This has to be a first.
The only time you see me talking about the same issue in successive posts is when i am whining about my life. However, due to a strange series of events, am blogging about this movie i had known nothing about, 3 times!
I have learnt something from the professionals and shall apply it here:
"Spoiler ahead".
Yup that is about all i have learnt, as you will see from my post that i have absolutely no review skills. But when has the lack of skill ever stopped anyone from doing something?
One comment from a friend kind of coloured my perception of the movie. He said they were all theatre actors.
How does that matter? Things get exaggerated on the stage cos only something larger than life will get across. On screen, that just comes across as bad acting. At the start, i felt that my friend’s opinion was actually correct. However, as the film went on, i felt things got a bit more settled.
Some random thoughts since i obviously have no structure in mind. You already know from my previous post that i saw a remarkable resemblance to a certain family in Sg. As you listen to the dialogues about suing everyone, it just sinks in more. However, i am unsure of how much to read into that setting. Is it biographical - does the writer know something we don’t? Or is it meant to be representative of Sg - that we as a people have been forced to live lives against our wishes? Or is it just about a patriarchal family in an East Asian society? Obviously, i will leave it to you to decide for yourself.
It was getting a lil annoying when you can see the jokes coming. Like when the ghost father says exactly what the children suggest he would have said. And the caricatures of the indian detective and his assistant. And references in the movie to how the movie inspector is behaving just like a movie inspector in an Agatha Christie story. Bleah.
How was the acting? Like i mentioned, it was a lil too theatrical at first. There seemed to be great emphasis on stressing every word and facial expression. However, as the story carries on, it slowly recedes into the background and the story tells itself better without the actors forcing it on you. And the language! It was all too Queen’s English for me. Anyone who watches this will swear Ris Low is not from Sg. There is the occasional ‘la’ but all the pristine grammar and diction make it so unreal. A local movie that i had difficulty identifying with. No doubt, they are of a certain class and had elocution lessons from age 2 but still!
One thing came to mind - how Forever Fever was ‘neat’. In that somehow everything sort of settled into place and the remaining loose ends did not trigger new questions. As i said, this is a spoiler, so i can tell you the ending makes you realise the whole movie was for nothing. But it is about the journey, no? And the journey was worth it. It was in the tradition of ‘whodunit’ where the answer is ‘no one’. The movie makers may have been gunning for a shock epiphany ending but i dun think it was carried thru that well. The Director doing a cameo is very M. Night Shyamalan but the ending wasn’t quite Sixth Sense.
Another point to highlight. When the (another spoiler!) topless female scene came on, i immediately thought it was gratuitous. However, after seeing the successive scenes, i felt it was necessary. I might even say it was one of those few times i felt the naked body was used very well for its significance to the story. Almost felt it was as necessary as the (almost) naked scenes in American Beauty, a movie i regard very highly.
One thing which resonated with me. As Deepavali just passed, had to face the inevitable question of when i was getting married. Thought people had decided to move on as haven heard it in quite a while. And this led to me eating a lot of chocolates. How? When they asked the question, i immediately popped a Ferrero Rocher stacked on the table into my mouth so i could mumble a ‘hmm. emm’ sorta thing. I ate quite a no of Rochers i tell you.
Now back to the movie-resonate-with-me part. The movie hints that the children sorta do what they honestly want after the parents pass away. And i was telling myself that i felt that i could only come out to my family after my mum passes on. No matter how much i think my siblings will not bother about this (i am guessing they cant all be so daft not to have guessed by now), i jus dun see how i can do this while she is around. Something tells me she wouldnt really care but knowing how drama-mama she is, she will make a big scene of it with everyone and i will never encounter peace again. A pity that, for some, the shadows of our parents suffocate us. Sure, you can say it is an individual choice but actions have consequences and not all of us can bear them.
But overall, i would say it was a good movie. Not cos it was a local movie and needs support, but because it was a movie i enjoyed. Sure, it wasn’t perfect in my view, but i think it was well-acted (really!) with good character development and a story that was entertaining, though it did get OTT at some points.
Go catch it!