The Leap Years

the hubby and me finally went to catch the movie tonight, after much procrastinating.

we read the reviews about how lackluster it was, and got smses from friends on how good it was...and they encouraged us to watch it because Corrinne May's songs are featured in the movie.

we weren't really that keen, but i guess i gave in to the gnawing feeling to see what the movie was like.

the storyline had seemed rather interesting.

now that i've seen it, i have to say i'm rather disappointed.

the two leads were very good-looking, but had no chemistry whatsoever. they were individually rather emotive, but together...there was just no spark.

the only believeable relationships in the show were that of mother and daughter and li-ann's group of girlfriends.

it's set in singapore, and at the windows cafe, which brings back many good memories for me. our office was once situated at club street, right above senso and the wine bar. the boss and i would regularly head down to windows for a chat and coffee. windows has since been torn down to make way for a new cafe. and the club street area has changed tremendously.

seeing windows on the big screen and club street the way i remembered it was rather heartwarming. so that did it for me.

the music featured was appropriate for the movie, but was not appropriate in the way it was used in the movie. long excerpts of Corrinne May's songs were used for several sequences...and even though they seemed to fit the mood of those sequences, they were overused. the movie almost seemed like a prolonged MTV with some speech and drama embedded inside.

there were also too many obviously voiced-over bits and somewhat jumpcuts. it seemed like the whole movie was done in soft focus, which made me wonder if the makers were trying to hide something. or did they just want it to be dreamy?

i love Corrinne May's music, and bawled when "Little Superhero Girl" played (because that was the song that kinda brought the hubby and i together). but there was just a little too much of Ms May in the movie.

perhaps the content is just not movie material. after all, it spans over several leap years and putting it on the big screen could make it rather draggy.

i've only read a couple of catherine lim's books to date, but i'm quite sure her novel (which the movie is based on) should be comprehensive enough for a good read.

maybe we should've stuck to going for "no country for old men".

but on some level, i'm glad we watched it.

perhaps only the hubby will know what i mean.