isn't without it's faults. Some jokes and gags missed the spot entirely. At times, the movie can get rather crude, long winded and even tedious to follow at times.

But the payout at the end made all the wait worthwhile and the flaws forgettable. Especially the last ten minutes of this movie when all the build ups came into a satisfying wrap up. It was said that the director had decided to make this movie when the idea for the closing moments came to his mind. It was an excellent decision as the ending was one of the most beautiful yet poignant endings to coming-of-age school days rom com.

One of the biggest discovery for this movie would be Giddens, the director cum writer for this story. I have not read any of his Chinese novels and this first encounter with his work had impressed me much. He is pretty talented in telling a story and has an inventive touch in approaching materials that had been done to death. If imagination is intelligence having fun, it's not hard to see that Giddens is having a hell of time with this movie.

He had also made a good casting choice for this movie. You are the Apple of My Eye worked due to the casting for the two leads. Michelle Chen is lovely to watch and possess a certain special on screen flair that makes it easy to believe that so many guys would fall for her. Without her to breathe life into the objection of affection in this movie, You are the Apple of My Eye would not have work this well.

Likewise, the hunky newcomer Ko Chen-tung turned in a pretty good performance. As the protagonist, he had to carry the bulk of this movie and he did it in an effortlessly charismatic fashion. Whether the scenes  requires him to be comedic, suave or downright emotional, he managed to aced most of those scenes. Without a doubt, I will keeping tabs on these two actors future works.

After recommending this movie to a fellow movie lover, I was told that this type of movies come every five or ten years. The movie does have it's flaws but the heart of this move could easily hide those flaws. Highly recommended for those who wants to reminisce about their school days romance or currently going through some form of dilemma in romance.

Rating: ****1/2

Coda

During the credits roll, there are some scenes of the boys heading to play baseball and talk about their future and writing a book that this movie is based on. The real fun would be at the end of the credit roll when the director played a prank on Michelle Chen. Definitely worth staying back for.


Beyond the Movie

Sadly, this popular movie had cause much distress to the real Shen Jiayi. She had to take a year off from work and left for China to escape the Taiwanese press and the "overly resourceful" online fans. It seemed that the director / writer Giddens Ko was equally affected by the success of his movie and the trouble that it's causing for the apple of his eye that he is avoiding any talk about her to the press.

Wasao | わさお [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

There's enough Japanese movies about dogs to identify it as a genre. From Hachikō to the recent Kinako: Police Dog Dream, it seemed that the Japanese hasn't run out of ideas in making a dog movie and the audience are still lapping it up. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

This time round, the focus is on a white Akita who became famous after a traveler's blog about him. Apparently Wasao (which apparently means furry in Japanese) was abandon as a puppy and he traveled on his own for a while. At the coastal town of Ajigasawa in Aomori Prefecture, he was rescued and  raised by the female owner of a grilled squid cafe. The blog post of this "cute & ugly dog" went viral and soon Wasao became the most famous Akita in Japan.

This Busa - Kawaii (Ugly - Cute) canine eventually became a World Heritage special ambassador and now there's a movie about him. I guess it's true that every dog has his day and now the review for Wasao the feature length movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

The Plot

In the peaceful town of Ajigasawa, the locals witness an unidentified animal, which some claim looked like a lion, whilst others describe its look as more like a bear. It was eating Farm crops and many raised concerns for their children’s safety. This led to a plan for a hunter to terminate it. 

Waiting for Something to happen

With much effort, Setsuko finally got the dog to start eating a little of what she offers him. However, the dog’s temperament puzzles her, he hardly lets anyone near him, and comes and goes as he please. But yet he always seems to cheer up the elderly and the junior high school students who are hard at training for a triathlon tournament. The dog also shows concern for the old dog that Setsuko had taken under her wing. Setsuko realizes that the Akita Inu dog that appeared before her, looked like a lion, and that worried her. She was afraid that it might get mistaken as the bear that’s ruining the farm crops and get shot.

Setsuko extends her love and care to every living thing, and Akira who loves dogs, but is unable to open up as a puppy had led to his mother’s hospitalization, as a result of an accident. 

(Plot Outline taken from Wasao Facebook Page)

The Perspective

After watching this movie, my hunch is that Wasao didn't charmed the Japanese with his dog tale. It was likely that he gained popularity simply because of his ugly cute appearance. Likewise for the movie, there's plenty of close up on the adorable furry creature and scenic shot of Ajigasawa but when it comes to crafting a dog movie out of Wasao's journey, there's not much substance there.

This movie is filled with non essential people and subplots that had nothing to do with Wasao's story. A farmer taking part in the triathlon event so that he could get married, a school girl organizing  her classmate to perform at the Nebutsu Festival while having a crush on her teacher and many more of such subplots that had nothing to do with the dog. These supporting characters and subplots just drag on and on till it felt like the movie title should be changed to The Town Folks of Ajigasawa and Wasao. It's hard to understand why don't they trim away the unnecessary characters and focus on Wasao's struggle instead. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

I am going to bite your neck off ... you ungrateful owner!

Even when it comes to the characters and plots that actually mattered to Wasao, it didn't do such a great job in establishing a connection with the audience. Akira the sympathetic boy who "abandon" Wasao was rather annoying.  Even though he is young and understandably worried for his mom, but the picture didn't really gave us a reason that this character deserved Wasao's love and dedication. Likewise for the bonding between Wasao and it's eventual owner, it could have branch out more than what was shown in this movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

Last but not least, the predictable finale where the boy, the bear and the dog finally met for the standoff. There's no need to do a research on it to know that it's made up for the movie. It's so far fetch and unbelievable that it became a joke to the heroic finale that the movie had been trying to build up. It just eye rolling bad to see who came out unscratched in this bear versus dog fight. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

What is so special about this Akita dog? I really can't tell from this movie. Beside looking adorable and huggable, there's nothing unique or extraordinary about his exploits. It might appear that the filmmaker knew about that fact and tried to cover it up with focusing on other unimportant characters and subplots. Resulting in a long deary affair seemed to have forgotten about the protagonist.

As a dog movie, it pale to comparison with Hachikō and was actually weaker than Kinako: Police Dog Dream (which is actually quite a weak dog movie).

Not Recommended.

127 Hours [ Movie Review ] *** 1/2

After winning big with Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours seemed to be the perfect film project for Danny Boyle to direct. Drastically different from his previous movies, this might just be a good challenge for his film making career. Director Danny Boyle not only rises to meet the challenge and it exemplify his talent in making films that are entaining and absorbing, even if the protagonist  is stuck in one place for the bulk of the movie.

127 Hours is based on Aron Ralston (James Franco)'s ordeal of getting his arm stuck with a boulder in an isolated canyon with not a single soul anywhere near him. His water supply was running out and there's no way of lifting the boulder. It's either he resign to his fate or do something so drastic that most people won't have the stomach for. Folks who are aware of this true life story would probably know how this movie would end. But the only way to have a better understanding of what Aron Ralston went through in that 127 hours, would be to watch this movie.

It started with a montage of Aron Ralston packing for a weekend trip and unknowingly left out some crucial items that foreboded the events to come. He gave his mom's call a miss and left on his trip. While trekking, he met up with two female trekkers and brought them to visit the big drop in one of the canyon. After which, he left them and went on his way.

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick

Things were fine and he was skillfully navigating through the canyon terrain when the "unexpected" happened. A supposedly unmovable boulder that he was holding on gave way and both of them fell into the depth of the canyon. He soon discovered that his right arm is stuck between the boulder and the canyon wall. There's no way to pull his arm out of the boulder and it would take more than one man to lift this boulder. There's no one around and he told nobody of his plan for the weekend.

The movie then went on to showcase the choices that Aron Ralston made to free himself from the predicament with the equipments he got with him. It covered how he exhausted the various options of dislodging his arm from the boulder. It also showed what he went through to survive when he was running out of water.

In order to make this movie more than just the survival manual of Aron Ralston, it examined his mental state at that time. He started to rethink about his life and how he treated his love ones in the past. Under the state of dehydration, he started to have hallucination and premonition.  In short, it's a thought provoking 94mins of his 127 hours ordeal.

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick

James Franco gave one Oscar worthy performance in this largely solitary act.  From the over confident laid back mountain climber to a helpless being who is coming to terms with the bad choices that he had made, James Franco performance made it reverting to watch. Especially the scene where his Aron Ralston started acting out as a TV host interviewing himself. The humour and painful self realization all hinged on James Franco's performance and he pretty much made it an unforgettable performance.

But while 127 Hours is entertaining, there's something about the treatment of the movie that holding me back from truly embracing it. The fancy editing, split screens and flashback montage of his thoughts were a double edge sword for me. On one hand, it kept things all jazz up and breezy to follow, leaving not a single moment of boredom. On the other hand, it does not really fully submerge the viewer into the agony of Aron Ralston predicament. All the fancy fimmaking devices used in this movie became ironically a distraction. The triumphant of the mind over matter didn't felt that triumphant and even though it was an extraordinary experience, it felt like it was missing something. Nevertheless, 127 Hours is a fine piece of work and it's likely to get better upon repeated viewing (as most Danny Boyle movies are).

Beyond the Movie

Potential Spoiler (scroll over to read)

According to imdb, it took 13 men, a winch and a hydraulic jack to raise the boulder that trapped Aron Ralston high enough to retrieve the arm. According to Wiki, the amputated arm was cremated and Aron Ralston scattered the ashes at the accident scene as he felt that there's where they belong.

(end scroll)

127 Hours received 6 nomination for the upcoming Academy Award and they are

Best Picture, Best Actor (James Franco), Best Adapted Screenplay (Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy), Best Original Score (A.R.Rahman), Best Original Score ( A. R . Rahman, Dido & Rollo Armstrong for "If I  Rise") and Best Film Editing (Jon Harris)

Kinako: Police Dog Dream | きな子～見習い警察犬の物語～ [ Movie Review ] ***

Kinako: Police Dog Dream is "literally" a true underdog story. It's about a dog who lacks the right stuff to be a police dog but that didn't deter Kinako and it's trainer from trying. According to the press materials, this is a true story. There's a dog somewhere in Japan who had failed numerous times at the police dog exams but it's not giving up just yet.

The real question would be if it's really about a dog who wants to be a police dog? or would it be it's human trainer goal in life?

Meet  Kyoko Mochizuki (Kaho), daughter of a police dog trainer who trained one of the best search dog and had performed difficult search and rescue mission. Eager to fill her daddy's shoes, she enrolled into a police dog training school and encounter Kinako, a golden retriever. The pup's frail body and constant refusal to eat was a problem for the trainers. Kinako was deemed unfit to train in the school and there are plans to put it up for adoption. Everyone given up hope on Kinako except Kyoko Mochizuki. She slowly nursed Kinako back to health and the reversal in Kinako's condition inspired Kyoko to trained Kinako up as a police dog.

See! it wasn't the dog ambition or decision at all. Kinako would probably preferred to chase after butterflies.

The story progress with a strange twist. The trainer decided that Kyoko and Kinako were to represent the police dog training school in a police dog show demonstration. Both lacks adequate trainings and fumble big time at the demonstration. The media was there to capture the failed jump and strangely, Kinako's failure as a police dog captured the attention of the masses. The kids in particular found it endearing and encouragement started pouring in. That spurred Kyoko to train Kinako harder, but our lovable failure just kept on failing. Will Kyoko finally give up on Kinako? or will they go through some sort of baptism of fire so that Kinako could finally unlocked it's learning abilities?

Well the story here takes a rather predictable path. It's not hard to guess what's coming next. But the problem with Kinako: Police Dog Dream isn't it's predictable plot. Hachiko: A Dog's Story was predictable like hell but it was properly constructed to squeeze the tears duct. Kinako: Police Dog Dream don't really build a strong case on why Kinako is such a failure (beside being rather playful). It doesn't show the problems with these two underdogs and they could overcome their obstacles. It just spend too much time on Kyoko's perspective and an unnecessary subplot with Kyoko's senior at the training school just drag the story longer. In fact, the frequent close up on Kyoko and Kinako felt like the movie is banking on their cutesy factors and eye candy to draw the audience in.

Perhaps they should rename this movie as Kyoko: Police Dog Trainer Dream. There's potential with the material at hand but they squandered it by taking the bland and serviceable plot route.

The Fighter [ Movie Review ] ★★★★

"Definitely a Contender"

Here comes The Fighter, the story of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg)'s quest for a boxing championship while dealing with adversities both in the ring and at home. His older brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) was once the pride of Lowell Massachusetts and had went on to fight Sugar Ray Leonard. His life took a wrong turn for drug addiction, he started living his life in past glories and took on the role of trainer for Micky Ward. Coupled with their mom's not so competent management, Micky Ward had no chance at championship and was starting to spiral into despair.

There are opportunities for him to leave his destructive  family and embark on his quest to be a contender but his love and respect for Dicky Eklund and his mom were holding him back. Now will Micky Ward turned his back against him family for his personal goal or would he be able to pull his family out of the slums that they are in?

The current buzz around The Fighter would definitely be on Christian Bale's performance and transformation. Heavily favored upon for a Best Supporting award in the upcoming major movie awards, it's not hard to see the rationale behind all these early accolades after previewing The Fighter. Christian Bale's rendition of Micky Ward's drug addict brother was so impressive that it's hard to think that's the guy who played Batman / Bruce Wayne for three consecutive movies.

Not only did he loosed massive amount of body weight to get in shaped of a drug addict, he also aced in capturing the mannerism of one. It's a matter of acting skill and immersing oneself into the character that he is playing. It's hard to find trace of Christian Bale and watching the short video of the Ward brothers at the end, I would say that he capture the essence of Dicky Eklund, a train wreck that steals the limelight wherever he goes. Though Christian Bale lost weight for movie roles before, this is by far the most entertaining and notable role yet.

While Christian Bale's performance would probably steal the thunder from everyone else in this movie, it would easy to overlook the effort of the rest to make this movie such a knockout.

The filmmakers used vintage filming technique to capture the fights of the past decades, effectively teleporting the audience to another era. Most audience would probably not realize that Mark Wahlberg had started training for the roles since six movies ago. Nor it would be likely that folks take note on how Mark Wahlberg did the boxing scenes without a stunt double. But it's the "little things" that made The Fighter such an absorbing experience. The upper cuts felt right and even though the boxing matches were decades old, the excitement of watching those fights were right on the edge of the seat.

It's both a pity and commendable effort that Mark Wahlberg chose to take on the role of Micky Ward. On one hand, the restrained mannerism of Micky Ward would probably mean that lesser of a chance at the acting awards for Mark Wahlberg. On the other hand, it made the less flashy Micky Ward so more believable and relatable. It's tough to get in shape of a boxer but I think it's tougher to stand your ground while performing with someone who got such rich material to play with. Nevertheless, Mark Wahlberg did a great job in making us root for Micky Ward, whether he is facing his opponents in the ring or the poisonous relationship with his family members.

Beside Christian Bale's over the top performance, Mark Wahlberg's restrained performance, the exciting look back at Micky Ward's fights, Melissa Leo's performance as Alice Eklund was noteworthy. One moment, she is a loathsome "white trash" who is ruining her sons's life and career. A quick turn and change of circumstance, her motherly concern and tears would moved her detractor. Like Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo's Alice Eklund would have to contend with Christina Bale's overwhelming performance but both Mark Wahlberg and Melissa Leo managed to stand their ground and bring something noteworthy to this movie.

The Fighter is one of those special boxing movie that engaged beyond the fights in the ring. Though this underdog movie is fairly predictable, it's the acting that make this movie stand out from the rest. The fights were superbly choreographed that it would attracts newbies and making them understand what there to lose or win in a tough match. This is one movie that blends drama and the ferocity of boxing into one fine entertainment. It would be interesting to see how Christian Bale and the rest fare in the upcoming awards festival.

The Fighter comes Highly Recommended.

Beyond the Movie

- It's sad to note that Dicky Eklund relapse back into his bad habits in 2006 and 2009. (Info from Wikipedia)