

Director:
Cast:

The official website
click
http://www.zhaowei.com/881/synopsis.html

My thoughts

To be honest, I think it is the weakest of his 3 films ...
In order of decreasing preference ...
(i) 4:30
(ii) 15 (the 25 min version, not the movie version which is kind of draggy)
(iii) 881

But let's start with what I like ...

(i) definitely the costumes ... to be fair, it may even have a chance of being nominated at the Golden Horse Award this year (will they be submitting to the organizers? gonna thnk me for reminding hoh ... just kidding ...) ... however, winning dep on which other films are in competition ... maybe Lust Caution?! maybe other period drama?! etc ... but frankly, the costumes at the "getai" (i.e., stage show) is worth commending ...

(ii) the songs ... well, they are well performed ... also, the main theme song is very meaningful ...

(iii) the film starts off well (in terms of art direction/cinematography) ... and it boasts of POTENTIAL ... BUT BUT BUT as the film proceeds, the potential is not exploited ... it does have a great setting/theme ... very Singaporean; very local; rather unqiue ... but somehow, in its entirety, the film does not deliver ... why?! (see next)

what i thought could be better ...

-- it tries to adopt the "formula" of FIRST LAUGHTER, THEN TEARS ... but somehow, it comes across as rather contrived (and "familiar" from other films) ... also, it does not "build" sufficiently in terms of plot/characterization to make you feel very sad when misery finally sets in ...

-- i am fine with puns or even crudeness (that are relevant) ... but somehow, it fails this time ...

-- i am also fine with "fantasy"/"martial arts" like segments (i.e., the flying darts, etc) ... i thought it could be very well exploited ... but somehow, this time, it feels more like secondary school kids "fooling around" with each other when they play pranks ... again, it is not well executed ...

-- i know it exists ... but the "fight" between the old and the new (or the east vs the west) is getting a bit "repetitive" ...
cf. the parallel between these two films ...
(a) In 881, "papaya sisters" (chinese/tradition) vs "durian sisters" (westerners/modernization)
(b) In 15 the movie (NOT the short), "hokkien beng/gang" (chinese group) vs "angmoh gang" (english group)

Conclusion
It does boast of potential, but I humbly think it is the weakest of his 3 films ...