It's been a long time...

It's been 5 years since I posted a review or do anything with Devil In The Skull...

I was away for five years because I was uninspired to maintain a blog and social media accounts like Instagram have been much more accessible to share my views about films. If you have been following me on my personal Instagram account (@crushedtiggy), you would know that I still share my reviews on stories but not a full post or writing under Devil In The Skull. The film enthusiast in me never died, only improve and refine my film criticism over the years silently.

While I was away for four years, here are some things that I found worth sharing on the blog:

1. Graduated with Diploma with Merit in Business Information Systems
1. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was elected as the valedictorian for my Class of 2020 cohort and was to deliver my speech but the ceremony was cancelled. Graduating with a Diploma with Merit in Business Information Systems was surreal at that time, given I spent four years in polytechnic including doing my polytechnic foundation programme during the first year. I am still proud that I graduated from Republic Polytechnic and am thankful that my skills and knowledge gained from my polytechnic have been useful in my subsequent years after.
2. Matriculated into my first university choice
1. I graduated with a GPA of 3.58 from Republic Polytechnic, making this hard to enrol into a university at that time because it was impossible for most of the students to get a spot in the university of their choice. I was grateful that I was offered two choices - Singapore Management University and Singapore Institute of Technology. Both choices were computing-related degrees. As Singapore Management University was my first choice, I chose to matriculate into this university to study Bachelor of Science in Information Systems (Major in Smart-City Management & Technology).
2. To study a degree that was unusual at that time was a gamble because there was no concrete evidence or studies as to what jobs the students (who graduated from the Major in Smart-City Management & Technology) have gotten or accepted. I chose to pursue this major because I was fascinated with learning smart-cities after my hands-on experience with my first internship and I was thinking of a long-term plan when it comes to crafting my own learning experience. Choosing to study Major in Smart-City Management & Technology allowed me to open more doors by taking modules from disciplines within Major in Information Systems easily and not vice versa.
3. Experienced imposter syndrome after completing my first term in university
1. When I completed my first term in university, my GPA was 2.88. This was far different from the first term in my first year of polytechnic where my GPA was 3.20. It was demoralising at first - how could my skills and knowledge led me to do so badly in university? Was Information Systems not for me?
2. I was almost about to quit my university studies when my mother talked me out of this decision-making. She told me that it doesn't matter if the GPA is good or not good. More importantly, it is about the learning that matters and enjoying the university life. She was right - university was a different ball game from polytechnic. My current GPA is 2.91, not a GPA that could give me any honours but my learning experience was amazing because my school offered many modules that were worth exploring and I took them to become more specialised and valued in job prospects.
4. Joined several CCAs in university
1. It was no surprise that I joined activities in school. I joined CCAs in university because I wanted to be useful. One CCA, Uni-Y, left me a profounding memory because it was not only the CCA that gave me an eye-opener to community services, but I was also serving as a Vice President (Internal Affairs). It was daunting, but looking back - Uni-Y was the beginning of the subsequent years to come in challenging my doubts and beliefs. I was naive back then when I encountered problems within my friendship circles and anxiety. Today, I can sit with the uncomfortable feeling that I did the right thing; to do what I did in order to complete my job as Vice President.
2. My friendship circle have expanded when I joined Christian Fellowship after the end of my executive committee tenure in Uni-Y. Christian Fellowship is a society of like-minded Christians across different denominations, who come together every Tuesday or Thursday to worship the one and only God through bible studies and corporate sermons. This society had shaped my spiritual belief in Christianity and had got me hooked on trying to crave for more of God and who He is. I do not mean it in a delusional, cult-like manner. I mean it as someone who is in serious need to grow as an individual and be challenged in order to be where I am today. Since 2022, I have been serving Christian Fellowship's audio-visual (AV) crew to assisting in their events and activities. I can confidently say that my tenure in AV crew has helped me a lot in troubleshooting most event stuff in workplaces and classrooms.
5. Experienced profounding life change
1. As mentioned in my previous point, I am Christian. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had time to explore Christianity and to get to know about churches, etc. I went back to the church where I attended their kindergarten and was immediately placed into the baptism class after just few weeks of attending church services. I was baptised four months later on December 20, 2020 in front of the church congregation.
2. Despite my struggles over the years physically and mentally, making the decision to attend baptism class and being baptised over the course of four months was never a regret. I am a Christian who learn on the go and I am more confident than ever in my own skin and identity. What I wished I could have known long time ago was how I should not expect to know everything in one day about Christianity. I used to admire a lot about people who knew their stuff especially quoting the Bible and knowing the worship songs. It was very intimidating as a newly baptised Christian, but over time, I learned that this instinct and knowledge comes over the course of two years into my Christian journey. It soon becomes a habit and I was able to catch up with other Christians especially in expressing my views and relating back to the doctrines and teachings.
6. Embarked on several internships, shaping my view on workplace
1. I took up three internships over the four years of my university studies.
2. I experienced the time when I decided to hustle by taking on a part-time internship at Shopee while I was a Vice President (Internal Affairs) at Uni-Y and doing five modules for my first term of second year. It was tough and afterwards, I made my mind up not to hustle anymore because there is no concrete purpose behind hustling except to look good, but then again while my friends were suffering from hustling and busy workload in their third year, I was comfortable with the busyness and able to manage my time.
3. Subsequently, I embarked on a difficult internship as a Project Management Intern at Keppel during the summer of 2022. Although the internship was difficult, I had an enlightenment about work-life balance and workplaces. I learned that work is never meant to be easy and it is supposed to be hard. This was in accordance with the Bible where Colossians 3:23-24 talked about work as not pleasing for others but towards being honest as how you would honour God in keeping your conduct well and do good. This was a time in my life where I relied a lot on God and Bible to keep myself sane while my supervisor continued to berate me because I had "zero project management experience" as I came from a computing background. All was well after nearly two months of internship and I ended my time in Keppel happily and she liked what I do to coordinate the tasks that she assigned to me.
• 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
4. My time in Keppel had taught me well to manage a project when I embarked on a 10-weeks internship programme with Nomura called 2023 Information Technology Summer Internship Program. This was the first internship I had that was curated specifically to students who were keen to learn about banking industry and the technologies used in banks and subsequently, to gain employment with the company based on job performance and appraisals. I was assigned to work in International Wealth Management IT team where I learned the job scopes within business analyst capabilities while maintaining a project to help transform the helpdesk ticketing process into a streamlined one to simplify production support's email inbox and how they managed case-by-case basis of the software troubleshooting issues. Completing the project helped significantly to improve the production support operations and be able to focus on critical issues that need urgent fixing. Similarly, I helped to create dashboards on both production support and management levels that will enable decision-making and observe performance of production support to manage tickets especially what are the critical issues raised by department when using the software.
7. Got 'A' for my university degree capstone project
1. I worked with two friends since 2022 and into 2023 on a research project about walkability in Singapore for Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). It was a capstone project to fulfil our degree requirement of project experience. Using ArcGIS and Python, we had to establish an index that can measure the walkability of the paths in Singapore. By measuring and giving an index ranging from low to high, urban planners can zoom into the walkability scorings to see what is impacting the index so that the walking experience can be improved especially for aging population in Singapore.
2. This project was a fun experience for my team because we were venturing into the unknowns to work out on a suitable model to measure walkability based on existing case studies from Brazil and many more countries, and adjusting the weightings of the walkability factors in the model to create a realistic result that could help the urban planners. My role in the project was a programmer, where I was tasked to build the model based on my teammates' calculations and weightings of the walkability factors to calculate walkability. This was achieved over the course of one month and a half where we managed to build up a model from scratch including options to choose the weighting type of calculating walkability.
3. The challenge faced was to export our files including fixing up metadata and codes to ensure they worked during working hours at URA as we were not allowed to bring home company laptops. Overall, presentations for school supervisor and URA went well, and we were awarded 'A' for our efforts in successfully completing the capstone project.
8. Went on local and overseas university exchanges
1. I had the opportunity to study both local and overseas university exchanges.
2. For my local university exchange, I chose to do this at Singapore University of Technology and Design because the university offered design-centric modules that suited my major. I took up a module called Transportation Technology and Policy in Urban Progress, where I learned about policy-making and implication on transportation technologies. It was a cool module because I initially went in, thinking that I was going to study about transportation relating to my capstone project but surprisingly, came out with knowledge of how politics and economics come hand in hand to implement or design transportation or use transportation technologies.
3. For my overseas university exchange, I went to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (香港理工大學). I stayed in Hong Kong from August to December last year, where I was immersed into the world between East and West, and exposed to the use of Cantonese where I learned some useful phrases to survive the four months of studying and mingling with the locals. I studied four modules during the exchange, ranging from sociolinguistics, tourism and hospitality, and business management. It was a roller-coaster experience for me as this exchange was an eye-opener to Hong Kong culture and education. I could appreciate the beauty in the chaos and understood the apprehension and fear among the locals when the year 2047 approaches. The exchange was also the first time that I experienced living in a dorm life.
4. I made a video on YouTube about my exchange experience for both local and overseas exchanges.
9. Graduating in April 2024
1. I am graduating after four years in Singapore Management University and looking forward to my last term here in university. I will be studying three modules this term where they focused on preparing me for my full-time job, except one of the modules is more of a personal pursuit.
10. Starting my first full-time job in July 2024
1. I was offered a return offer from Nomura to continue working with the same team that I was assigned to during the summer of 2023. I have accepted the return offer where I will be working as a Business Graduate under the 2024 Technology (IWM) Graduate Program. I will be starting my full-time job on 1 July. This job entails responsibilities that I have been carrying out since the summer internship and I am very honoured to return to the same company to continue doing the work that I am satisfied and excited about.

That was a lot to write about!

I am not sure if I would come back to blog about films or something interesting. I am still open to writing film reviews. I hope that 2024 will be a year of more possibilities and particularly for me - welcoming the world of adulting and more responsibilities!

Have a good year ahead!

Read More

Movie Review: Joker

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

I have never been so broken, watching an anti-hero film but “Joker” has gotten me to really get into my head and retrieved some feelings, thoughts about the movie especially the character. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the main character named Arthur Fleck, the movie follows a story of a man with a mental illness as he navigates his life, his role in the society and everything around him just falling into pieces. The chaos in his head and the messes he picked up along the way, “Joker” is a movie that once you watched it, you will never think of other comic movies the same way.

As someone who is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and had been to several counsellors for the past years, I totally understood what it felt like to be in Arthur’s shoes. He got the worse than me – he had an unstable psychological condition that causes him to laugh at inappropriate moments. I said, “inappropriate moments”, because he burst into laughter at wrong place, wrong time. Sadly, such mental illnesses and conditions are not tolerated. Even today, I doubt people have any care for such people like Arthur, unless you really have something good to contribute to the community. Arthur is not as fortunate as me, and thus I sympathised with him in all the moments he went through. With the capacity of evoking such thought-provoking insights, this credits to Phoenix whose strong and poignant performance elevated the whole movie. I would describe the performance as intriguing and at times, it was awkward as we see Arthur dances in public places and in the bathroom at such weird timing but still, it was beautifully intriguing and mesmerising to see the character descending into a confident, bold and frightening man. I noted that in the movie, especially when Arthur was dancing in the children hospital, it had this subtle tribute to Charlie Chaplin.

I could not help but to feel heartbroken by the circumstances Arthur was in – being bullied, lied and physically abused. I was frightened to what I saw especially when we, audience found out that his mother was committed to a psychiatric ward and she, as a mother, failed to prevent her son from the trauma he received. No child should ever be in such circumstances and this is where everything made sense – a child is morphed to what he is today because of his upbringing and the role models he is surrounded with in his childhood. In other words, the people around him failed Arthur miserably and that is when you find yourself struggled to accept the consequences, he does is not validly right, but you still wanted to support him. I also relate with Arthur in his psychological, laughing condition. Phoenix captured the pain of struggling, the control over his state very beautifully. It reminded me at times when I felt extremely broken and yet you must keep yourself steady because you know, this is no good.

I also enjoyed the technicality of the movie. It was beautifully filmed in the colours that reminded me a lot of the movies in the 1970s and 80s – brown, green and the hint of blue that accurately captured the mood of the story. The movie was also presented in a character study manner, so it is another newness and freshness that was intriguing to see in the anti-hero universe. The music scoring was artistically remarkable, and it really brought out the emotions, how we felt throughout the movie – sizzling with what is going on and painting the additional colours to the palette of the movie.

In summary, “Joker” is a movie that embarks you on a study of a man who is ruined by the circumstances he was in, as well as the portrait of a society degrading to a manic chaos that we now see in the news so often. It is real – humans are fucking up the society, people are forgetting how to be civil to one another and yet with such real message of the depictions of upheaval and the unseen people like Arthur, this is generating some social commentary because of the violence depicted in the movie. Personally, a good movie is when you present a story and it is remembered for something either good or bad. People start to talk about the movie and by people, I mean everyone is sharing their thoughts about a character, a storytelling and the overall. Known as controversy, it is a good thing because it shows the society that we aren’t talking much about something and this is what “Joker” is bringing us: a platform to realise that something is not right. It can be anything – system, world or government, rich or poor, any issue. In this case, we are not focusing on the people who are overlooked by society. These people need a voice. Joker/Arthur is a symbol – a voice for anyone who felt let down and needed to a stand.

We need more controversial movies like this to get people thinking.

Ratings: 8/10

Read More

Movie Review: Heathers (1988)

I have many reviews that I could have posted here, but today is not the day. Here, I am going to talk about one of the controversial dark films back in the 1980s, Heathers. Starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in this cult classic, the film follows a girl named Veronica whose possesses an intelligence and is unlike her clique peers who are consciously into the popularity and almost every bad quirk in the high school. While in the course of the film, Veronica met a guy named, J.D. and off they go, causing chaos which soon turned into something more sinister. Between the good and bad, the story mainly focuses on Veronica's decision - whether to be like the society or go for something darker like the counterpart.

I thought it was interesting to see such film, showing us the destructiveness of the society. Instead of a whole world, we are shown the characteristics of humans in a high school - colourful background and personalities mingled in one place, in a detrimental system. It pokes fun at how we operate and even till today, such behaviour is common. Looking at how we are living, some people may say that Heathers is a film that glamourises the violence, chaos and bad quirks to the new generation. They are convinced that such film creates an image - wrong depiction of ways that we should not be following and thus, discouraging us from watching. I remembered reading an article titled, I'm 24 and Just Watched 'Heathers' For the First Time - Yikes and I thought to myself, how underrated the core message was raised and misleading the article is saying. In this film, as we followed, we know that all these toxic behaviours are definitely immoral and to say that it is disgusting because of what is today and in the past, is definitely invalid. It is because of films like Heathers that gave us a true representation of a misled society and because of how they brought up on - the diet of following trends, everything that is deemed disturbing, makes these films interesting and be brought up on discussion.

What I am trying to say is that there should be more films like this to tell the new generations about what is wrong and what we should not be following. Films like this are why they are forever remembered because they bring a baggage to our table and let us have a discussion to what we have today. It is like people used to think that smoking is cool and advertisements were commonly placed to promote such culture. Today, it will be different story and Heathers is this story that allows us to know what needs to be done and changed. Aside from the amazing depiction of a fucked up place and people, I really enjoyed the acting from the cast. I could really feel them and relate with them, to the extent that I knew when is to be sympathised and how disappointing people really are (look at Veronica's parents).

In conclusion, I would recommend Heathers to anyone if you are up for any movie at this point of time. To be honest, if 13 Reasons Why is as bold and controversial like this, I doubt anyone who have any issue with the series. Heathers is sure on the right direction when it was released and till today, it is still a film that can be brought up to the table.

Ratings: 7/10

Read More

It's a hard day

I haven't been on this blog for nearly half a year and I am sorry for not committing to what I have previously mentioned, that is to deliver more content that I missed out in 2018. I haven't done so for many reasons including I was focusing on my final year project and dealing with school work in my Year 3 Semester 1 of polytechnic.

I know this is not a content that you wished to see, but I feel as the owner of the blog, I need to get this off my chest and be transparent. Firstly, I haven't been feeling well lately. I feel sick in my mind that my overthinking has returned to haunt me and make me feel worthless. Previously, I have already been struggling with my mind. I had this for a long time and it is nearly three years since it all began with just asking a classmate out for a movie at the cinema. I never shared this story but since it is a long time ago, I shall just speak it. I asked my classmate out for a movie because I really liked him and I thought this was a way for me to become closer. However, little did I know, my happiness became a nightmare. I felt that I was belittled, and he was out to make me. I let my worries eat me like worms crawling on my bed that I had to changed this meeting into a friends' gathering. He did not joined, and everything was different after that. I never felt so horrible in my life.

Secondly, I had to deal with people who wanted a piece of me - my work, my knowledge. I had a friend in my class whom I knew since Year 1 and she has been leaching on my work to make herself better. I don't think she will see this blog post and I didn't mind because she has never been honest with my teammates and I. We worked together in this final year project where it is an individually graded work despite the teamwork. She managed to complete her portions of the final year project because she did on her own. If you ever encountered her, she would say that she did it independently but if you asked me in person, I will dismissed this claim. Her work was only completed because I helped her to resolve the bugs found on her codings. Her mistakes she made on the project almost caused us a big time because once a project software does not worked, it will be a chaos and I had to take my effort, my time to fix them. As one of the strongest in programming, I had to bear the responsibilities. I gave away my time to fix others including her portions and she went on overseas to China with her family. Sometimes, she would say that she has 'something on' or her mom does not permit her when in truth, this never occurred. Instead, she was finding excuses so that she could do her own stuff including to complete a marketing project when all of us were also having the same project that needs to be completed. I have always been unhappy about this especially when my friend never knew the struggles that the other teammates gone through, nor did she ever involved in any drama that went down over the course of the final year project between our project supervisor and us. She was never there. She never really helped others. She relied on people's hard work to help herself.

Thirdly, sometimes I wished I had not known too much. This is painful experience for me because I have always thought that as long as you have worked hard and achieved amazing results, you will have doors to open. This is never really the case because there are less passionate people who are also able to achieve same opportunities as me and this is done out of pity. No hard work, no passion and everything that embodies laziness, they can get to go for the same opportunities as me - that I have worked hard for the past three years. Talking to facilitators made it worse and it made me saw the ugly picture of how my school works. They would use the good students to make themselves great and afterwards, if your grades have dropped, they would just moved on and nurture other 'geniuses'. It was never fair to see how others who only started to work hard in Year 3 to achieve the same opportunities as me and it was also not fair to see them received various helps when they give back nothing. I hated it and resent this, to the point that I now viewed people as greed, dishonourable and cunning. I don't know whether is this a sign that my mind is playing tricks on me, or is it really the true colours of what I hate. I couldn't tell what is real anymore.. One of my facilitators even mentioned that maybe this is a sign of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), but whether is it true or not, I know that there is definitely something wrong with my thinking.

I can continue on and on with my thoughts, but I feel that the more I typed, the more it becomes a permanent truth and this is not a correct representation of what the people I know are. I met and talked to them, even see them almost everyday. This cannot be right and I must continue to seek other ways to resolve this issue. If only there is way to correct myself (even my nail tearing and biting habit), I must commit and open to the idea of it. I cannot further go on with this disruptive behaviour that is making me feel isolated and distanced. Worst of all, it is decaying my positive thinking and what values that I was brought up on.

Read More

Movie Review: Captain Marvel

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS.

It has been awhile since I wrote a review for the blog and I would like to apologise for the long wait because I was focusing on my school work and working hard to achieve the results I wanted which will be released this Friday. It is scary, I know, but there is nothing much I can do about it except to tell myself that I did put in lots of efforts. Furthermore, I was too stressed to come up with a review for The Favourite which I saw in the cinema last month and it was amazing especially the cast’s acting performances, and so many other reviews which I would probably have to cast one side since this is not the primary focus of today’s review.

So today, I would be reviewing on what I thought about Marvel’s new entry, Captain Marvel. I am sure that almost everyone has already caught the movie on cinemas some time ago since this movie was out for awhile now and with the latest trailer of Avengers’ End Game released last week, I am also certain that this review will be carefully read upon and provides a leading factor for whether to consider skipping or watching. In this case, you know that any Marvel movie that is out will surely need to be watched before anything since everything is all linked and this latest superhero’s story is one of them.

In my opinion, Captain Marvel is the start of the modern era for the Avengers. Setting primarily in the 1990s starring Brie Larson as the titular heroine in the story, we follow her journey as a Kree warrior who is under a commander, Yon-Rogg (portrayed by Jude Law) and how she went on a mission with the team up to the part where she was left stranded on Earth (called as Planet C-53 to the people back in Kree). As we follow her journey, we start to slowly learn about her previous life including the early part of the movie where we saw as her ‘nightmare’ – only to figure out it was more than a nightmare, it was part of something real that can help her find out her true identity.

Alongside the journey of the heroine, we also encountered familiar faces from S.H.I.E.L.D – Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), except they looked much more youthful thanks to digital de-aging visual effects technique employed. I was really impressed with the de-aging especially how they really resembled like their young selves back in the 90s and consider this is the first time Marvel gone full-fledged to keep this young look throughout the movie, I would say this is amazing. Aside from that, the flow of the story including the flashbacks were all proportionally used well throughout the movie and there wasn’t any abrupt moments except to feel inspired and the momentum of being gradually powerful – just as the heroine of the story.

The acting performances from the cast were great too. You felt like they were in their roles and when they delivered their lines, you just felt something from them. Captain Marvel is a movie that brings closer to home especially for the heroine whose actual name was Carol, a pilot for the US Air Force and was tragic because she went on a mission that almost ended her life. She saw the person she respected died in front of her whose thoughts are for a good cause and worst of all – she was brainwashed. As the movie progresses, you feel terrible for the character because of how much the truth just taken away from her and how much her potential was just kept away like that.

I could go on and on about the movie especially how much I really enjoyed the build up for Captain Marvel from the beginning to the end, every transformation shows much powerful she is as a heroine and as a human, so much potential in the character which I would love to see more of and a great job to the production for bringing us this needed (and refreshing) entry to the cinematic universe – a strong yet determined heroine and most importantly, a human and friend with compassion.

Ratings: 8/10

Read More

Movie Review: Mary Poppins Returns

THIS REVIEW MAY HAVE SOME SPOILERS.

I remembered being one of the people who would enter a video shop and rent Mary Poppins every Monday. Sitting in front of the television, I would then try to imitate Julie Andrews’ Mary Poppins as she sang A Spoonful of Sugar as well as convincing that there is such world out there if you think of the impossible possible. Of course, I still remembered the animation that would take on a larger form of entertainment in the movie as I was too young to understand and feel the story. This happened in 2005 and 13 years later, I get to relive the trip again through Mary Poppins Returns.

Set many years after Mary Poppins had successfully taken care of the Banks family, this time, she returns to help Michael Banks’ family as they are experiencing the likelihood of losing the house as well as the recent loss of the wife/mother who indeed made a significant impact to the family. Its premise remained the same as how anyone would recall from the original which indeed would make any viewers who were entertained by the original movie even more excited. At least, to me, I think that Mary Poppins Returns is a lovely sequel that successfully capture the essence of what makes Poppins Poppins.

Firstly, the original music has some likeness to the previous movie especially songs like Trip A Little Light Fantastic and A Cover Is Not A Book. The music does remind me of what makes Mary Poppins such an interesting Disney movie and I was even more impressed with the production especially when the choreography performed was magnificent that I wished I was part of that world. Secondly, I applaud the fact that the movie remained firm to its decision to have 2D animation – which is already a lost art form that has since been replaced mostly with the use of modern 3D tools and computer animations. I mean, there were a few computer visual effects here and there like the part where Mary Poppins and some characters were in the porcelain bowl. It was truly thrilling to see this aspect. Lastly, the cast were splendid in their own roles and especially Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s synchronous chemistry. I also enjoyed the special appearances by Dick Van Dyke and Meryl Streep, another elevation towards the movie’s light-hearted attitude.

Although Mary Poppins Returns may not provide so much originality and mood as the first one, it still indeed provide the magic that makes Mary Poppins – a movie for family and everyone to enjoy especially during these holidays. I really loved this latest sequel and lots of tremendous respect to the people behind the scenes and the cast for bringing this adaptation back to the screen and making me falling head over heels for the animated characters as well as the soundtrack and the world that most of us know.

What an incredible gift to the cinema this season.

Ratings: 8/10

Read More

Movie Review: Roma

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS.

When life gives you lemons, you take the lemons and squeeze them to become the juiciest lemonade in the hot summer time. Roma indeed was the juiciest drink in the winter and given how the setting was, I would say the movie was a well-crafted story that brought much happiness to audience on such relatable scale.

Roma is a movie set in the turmoil period of Mexico of 1970s and a nostalgic letter to domestic life of most families regardless of who you are and where you are from. It is the celebration of life in times of crisis and happiness that makes the movie on a relatable note especially when the movie is viewed in a living room. I watched the movie with my family members and for the first time, most of us enjoyed such movie where the story brought some joy. As you know, I have always been the one among my family members who truly enjoyed movies and some genres or stories don’t seem to get along well with them.

However, Roma was different from the movies I tend to view. It started off with the scene where we see a domestic family’s helper washing the yard of the house (possibly from the poops left from the dog). We then start to be introduced to the house through scenes of living room, kitchen, outside drains of the house and to the family whom the helper is serving. She isn’t the only one helping the family but there are two more helpers who were as good as her in the domestic chores. As the movie progresses, we then see the story goes from a happy portrait to a sad period, a chaotic period – the helper was three to four months pregnant, the wife of the family trying to hold herself together to make sure life was going well especially for her children and of course, the protests and the events that bring some turbulence to the story settings.

We know, life can never be smooth. There will always be ups and downs in life and the only way to bring about is to keep carrying on with life, always being firm in choices and then being together as the remaining family, keeping the spirit is still the best thing on Earth. That was what came to me even when the movie progresses, and it end – the celebration of ups and downs which we know as life itself. Life still moves like how the tides turned in the waters. Life is about appreciation of things that happened in the present and learned through the past to bring about more positive change to the future, and that is why Roma is a celebration of humans regardless of circumstances.

Roma, if possible and only possible, is a consideration to movie industry that we should not look upon lightly. It should be recommended to your friends, your family and even to the world. Take the time off and watch this crisp black and white movie about celebration of life as we know. Roma is a wonderful movie and one of the best storytelling in intense, sentimental imageries I have ever seen.

Ratings: 8.5/10

Read More