Underbelly.

Within this dynamic, dissent or dissidence becomes what global audiences now expect of any film from countries with a presumed authoritarian regime, and simultaneously serves as the film-maker’s almost compulsory passport to global recognition.

My favourite part from 15 (watch from 4:30. omg 4:30 HAHA. until the end of this clip. can you hear a karaoke-style accompaniment of 舞女 in this scene?)

i don’t know whether i should call this my favorite module this semester. i am on okay terms with it, but the same goes to almost all the other modules i am doing now. i’m okay liking it. but the only three modules that i hated in my entire lifespan of 7 semesters have to do with semiconductors. so i’m fine with anything that has nothing to do with electrons/holes running through silicon.

this module. hmm gives me a chance to look at things that i used to not care about. at least. i don’t want to use the word ‘insightful’ because i don’t really feel that it has opened doors for me. i know i nod a lot if i find something intriguing. and i know i don’t really nod that much in this module. or that simply i don’t agree to what they are feeding me.

but it forces me to sit down and watch Eric Khoo. watch Royston Tan. to look at film as critical reflection on society. yes i am aware of this intent but not for local films. because it was always so easy to pass them off as pointless ranting. especially yar lor Jack Neo and his one thousand i-want-to-complain-this-gahmen-hor films.

and also how a national cinema functions. the need to be decipherable to global audience. or not. and more film specific, the reoccurrence of marginalized characters and the use of heartlands.

this presentation on Eating Air and Kelvin Tong makes me want to read his interviews. to know why he wants to make films.

which is very fun in fact for a module.

the term ‘underbelly’ is referred to as often as how ‘nostalgia’ is brought up in another film module. and each time i hear the word, i picture a frog’s belly and how people are living under that belly. haha.

ah this reminds me. long ago. i wanted to make a film on smart kids. in good school. live in nice houses and have great families. it’s just too boring to watch another film on marginalized people. yes. i want to make a film that goes hand in hand with the state’s projected image. haha. i will work on this.