881

we've always treaded carefully with local films, but knew that there was something about Royston Tan's movies which captures the various facets of local emotion.

as we walked out of the cinema after watching 881 this evening, all four of us (including snuffy hubby and the two colleagues) were like..."eat your heart out, jack neo".

881 is funny without being slapstick or flakey.

it manages to infuse humor in its most emotional scenes and make them work.

and it comes at a perfect time, during the chinese lunar calendar's seventh month, and looks set to endear the yearly getai performances to the younger local crowd.

we were especially impressed by the elaborate costumes and how he managed to weave in the story of a late getai king, and get the past and current getai stars to make cameo appearances in the film.

does it inspire me to go catch a getai performance during the month?

well...no.

but the movie's given me such an insight into the lives of getai singers and the code they have to abide by that i have a renewed respect for such performers.

if i happen to walk past a show though, i'll be sure to keep an eye out for the familiar faces we chanced upon in the movie.

it's bloody hard work to be running around from show to show during the season!

fantastic work, Roystan Tan!