Sunday, October 26, 2003

hello.

i watched the local movie "15" by royston tan last night. Mm..i would say it was pretty good, though as the review fr the straits times say, the 2nd half was a little draggy..but overall, for a local production, its not bad..

Spoiler alert! STOP Reading HERE if u plan to watch it!

I felt that the portrayal of the mindsets of the bengs was startling accurate..though the movie merely skims the surface and not all bengs are so despondant. But then again, art film usually don't care if u get it or not, only that it has been made. The audience jus has to learn how to consume such a film on its own and the director/producer jus makes the film.

Anyhow, the part where (cant really rememer their names) the ang mo pai kids started a fight with the bengs was rather weird. I mean, yes...the movie managed to show a different (and in my opinion, accurate) perspective of the english speaking crowd (jus sometimes really just think too high and mighty of themselves), i just don't think such stuff really happens in real life. Im not saying that the ang mo pai and the bengs don't clash, they most probarly do..but what i think is that the english speaking crowd is rather unlikely to pick an ACTUAL fight with the street kids. It jus goes against common sense. In my humble opinion, i think the ang mo pai is more likely to jus slinker away and bitch (like mad!!) about how uncouth and hooligan-like the bengs are.

On the other hand, the times may have changed...i have no idea how is the situation like now and how secondary students think...what i have is merely my own experiences which have yellowed with time...

You know, the part where the the leader of the ang mo pai gang was caught and beaten up real bad, i felt a certain relishment...i really felt it served him right..and its interesting how the concept of loyalty came up..like how all the other english speaking kids jus ran away and left their buddy in the lurch..i really dunno how true a reflection is this since i never really belonged to an ang mo pai anyway...but to me, it seems like a good representation of public sentiment that the educated are often more concerned about saving their own skins than those of their friends...

Or, it could be argued that because these kids are more educated, they realise that 'there's no such thing as eternal friends or foes' - an underlying concept throughout 15.

Mm...enough of my blah blahs, basically i really enjoyed the movie..It was realistic enough and really captured the essence..though i feel that it could have been better if the issues were explored more in depth.

Yet, the point of the movie is not to explain the actions or the life of the street kids to the masses, especially not the higher class, but rather to point out how misunderstood and how they too are humans....just like us.

XxX,

audrey at 13:23

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