Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Pouring Sweetness



My list of the prettiest songs (not in order) :


Au Revoir Simone - Backyards of Our Neighbours

Hellogoodbye - Here (In Your Arms)

Vanessa Carlton - Ordinary Day

Army Navy - Silvery Sleds

William Lam - Little Bit (Lykke Li Cover)



William Lam - Don't Stop Believing (Journey Cover)


Plushgun - Maybe Tomorrow

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Bimbo-ism Meets Electronica





sounds like something paris hilton would sing, yet being so awesomely electroclashing.
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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Into The Faraway Sky







Japanese Dramedy directed by Isao Yukisada

Into The Faraway Sky is set in the countryside of somewhere in Japan. Told through a flashback, it tells the story of a city boy Kusunoki (Kamiki Ryunosuke) who moves into the village with his father, who is the person behind the plan of setting up an airport there.

There, he becomes bosom friends with Kohei (Sasano Yuma) who enjoys pulling pranks and Hiharu (Suzuka Ohgo)who believes in UFOs that will bring her father back, and that her telescope could capture meteorites. The story revolves around some other interesting characters in the village as well, like this slightly deranged guy who keeps with him a cage of pigeons, which the people believe get eaten up by him. But actually he is waiting for his younger brother, whom in Kusunoki he sees. There is also the local school teacher who is in love with this mystery guy and frequently meets him in the woods, but she is set to marry a dork.

Apparently the people are strongly against the construction of an airport, as opposed to conserving the nature of their hometown. As the kids soon realise that they are "waiting for a miracle to happen", they decide to create one themselves.

The start of the movie creates a very good impression, where there are very nice shots of close-ups, and the nice Afga-esque lighting that enhances the beautiful image of a countryside.

However, the series of events were really badly executed. A lot of them were brought about in a light-hearted manner, which gets a bit annoying and inappropriate at some parts. A lot of things that happened in the movie seemed to be unexplainable, and I'm not talking about that abstract metaphorical kind of 'unexplainable'. Development and transitions were poor, such that the happening of each scene seemed almost abrupt.

It was also pretty distracting how the end of some scenes were cut to introduce the timeline of the next scene, by the medium of a Lunar calendar.

I was rather surprised to know that this movie was made to be a "children's fantasy", because I'm not sure whether to believe that kids can really understand the message that this movie is trying to bring about, that is friendship and hope. I mean, I'm not trying to sound like an annoying adult, but I don't see how I myself could understand that sort of stuff when I was like, 10 or so. Besides, there seriously isn't much of that fantasy element at all.

It's heartening to see how much the children take belief in what seems to be the impossible, and that is probably as touching as it gets.

I'd say that this movie would do so much better if it were to be remade into a Comedy play, with its interesting accompaniment of Gipsy, jazz/rag, Celtic windpipe and French harmonica.

I'm not sure why but at the end, this movie still managed to bring about a sense of bitter-sweetness in me. Perhaps it was the leaving of Kusonoki, and the fact that the airport was still constructed at the end anyway, and how the characters in the story learnt to let go of what meant dearly to them.

But if you think the kids failed their plan, they actually did not. :)

Look out for Hiharu, it's distracting how much she looks like Joanna Peh.

This film should be for people who like to daydream and who don't really mind a poorly scripted, but nonetheless good plot.
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Tracyanne Campbell VS Victoria Bergsman

I know I may be a little late in this, but I just discovered Camera Obscura. I mean, I've long known that this band existed because I kept hearing their name all over the place. Seems like they're quite well-known in the indie scene, huh.

Anyway, it is only today that I started listening to their music. And apart from its sweet, indiepop goodness, there's actually something else I'm more excited about.


See the resemblance??? I mean, okay la, maybe their features aren't exactly that alike, but their style (ie. hair, clothes) really makes me suspect that one of them is a worshipper of the other.

My point was further proven when I started listening to the vocals of Tracyanne. Even their voices are so alike! Same light, ethereal voice, and even their bands sound alike. I swear, Camera Obscura can pass off as The (old) Concretes ANYTIME, and vice versa.

I then found out in an interview with Victoria Bergsman that the two are actually really good friends! Like, seriously, how could I not notice if my close friend was dressing up and singing exactly like me?!

That aside, check out some of these songs by them:



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Soundtrack For A Book

Okay, let me narrate my experience of discovering Concave Scream.

I was browsing the Esplanade Shop with my friends, when I picked up a really old, vintage-looking Enid Blyton book, and then I noticed there was a screw in it. I went, "What the hell is this?" and walked away. hah.

I went over to the music shelf, looked through a bunch of music albums from bands I never knew. I picked up the headphones at the preview player, switched it on and pressed play.

Within 10 seconds of hearing the first track, I thought to myself, "This shit is fucking good." It was like a perfect shot of satisfying melancholy, sounded kinda like Dreampop.

With the help of the really lovely cashier, she introduced the weird secondhand books as Concave Scream's latest album - Soundtrack For A Book


Isn't this just fucking cool? I LOVED Enid Blyton's books as a kid. Think, pixies and fairies, naughty boys who refuse to listen to advice and crazily made-up fairytales that amazingly make a whole lot of sense. WITH that good music was just double the magic for me.

Honestly, I was a little taken aback to know that it was a local band. Because I've always thought of local bands to have a really similar sounding Rock style and vocals. To put it simply - they all sound the same.

I was really disappointed then, because I didn't have enough money to purchase it. And as you'd probably know the misery of not getting what you want, I was pretty bothered for days.

So yesterday, I marched all the way back to the same place with enough money, and yippee, I got it!

What happened at home was quite a different story though.

My experience with books, music albums and movie VCDs alike, is that the cover/sypnosis/ preview/ blurb are altogether almost always deceiving to a certain extent. But that being said, it's not exactly the author's fault, it's just what each individual's wonderful mind perceives beforehand.

But it's not like I didn't know Concave Scream was a rock band. I was just a bit surprised that there were some songs in the album that reminded me strongly of metal, especially Track 9. And the sounds were quite a lot more irregular than I thought. Also, I really didn't expect the album to be fully instrumental. Somehow, from the way I listen to it, I don't think it was a good idea for it to be without vocals. I can really imagine the songs to sound a lot better WITH vocals.

Ah, and another thing. Please don't listen to this album with your media player's shuffle on. Because the tracks are supposed to play in chronological order, such that the end of each song matches with the start of the next song. So because I did play the tracks with the shuffle on, the end of some tracks sounded like they were cut off abruptly, and I actually thought that the band weren't careful in fading out the song.

Still, I don't think this album was a disappointment, I just have a very natural adversity to Rock. When guitars and drum crashes go on repeatedly, song after song, I get really bothered. Same with Sigur Ros, and Deathcab for Cutie and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, all of which I really love. To think about it, Concave Scream do remind of Sigur Ros at some points.

My favourite will forever be Track 1, very depressing and magical :)

And though it seems a bit overpriced for a music album - SGD$25, it's really not. Because 1. you're supporting local, indie music 2. you're paying for the hard cover book 3. good music is priceless.
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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Nana 2



Nana 2 is a japanese film directed by Kentarô Ôtani, and adapted from the manga series. It is also the sequel to Nana the movie.

Nana 2 mainly focuses on the friendship of Nana Osaki (Mika Nakashima) and Hachiko (Yui Ichikawa). Nana O is the vocalist and frontwoman of an underground rock band, Black Stones, while Hachiko is a regular office lady looking for love.

The story is told through a flashback from the start of the movie where Black Stones is performing onstage. Here the transition is not clearly made, and thus the flashback is not completely easily identified, as it should be.

As Nana O and her band strives to release their debut album, it is known to the audience that Hachiko feels overshadowed, and all the more she feels the desperation of experiencing the same kind of hype in her own life. She is enthralled by Takumi, a member of another famous band, Trapnest, who Nana O warns to be a playboy.

The characterisation of Hachiko is further made complex, when Nobu of Black Stones confesses his love, and Takumi proves himself to be a disappointment. Hachiko accepts Nobu and they share great chemistry, but then Takumi lingers and if you pay attention to his characterisation, he does seem to care for Hachiko after all.

As Hachiko later gets herself into a huge mess, Nana O strains herself and the band even harder, as she feels even more of the drive to fulfill her promise to Hachiko, probably because everything is so screwed up for Hachiko already.

The first part of the film is in serious need of a proper soundtrack. The development of the plot to the main conflict is too slow-moving and flat, and there isn't enough sensationalizing of drama.

Though the film is more on the complexity of Hachiko and her friendship with Nana O, as a movie that is set in the rock band culture, it failed to present the band's passion for music, as it should have. Also, the outfit and image of the members seem to be greatly deceiving as there really isn't much hype in this movie as it seems to have. Instead of a fun-filled series of misadventures complemented with good music, it's more of a unconvincing mellowdrama.

Another point of this movie which fustrated me is that Hachiko's love relationship was never resolved,as at the end, Takumi is still known as the "bad guy", but Hachiko is still kept in the dark. Or perhaps they're planning a Nana 3?

Also, i really didn't see how the revealing of the relationship of nana and her boyfriend, also a member of Trapnest, would cause such a huge impact on their fans and the members. Or perhaps i just failed to catch that Trapnest and the Black Stones are known to be rivals.

on a sidenote, underneath the awkward high-forehead-center-parting-no-eyebrows hairstyle of Nakashima as Nana, you'd notice that she's actually really pretty.



In conclusion, this movie should attract many rocker-wannabes, as well as fans of the manga, and if so, it's definitely going to be a disappointment.
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Tekkon Kinkreet


(includes spoilers)

Tekkon Kinkreet is an animation Drama+Action film, directed by American-born Japanese Directer Michael Arias, and from the original manga authored by Taiyo Matsumoto.

Its title is a pun, translated into 'reinforced concrete'. And as that suggests, this film is about a pair of orphans, Kuro "Black" (Kazunari Ninomiya) and Shiro "White" (Yu Aoi) who go through a series of events to fight off the adult Yakuzas(and whatnot), to protect as what they claim, their city.

The film largely touches on theme of Goodness VS Evil, which is always seen in Action films. In Tekkon Kinkreet, the good become the evil and the evil become the good, you just have to be patient enough to find out. Sometimes, the fine line between the two sides even become blurred, just like in Kuro's case, where he meets his "evil" alter ego in a form of an uknown demonic animal-looking creature with horns. You'd be surprised by how disturbing and horrifying that scene is, where Kuro struggles in between firstly reality and his subconsciousness, and secondly his good side and his evil side. It is made up of balls of fire, black holes, warping images, the sea and other psychedelic visuals.

!START SPOILER!

Yes, in the end, the evil guy is killed by one of the Yakuzas, who can be considered as an evil guy as well. From this and as well as from how Kuro's alter ego mentions himself to be 'protecting' Kuro, sometimes vaccination of evil is necessary, so there comes the dilemna for Kuro, that is whether to unleash his darkness or to remain with Shiro, who acts as his maintanence of innocence and reality.

!END SPOILER!

The film also uses many interesting metaphors such as fire, a double-edged sword, Shiro's dreams and imaginations, Black and White, stray cats, Shiro himself and, as mentioned earlier, Kuro's alter ego. All these contribute to the amazingly dreamy and surreal effect of this film, with a touch of melancholy and tragedy. In the night, loneliness of the city is presented, and the audience start to feel sympathy for the protaganists' helplessness as orphans on-the-run against meeting their death.

The aesthetic appeal of this film is in one word - good. There is the beauty of the almost-2D work and the style of drawing is like no other. Also if you were to watch closely, the filmic elements were well put into consideration as there is an ingenious correct application of shadow and lighting. Water colours are presented in the imaginative world of Shiro, which successfully brings out the dream-like effect. The structure of the city is also nicely built, with a grand decoration of elephants, which seemed to have been inspired by Hindu gods.

All this may sound cliche as to an Action genre film, but the story is really more about the power of deep friendship and the miraculous strength of a child's.

This film may get a tad too draggy and hard to keep up at times, but if you're patient enough, you'd definitely find a satisfying ending and inspirations from it.

The soundtrack is also pretty interesting, it is done by an electronic band Plaid.

This film should be favoured by japanese animation films-lovers, especially those who have enjoyed Spirited Away, as this film shares the same surrealism theme, as well as the unimaginable adventures of a child protaganist.
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