Went to The Cathay to catch this film with Tuan. Before that, saw some reviews about it..and it didn't look good. (But still, I decided to go ahead, as I wanna catch Fann & Jang Hyuk.) So, what went wrong with this film? The script. There were some unrealistic parts...like Tae San, who worked in the factory for 10 yrs...suddenly one fine day, he received news abt this dance audition in SG. Next, we saw a super modern SG, with our "landmark Raffles Place"...and we saw the taxi driving Tae San to Chinatown, but it's really the Chinatown in the 60s or 70s. (Hey...what happened to our Chinatown???) The music academy was located at one of the shophouses..and everything looked old...the school, the wooden lockers, the deco, even the restaurant and the car repair shop which Tae San worked at....all had the 70s look. It's really weird when we kept seeing a modern SG, but with such an old Chinatown...Can u imagine Tae San washing a super posh Merc SUV with a 70s background? Weird right? The movie focused quite alot on individual scenes, dialouges weren't alot...and i think there's a lack of interaction b/w the cast. Though we knew Emi and Cheng were lovers, somehow, the feeling seemed lacking...I can only feel some kind of resentment Emi had as Cheng "controlled" her life. Emi and Tae San's scenes were not bad, I can feel the chemistry they had when the danced, but that's not enough. I didn't even see them practising for the competition...and the last scene, we saw them dancing in the competition...there's shld be at least some scenes to show that they prac and bonded...that's really lacking here. I only saw Emi correcting Tae San's postures and movements...nothing liao. As for Cheng, nothing much about him, though we knew what he did to earn some bucks...though he's the champion for Nan Quan (one type of martial arts), he was beaten up by 3 gangsters...what i cld explain was..firstly, he has injuries..and 2ndly, he has lost the will to fight...only can fight those who's weaker than him. Jason Scott Lee did well in the scene, but I really don't like him in other scenes, esp. with Fann...they really don't matched. Jang Hyuk is definitely the soul of this film, the first part of the movie was abt him in Korea...his expressions were vivid, but i laughed when he practised his dance. (Expression & posture kinda unnatural..) His english pronounciation was great too, very little korean accent...good job guy! I gotta agree that this movie was beautifully filmed, especially with the strong music background. They used one of the main theme from "Windstruck", during the scene when Emi was dancing by herself...it's nice, but I wld rather they don't use instrumentals from other movies. The last scene was the best i think...fann looked super stunning when she started to dance, and she's really pretty. How i wished she cld dance more with Jang Hyuk la..If this film is directed by an asian, I think the flow of this movie wld be much better. Asian directors tend to be more delicate than ang moh ones..(Well, pardon me for my bias..) Honestly, I don't think this movie will get Jang Hyuk far into Hollywood, neither wld Fann be more famous.
I wld only recommend to those who wanna watch Fann & Jang Hyuk. If you are those who watch for the story...I suggest you to catch other movies.
--Aftermath--
Met up with E.W & Aunt Jo to buy stuffs at OG, before proceeding to my dinner @ Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao La Mian Dian. Their Cong You Bing was different from last time le, not nice at all. Dessert was alright, the ginger soup was kinda 辣...but luckily the 汤丸 is still nice.
--Happy Birthday--
3/5-XH
5/5-QY
18/5-CPF
24/5-OPF
--Exams--
To SIM folks, jia you ah...HM..last paper on the 5th...jia you ok?! Super envy u now..haha!
