Box-Office Boogie

This blog is still slacking off, as is usual these days. I tire out like shit every day. Things are pretty much the same over the Causeway with Mr Nutshell. He's going hog-wild at the Singapore International Film Festival, which is on this week, and tiring out at the end of the day. I think he will collapse and deflate into a lifeless puddle by the end of the week. You can trust me on that. (I heard from him that Wisekwai of the Thai Film Journal was there, too, and Wisekwai's review of Lav Diaz's nine-hour epic at his blog confirms it. And by the way, sometime ago, I, too, survived a Lav Diaz epic, the 11-hour-long Evolution Of A Filipino Family.)

The SIFF used to be THE festival for us who couldn't travel to anywhere else. It was where I first saw Tsai Ming-liang in person, and watched my first Kurosawa Kiyoshi film (the creepfest, Pulse, after which I had to withstand a night alone in my shadowy hotel room). But over the years, I just lost interest, because the selection there seems to challenge little nowadays and offer little in excitement. I could be wrong because according to Mr Nutshell, the SIFF has so far been an exciting affair and a cool excuse to hang out with and meet like-minds. He's really making me regret not going over there this year.

But THREE James Lee films this year? Who programmes these things? Granted one of the films is a mainstream horror flick, but I don't think his track record should invite such reverence.

Talking about Singapore, the latest news from Buena Vista is that Jack Neo's Ah Long Pte Ltd is now officially the highest grossing Singaporean film in Malaysia. I have no idea who the previous record-holder was, though. I caught it this past weekend, and the hall I was in was packed. The audience seemed to enjoy the movie a lot, laughing every few seconds, although I was mostly groaning at the low-grade humour. My friend did laugh at a few of the Hokkien jokes though.

And then, there's this shocker at the box-office: Evolusi KL Drift has grossed RM2 million in just three days!