Bruce Lee Played Badminton Too

Directed by: Corrie Chen

Australia/14 mins

In this cute short film, Corrie Chen shows us Nic, a chubby teenager who is determined to play badminton and win the competition despite his father's negative comments about his weight and his ability in playing sports.  Well, Nic is a rare find, as he, unlike other teenagers, believes in his own ability and wouldn't let anything stop him.  Turns out, he is an impeccable badminton player and killed all the Chinese kids that are supposed to be good at playing badminton (racial stereotypes).  Even though he lost in the end to his crush and neighbor, Jenny, Nic has proved his ability to his father and the audience.  Someone big like Nic can play badminton, and can play extremely well.

Bruce Lee comes in as Nic's idol.  There are loads of posters of Chinese badminton players in Nic's room and the one that stands out most is the giant poster of Bruce Lee, with a badminton racket pasted onto his hand.  This is a juxtaposition, with a white kid having an Asian idol and living in a setting, a neighborhood of Asians in Australia.  The picture above shows Nic, a white kid, on one side of the bus station, and a group of Asian kids on the other side of the station. This highlights the contrast that the short film is trying to bring out.  Instead of having Asian/immigrants trying hard to fit it, Chen flips things over and have Nic, the white kid, jotting out weirdly among the Asians in the film.  

There is the scene in the middle of the short film where Nic's mother said, 'Being a champion is not about being the best in the game, sometimes the champion is someone who clears the way for the triumph of an idea'.  True, Nic doesn't have to win the match.  As cheesy as it sounds, Nic has already won by his his hard work and his proving of his capability, that he, as a chubby kid can play sports just as well as the rest.  

I find it particularly funny watching the Bruce Lee-esque movements of Nic's first component.  And the scene with Nic looking across the fence, peeking at Jenny is extremely cute.  Of course, being an Australian movie, it is quite natural (well, not really) to end the movie with a San Cisco song.  Cute.

Death to the Tinman

In this darkly fantastical and romantic short, Ray Tintori has delivered a story of revolution and wars for love.  The short film definitely touch viewers with the great sacrificing heart of Bill, as he fights so hard, even while he has lost his body, for the girl he loves.  The black and  white adds to the dark and mystical feel of the short, and the ending is especially bitter to watch.  I give it a 9.5/10.  

Writer's Tears

I recently found out about this brand of Irish Whiskey. Writer's Tears.  It is such a poetic name.  Here is how it gets its name.

I find the above description extremely spot on and I can totally picture in my head, troubled writers sitting by a bar, frowning, massaging the bridge of their noses where their glasses rest, while smoking a cigarette.  In front of them were glasses of Whiskey, or Writer's Tears.  

Being a writer is not easy.  There are times when you are filled with inspirations and ideas, of poetic words and rhymes.  There are also times (or most of the time) when you are empty of inspirations, empty of words and emotions, when you are plain empty of anything.  You will feel stuck and no matter how hard you think, how hard you try to write, you will end up tearing that sheet of paper out, scrunching it up and throwing it at the pile of bad writing by the full trash can.  You will feel helpless, like the way you cannot lift your ring finger when your middle finger is folded under your palm.  You will panic as you see deadlines approaching and you find yourself staring at an empty blank page.  And that is the moment when you cry and let all of the frustration stream from your eyes, when you let the writer's tears flow.  As failure and disappointment wash off, they make room for new inspirations and words, new emotions that you will write and chronicle.

This is the cycle writers go through.

It's not you, it's me

Gilian Jacob's performance in the short It's Not You, It's Me, by Matt Spicer, is very believable,  Her portrayal of the normalcy and the madness of her character was very spot on.  I was definitely shocked as the boyfriend slipped and fell onto the coffee table, and have that piece of glass stabbed into his body.  It was definitely the moment the dark enter the comedy.  And well, the dark and the comedy is pretty obvious in the short.  Viewers can already guess what will happen to her husband and her kids as they were making all the noises at the dinner table and messing with the food and all that.  The ending bit, is where the comedy lies, with the three luggages behind in the trunk and Jacobs sobbing and driving in the front.  The cycle just never ends, does it.

waves.