As i talk about Alejandro Amenabar's The Sea Inside yesterday, where a disable man fighting for his right to die with dignity by being euthanized, this am's Straits Times brings in a piece of bad news for the local film industry.
Bertrand Lee, a Singapore director who graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with an honor of movies (if i'm not wrong) and makes 3 award winning short film for Singapore, met with an severe accident in India. His left leg has to be amputated. He was in Bombay to make his forth movie, where he was hit by a lorry which moves backwards. His left leg was crushed by the wheel and hips was injured. He will have to live without his left leg forever, and he was only 27.
When i read the news and saw his pictures, i realised who was he. He appears on the recent Good Morning Singapore on Ch 8 to talk about his latest short film, Birthday, which represents Singapore for the Venice Film Fest. And the first thought in my mind: oh! that guy. but the second thought was shockening: what? his left leg has to be amputated? (The reaction is just like Rosa's mother reaction when Manuela told her the woman who kissed Rosa's child was the child's father in All About My Mother.) It was a sad story to hear, as Singapore's film industry was still an infant at this stage, and more new directors such as Royston Tan and Bertrand is greatly needed to ensure that S'pore's film industry is growing healthy. Jack Neo and Eric Khoo is one of the few talents, but they will grow old one day. When they are old and feeble, definitely new directors are needed to keep S'pore's film industry going. If not, it will just died down like the 70's. This news is not only a blow to the local filmmakers, but also Bertrand himself. 27 years old and he has a long way to go. Now, the reckless lorry driver simply puts an obstacle to his life by making him a handicap, and we are not sure whether he will keep on making movies in future.
Now in such a state, i just wonder if he wants to go on with bringing in more good movies. If he could learn from famous singer Andrea Bocelli and the late Ray Charles, whom both of them are blind and decideds to keep moving on, it will definitely be a great news to the local film industry. May god bless him and his loved ones, and wish him a speedy recovery.
3 weeks after Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle makes the movie a box office hit, the distributor strikes while the iron is hot. The VCD of Kungfu Hustle was released yesterday. Bought a copy just now and finished the film immedately. Not bad, had a good laugh, bu was disappointed that the film was presented in the full screen version. Why is that so? If u are comparing a movie in full screen and widescreen format, there is a great difference. Widescreen is the format that you see in movie theatres, which is in rectangle. Of course, widescreen format covers a wider area to make your eyes see more thing rite? But when fitted into the full screen version, it means the movie has been formatted to fit your TV screen, where part of both sides of the film has been chopped off, or more rather, you only get to see 2/3 of what you are supposed to see. So that's why i would insist getting the DVD in widescreen format, cos i do not want to see a movie being chopped off horribly.
Back to Kungfu, Chow never fails to surprise us. In short, watch it yaself lah!