When it comes to the great war movies, World War II and the Vietnam War rise up to the occasion, but great war movies centering on World War I’s gruelling trench warfare can only be counted on the fingers of one hand. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Paths of Glory (1957) and A Very Long Engagement (2004) come to mind. Perhaps the punishing and rigid nature of trench warfare do not inured us to the vagaries of combat. 

Sam Mendes’ 1917 is a mind-blowing and ambitious movie about an impossible mission across enemy lines during World War I. It seeks to be the definitive film about WWI, what Platoon (1986) is to the Vietnam War and what Saving Private Ryan (1998) is to WWII, but for me it comes in a close second to All Quiet on the Western Front. Mind you, there is no shame in that. 

The story couldn’t have been simpler: Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), two young British soldiers during the First World War, are given a seemingly impossible mission. With time against them, they must deliver a message, deep in enemy territory, that will stop their own men, and Blake’s own brother, walking straight into a deadly trap.

If the story is flimsy, the plot isn’t. The camera keeps them front and centre in a single continuous shot (a trained eye will tell you there are at least three cuts). Rather than celebrating the pair’s little victories, 1917 brings out the darkest moments of the war and the pair trying to make sense of a world that has lost its moorings. A crack of a bullet zinging through the air and a swing of a blade can separate life from death. It vividly captures the gruelling nature and gruesome bloodshed of the trenches.

There are a couple of heart-stopping set-pieces that are fraught with armrest-clutching suspense and the set-design is awe-inspiring. They must have built the sprawling sets of a claustrophobic tunnel, a dilapidated farmhouse and a skeleton-esque French town in ruins, didn’t they? 

The true star of the film is Roger Deakins’ incredible camera work – the beguiling tracking shots revealing more and more frightful details as it tracks along with the pair, the sweeping pans and the vibrant crane shots. Every shot is a sit-up-and-look-at-me shot and quite a few had me going “how the heck did he do that?” 

Herein lies the problem for me – the stylistic choice draws so much attention to itself that it can detract a seasoned viewer from the narrative aspect. Because of the choice of shooting everything in one continuous shot, the main characters remain a little vague, not satisfyingly fleshed out. We don’t have the luxury of more engaging way of filling in the back stories, except through expositional passages carried out by the prominent actors like Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch. 

That said, the ambitious continuous shot succeeds in bringing an immediacy to the soldiers’ journey through hell. Chapman who plays Schofield is wonderful. He brings a fear and hope that is very much evident in his eyes, carrying the movie all the way to the finishing line.

1917 is one of those rare films that blew my mind the moment it ended, but after a good night’s rest, long after the euphoria has died down, it loses some of its shine. Dare I say it felt gimmicky? But what do I know… 1917 is freshly minted with a win for Sam Mendes as Best Director and is the winner for Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the recent Golden Globes. Don’t take my word for it. Go see it for yourself. In fact, I feel like seeing this again; this time not allowing the technical stylistics to detract me. This is a true wonder of form. 

Written by Daniel Chiam

There are two types of narratives that always hit me like a thunderbolt. They don’t even need to reinvent the wheel; they can just revel in all the clichés and I am a goner. The first is an underdog-sports genre film and the sport doesn’t matter – a ragtag team that can’t work together have failed so many times they don’t know which way is up. In comes a coach, with his personal demons, who will transform the team and himself in the process. The last act is practically carved in stone – it’s the final game, but they have lost the first half miserably. The coach delivers a half-time pep talk that gives everyone a helluva adrenaline shot, and with a great swell of music the team wins the game by a hair’s breadth. The second movie genre that I have a soft spot for is a father-son story. Give me Like Father, Like Son (2013). Give me Field of Dreams (1989). Give me Big Fish (2003). And I show you a grown man who totally loses it. These are stories that feel like they were written for me. I know that because my breath is caught in a hitch, my heart is soaring and my tears are welling up by the last act.

I say all of that as a preface because I have a feeling I may be biased in how this review will turn out. I will attempt to be strict but as I am pondering over A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood my eyes are already glistening, just so you know.

Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod (Mathew Rhys). After the jaded magazine writer (renamed as Lloyd Vogel for the movie) is assigned to write a 100-word profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbour.

I grew up with the likes of Sesame Street and Electric Company, and had no idea there was another American venerable mainstay in children’s television in the form of Mr Rogers’ Neighbourhood. Hence, watching the opening scene of a sugary mild-mannered man in a red cardigan donning his sneakers and offering homilies was curiously fascinating.

Director Marielle Heller didn’t do a straight-up biopic of a celebrated personality. As soon as Tom Hanks’ Fred Rogers is done with singing the theme song of a typical episode of the television programme, he introduces us to Lloyd Vogel. An unfaltering photograph of Vogel is presented and the story shifts its perspective to Vogel’s. Before long, you will realise that Rogers is not the main character. We see Rogers through Vogel’s cynical eyes which is the surrogate of people like me on this side of the screen. How can there ever be a person with not a single bad thought, bad bone and bad deed in his being? Apparently, there is and his name is Mr Rogers.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is not much of a biopic. It uses a narrative framework to tell a story of how Mr Rogers affected generations of people, young and old. Tom Hanks does a splendid job as Mr Rogers, capturing not just his simple mannerisms, measured speech and patient eyes, but the essence of the man. This is a man with such simple gestures, possessing a Zen-like vibe, who offers us a blueprint of how a world can be like if we all do the simple things, like loving everyone in your neighbourhood, well. His innate ability to relate to children and his uncomplicated view of the world, remarkable to the point my heart threatens to explode in a flurry of rose petals. Some of the scenes feel fabricated for pseudo-nostalgia, especially the one where random people on a subway train see Rogers and start to sing the theme song (it’s in the trailer). Later, I would read Tom Junod’s article and found out it did happen.

Vogel’s story arc is the ubiquitous storied history of a man wounded by his father who abandoned him and his dying mother. Stop me if you have heard this one before – his father Jerry (Chris Cooper) comes back wanting to reunite with the son. The father is sick and doesn’t have long, but the son finds it impossible to forgive him, but eventually with some help finds closure with his father. We have seen this story template numerous times, but Vogel’s emotional arc is empathetically satisfying. Through interviewing Rogers, Vogel got “interviewed” instead by Rogers with his never ending questions in his soothing cadence of a voice. When Vogel’s arc is complete, I never felt cheated with an act of convenience, but felt moved that with the help of good old Mister Rogers he could face his demons with a big heart of love. This is a wonderful storytelling device – we may not have gotten a full tour of a delightful man and his ideas, but we get to experience his kindness, honesty and philosophy. I don’t know about you but with the state of the world as it is now, we could all use a bit of Mister Rogers.

It leaves me to enclose Tom Junod’s article Can You Say… Hero? A 100-word puff piece that became a thesis on a kind soul and how Rogers’ simple philosophy of life changed him. It’s long, but it is a rewarding read. My advice is to read it after you have watched the movie. Your skepticism of the man will melt away as the words cascade into your consciousness and hopefully into your heart.

Written by Daniel Chiam

All humans live with sins. Only a few will ever have the courage to beg for forgiveness, and a fraction of them are truly forgiven.

– King Yeomra (Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds)

If the first movie epitomises redemption, then the sequel dives headlong into forgiveness. Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds was a helluva ride through the underworld; the only misstep for me is how it went overboard with the ludicrous special effects. By that I mean how the vengeful spirit and Gang Rim go mano a mano with the city as their playground. The sequel, Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days, was shot together with the massively popular first film and it has become the second all-time box-office grosser in South Korea. However, it is an overstuffed shadow of the first film.

The sequel begins moments after the end of The Two Worlds, with the three guardians, Gang Rim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Dukchun (Kim Hyang-gi) guiding their 49th soul Kim Soo-hong (Kim Dong-wook), the brother of Kim Ja-hong, to the trials for his reincarnation. The stakes are higher because if it is successful, the three guardians will also be reincarnated. 

King Yeomra (Lee Jung-jae), Lord of the Afterlife, agrees to a fair trial on the condition that Gang Rim proceeds with the case on his own, while Haewonmak and Dukchun go down to the world of humans to dispatch a troublesome house god named Sung-joo (Ma Dong-seok) and ascend an overdue soul.

The Last 49 Days has a lot to live up to and it just could not sustain under the weight of expectations set by its predecessor. The first half becomes a bit of a slog with the pacing largely going missing and the world-building taking a backseat. This is a case of lightning not being able to strike the same spot twice.

Firstly, the chemistry between the three guardians of the Afterlife went missing in the first two acts, partly because Gang Rim and his compatriots are separated. Like The Two Worlds, the narrative becomes two-pronged but sadly neither reaches the same dizzying levels. Soo-hong makes for an annoying and smart-alecky character, who doesn’t garner the same sympathy as his brother, Ja-hong. It is a good move that the story doesn’t go through the same process as Ja-hong but what takes its place doesn’t make for compelling viewing, and dinosaurs don’t help. Haewonmak and Dukchun fare better because of the intriguing character of Sung-joo, a superb casting choice. However, this time round the Stephen-Chow-resque slapstick comedy is a hit or miss.

Secondly, director Kim Yong-hwa couldn’t quite find the right balance between the light fantastic and the hard-hitting drama, which led to pacing issues, so much so that I did the dreaded thing – I checked my watch.

However, all is not lost… when the story does hit the final act with the story of the three guardians revealed, it hits its groove. But still, one can’t help but feel it came a little too late to save the movie.

Written by Daniel Chiam

I like putting movies into Venn diagrams and I have special categories always swimming in my head like “movies with a great final shot” and “movies that showcase traits I would like to see in my future partner”. Then there is that one category that doesn’t have many movies – “movies that can make you reflect upon your life”. Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds slips in there ever so surreptitiously.

Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong (Cha Tae Hyun) is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians Gang Rim (Ha Jung Woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji Hoon) and Dukchun (Kim Hyang Gi). Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, will he be able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.

I didn’t figure the Korean blockbuster to be a tearjerker, but it most certainly was. All through the screening, I could hear people around me sniffling and wiping their tears away unabashedly, me included. The movie doesn’t even try to be subtle in this aspect and I must say every rivulet of my tears was earned.

Yet the story is also fashioned as a fast-paced pulsating adventure ride and it scores top marks in this aspect too. My eyes blinked in disbelief and my mind boggled in awe as the twists and turns became wilder and twistier, but never losing its grasp on the audience. This is high-concept done well, every far-fetched notion perfectly digestible. There is superb verve in its storytelling. Nothing is truly what it seems.

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is a film that is solidly cast. I don’t get the Korean names very well, but I watch a lot of Korean cinema and TV dramas and instantly recognise all the familiar faces. Cha Tae Hyun is perfectly cast as the good-natured Paragon with a well of secrets that threaten to derail his chances at reincarnation at every trial. The casting of the three grim reapers is also spot-on with differing dynamics that lend propulsion to the story.

There is some amazing world building here, every level of hell is well-rendered and nothing for this reviewer feels repetitive. The CGI work here is top-notch, considering 90% of the movie is probably done to a green screen. In my humble opinion, CGI is just a means to an end and the end must always be to serve the story. The story is so strong here that the CGI disappears into the background.

Exposition is always a tricky business in storytelling and Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds is practically all exposition. But the intrigue and suspense build-up through character motivations constantly draws one deeper into the proceedings. My senses hinged closely on the afterlife guardians’ explanations at every turn as I got ready for the next trial. Even with the advance preparation the trial still puts me in a tailspin with some shocking revelations. Director Kim Yong Hwa even takes a 2-pronged narrative trek midway with both narrative trajectories dovetailing in the final act effectively.

The story resonates on God levels here. It is a rip-roaring adventure action film, but it also scores as an examination of the complexities of life lived in whatever station you are in. I shuddered in my seat as the end credits ran, wondering if I will see another movie that is as thrilling and heartfelt as this or can I even pass the seven trials right at that moment. Movies should do this – move you and make you want to become a better person. In a year you can count on the fingers of one hand, movies that can perform this feat successfully.

Written by Daniel Chiam

Have you ever seen the opening scene of a movie and the entire plot unfurls itself and you see the whole movie in your mind two hours before it ends? The moment I saw Captain Jo In-chang’s pregnant wife, I immediately knew how one of the last scenes will play out and I can tell you I hit the bullseye. Ashfall, is epic is in its production values, but they should have increased the budget in the writing department.

This has a helluva star-studded cast. Ha Jung-woo plays Captain Cho In-chang, a bomb disposal expert a few days shy of retirement, who has to leave his heavily pregnant wife Choi Ji-young (Bae Suzy) to lead a covert mission into North Korea. The plan is to steal nuclear warheads, which are to be used to prevent further volcanic eruptions across the Han Peninsula. The plan belongs to Professor Kang Bong-rae (Ma Dong-seok), who prefers to go by “Robert”. He is aided by Security Secretary Jeon Yoo-kyung (Jeon Hye-jin). Cho has to collaborate with a North Korean defector, Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun), who has other plans.

This is as predictable as they come. Writer-directors Kim Byung-seo and Lee Hae-jun seemed like avid admirers of Roland Emmerich’s School of Destroying Planet Earth so much so that they have a clipboard with boxes to check. Check 1: a goofy scientist whom nobody believes until it’s too late. Check 2: destruction of iconic buildings in balletic motion. Check 3: vehicle careens down a road filled with other vehicles as a deep crack in the asphalt hastens on its tail seemingly wanting to devour it. Check 4… okay you get the point. Every Hollywood disaster trope is embraced here, leaving little for the imagination.

For a movie that needs to be striving for edge-of-the-seat suspense, it loses all sense of urgency in the umpteenth eleventh hour twists. You don’t even need to a jaded movie lover to see all the twists coming and know who is not going to make it. In movies like these, I play a mental game in guessing all the major emotional beats and plot developments before they drop. I can tell you I score a distinction here.

Ashfall might be about a disaster, but it isn’t all a disaster at the end of the day. Through all the family melodrama, mayhem, high-calibre shootouts, political gameplay and the buddy comedy, it manages to stay afloat and offers a timely, though contrived, message that sometimes all you need is love.

Written by Daniel Chiam

Do you remember what you wanted to do with the rest of your life when you were sixteen? Me, I only knew what I wanted to do the next day. For Chen Nian in Better Days, she knows, definitively – she wants to study, take the exams, go to a good university, become one of the smartest ones and if possible, protect the world.

Based on the novel Young and Beautiful by Jiu Yue Xi, Better Days stars Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee as Chen Nian and Xiao Bei, who meet each other at a trying time in their lives. Nian is the victim of relentless bullying in school, while Bei is a small-time hoodlum living on the fringes of society. An unlikely friendship ensues and they seal a pact.

Derek Tsang’s Better Days was pulled from the 69th Berlin International Film Festival a few days before its premiere. The Chinese censors probably drew a hardline at the movie’s depiction of bullying in school and the negative portrayal of gaokao (高考), a nation-wide 2-day examinations that determine the fate of over 9 million students intending to enter the university and polytechnic. At times the entire family’s fate hinges on the results of the examinations. In China, the movie was originally set to open in June, but was again pulled, only to open in October, probably after making some changes. I am not sure what changes were made, but the movie I saw still packs an emotional wallop.

Tsang burst onto the scene with the outstanding Soul Mate (2016), an excellent rumination on a pair of childhood friends as they grow up with differing ideals in China’s rapidly changing urban landscape. The subject matter of his sophomore effort is a challenging choice, but in the third act he is on familiar ground as he tackles the theme of sacrificial love between friends.

Better Days doesn’t shy away from the physical and emotional toll bullying does to an individual. What makes the scenes horrific is that no reasons are provided. It is as if there are only three types of students: the bullies, the bullied and the ones that stand at the side to laugh and capture the bullying on their handphones. The adults only come in with platitudes when the worst is over. Nian knows nobody can help her and the best thing she can do is to do well in the exams and leave the god forsaken place.

Nian’s role can quickly become a cloying one but in the hands of Zhou Dongyu, Nian comes alive with an unshakable resolve brimming inside her frail body. Zhou is in her late twenties, but it is so easy to believe she is a sixteen-year-old student. She again turns in a bravura performance with an uncanny ability to emote a range of emotions behind a mien of tortured passivity. Playing opposite her is Jackson Yee, a member of the band TFboys, in his first main role, who also turns in a credible performance.

The movie over-stretches with the first two acts with one too many bullying scenes, but it is in the extended third act that it lays on the twists and surprises. Perhaps it is one twist too many, but the acting and cinematography are so good that I lapped them up as they came.

“Growing up is like diving. Don’t think, just close your eyes, and jump in,” says the police investigator Zheng Yi (Fang Yin). That’s more easily said than done. In one scene, Nian asks Bei why there aren’t lessons on how to become an adult. Better Days has finally seen the light of day and it is a thought provoking film that dares to ask some hard questions.

PS – Better Days won a slew of awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards 2020, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Song.

Written by Daniel Chiam