Oh! We are the LEAPING FISH! - Leaping Fish in the City (20-22 March 2013)

“Are we living in a complex labyrinth and trying to find a space to breathe? Are we passing each other but have never noticed each other? Are we traveling from one point to another point of the Earth endlessly, trying to make a living or trying to live up to our dreams? Somehow, as part of the evolution into the frantic modern life, we learn how to live in the north, and also in the south; and we build our lives on earth and also live at levels beneath the earth. We have become adaptable. We are the

LEAPING FISH.”

Above is the publicity text for Leaping Fish in the City, a multimedia theatrical piece. What is a leaping fish? According to a report from BBC Nature, there are at least six different types of fish that are able to launch themselves into the air from a solid surface, and they are called the “Leaping Fish”.  This phenomenon is seen as an evolutionary snapshot of the transition from living in water to inhabiting land.

I was invited to view the work-in-progress of Leaping Fish in the City in November 2012. I especially like the segment that reflects the irony of humans inhabiting not just above the land but levels beneath the land too. This reminded me of Ion Orchard- shoppers travel all the way down to Basement 4!

Two main characters are presented in the piece.

One is a typical city dweller. One day, she starts to search for memories as part of her project. However, she is unable to find any. She starts to wonder “Am I living in a city without memories?”. She begins her search for memories, which include heritage, uniqueness of the city and people…

Another character is an unassuming peculiar man, who may irritate city dwellers with his seemingly undesirable habits. He speaks to himself while traveling on the bus, sings as he feels like singing, and dances on the street as he feels the music.

At several moments in the piece, they face each other while traveling in their daily lives. The city dweller has never noticed the man. These scenes give me a strong sense of how a modern person may reject the primitive or “raw” aspect of himself/herself. I wonder-- are we really that “advanced” to the extent that we have to reject old items, old memories, and the old self (which is our childhood?)...?

Certain segments may change, as the creative team continues to develop the work till 20 March 2013. I will give you an update of the creative process!

Directed by Ang Gey Pin, performed by Jacklyn Kuah and Vincent Chia, with visual, audio, and sound desiged by Nickolai D. Nickolov from Bulgaria, this is a piece filled with reflections, memories, and dreams, presented with an intellectually stimulating and humorous overtone.

Performance details:

Leaping Fish in the City
presented by In Source Theatre & The Substation. 

(It comprises English, Mandarin and dialect. There will be English subtitles and multimedia images.) 
Preview: Wednesday 20 March 2013,7pm 
Open to public: Thursday 21 to Friday 22 March 2013, 8pm 
The Substation Gallery 
Admission: $18 / $12 (Student, NSF and senior citizens) available from The Substation box office (6337 7800 / boxoffice@substation.org)

PhD + Retrenchment = Taxi! Taxi! (2012)

Taxi! Taxi! (Mandarin) is inspired by true story of Dr. Cai Mingjie, who holds a PhD from one of the world's best universities (Stanford University), and was retrenched from his job as a principal researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore in 2008. Unable to get a job related to his qualifications, he became a taxi driver in 2009.

In Taxi Taxi!, Gurmit Singh plays the role of Professor Chua, who is retrenched from his high-status job of a microbiologist. After retrenchment, he has difficulties securing himself with another position. As the sole breadwinner of the family, he turns to taxi driving to sustain the household expenses. In his new found career, he befriends Ah Tau, a veteran taxi driver played by Mark Lee. While Professor Chua converses only in English, his new friend speaks only Mandarin/Hokkien. These two characters with diverse work and educational backgrounds form an unlikely friendship.

I went to Taxi! Taxi! gala screening without any expectation of the film. I went simply because my friend had complimentary tickets for me (Haha! What a reason! But as a Singaporean—FREE? Take lah!). But I am glad I went. The movie was a pleasant surprise to me. For the first time, I like Mark Lee's acting. His vivid portrayal of a carefree and helpful taxi driver with excellent control of comic timing and his convincing delivery of emotions and speech bring life to the character. We see that Mark Lee lived through the taxi driver with emotional depth. Now, even as I see Mark Lee in other TV programmes, I somehow still view him as a taxi driver. For Gurmit Singh, while he is able to deliver a clean and clear enunciation and characterization, he does not live through the experiences and emotions of the character. He seems to be Gurmit Singh playing another role; acting in just another movie. Dr. Jia Jia's debut movie appearance is highly commendable. The director tapped on his YouTube personality and transformed that personality into the son of Ah Tau in this movie. He is the Dr. Jia Jia we see on YouTube even though he plays the role of Ah Tau’s son. However, it is not really a bad choice for Dr. Jia Jia to play his online persona in the movie. He was only 6 years old as he acted in this movie. It is natural for him to play out the personality of his trademark Dr. Jia Jia with aliveness. Amazingly, he has great chemistry with his co-actors, especially Mark Lee who acted as his father. The script ties in his Singlish-speaking YouTube persona seamlessly into the movie. 

I would say that the greatest credit goes to the director Kelvin Sng. The great choice of theme based on true story of "the most educated cabdriver" in Singapore, together with its excellent plot development, and the good choice of camera angles make it a touching and enjoyable movie. I especially like the extensive use of close-ups on the expressions of commoners represented by Ah Tau and Jia Jia. Through their expressions, questions and casual remarks made in their daily life, they successfully communicate voices of the working class in Singapore.

Other than the life of two taxi drivers, one highly educated and another without much education, the little stories that reflect the Singaporean lifestyle also moved the audience to tears and laughter: a father lies to his child that the runaway mother is on a trip around the world by getting the child gifts that portray the icons of different countries; a father volunteers his time to work for a school so that the son can be enrolled in its Primary One class;  a son calls the dad a liar as the dad conceals the truth about losing his high prestige job; a high positioned employee is being retrenched and replaced by a "foreign talent".  

Juxtapositions of the characters' helpless situations and jokes played upon them by fate are depicted in the movie. As a taxi driver, Professor Chua encounters his ex-colleagues with embarrassment; Ah Tau fetches Professor Chua and his family from the airport by chance and reveals Professor Chua's occupation as a taxi driver without knowing that Professor Chua has been trying to hide the fact from his family; Professor Chua's son who has always regarded him as the idol of his life, feels ashamed of the dad’s newly found occupation; Ah Tau is late for his date as he is held up by a traffic police officer (played by Chua Enlai) who gives lengthy lecture with repeated points delivered in a slow and rhythmic manner which produces a comical effect.

As compared to Ah Boys to Men I recently watched, I would say that Taxi! Taxi! deserves much more support and applause from the local audience. It is sincerely made with a much richer script, stronger characterization and better camera work. It is a story that belonged to everyone of us -- even if we don't speak Singlish, even if we are not parents, even if we are not related to any taxi driver. We do have a job, we do live in Singapore, we will go through the reality of ageing, we will still face the unknown of life ahead...

Filled with local flavor, the Singlish and incidents portrayed in Taxi!Taxi! are funny and close to our lives. Overall, Taxi! Taxi! is uplifting, inspirational, hilarious and entertaining!

Rating 8/10 (Based on the perspective of a Singaporean who appreciates the local jokes and Singlish used in the movie)

Life of Pi (2012) and the Journey of Spirituality

My Tibetan Buddhist name is Tsering Lhamo, my Hindi name is Savita, my Christian name is Beverly, and my Chinese name is Yuen. I am not writing this as a movie review, but from the perspective of a Buddhist-turned-Christian who practiced Yoga under a Hindu Swami and who loves to contemplate on the writings by Sufi Master Rumi. I believe that all religions lead to the Truth. If the common denominator of all religions is all-encompassing compassion and love, then Pi’s and my act of embracing all religions should not be seen as a controversial act.  

Based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel, Life of Pi is an adventurous story centering on Pi Patel, the son of a zoo keeper who decides to move to Canada. The film starts with a novelist who approaches Pi, an immigrant from India who resides in Canada for an incredible story. Pi narrates to him the stories of his childhood in India, how his dad decides to sell all their zoo animals to North America and move the whole family to Canada, and the shipwreck in which his family dies. Detailed and vivid description of his life stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat together with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker is narrated. However, towards the end of the film, he offers another version of the story of his adventure on the sea to the novelist—a story without a floating carnivorous island that no one has seen, without surprises, without the orangutan that floats on a bundle of bananas and without the animals. The first story about the tiger Richard Parker and the animals is one that the insurance agents for the Japanese freighter reject as they want the "truth" and not a report that comprises things that people have never known of. In the end they accept Pi's second story which is based on conflicts and struggles of humans on the lifeboat as the "truth" for their official report.

I especially enjoyed the beginning and ending of Life of Pi where the notions of "God" and "faith" were presented and questioned. Pi is raised a Hindu but is introduced to Christianity and Islam as a teenager. He decides to believe in all the three religions, and yet not without any doubt. He says to the writer, "Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested". As in Buddhism, the Buddha said to his disciples, "Do not believe what I say simply out of respect for me. Discover from your own lives the truth of what I am teaching you". Buddhism teaches that one should explore, test and examine all teachings delivered by the Buddha, and one should not accept all teachings blindly without doubt.  However, does having doubt equate to not having faith? 

Can faith coexist with doubt? To me, the answer is yes. Without doubt, I would not embark on the path of spirituality. Doubts occur, followed by the need to search for answers, which leads to a search of religion(s) and way of life. With doubt, faith arises when we have the answers or when we have glimpses of truth. It is when one's doubts are cleared that the faith gets stronger. However, in my view, one should not stick to one way of understanding the mystery of religion. If one only relies on logical thinking to prove a religion or the existence of "God", that is limited. There are affective and even mysterious ways that can aid one in the understanding of a religion. While Pi's dad advises him that "Believing in everything is the same as believing in nothing", his mother counters this rationale with "science can teach us more about what is out there, but not about what is in here (the heart)". Logically, believing in diverse religions may lead one to nowhere, as one can only choose one path to reach a destination in daily life. However, it is important that one goes with what the heart tells one to do. While our inner experiences may not be proven empirically, we cannot conclude that such experiences do not exist.  An Hindu, Pi is unable to get the image of Jesus out of his mind after his first meeting with the Christ figure in a local church—"But this son (Jesus Christ), I couldn't get him out of my head". After becoming a Hindu-Christian, he encounters Islam which gives him a sense of bliss—"The sound and feel of the words of the prayers to Allah gave peace and serenity".

While religions have their doctrines and precepts for followers to adhere to, the society or the circumstances that we are in may require us to "twist" our beliefs. For instance, in the film, there is no vegetarian food served on the ship that Pi and his family are taking to Canada. Pi and his family are vegetarians and they are served with just plain rice after futile request for vegetables. A Japanese man on board tells them that he is "a happy Buddhist" who eats "rice mix with gravy" (meat gravy) as "on ship, gravy is not meat, but taste". This could be rather controversial for orthodox believers. But the story poses a question here: doctrines or survival? If a religion is to aid one to live life more meaningfully and blissfully, is there a need to stick to doctrines at the risk of one’s survival? Another scene in the film that depicts such circumstance of life is when Pi loses all his food supply (biscuits) at the sea, he has to feed himself with raw fishes in order to stay alive. At the same time, not all disciples within the same religion are followers of the same sect or tradition, as different sects or traditions within a religion could have different beliefs. We can never tell which tradition represents the "best" belief. For instance, in Thailand and Tibet, Buddhist monks are not necessarily vegetarians, while in Singapore and Malaysia, most Buddhist monks are vegetarians. Thus, though Life of Pi touches on religions, it is not religious. Ultimately, we may have to twist our beliefs or rules slightly to meet the various life situations presented to us.

At the end of the film, Pi lands on a shore and is rescued by a group of people. Pi tells the novelist about the Japanese insurance agents who refuse to believe in the story of his adventure with a tiger on a lifeboat:

Insurance Agent:

We need a simpler story for our report. One that our company can understand. A story we can all believe.

Pi:

So a story without things you've never seen before.

Insurance Agent:

That's right.

Pi:

Without surprises, without animals or islands.

Insurance Agent:

Yes. The truth. 

Novelist:
So... what did you do?

Pi:

I told them another story.

To survive through the incident of shipwreck together with a tiger on a lifeboat for 227 days at sea is an unbelievable story. To Pi, it is through the blessing of God that he manages to survive miraculously. However, it is hard for people to believe in miracles. The insurance agents represent those who do not believe in the limitless capacity of God. They choose to believe in a “human story”, a story alike soap opera presented to viewers on TV everyday. For those who believe in miracles- “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).