881 
Went to Vivocity on Tuesday night with my mum to attend the exclusive gala premiere of Royston Tan’s new film, 881. Was really blessed by my sister as the gala premiere tickets were given to me because she could not make it for the event. What a spectacle it turned out to be!
Reached Vivocity Golden Village and was greeted by hordes of fans who were by the red carpet to greet their idols. The major cast and crew of the film appeared on the red carpet for interview and photos. The gala premiere is considered large scale because, the entire GV is booked out for the screening, 13 theaters in all!! The reality of the glitz and glamour overwhelmed me as I begin to recognize more and more familiar faces from TV and theatre. Royston Tan just breezed past in front of me and before I could say “Eh, Roys...”, Eric Khoo swiftly followed behind him. The wait before Showtime was just as immense. Saw thespians like Chua En Lai, Project Superstars like Diya, TCS hottie Dawn Yeoh, TV and movie moguls and even a certain Cheryl Fox reporting to work late in the evening for an exclusive spot for the news on TV. Ok, ok, I can ramble on about the stars but now for the film.
Kudos to Royston once again for an impeccable piece again. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and was rather impressed by his work. Paying homage to getai, something he himself enjoyed, this film gave an interesting insight of the dying art. Despite the nature of getai, the film isn’t about the rites and rituals of this form of showbiz, but how those involved face life’s struggles. The film may seem simple on the surface but it draws great parallelism to many people’s lives. Hence, I gave my two thumbs up for a rather cathartic experience provided by the film.
What made this a very good film were not only Royston’s trademark direction but also many factors. Firstly, the cast did an awesome job of portraying the story’s characters on screen. Credit goes to Liu Ling Ling, Mindee Ong and Yeo Yann Yann for their stellar performances. Next, it will be the soundtrack, which is commended by my mum. All the Hokkien songs used provided a new dimension to the story. The songs dictated the mood of the situation and clearly express what the director wanted to tell. 881 is not called a musical for nothing mind you. However, do not expect it to be something like Bollywood films. If the music does not win any prize, then the costume department deserves at least a mention. The cost incurred for the costumes was truly worth it as all the sets were very attractive. It makes you wonder how they got all these ideas. The narrative begins in Mandarin and the cast spoke in a mish mash of mainly Hokkien and Mandarin. The usual subtlety and finesse may by replace by outlandish and seemingly crass dialogues, but the film hardly lost its substance. Another interesting point about the film is the narrative of the story, I shall not reveal what kind Royston used but it is impressive. Moreover, the way the narration was done was even more remarkable.
The film is not just all good and no bad as people expecting an artsy film that contains intellectual English script will be disappointed from the get go. The over the top jack neo-ish special effects were a turn off. A couple of shots taken by Royston were quite abstract and the surrealism he used won’t go down very well with every single audience. Other than that, I reckon 881 as a very good effort. Continue to support local production peeps!
