I have developed a new fetish for local movies, just to see how
our sunny little island is captured on film. I smiled when I
identified with the initial scenes - the view of my town from
inside the MRT train. The view which I see every day, but with a
romanticized quality to it. This year will probably be a bumper
year of local movies making their debut, and I would consider this
probably one of the rare arthouse chinese movies to be done
here.
Don't be put off when I mention "Arthouse" (I felt that it leaned
away from "commercial" through its style and narrative structure),
though audiences will have to get accustomed to the way the story
is told. Plenty of beautiful images, of the sky, rain, sun, river,
bridges, basically the entire HDB heartland gets the romantic
treatment, courtesy of DoP Terris Chiang. Images that will make you
go "wow, this is Singapore, told through another camera angle". The
characters speak relatively little, and most of narrative gets told
through the voiceover of the protagonist, Xiao Qi (Nathaniel Ho),
as he reflects upon his life, and his personal philosophy in living
life.
Xiao Qi is an interesting character, though he gets developed
really slowly through the course of the film. Partially deaf in one
ear, he's an insomniac with a penchant for rummaging through
discarded knick-knacks. He lives with his best buddy Kong Long
(literally meaning Dinosaur, played by Trey Ho), who spends too
much time in front of the television watching Korean dramas, or
napping. They're quite opposites, but remain the best of
friends.
But this movie is also about the budding relationship between two
strangers who meet in the middle of the night. One an insomniac,
the other, an attractive girl Li Er (Leah Low, check out her
manga-comic eyes). Sparks should fly, but somehow each carries an
emotional baggage, so you can be sure of the mega obstacles in
place for them to overcome, especially since one of them starts off
with an "attitude problem" of being zoned-out.
The pacing of the movie is slow, and deliberately kept so, because
Xiao Qi is one who abhors the hustle and bustle of life. He takes
things as they come, although you would want to strangle him for
his indecisiveness, stemmed from early childhood experiences
(though some might think that it might be a tad over-dramatic).
Throughout the movie, you would come to question certain things and
aspects of character (which I will not reveal here) as the story
unfolds, leading you to the all important
finale-twist-revealing-ending which should answer obvious
questions. Sit through it, persevere (don't be like the two persons
in my screening who walked out just before the "showhand"), and
you'll be duly rewarded. "First bitter then sweet" - as the chinese
saying goes.
Commendable effort is shown by the newbie actors - given little
dialogue, they had to rely on developing and fleshing their
characters through subtle nuances. But somehow, I thought that the
overall cinematography overshadowed their performances, as your
eyes will probably fall in love with the setting and environment,
so that might take your attention away from the characters, at
least for a short while.
It's a movie about finding oneself, letting go, and giving oneself
a second chance, with the subtle message to find time to stop and
smell the roses, and of course, to experience that smell of
rain.
P.S.
Having seen but three of the selection of six movies which are part
of the opening of the Picturehouse, in my humble opinion, this
local film should have been selected for the premiere. It's fairly
experimental, raw, and why not let a local film fly the flag,
instead of a regional dud.
There will be 2 more screenings outside of the Picturehouse opening
festival. If you're interested, you can go check out and book
tickets for the shows on 1st April Sat, at 0210am (yes, meaning
Friday after midnight that is), and 1150pm. This film is yet to be
commercially released, so don't let this opportunity slip you
by.
You can also read about the meet-the-cast-crew-session by clicking
on the following link
http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/03/smell-of-rain-meet-cast-and-crew.html