the REAL me.

It's really somewhat late for me to talk about the movie now. It's been more than a week since I've watched it. Two weeks, in fact. Would have blogged about it earlier if I wasn't involved in the Army Open House 2007. But still, it's something I won't let myself off if I don't blog about it.

For most of it, I have to agree with Kaijie's blog. After not managing to find anyone to watch the movie with, I had initially wanted to give up on watching it. But then I saw the music video (above) for the theme song 一人一半 on Jingzhi's blog and I told myself that I had to watch it no matter what. The song is so touching, so sad, I HAD to watch the movie so that I can really FEEL the song.

But in the end, I still managed to find Yuheng to watch with me. He wasn't particularly keen on watching it, just that he didn't mind. But after watching it, he likes most of the Hokkien songs much.

So anyway, on to a little review for the movie. I have to say, it really is quite an achievement for the movie to gross more than S$3M. The movie certainly is good, but.. I suppose my expectations for Royston Tan's movies were too high. Having seen his films such as 15 and Cut, which I really loved, I couldn't help but end up slightly disappointed by 881.

Sure, the movie was touching, and does reflect very well on the 歌台 scene in Singapore. But I feel that he could have given more background on certain characters to let us FEEL for the characters more.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Such as why big 881's mother loathed her daughter's performing at 歌台 so much, even though she used to perform too. Perhaps of a.. unhappy past that she had in those times? Also, why did Guanyin's dad end up marrying the other twin sister instead of 仙姑, even though the one he actually liked was the latter? Don't tell me he was confused because they looked the same? And why is Guanyin so close to the cock rooster? I feel that if Royston Tan had given more background on these, it would have allowed audiences to really understand the characters.
END OF SPOILERS.

But overall, the film is still good. It's undeniable. The film really wonderfully portrays the glamour and hardships of the 歌台 singers. And it is touching to see the love and care the characters have for each other. And I like touching movies.
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