BOOK REVIEW : The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, by Leslye Walton

I understand that this blog is supposed to be a movie review blog. I understand that it's strongly implied in the sidebar and it's practically what WAYANG CRITIC means.

But as they say, step out of your comfort zone, and that's what I'm doing. Or maybe it's because that as a kid still in college, sometimes I just don't really have the mood time to watch movies. (Does that sound like an excuse? That probably sounds like an excuse.)

But books, novels, that I can do. At least, it's better to have something than to just let this space--and my writing skills--rot.

The Strange and Beautiful  of Ava Lavender opens with a letter written by a much older Ava Lavender that is dated March 2014. The actual story starts in France of the early 1900s with her grandmother, Emilienne Roux, and her family. Captivated by the opportunities promised by "Manhatine", as well as the stories of its streets that are paved in cobblestones of bronze, the Roux family is uprooted from their small French village and is relocated to Manhattan. When Emilienne's story fades to the side, her daughter Viviene Lavender takes the spotlight, and eventually it's Ava in the centre.

It's not entirely a book about magical things happening, it never really paints that picture; you might think 'whimsical' when you hear the words 'magical' or 'fantasy'. If anything, it's just a world where people turning into birds or growing wings happen, they are reality, no big deal. Ava is still a very human girl who may not live a normal life, per se, but is nonetheless real. This book is about honest issues, real issues that occur in real life, with just a hint of magical element in it. It's a tragedy that starts from love to lost, what happens before and what takes place after. Thus, it is fitting to label is as 'magical realism'.

From the middle, when we leave Viviene's story for Ava's, the book starts to build towards it's climax. Some might think it to be somewhat anticlimactic, given that it was all over in about five pages. While a part of me wants nothing more than to discuss it, yet doing so would result in giving away the biggest spoiler that this books has to offer. But I'll leave with this : it was quick, but it was powerful. I had to set aside the book and let the feelings settle and trust me, I had strong, STRONG feelings when I read it. My chest was aching for Ava.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is beautiful; even at the most brutal peak of the story, it still feels like there's a veil of dreamlike silk covering it, large part due to Walton's writing. But if there's one thing that left me unsatisfied, it is that from the beginning I was under the impression that we would find out what was it that gave Ava her wings, why was she born with them? But the answers to these question are left uncovered. I though that by digging through her family history, Ava would discover the reason why she was gifted with wings. Yet what ends up happening is her recounting incidents in that family history that share some similarities with her condition. We don't know if it's causation or just mere correlation.

Nonetheless, it's not that big of an issue, but an afterthought since finishing the book. The question of why or how Ava got her wings isn't that important anymore as you'll find yourself more absorbed and invested in the lives from Emilienne, Viviane and Ava, three women who know what it's like to love and the heartache it entails.

I rate it : 8/10 stars

THE GOOD : Beautiful prose and writing that feels lyrical; even though it's 'magical realism', it's more honest than whimsical.

THE BAD : One more than one occasions, I found myself losing track of the side characters introduced; it drags a littel at times

READ IT IF YOU...

• ...aren't put off by the 'YA novel' tag it holds because trust me, it's a story fit for any age group.
• ...like something magical while still maintaining some sense of reality
• ...are completely head-over-heels with the cover (it's prettier irl)

TRIGGER WARNING SPOILER WARNING DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT STAND SPOILERS!! This story may not be suitable for those who are sensitive to issues on rape. 

THE STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL SORROWS OF AVA LAVENDER (2014) 

Genre : Fantasy, Magical Realism, Young Adult

Pages : 301 pages

Author : Leslye Walton

Links : MPH Online

REVIEW : Whiplash (2014)

I watched Whiplash way before its official release in Malaysian cinemas. And when it was announced that it would be released on the 12th of March, my thoughts were something along the line of "About bloody time."

Whiplash doesn't go down the conventional road that most films about music usually take. Most films of this type would tell you that the greatest and most important driving force behind a musician is a passion for the art (or something along that line), but it's hard to tell whether or not this passion exists in Whiplash. Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a first-year at Shaffer Conservatory, is recruited into the school's studio band by Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who is the conductor. You'd think Fletcher to be a pretty chill guy in real life, that the real him is not like draconian tyrant in the music room, and he eases the newcomer Andrew with small talk, telling him to "relax" and "have fun".

That is until he decides to hurl a chair at him before hurling even worse insults. Insults that were twisted from Andrew's personal details and exploits his weaknesses and insecurities. 

Insulting one's father and mother, that's how low Fletcher can go.

Whiplash is a thrilling ride, an intense journey of a boy doing all it takes to earn the approval of his Devil of a mentor; a harrowing journey of a man searching for his own prodigy, his own Charlie Parker, even if it means he has to destroy said prodigy first.

You'll feel personally victimised alongside Andrew when Fletcher starts barreling abuses at him, but it's satisfying when Andrew fights back in small, small measures until that grand finale. 

And I do mean grand. By the end of all of it, you'd find that you've forgotten to breathe. 

It's no surprise that Simmons walked home with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor after watching him in this movie. He does an absolutely incredible job portraying the menacing Fletcher. (FYI, Fletcher's character was inspired by director Damien Chazelle's music teacher from high school) It's not hard to be lulled into a false sense of security when he's tender and kindly, allowing yourself to think, "Maybe he's not a bad person..?", only to have those thoughts crushed when you realise how terrifying he actually is when he does things that can only be described as evil. It's a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde story, although with much more Hyde on-screen. 

Amy Chua has got nothing on Terence Fletcher.

However, you don't get a Terence Fletcher if you don't have an Andrew to terrorise, and while Miles Teller did not receive a nomination for the Oscars, he still deserves all the praises he can get. While in Simmons case it's a juxtaposition between an angel of devil, Teller plays his part convincingly as a kid who's hopeful in the beginning, yet gradually becomes more jaded as time goes on. He sheds his signature smirk for a more serious demeanor. Because Andrew is awkward, so is Teller. You don't have to be a drummer under a tyrannical mentor to know what it feels like to be in Andrew's shoes; Teller does that for you.

When all is lost, what is left?

There's really only one question asked in the entirety of Whiplash : what does it take to be a great? Passion? Talent? Discipline? Or maybe blood, sweat and tears in the most literal of sense? Does it take a walk through hell, sacrificing everything in the process, is that the price of greatness and success? To be the best, does it mean locking yourself up, isolating yourself from people you care and who care about you, playing till your fingers bleed, till you're torn and defeated on the inside?

And when all that's said and done, is it all worth it?  

And also, when it comes to raising greatness, how much to too much? How far do you have to push before everything backfires? 

(Okay, so maybe more than just one question.)

Whiplash doesn't answer those questions; it's up to you to gauge the right and wrong of Fletcher's teachings and Andrew's following. Along with these questions, when the last note is played and the camera pans for one last time, it's up to the viewer's own discretion to define what that final shot truly stands for,what Whiplash stands for, and what it means for the untold future of both Andrew and Fletcher.

"Not quite my tempo."

I rate it : 9/10 stars

THE GOOD : Acting by everyone was spot-on; great jazz music that is unlike the ones on a Starbucks' playlist; editing and cinematography are so tight that the intensity is real

THE BAD : To the trained individual, drummers especially, Miles Teller drum-playing may seem fake and off-sync; musicians may find the lack of fun and love for music to be ludicrous. (But still, not reasons for you to not watch this movie.)

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• ...want J.K. Simmons to teach you to swear in some pretty colourful ways.
• ...want to watch Miles Teller suffer.
• ...are not planning to take up jazz drumming anytime soon.
• ...like to hear your heartbeat in your ears and not breathe for 100 minutes or so. 

WHIPLASH (2015) 

Genre : Drama, Music

Runtime : 107 minutes

Director : Damien Chazelle 

Cast : Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist 

REVIEW : Chappie (2015)

Can we all just take a moment and talk about Chappie? (Or CHAPPiE, as the film likes to call itself) One day before going into it, I was surprised to find that there were no reviews or anything on the Internet. It was only after the movie when I learned that there was a review embargo of some sorts so that those who have watched it are not allowed to talk about it before it is officially released. And I understand why that embargo was in place.

Because if reviews were to appear before the movie was actually released, not many would have watched it.

Chappie is set in a Johannesburg where the streets are policed by droids a la Robocop. Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) is the creator of these "Scouts" and eventually he finds a way to give his robots a consciousness, an actual artificial intelligence. But when his proposal to just test his idea gets shut down by the CEO of the company he works for, Deon decides to steal a damaged robot to carry on with his experiment.

Unfortunately, he gets kidnapped on his way home, with stolen property in the back of his van. The kidnappers are gangstas (ends with an 'a', not 'er') America (Jose Pablo Cantillo), Ninja and Yolandi (played by Ninja and Yolandi from Die Antwoord) who have gotten themselves into burning hot water and decide that the only way out of it was to stage a heist. But first, they would need to find a way to shut down the Scouts. Thus, the kidnapping.

However, when they realise the decommissioned machine in the back of the van and the possibilities posed by Deon's idea, Yolandi and Ninja decides to adopt the robot instead. Thus, Chappie is born.

Meanwhile, back in the office, Deon has an adversary in the form of Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) who builds a Ceph Pinger-like machine that fails to get the recognition and attention Deon's Scouts have. For some reasons that I don't understand, Hugh Jackman dresses up like a zookeeper in this film, besides also being the dumbest villain I have ever seen.

Crysis's Ceph Pinger on the left; Chappie's "The Moose" on the right

Here's what I do like about Chappie: I like the robot, because scenes with it are the only scenes I find truly entertaining. It's funny and it showed so much emotion that it felt human enough. But mostly it's a funny little thing, naive, clueless and childlike.There's one part in the movie where Chappie is tricked into thinking that it's taking back Daddy Ninja's cars from people who stole them, when in fact it was just carjacking.

Yolandi has a pink version of the same gun, if you're wondering.

Here's what I don't like about Chappie: everything else. Chappie feels like a family sci-fi film without being family-friendly. You have themes of love, of doing what's right and knowing what's wrong, of parenting albeit bad parenting. But then you also have people (read: Ninja) cursing like he's a thirteen-year-old living the #thuglife, violent scenes of people getting shot at, and even one death that is nothing but gruesome. Some other points that grate on my nerves are:

• The other characters are very single minded and there's really only one facade to each of their personalities.
• The script made me cringe more than once--although Chappie's lines are sometimes adorably funny, other times they're still cheesy.
• There are more plot holes I can count among other things that either do not make sense, or is outright idiotic. 
• I do not understand why the Die Antwoord duo were cast because it was awful to sit through their performances, They're rappers/singers, not actors. Patel was just okay. Hugh Jackman was a complete PitA but that's more of the fault of the character itself than him.

I seriously have no idea how anyone can pull this off in the office without getting their asses fired immediately.

While Chappie could have been a great platform to properly discuss about artificial intelligence. the future of it and the good and the bad, but director Neill Blomkamp wasted a big idea by given it a hollow inside. The only thing I kept seeing was the reinforcement that Chappie has feelings. I do wish that more thought could have been given when the script was written, and not just filling the entire movie with banal tropes found in stories written by a kid.

But who knows, maybe I'm being too harsh on the movie. I did go in with some degree of expectations because the trailer seemed promising, so maybe here's me being bitterly disappointed. So if you intend on watching Chappie, it's better to either go in with the bar set real low or with no expectations at all. Maybe then it would be an enjoyable experience.

After Chappie and Jupiter Ascending, I'm really prepared to swear off the sci-fi genre for a while

I rate it : 4/10 stars

THE GOOD : Chappie the robot.

THE BAD : Chappie the movie.

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• ...don't already have that great of an expectation for this movie. 
• ...have someone who shares the same tastes and can laugh off the silly/ridiculous moments in the movie with you. 
• ...are just a blockbuster, action-movie fan.
• ...like Transformers, but maybe with less fighting.

CHAPPIE (2015) 

Genre : Action Sci-fi  

Runtime : 120 minutes 
Director : Neill Blomkamp 

Cast : Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman

REVIEW : ATM - 提款機 (2015)

I wish I could say that there was at least one Chinese movie that I've watched during CNY that's good. I was hoping for ATM to be that movie.

Unfortunately, no such luck.

L-R : Ah Lok, Ming Ming and Bo Zai

Ah Lok aka Rock (Kelvin Kwan 关楚耀) graduated with an engineering degree but instead of pursuing a career in what he majored in, he's out on the streets, busking for a living; Bo Zai (C-Kwan C君) dreams of being able to afford his own house so that he would be able to please his girlfriend; and all Ming Ming (Joanne Yew 尤凤音) ever wanted was to amass great wealth. All three of them face the issues faced by most people in their 20's: the rising cost of living. So when a heist to steal an entire ATM goes wrong, the three post-80's find themselves working in a nursing home in order to search for the lost machine. 

Essentially, the main point of ATM is to tell a story about the relationship and the generational gap between the elderly and and the younger generation. 

While many scenes in the movie that portrays what everyone who's up-to-date is doing these days (being constantly on the phone, selfies anywhere anytime), it feels fake. It felt forced, like it was done on purpose. (Which I realise is a rather oxymoronic thing to say since this is a movie.) Maybe it's the writing, the directing, or the acting. I'm not too sure myself. Nonetheless, even thought these things  happen in real life, in the movie it just feels like a not-so-subtle plot device. It feels clichéd. 

And to be completely honest, the entire plot feels weak. I get where the director is going with it, but it's just not there. Sometimes things just feel rushed, and it did surprise me when the movie ended on an abrupt and unsatisfying end. (Although I guess I should have anticipated it seeing how they pretty much resolved most of their subplots on an unsatisfying note.) I wish I could say that I felt the feelings they were intending to convey to the audience, but I didn't because I couldn't feel the connection with the characters, Perhaps they should have spent some time fleshing them out, showing us actual personalities that feel real and not just another face with a fictitious name. 

There's a sad reason behind all the photos and post-its. 

The acting by the younger generation felt stiff and rehearsed. Although I must say C-Kwan was truly the standout; he did well as the comic relief of the group, if not the entire movie. It shouldn't be a surprise that the older generation actors were much better, since they are all familiar faces and veterans in the Hong Kong film industry, whether it was Ha Yu (夏雨) as the educated Kam-seng, Stanley Fung (冯淬帆) as the typical grumpy grandfather, or Lo Hoi-Pang (卢海鹏) who still thinks he rules the place. Bowie Wu (胡枫) makes a cameo, one of many cameos, in this film and his scene was adorable. 

Overall, ATM is an okay movie that tries to tell a story with an intent to send a message and tug on our heartstrings. Sure the message is clear, it's obvious; but it goes to the mind, not the heart. And sometimes you are just left confused with all the plot devices they threw into the film that make no sense. Besides, it's not exactly something you've never watched before, 


I rate it : 5/10 stars

The GOOD : The older actors were great, C-Kwan was great; sends an important message

The BAD : Clichéd plot that felt rushed at times; unsatisfying resolutions; the BGM was sometimes too dramatic

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• ...want a decent family-friendly film for any generation.
• ...are someone that is not to critical of a movie when certain things end up being illogical.

ATM - 提款機 (2015) 

Genre : Comedy, Drama

Runtime : 100 minutes
Director : Kenne Yam

Cast : Kelvin Kwan, C-Kwan, Joanne Yew, Paw Hee-ching, Lo Hoi-Pang, Stanley Fung, Ha Yu