Breathing life into ghost month

STRAITS TIMESAug 6, 2008

Breathing life into ghost month


A Month Of Hungry Ghosts sees the festival through the eyes of devotees, performers and ghost busters.


A MONTH OF HUNGRY GHOSTS (PG) 99 minutes/Opens tomorrow/***
THIS film, which looks at a month Singaporeans know about, or rather think they know about, promises to deliver a fresh perspective.



By and large, the promise is kept: Viewers come away having seen more than the usual cliches about getai and street opera singers. They get an understanding of the universal human need for solace and communication, even beyond death.


Thanks to the news training of producer Genevieve Woo (a producer/news anchor on Channel NewsAsia) and the considerable technical skills of American director/producer Tony Kern, the surface-skimming, exotic-Asia circus sideshow so beloved of foreign news crews is avoided.
Instead, the camera focuses on a small group of characters - heartlander Auntie Phua, a group of paranormal-investigation geeks and a Tibetan Buddhist monk among them - and lets the ghost month come alive through their eyes and voices.


For example, the hell money ritual is often regarded by outsiders as a chore done out of robot-like duty. But for Auntie Phua, it is simply an act of love, done with as much tenderness and care as one would plan a party for a relative on this plane of existence.


Ninety-nine minutes can be a long time, so the film mixes it up by adding animated sequences and real newsreels of old Singapore. The newsreels are especially fun to watch and add greatly to the humour of the film.


However, viewers may find some parts slow-moving, especially where the film tries to heighten the chills with special effects. Some on-camera speakers also go on for too long.
The tone of the film, while respectful, is not pedantic, nor does it take sides. It does not try to persuade you of anything other than that at this time of year, some think the dead move among us, as real as any living person. What the believers say - and see - can be fascinating.
John Lui