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Review
by Kozo: |
Sylvia Chang has son troubles
in the beautifully made, though questionably good Rice
Rhapsody. Chang is Jen, proprietor of a storied
Singapore restaurant specializing in the country's signature
dish, Hainan Chicken Rice. Jen's business is about to
reopen, plus she faces some stiff competition from friend
and competitor Kim Chiu (Martin Yan of "Yan Can
Cook"), who's trying to invent something he calls
"Hainan Duck Rice".
But Jen's biggest problem
is her sons. The older two are officially gay, and the
third, Leo (Lepham Tan) may be heading that direction.
Leo hangs out almost exclusively with his pal Batman
(no, not that Batman), causing Jen to fear the
worst. But she and Kim Chui have a plan: they'll use
visiting exchange student Sabine (Melanie Laurent) as
the proverbial forbidden fruit, dangling her in front
of Leo everyday. The idea is that this blonde beauty
will ensure Leo's straightness, and allow Jen to one
day have grandkids. Meanwhile, Kim Chui pines for Jen,
and the real-life sales of Hainan Chicken Rice presumably
go up.
Rice Rhapsody is one
pretty movie, and is the perfect commercial for Singapore
as your vacation destination of choice. Not only does
it make the country seem friendly, attractive, and tourist
dollar-worthy, but it also sells its local cuisine with
appropriate gusto. People frequently meet and talk over
delicious-looking meals, and whenever Kim Chui exercises
his culinary skills, it's easy to pay attention. The
problem is that there is far too little cooking, and
even worse, it merely seems to function as a plot device.
Kim Chui and Jen's cooking rivalry gets little play,
and only seems to set up a climactic cooking contest
- which is ultimately a smokescreen for a loaded mother-son
reconciliation, and not some real culinary competition.
Movies like Rice Rhapsody and Magic Kitchen could learn a thing or two from Ang Lee's Eat Drink
Man Woman, or even Tsui Hark's The Chinese Feast.
In those films, cooking and its entertaining techniques
were practically a character in the film. Cooking defined
people's lives, brought them together, and made the
audience supremely hungry. Most of all, those films
made cooking seem joyful, and brought a real life and
energy to the screen. In Rice Rhapsody, hunger
is achieved, and it does create some conflict, but it
ultimately feels more perfunctory than necessary. When
the movie's over, you may still order pizza instead
of Hainan Chicken Rice.
With cooking removed from
primary focus, what's left? Well, it's all about Jen
and her three (maybe) gay sons. The depiction of homosexuals
in Rice Rhapsody is fairly sensitive, though
the attitudes portrayed are not. Jen's acceptance of
her sons' sexuality seems more like resignation than
support, and her plan is not a very progressive one.
Even more troublesome is the character of Sabine. French
actress Melanie Laurent makes her charming and attractive,
but the character is so infused with new age free-spirit
Bohemian values that she becomes a caricature,
and her function in Jen's family is of a complete and
total plot device. In Rice Rhapsody, it's not
cooking that brings the family together, but a sexy
French girl who seems to come and go with the wind,
almost like she's some magical creature conjured up
out of the ether specifically to create insight into
the lives of Jen and her three sons. Inspirational screenplays
written for screenwriting classes probably have plenty
of Sabines. She could be Official Character Type #21.
Rice Rhapsody does
engage, and the production is a pleasant and entertaining
one. Once again, Singapore looks mighty fine, and the
location and cinematography are perfectly accented by
Masahiro Kawasaki's score. Sylvia Chang is commanding
as Jen, and convincingly conveys her character's doubts,
fears, stubbornness, and anger. The film's stuntcasting
is also quite successful; Martin Yan is surprisingly
sympathetic as the lovelorn and likable Kim Chui - but
again, we needed to see him do more cooking! Kenneth
Bi loads Rice Rhapsody with enough detail to
make it seem like it's doing something, but it's all
a little too obvious in its touchy-feely wannabe inspirational
emotions. Bi should have aimed for less, and had his
characters carry the film instead of their sometimes
awkward English dialogue. There's a good idea here,
and some effective execution, but ultimately Rice
Rhapsody is less successful than it aims to be.
(Kozo 2006) |
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