Genre - Musical (the only one!)
Musicality Quotient - Tone Deaf
Additional Entertainment Value Quotient - Yes! Nice, sweet and funny.
Greatest Moment - When she slammed the door at the fluffy haired little boy who did not even get a chance to speak.
Worst Moment - Opening zoom out - a rather uninspiring start for a musical, looked a little detective.
Production Value - Even lower than `Robbery' cos they avoided getting outdoors.
Tough luck they ended up with the musical genre. I had no idea they even had to compose the songs themselves. But they were smart to just stick to 2 songs - one complaining song by the female lead and the door greeting song by all the strangers. The story line was quite a stroll in the park and self-contained. A married lady sits at home looking trapped by her boredom. One by one, Amercian-accented strangers knock at her door making you forget you are in Singapore. Some try to sell her things, some try to make friends, some with `evangelical' intentions and some just cute and helpless (like the little boy). And they all sing the same tune but different versions of it to suit their lines. Finally, her husband comes back and brings the afternoon's episode to a comfortable closure.
This film proves the value of starting from a small and manageable premise and fattening up the content within the contained space. It was a treat to be guessing at each knock on the door, what else would turn up? And this Hongbao treatment did tickle - the wife gave it to silence one of the strangers who only discovered there was no money after that painful door slam. On hindsight, it also resembled a Simpsons' episode, mostly because of the use of the repetitive use of a visual motif and the camped-up acting of the cast. It's a shame though that the surprises could have been more outrageous because it was a good set-up. Maybe have superheroes, flashers, criminals, celebrities, iconic figures or something.
I could not help but feel that music really was not this team's cup of tea. There was little musical flair in the songs and even the shooting style. The camera was often too static. But sincerity in the musical delivery did cover up half of its flaws, like a bunch of college kids who just want to serenade to you `Three Blind Mice'.
Musicality Quotient - Tone Deaf
Additional Entertainment Value Quotient - Yes! Nice, sweet and funny.
Greatest Moment - When she slammed the door at the fluffy haired little boy who did not even get a chance to speak.
Worst Moment - Opening zoom out - a rather uninspiring start for a musical, looked a little detective.
Production Value - Even lower than `Robbery' cos they avoided getting outdoors.
Tough luck they ended up with the musical genre. I had no idea they even had to compose the songs themselves. But they were smart to just stick to 2 songs - one complaining song by the female lead and the door greeting song by all the strangers. The story line was quite a stroll in the park and self-contained. A married lady sits at home looking trapped by her boredom. One by one, Amercian-accented strangers knock at her door making you forget you are in Singapore. Some try to sell her things, some try to make friends, some with `evangelical' intentions and some just cute and helpless (like the little boy). And they all sing the same tune but different versions of it to suit their lines. Finally, her husband comes back and brings the afternoon's episode to a comfortable closure.
This film proves the value of starting from a small and manageable premise and fattening up the content within the contained space. It was a treat to be guessing at each knock on the door, what else would turn up? And this Hongbao treatment did tickle - the wife gave it to silence one of the strangers who only discovered there was no money after that painful door slam. On hindsight, it also resembled a Simpsons' episode, mostly because of the use of the repetitive use of a visual motif and the camped-up acting of the cast. It's a shame though that the surprises could have been more outrageous because it was a good set-up. Maybe have superheroes, flashers, criminals, celebrities, iconic figures or something.
I could not help but feel that music really was not this team's cup of tea. There was little musical flair in the songs and even the shooting style. The camera was often too static. But sincerity in the musical delivery did cover up half of its flaws, like a bunch of college kids who just want to serenade to you `Three Blind Mice'.