THE BUCK DOESN'T STOP HERE
Alice was chasing after a rabbit when she tumbled into Wonderland. Now we won't liken "0104" to Wonderland, but we'd like to think the date Royston is racing to keep with the Red Queen (in this analogy, the personification of Cinematic Greatness, surely?) will at least result in an interesting journey... regardless of whether he ever gets to meet Her Majesty. We certainly hope you agree. And will stick around to find out where the bunny takes us - and Singapore Cinema - next. We thank you for coming. Please enjoy the show, and be kind to any animal you come across. Cheerio, amigo.

IMPRESSIONS

I was greeted by a cow with a red ribbon pinned to its udder at the door who tore my ticket. The theatre was darkly lit with strange characters in costumes walking around. Before I could figure out what was going on, a monkey with a pink feather boa pressed a small coupon in my hands and pleaded with me to find a rabbit. I could tell this was going to be fun - a rabbit hunt!

It was free seating and the theatre was filling up fast. The law of economics is defied in charity. At $21 for a 100-minute screening of Royston's shortfilms filmed from 2001 to 2004, the price is certainly steep. But guess what? The theatre at Alliance Francaise was packed. In fact, it was packed to the brim that it was overflowing - patrons were sitting on the steps! I overheard someone commenting " Wah! First time I come movie and have to sit on the steps!"

As I settled down comfortably, I began to take note of the characters walking around. For a start, there was Wonder Woman, a guy with a shiny red sequinned jacket carrying a clothes hanging rack and a guy bobbing a butterfly kite. As I read the synopsis under the dim lights, it dawned on me that these people were characters from some of Royston's short films.

Wonder Woman and Monkey Trying Costumes from the Rack

Wonder Woman and Clothes Hanging Rack Guy

Beautiful Stage Backdrop - Using Only 2 OHP Projectors!

SELECTED FILM REVIEWS

New York Girl (starring Karen Khoo)
2004/2005
DV
15 minutes

Q: So it's a popular misconception that the irritating people in Singapore are the bengs and lians?

A: Yes. I find some educated people very irritating. (My new short film)"New York Girl" is targeted at the ones who are educated and like to twang and slang when they talk. And in (my other new short) "Careless Whisperer" introduction, we mention that the fake Caucasian slang has been included as a form of mental disease. It's all very unlike the bengs who don't have to try even when they say -!**#!*?!!* (expletives in Hokkien).

Wonder Woman was Karen. In the short, she plays a character who has just returned from New York and speaks with an American accent. She has diverse talents and one of them is accent imitations. It was hilarious watching her do British, French and Japanese accents. The best was when she sang Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" in a Singaporean accent.

She loves to act as well and her dream role is to be Wonder Woman. An Asian Wonder Woman in Hollywood. She feels very strongly for Asian actresses in Hollywood having minimal speaking lines and sterotyped as waitresses ("Yes, that is Kung Po chicken") or prostitutes. She also feels that Fann Wong is a disgrace in Hollywood for her lousy English, given that it is our first language (I agree with both hands up - both about Fann and the marginalisation of Asian actresses in Hollywood).

"So what other talents do you have?"
"I can sing."

Karen ended the short with live singing complete in Wonder Woman costume.

Careless Whisperer (starring Patrick)
2004/2005
35mm
12 minutes

Remember the guy who sang "Careless Whisper" during the Singapore Idol auditions? Yup, the one who sang so softly, the judges could not hear anything. The one which had "This is the actual volume. Do not turn up the volume in your set." printed on screen when he sang. He (Patrick) returns in this short as a lovestruck security guard who sings to impress a girl (Pinky). He sees butterflies everywhere after falling in love and is so infatuated with Pinky that he imagines her with butterfly wings. (So he's the guy bobbing the butterfly kite before the screening began - I thought it was quite ingenious to mix theatre in this screening. Have characters from shorts doing random acts in the theatre.)

This is my second favourite short after Hock Hiap Leong. I think Royston did an excellent job depicting his soft singing skills humorously without ridicule. It was very tasteful humour on Patrick's lack of volume singing. In fact, when he does sing audibly at the end, it wasn't that bad. At least he doesn't go off-key like William Hung.

In case you are curious whether his singing did impress Pinky in the end, her thought bubble was "No sound = No comments" before she ran offscreen.

Hock Hiap Leong
2001
35mm
7 minutes

After "Sons" (not included in this showcase), I was supposed to shoot a mega-production with a cast of 30, but it was cancelled at the last minute. In my depression, I didn't speak to anybody and spent all my time "hiding" in an old kopitiam, the Hock Hiap Leong of this story. I went there so often I got to know all the hawkers there, as well as the boss, who told me about the kopitiam's impending demolition. When he spoke to me, they supposedly only had two more weeks before closing shop! As I had gotten very attached to the place, I was sad, of course... In a moment of inspiration, I decided to make a short film about it, and somehow manahed to dash off a script and get a cast and crew together in record time.

I love this short. For a start, I love retro and they were singing a retro Chinese cha cha song in the film. Complete with dancing, umbrellas, polka dot shirts and skirts and big shades. (",)

Humour aside, I feel very strongly for the nostalgia in the short because I feel the same. Things in Singapore change too fast and people don't have time to remember and relive memories. The choice of a kopitiam as the focal point was excellent because it is a place which is very unique to Singapore and which most of us frequent for meals. Personally, I identify very much with the kopitiam as an icon of Singapore living. Not the S-11 type, but the old-fashioned kind which is found only in very old residential estates like Tiong Bahru. The kind where they have small floor tiles and 60s decoration. Many people it looks very dirty and outdated, but I love it.

I especially enjoyed the way Royston filmed the short where he managed to let people relive the golden days of the kopitiam in the 60s cha cha song without seeming to deride it. I think his ability of filming humorous films without the feeling of ridicule is very appealing to me.

These two lines from the film left an impression on me:
"Those that are close to you may not know you at all."
"Those that are distant may in fact know you very well."

He was commenting on how the hawkers actually watch the customers grow through the years and though they may seem distant (in terms of blood ties) but they may actually know the customers very well. Isn't this very true? How our closest confidantes are not our kins but our friends or a even stranger we are chatting with on the internet? Especially now with the popularity of blogging, strangers who read my blogs know more about what's happening in my life than the my family.

TO END IT ALL

Q: What brings you joy?

A: When I can make someone smile, especially a young kid. And when I get to voice aloud my disgust at ugly Singaporeans rushing into an MRT train or talking aloud in the cinema. I have no qualms about saying !**#!*?!!* (expletives in Hokkien). That makes me happy. My friends know that part about me. After all, everybody complains here but no one dares to do anything. Once, two gangsters confronted me at a cinema and I said aloud to them - you want my phone number or you want to have sex with me? They were so embarrassed, they just walked away. I enjoy irritating irritating-people.

By the way, the guy with the clothes hanging rack sells pirated DVDs and VCDs is from Cut.

Acknowledgements

Some materials from this entry are taken from 0104 film screening programme book.

All pictures were taken by yours truly with Shiling's Olympus miu400 digital camera.