881 (Variety, Screen Daily Reviews)

[dleedlee]

881
(Singapore-Japan)

A Media Development Authority of Singapore, Zhao Wei Films, Scorpio East Pictures production, in association with Be Wild Co. (Japan). (International sales: Zhao Wei Films, Singapore.) Produced by Gary Goh, James Toh, Chan Pui Yin, Seah Saw Yam, Freddie Yeo, Tan Fong Cheng, Ang Hwee Sim. Co-producers, Masaaki Wakisugi, Chieko Murata. Executive producer, Daniel Yun, Eric Khoo, John Ho, Mike Wiluan.
With: Qi Yu-wu, Mindee Ong, Yeo Yann-yann, Liu Ling-ling, May & Choi.
(Mandarin, Hokkien, English dialogue)

Singaporean helmer Royston Tan (“15,” “4.30”) continues his love affair with numerically titled features in “881,” a low-brow comedy about a Chinese pop singing duo. Slight narrative relies heavily on campy nostalgia for songs by local tunesmith Chen Jin-lang, which have been embedded in the island state’s consciousness since the 1960s. A wide array of flamboyant costumes makes this a visual treat, but pic feels like an overgrown short, and is otherwise bereft of value. B.O. went gangbusters during local release and may successfully travel across Chinese territories, but elsewhere film will have trouble rounding up audience numbers. Fest will likely show mystifying enthusiasm.

A hasty beginning introduces central protags, Little Papaya (Mindee Ong) and Big Papaya (Yeo Yann-yann) as well as Singapore’s Getai song culture, which dominates the seventh month of the Chinese calendar in a series of open-air concerts around the island capital. After a chance meeting at a Getai concert, the distaff duo team up to become pop singers and enlist the help of their Aunt Ling (comedian and songstress Liu Ling-ling) to impress a musical agent. Rapid-fire intro also reveals Little Papaya’s impending death from leukemia at age 25.

Wafer-thin plot mostly consists of warbler’s Faustian pact to be successful enough to pay for Little Papaya’s medical treatment and to counter their musical rivals the Durian Sisters (real-life popsters May & Choi).

Perfs are as rough as the sketchy characterizations, though Liu is clearly having the time of her life in the dual roles of Aunt Ling and her magical twin sister Getai Goddess. Voiceover by Aunt Ling’s son Guan Yin (Qi Yu-wu) unconvincingly prods the narrative along, and soapy serious moments trade on unearned sentiment.

Helming veers from arty to pedestrian as it kowtows to Tsai Ming-liang’s “The Wayward Cloud” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Strictly Ballroom.” Only the undeniably delightful songs imbue pic with momentum or life, but even in its brighter moments, pic looks like it was more fun to make than it is to watch.

Moe Kassim’s fabulous costume design has a gaudy sensibility that will warm the hearts of drag queen seamstresses the world over. Other tech credits are pro.

Directed, written by Royston Tan. Camera (color), Daniel Low; editor, Low Hwee Ling; music (director), Eric Ng; music, Funkie Monkies Prods., Poo Teong-chai, Robert Mackenzie; art director, Daniel Lim; costume designer; Moe Kassim; sound (Dolby Digital), James Chong. Reviewed on DVD, Brisbane, Sept. 26, 2007. (In Pusan Intl. Film Festival — Gala Presentation). Running time: 105 MIN.

http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/4517/1/

[dleedlee]

881
Dir. Royston Tan. Singapore / Japan, 2007. 105 min.


Oozing sweet smiles and made-up grimaces, a myriad of glittering colours, low-brow humour and an endless string of easily hummed tunes, 881 is already a major hit in Singapore. Despite the lack of any plot to speak of, Royston Tan's film is likely to be cherished by gay (in every sense of the word) audiences all over Asia, and probably not only there.

A strange item to come from a director with a reputation for minimalist, intimate dramas, considered at best arthouse fare, way outside any type of commercial territory.

It plays like an extended vaudeville act, with brief dramatic interludes whose only purpose is to lead into the next musical number – though sometimes they don't even do that.

The film pretends to tell the story of the competition between the two cute and loveable Papaya Sisters (who aren't sisters but love each other more than real ones would) and the nasty, bitchy but bountiful Durian Sisters, for the supremacy on the Singapore "getai" (musical stage) circuit.

Any attempt to take it seriously is doomed to fail for there isn't really anything to unearth behind the heavy make-up, the costumes, the feathers and the light effects which keep pouring out of the screen in abundance.


Working on the premise that more is better, Tan's picture doesn't skimp in any department.

Both Little Papaya (Mindee Ong) and Big Papaya (Yeo Yann-Yann) get to change their appearance about a dozen times in each and every one of their many musical numbers.

The Durian sisters (pop singing duo May & Choy) get the same treatment, only in a more aggressive, perverse manner, so the audience is left with no doubt who to root for and who to despise.

Needless to say, some may very well tire after a while of the goody-goody heroines and start rooting for the vicious antagonists but that's part of the charm and the secret of its success.

Still, the Durians are not allowed any personality of their own, but the Papayas get some more miles of sympathy, the little one because she has breast cancer and only little time to live, the big one, because her mother, once a "getai" performer herself, kicked her out, when the daughter refused to stay away from show business.

All this is supposed to be told by a deaf-mute (Qi Yu-wu) who is in love with both sisters, and drives them around from one show to another.

The comic relief is provided by his mother, Aunt Ling (singer and comedian Liu Ling-ling), a costumer who has vowed to make the Papayas the greatest of them all.


881 is performed with hammy enthusiasm by a whole gang of troupers who launch into their roles with relish and never shy away from anything over the top. It is reminiscent, if anything, of those marathonic Italian TV shows that apparently never fail to find a large audience.

After a while, even earnest minded critics will have to give up the tools of their trade, sit back and allow themselves to be swept over by the unpretentious fantasy, or else just get up and leave.

Allusions to the influence of Tsai Ming-Liang and his "Wayward Clouds" may be inevitable, after all Tan's films have been close, in spirit, to those of the idiosyncratic Malaysian born Taiwanese filmmaker, but in this case, he is tamer and certainly not as blatantly provocative, a strictly expurgated version, if at all, of the same approach.

Daniel Low's camera effectively captures the kaleidoscopic invasion of the Singaporean glam extravaganza.

Moe Kassim's catchy costumes may not be the epitome of elegance, but they were never intended to be and the musical score will provide ample anciliary CD profits.

Editing blissfully prevents lingering on any flitting thought for more than a moment, as for the actors, they never sigh but cry and never smile but holler, which is just what that type of picture would expect them to do.


Production companies
Media Development Authority of Singapore
Zhao Wei Films
Scorpio East Pictures
Be Wild (Japan)

International sales
Zhao Wei Films (Singapore)

distribution (at home)


Executive producers
Daniel Yun
Eric Khoo
John Ho
Mike Wiluan

Producers
Gary Goh
James Toh
Chan Pui Yin
Seah Saw Yam
Freddie Yeo
Tan Fong Cheng
Ang Hwee Sim

Screenplay
Royston Tan

Cinematography
Daniel Low

Editor
Low Hwee Ling

Production design
Daniel Lim

Costumes
Moe Kassim

Music
Eric Ng (director)

Funkie Monkeys Prod.
Poo Teong Chai
Robert Mackenzie

Main cast
Mindee Yong
Yeo Yann-Yann
Liu Ling Ling
Qiu Yu-wu
May & Choi




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