The first movie I watched in Hokkien (Chinese dialect from the South, spoken also in Taiwan) I enjoyed with a local (and MPW teammate) who taught me about the (for me hidden) wit of the film.
The movie is simply called 881, but plays in a different field than 007. Instead of a never-ending sequellization of British kiss-kiss-bang-bang (which I like, btw:-) it is a local, Singaporean production, depicting the fate of Getai singers.
During the "festival of the hungry ghosts" ("called zhong yuan jie", right?; in the 7th lunar month of the old Chinese calendar, which ends up in the mooncake-filled mid-autumn-festival:) there are set up ad hoc stages (tai), where part-time singers perform (to sing = chuàng ge).
881 (babayi) stands for the papaya sisters who perform well, gt challenged by a techno-influenced girl-group "Durian"; finally the small papaya girl dies (smoked too much!!!).
It is filled with symbolic meanings, exaggerations, sit-comedy but also tragedy (I almost cried towards the end when small papaya goes down). For a foreigner, it is a good opportunity to learn more about this apparently profound Singaporean subculture (Getai).
Check out youtube for some trailers and clips, e.g.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubeLcCnqGWo
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Hi Adi,
I was reading your blog posts about watching 881, learning Mandarin, and voting in Swiss elections from overseas - very interesting :)
Do you mind if I add you to our directory of 'expat' bloggers in Singapore? There are no Swiss bloggers on the list yet so it would be great if we can include you!
It's at LivinginSingapore.org if you'd like a look.
Looking forward to reading more of your adventures here in SG!
P.S. The way to call a person from the Philippines is "Filipino" :)
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