Movie Review: TalkingCock the Movie

I believe the first thought that hits some of you is: why the heck did you watch such a cock movie, especially if it was an old movie? Before I answer that question, I'll answer another one that I anticipate from some others: where did you watch it? To that: it was re-shown on the big screen tonight (okay, the screen wasn't really that big, but comparable to those smaller theatres in standard cinemas) as part of a project to showcase local movies in the cinema way. You can find more about it at www.cine.sg; they have weekly screening of different movies for at least until August. Which means, for those who want to watch TalkingCock the Movie, you'll have to wait till next year when the DVD is re-released (according to Colin Goh who was there tonight).

So why did I watch such a cock movie? It is mainly because I do have some appetite for satire, and I was somewhat impressed by some of the articles that appear on TalkingCock.com. I missed the movie when it was screened the first time round in cinemas, and somehow the VCDs or DVDs seem to be as scarce as a good-willed politician (assuming there exists such a thing). And the fact that film festivals around the world were and are still grabbing it for screening made me thirst to see how it is.

Now, after watching it, I can't really say I like it, but I thought it was a rather decent attempt. That's not taking into account that the filmmakers have literally no budget, no experience and no plan. The storyline is a stitch of various nonsensical short clips ranging from crap (eAhLong.com) to crappier (the bao waitress) to crappiest (the Turbanator), which I must say is Singaporean culture and fantasy extrapolated to the extremes. It does, in a way, reflects and parodies Singaporeans' identity and the society we live in.

There is no visual effects to begin with, and let's not go into the cinematography either. The sounds and musics are rather fine, to be honest. It doesn't really stand out, but it's not lousy either, considering that they had, as I've said earlier, no budget.

Certain parts of the movie are actually disturbing, at least to me. (It's actually disturbingly funny, to be precise.) One example is Lim Peh mini-story (the chee-ko-pek and lady with... erm... hair... at not quite the correct place). Some jokes feel quite lame, giving me cold shivers down my spine when I watched it. However, I do like its crude subtitling (by crude, I mean, they spell out in proper English what the various Hokkien swear words mean, like "vagina").

I believe Colin Goh's and Woo Yen Yen's new feature film, Singapore Dreaming, will be a much better movie. At least, it has won rave reviews in its premiere in April (even the President of Singapore found it great) and has a more central and organised storyline. It should be coming out in October, according to Colin Goh.