singapore

it's been raining almost everyday in singapore. .the rain always adds an interesting dimension to a sweltering city with no seasons.

been hanging out at sinema watching lots of local films.this particular one was very interesting. "zogang" by jacen tan

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFSlfZ4O7uI&eurl=http://hosaywood.com/ singapore films have always had a problem with dialogue. we have a varied vernacular that consists of various different dialects and languages often spoken in the same sentence. but when people write scrīpts they always write in one single language with proper grammar, which is not at all how people speak in real life. therefore lines always sound forced and wrong. i dont think i have ever seen another local film so accurately represent our speech pattern as "zogang" has.

why do we always have to pretend that we speak properly on screen? so what if we speak in a way that is incoherent to the rest of the world? we can always subtitle what the audience doesnt understand. there is structure in singlish, and the bad grammar, jumbled syntax and multitude of languages and dialects actually abide by a set of grammatical rules. they are just not the same as the rest of the world. to make a uniquely singaporean film we need to accept our flaws as what makes us colorful, instead of hiding behind what we are not.

the industry here is young, and growing. i think people are afraid to take risks because that is so unsingaporean("tsk tsk"..) there are so many possibilities precisely because everyone else is so afraid.

nicholas at sinema

my buddy nicholas is brainwashing me to come back to singapore.. for now it all sounds very tempting..

hmmm..