Acting

Finally got my showreel (an extract from the film) out.

I played the role of the father who had to relive the torment of guilt upon an unexpected encounter with his long lost daughter. I think the director is not only brilliant. I think she is also psychic! :)

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There are three things I have learned during shooting. They are to:

1. Ignore the camera

2. Ignore the crew

3. Ignore yourself.

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Some directors say that I shouldn't 'ignore myself', so I guess by that, I actually mean that I should not to be overly conscious about myself during the act. My director also told me that I shouldn't be 'acting', but just 'to be'. Once in the 'being', the rest comes naturally.

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Other than that, I think it is also important to have chemistry with your co-actor.

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Through reading scripts and characters, I have also learned to be more empathetic towards others and am more conscious and observant of my off-reel actions and behaviour. Now, I probably need less reminders to be aware that different results come from different intentions and actions committed in the moment. This awareness comes from the exercise of acting out various scenarios during rehearsals.
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Most of all, acting has taught me to live in the moment, as it is not something you can day-dream away, dread about the past, or worry about the future while in action.

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The world is a stage and we are all actors. So live it! Live in the present moment.

If you like to visit my actor's blog, click here.

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The Scent of the Green Papaya

Screened at the Buddhist Library, Singapore.

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The Scent of Green Papaya is a Vietnamese-language film produced in France by Lazennec Production, and directed by Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung.

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The film won the Caméra d'Or prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, a César Award for Best Debut at the French annual film award ceremony, and was shortlisted for the 1993 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Although set in Vietnam, the film was shot entirely on a soundstage in Boulogne, France.

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This is a beautiful art movie with crisp clear sounds and cinematography. Good movie to watch to exercise mindfulness and enjoy the serenity of the intricate and aesthetic details.

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Caravan Himalaya

Guest Writer: Tiger Ng

Movie: Caravan (Himalaya)

Screened at the Buddhist Library.

Review

This movie is simple, no “big-shot” movie stars, no over-budgeted advertising trick! What Eric Valli used in this movie are the breathtaking views of the Himalayas, the courageous caravan, and the completely non-professional cast (real chiefs, lamas and local villagers) which provide the film with a sense of “authenticity” that is not found in the “money-hunting” Hollywood products.

“Himalaya” delivers a strong message that revolves around power, leadership ability, tradition, and change. A simple question: “When superstition, tradition and culture collide with our own conscience, what would you have done best to avoid conflict?” Probably we can make use of what is uttered by one of the main character in the film, Norbu: "When two paths open up before you, choose the hardest one." Talking about this, Bhante Dhammaratana (The Buddhist Library Spiritual Advisor) has opined that one should always take the hardest path. [This is my own view: there’s no easy way or short-cut in everything we do in our life (be it spiritual or secular). Obstacles in fact serve as our “spiritual teacher” that makes us matured over the course of time].

Indeed, “Himalaya” reflects what is really happening in our modern society today: struggle between old and new, as well as between god-fearing society and self-reliant upstarts. How do you challenge the tradition and belief systems that have been practised for thousands if not hundreds of years? Especially when things happen in accord to what is “prophesised” by those so-called superstitious predictions…

Well, to relate this subject to what is taught by the Buddha, we may want to reflect upon the Kalama’s Sutta. Following is an excerpt from the Kalama Sutta: “It is fitting for you to be perplexed, O Kālāmas, it is fitting for you to be in doubt. Doubt has arisen in you about a perplexing matter. Come, Kālāmas. Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of texts, by logic, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think, ‘The ascetic is our teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves, ‘These things are unwholesome; these things are blameable; these things are censured by the wise; these things, if undertaken and practiced, lead to harm and suffering,’ then you should abandon them.”

My principle is simple. I always respect the ancient belief system, even though some of them seem to me rather superstitious. They have survived for such a long time, there must be some reasons for them to exist until now. Some of them are simple innocent belief [for example, whenever someone has urgent toilet business, but there’s no nearby toilet can be found, he would have to settle his “business” at a nearby tree. Before doing this, we were always told during our childhood time that we must ask for “permission” from whatever “things” residing at that tree to allow us to proceed with our urgent business. For me, although this might sound superstitious, but it is a form of respect for all the living (and non-living) things in this world, who knows there might be a tree Deva at particular tree?]. However, if the practice of such belief systems become an obsession and start to disrupt my daily life, and could probably lead to the unwholesome consequences, I would not tolerate them, will try to challenge and clear the “clouds”.

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Movie Nite - Tuesdays with Morrie

Movie:

Mitch (Azaria) is a successful sportswriter who suddenly learns that one of his old professors, Morrie (Lemmon) is ill. Mitch visits Morrie and the two form an emotional bond, allowing Mitch to see what is really important in life. A touching story produced by Oprah Winfrey and based on the national bestseller by Mitch Albom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuesdays_With_Morrie

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Date: 11th July 2007, 7pm

Place: The Hair Affair
1 Coleman St. #B1-10
The Adelphi Shopping Centre
(Opposite: Funan IT Mall)
Tel: 63365525

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Fee: FREE! But bring some drinks and cakes if you are kind :)

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Past posts: What The Bleep Do We Know?, The Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth

"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced... more "

Watch Trailer.

Would you like to watch this Oscar Nominated documentary?
Come and join us.
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Date: 22 February 2007
Time: 7pm
Place: 105 Holland Road, Singapore.

Map: http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel.php?travel_id=1&travel_site=32933

Babel - The Movie

A moving story surrounding two boys in rural Morroco, whom were handed a newly purchased hunting rifle from their father, to keep the jackals off their mountain goats.

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Amid the boredom sheperding their herd, one of the boys then decided to test how far the rifle can shoot by pointing it at a tour bus far away down the valley. Little did they know at the time that they would end up having shot an American woman in the bus. This shooting tragedy created diplomatic ripples between the American and Morrocan government, distress to the American couple's Mexican nanny and their children in the USA, and the distressed Japanese man who gave the rifle to the Morrocan native as a gift after a hunting trip a few years ago. The dramatic detonation of the sequence of calamities is akin to the flap of the butterfly wings that sets off a storm continents away.

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This movie may be a little stressful for parents watching it as it portrays the mischiefs that children get into during puberty without knowing the dangers lurking. The acting, particularly the Morrocan and Japanese natives was scarily realistic to have made my stomach turned.

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The moral of the story is that one single and seemingly small event or thought can affect many people, without the original thought being aware of the consequences. And the events can occur continents away simultaneously.