Made-in-Singapore Movies - "881"

I managed to squeeze some time to watch "881" recently. The flashy and glitzy show, which was produced by local film director Royston Tan, was FABULOUS! You should watch it for the bright lights, fancy costumes, and really touching script.

The story revolves around the Papaya Sisters (Well, Papaya sounds like "881" in Mandarin, hence the interesting movie title), a pair of bosom sisters (please, no papaya jokes! heee). Yeo Yann Yann plays the elder Papaya Sister 大木瓜 ("DMG") and Mindee Ong plays the younger Papaya Sister 小木瓜("SMG"). They live and breathe music and glamour on the 歌台 (Ge Tai, the stage for Lunar Seventh Month performances) despite their personal struggles. DMG had been kicked out of the house by her mother for singing Ge Tai, while SMG was strickened with cancer. While both sisters knew they had a covenant rule not to fall in love with any man, they can't help liking their driver and close confidante Guan Yin.

For those who are not familiar with local customs in Singapore, the Lunar Seventh Month is commonly known as the Hungry Ghost Festival (yes, the ghosts may just get abit hungry with all the good food in the Lion City). During this period, the Chinese believes that the Gates of Hell is opened for the ghosts to roam free in the secular world. So, to appease these friendly spirits, people burn joss paper ("hell money") and offer sweetened cakes and joss sticks ("hell food") along the road. Of course, the Chinese are also afraid these ghosts will be bored, hence they set up performances on make-shift stages. The type of performances have evolved from 大戏 (Cantonese opera) and 相声 (cross talk) of the yesteryear, to the evergreen and pop songs that we see today. Unfortunately, these songs are performed by either young children or "Singapore Idol" rejects/ wannabes that thronged the stage with outlandish costumes and lousy singing.

Back to 881, the Papaya Sisters had the company had the company of a dorky dumb hunk named Guan Yin (just don't ask me how he got that name), played by local actor Qi Yi Wu or "715" (yes, I know, this show is all about numbers!). He's the perfect male version of a 花瓶 ie a good looking supporting actress/actor in a typical Asian movies that only require her/him to enhance the show's aesthetic value - so no acting chops required. It helps that he doesn't have any lines in the movie, as his character couldn't speak. Well, I am more amused by the supporting actor of the show - The Cock. *Please don't think dirty* This is probably the first time I see a REAL chicken (read: it's not a phallus, not a whore, but a 100% male chicken!) playing such a major role in a local movie. 715's character Guan Yin holds his *ahem* Cock whenever he goes, and even plays with it during the musical segments. Well, I am glad that 715 managed to express the depth of his character with his body language, and the narration that was done from his perspective.

Other than the Cock, I love Liu Ling Ling for playing the duo characters - 玲姨 ("Auntie Ling")and her diva twin sister 歌台仙女 ("GeTai Fairy Godmother" or GFG for short). She was earnest in portraying the sincere Auntie Ling who managed the Papaya Sisters' costumes and schedules, and behaved like a true-blue Hokkien Superstar as GFG (well, not hard to see as Liu Ying Ying is actually a Ge Tai veteran). What tickled me most was when Auntie Ling kept calling every bloody thing she sees "Techno" - eg 715 was labelled "Techno Cheekopek" by his mum, and a stray cat was cursed "Techno Cat" for no bloody reason.

Credits also have to go to May and Choy for acting as the Durian Sisters, the arch rivals of the Papaya Sisters. They tried very hard to deliver their lines in Mandarin, and thankfully had some lines in English to give them a breather. They were MTV VJs and not actors, so we had to forgive their less than perfect performance. Nevertheless, they did themselves proud by playing the bitchy sisters who went all out to battle the lead actresses in the final showdown.

Royston managed to squeeze in some interesting characters too. Other than the usual sidekicks on the stage, the most memorable ones are the oddfellows - Holy Innocent Virgins ("HIV"). This fatty bom bom trio are probably part of the gang at The Boom Boom Room. While they left their lip-synching skills at the club, they were really funny as the 姐妹 (Jie Mei or "sisters" in Mandarin) for the Papaya Camp, especially in the finale's showdown.

This film was made on a budget of $1m, and I guessed about 90% of the budget probably went into the costumes. It was amazing, as Royston engineered a costume change for every stanza of the song segments. And mind you, I am actually very impressed. They were all very tastefully done - the Japanese Kimono, the White Fairies, and the Thai Princess. I swear Kylie will love to include some of these outfits for her Showgirl tour.

Being the first musical film made in Signapore, this show had a repetoire of Hokkien and Chinese songs that blended very well into the scenes. My favourite was the song "一人一半". Yes, the 发糕 ("Huat Kueh") scene was really hilarious (I nearly fell off my chair as Auntie Ling split the kueh into quarters and gave a piece to each of the Papaya Sisters). And the very same song totally blew my mind at the last scene - Yann Yann and Mindee were choked with so much emotions that the words "一人一半 感情不散" left the audience in tears.

Kudos to Royston for realising his dream in 881, and launching it on National Day! This movie has really gave the local film makers a confidence boost. And I dare to say this movie may well be nominated for regional film awards! Best Costume, Best Song, Best Foreign Film?