Some weeks back, I commented on a Malaysian film which I enjoyed immensely. Today I will do the patriotic thing.
If you haven't seen Blue Mansion, please do yourself the favour of watching it. I have thus far yet to see a Singaporean film as sophisticated, elegant or beautiful as this. Great script, fantastic acting, superb dialogue and not to forget the cinematography. What more can you ask of a film? Most importantly, the score provided the elegance and the mystic, steeped within a beautiful rustic set. A true tragedy of Shakespearan proportions enshrined within the guise of a black comedy.
The best thing is, it reminds me of how much I love mysteries, whether in film or literature. The constant suspense and all the sordid secrets that emerge as layer after layer of plot is unravelled.
I remember Miss Thoo making us read Agatha Christie when I was in Secondary One. Although everyone hated it, I secretly enjoyed reading the Miss Marple novel I happened to have picked. That led to Hercule Poirot and a whole range of witty and cynical characters. The murders in the Rue Morgue also showed me that Edgar Allan Poe was a mystery writer through and through. Sherlock just seemed so dull next to all this.
There is one book which I have recommended many to read, Honor Thy Father by Lesley Glaister. This is the sort of unravelling that I witnessed in Blue Mansion, the same shiver down your spine as you get to the dark, bitter core of the mystery. That moment when you realise that all criminals pale in comparison to the things that dwell within the human psyche.
3 comments:
I wouldn't call the show sophisticated 'cos I think the scriptwriter is a young first-timer. His creative mind probably hasn't seen enough to get to that level, but he knows his King Lear and Christmas Carol well. I thought the show was brilliant in parodying the hollow sophistication of the ignoramus that constitutes the noveau riche of Singapore; expensive taste does not a cultured person make, you morons.
Let's not demonize criminals and remind ourselves of our imperative to moral hypocrisy. As one of my favourite TV characters, Dr House says, "Everybody lies".
P.S. Alvin and Jessica, you should try catch this show
Well, expensive taste is for expensive people, the sort who'd love to have a hefty price tag put on them for all to see. Because they don't want people to see what exactly lies behind the facade they have built up for themselves.
The criminal I mentioned refers to the person usually suspected or convicted of committing any crime in a mystery. In Glaister's work, it is usually the victim who displays dark undercurrents in their psyches.
She tries to show that the victim is often the criminal as well from some form of non-action. I don't know if I'm right, but it seems to me that there's some of Sartre's "Bad Faith" mixed into her work.
Ang Heng
Ang Heng hor,
I thought I was one of the few jokers who were forced to read Edgar Ellen Poe.. its sibei cheem to me la..
my fav is 'nevermore'. And the stupid cat story where he dug out the cat's eye..
Anyway i wont get the chance to see blue mansion man. Its not showing here and the trailer is not my cup of tea.. i see adrian pang's exaggerated acting I turn off liao..haha..
Anyway mai sian. Did u get the econs notes u were looking for?
alvin
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