Saturday Night Kids
We’ve been back in Singapore for a couple of months (thank goodness) and the place feels so like home I’ve not really felt the need to write on this site given that this place kinda feels like a ‘holiday’ diary.
However a trip to the cinema has prompted a return to the keyboard. The first game of the football season loomed on Sunday morning and remnants of the previous evening’s Leffe indulgences had not quite passed so we decided to head to the cinema. It’s Oscar season so there is something pretty decent out most weekends for the next few weeks. We chose Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring the female half of the Brangelina adoption team.
The film is a terrific, moving and grueling two hours telling the true story of a woman who’s child goes missing and the Los Angeles police return the wrong child to her. Wrought emotions follow and a corrupt patriarchal society comes down on her protests like a tons of bricks. It’s just wonderfully made and acted, although Angelina looks like she could do with a couple of decent-sized dinners.
My issue was with the other people we were watching it with. Now I’m pretty sure we’ve written before about the slight humour disconnect between the Singaporeans and Brits, certainly in terms of the humour produced in the media. I was however a little unprepared for weird cultural schism that occurred during the film.
Before the main feature we were treated to an epic trailer for the latest comedy stylings of the local comedy specialist Jack Neo. He’s achieved a good amount of local success with his films and TV work in Singapore.
The gags in the trailer produced guffaws of laughter, it was kind of like a low budget (understandably) Ace Ventura, but for me not in a good way. Lots of laboured pauses for gags and desperate slapstick with some slightly obvious battle of the sexes stuff. I may have missed some of it due to subtitling, so I’ll just say it’s not my bag.
However the laughfest of the trailer seemed to infect the main feature. Individual lines and looks on the characters in the drama on screen caused odd ripples of laughter across the theatre. By no means everyone, but a good minority seemed to think the film was an Adam Sandler banana-skin movie. Unfortunately the person who thought it was most funny was right behind me. Yay.
Don’t get me started on the prat who answered his phone and had a a chat during the emotional confrontation between Angelina and a very bad man who’d done very bad things (no spoilers here). I can only assume it was a reaction to the heartfelt seriousness of the material combined with the youth of the viewers combined with the sugar high of confectionary. A sort of embarrassment that they’d gone to see a film and not a movie.
I’ve not seen this weird behaviour before and assume it’s a Saturday night at the pictures thing but I won’t be going to see the latest film on the first Saturday night again. Unless it’s gold class: I don’t think the kids will pay the extra. And if I’m ever near enough to anyone speaking on their phone during a film, it’s going straight in my bucket of Coke.
Andy 19 January 2009
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