Happened to catch the screening of this film on TV tonight, after hearing so much about it. It's wonderfully ironic and poignant. Very well-chosen sounds/music and visual perspectives! This is truly Singaporean. I love it!
Posted by Dawn
12th Aug 07 10:10:48 PM

We compliment your brilliant movie, 'Singapore Gaga'. The songs are well chosen, blending well with the video. The way you told your story was really impressive and close to our hearts. We hope to see more of your productions in future.
Posted by M&M Productions (TKGS)
11th Apr 07 05:09:36 PM

Poignantly beautiful... The combination of different shots all around Singapore and the filming of fellow Singaporeans from all walks of life!
It captures Singapore as it truly is, and just watching it makes me proud of Singapore.
Rawk on, Singaporeans!
Posted by Carol
11th Apr 07 05:09:36 PM

A very cool and unique prespective of Singapore! This may well be Singapore's version of Borat.
Posted by Rie
11th Apr 07 05:07:38 PM

It's a realistic show that shows the real singapore, poeriod.
Posted by caharred-coal
11th Apr 07 05:05:07 PM

HEY, you video was great, teacher showed us in school. i loved the part on the one-dollar song. hehe. hope to see more nice video. a lot of my club members love the one-dollar song too.
Posted by jellgal
11th Apr 07 05:05:07 PM

This is an amazing film. It's a shame something like this doesn't get much public exposure. Even after the show, the voice of the tissue-paper lady and Juanita Nelson are stuck in my head. Frankly, something like this rarely comes around and I have to say I'm impressed. This film really does bring out the sounds of Singapore.
Posted by Tique
11th Apr 07 05:05:07 PM

the documentary was very interesting. it opened our eyes to what singapore really is like and how many talented people we neglect. thank you very much. :)
Posted by khushboo, kareena and shweta
11th Apr 07 04:48:47 PM

I truly enjoyed your documentary, especially the tissue paper lady and Juanita Melson. I never thought of them as significant people when I see or hear them but you changed my perspective of these people and truly
reflected "uniquely Singapore" !
Posted by syaz
11th Apr 07 04:48:47 PM

I missed the screening of Singapore GaGa, but I'll be waiting for the release of the film on DVD. I managed to catch a preview of the film when I attended one of Pin Pin's class recently. We were fortunate to get a glimpse of the process from the first rough cut to the final cut in the class. Thanks Pin Pin for sharing that with us!
Posted by Joseph Chiang
7th Sep 06 11:23:46 AM

Hi, I too caught your film on a plane ride in between countries. Because I return to Singapore only sporadically, I always think about the issue of place and home. Your beautiful film moved me and opened my eyes (and ears) to many of the wonders of this place which I have been blind and too apathetic towards. Thank you.
Posted by Jason
25th Aug 06 04:53:48 AM

Your film is absolutely brilliant. I saw it by chance on an SIA flight and loved it so much I had to watch it again and again. I was born in Singapore but have lived abroad for decades. I found it immensely moving. Thank you for capturing the remarkable and unique qualities of those you featured and making such a warm hearted and perceptive tribute to the people of Singapore.

In the words of the man on the subway, you and they are national treasures.

KayTee
Posted by KayTee
12th Aug 06 08:01:23 PM

Thank you for this many-layered and thought provoking film.

I wonder if you know that one of the people caught in film passing the "One Dollar" singing woman actually sells tissues on Orchard Road herself and she also sings that song? In late 2005 she had a strong voice. A month ago, her voice was definitely a lot weaker. And yesterday I could not find her..
Posted by Shafiur
5th Aug 06 03:27:26 AM

This film reminded me of French docu GLEANERS AND I. Now Singapore has her own Agnes Varda. Keep on your good work, Pin Pin! You are our gleaner of visuals and life!
Posted by Inky
10th May 06 04:31:37 AM

We met some years ago at VHQ, but you probably don't remember. Anyway, your film is wonderful. I remember the recorder...but I was lucky to have learnt to play 2 tunes on it. The tissue seller is just such an interesting character. She reminds me of the lady who was selling Hokkien mee at the NUS Arts canteen (when I was in Uni). She had her own limerick that goes something like "Hokkien Mee. You want me? You smile I so happy." It's uplifting to see such positive characters around. Thank you for making this docu. It's something I hope many people get to watch - congrats!
Posted by Serene Chen
16th Apr 06 05:28:28 PM

the film was brilliant. i felt so patrotic after that! one part of it touched me the most, when Teacher Yew Hong Chow played the harmonica together with the indian man on the guitar. damn i swear i was close to tears! one thing i am very sure after watching the film, i do love singapore after all :)
Posted by peilinggg
16th Apr 06 01:33:16 AM

The docu brought back the old school days. The recorder music lessons which I've totally forgotten! It was pretty hilarious to find out the truth behind the choice of a recorder. :) The cheers which the Malays gals were screaming. The team spirit of "houses" in schools were of an undying breed. "Thunderation" of applause for director Tan Pin Pin, for a true-blue Singaporean Singaporean film. Cheers!
Posted by Diane
12th Apr 06 02:47:45 PM

The part where Teacher Yew Hong Chow played the harmonica together with the tune of the guitar gave me goosepimples and a little tearing when i recalled the days in the stuffy music room, albeit with the recorder.

The one-dollar tissue paper auntie whom i hear almost everyday when i leave my house to clementi MRT station. i will never know the heart of gold you have if not for Singapore Gaga.

Thank you Pin pin! :)
Posted by Stephen C
9th Apr 06 04:24:38 PM

Great film. Can really relate to all things Singaporean depicted in the show. Especially heartwrenching is the portrayal of the one-dollar lady - very endearing. The more i travel, the more i love Singapore - and this is a loving tribute to a place i'm proud to call home. Well done!
Posted by Jamie
30th Mar 06 05:59:50 AM

I saw this film couple of days ago. I think it is great. I am not a Singaporean but have heard a lot of the Singaporean lifestyle. Well, this documentary sure tells it all. Great work. Hope to see more of such films.
Posted by Cp
29th Mar 06 10:45:24 PM

I've read so many good reviews and positive comments on he movie. But I still haven't even seen the movie yet, cause I'm in Malaysia. Anyway I can watch this documentary?
Posted by Mark
28th Mar 06 06:48:25 AM

I just saw the film at the Bangkok Film Festival. In a city where the only quiet place is my own toilet, it is extremely therapeutic to hear familiar sounds of Singapore, espcially Juanita's and Ying's. You make me miss home....
Posted by Jason
21st Feb 06 06:48:18 AM

Absolutely stunning.

It was screened by our Singapore Club in Canada at the University of British Columbia. I've been away from home for three years now and you've just made something that I've been begging film producers to make for years. Technically, your use of background noise is genius, your 'slower' moments work effectively, and the humble feeling of a documentary cum story left me walking away from the showing in contemplation.

It must be so entertaining for you to sit down and review all the comments left here. Singapore GaGa can be interpreted in a thousand ways, and each one is as personally subjective as the other.

At no point was there a political attack on the Government, no full out rebellion on the workings of the system. Yet every underlying suggestion of the daily nonsensical imperfections we are forced to endure left me smiling- and every frame was as beautiful as the next.

Thank you for the movie

PS: I can now die a happy man knowing who the MRT lady is.
Posted by David
6th Oct 05 12:38:55 AM

Thank you for sharing that video with us, it was very beautiful. There are all these encounters which I took for granted: speaking with the ex-convicts who are selling the yellow ribbons; sitting in the empty drain, chatting with the homeless lady near my house. Thank you for reminding us that these encounters matter, to the people we interact with and to us; for reminding us that these slices make up Life
Posted by Alicia
7th Sep 05 04:33:31 AM

You came to my school recently, and i fell in love with your film, though many of my peers had issues with the monotonous bits of the film. but i found it fascinating, the way the silence means so much more than any other music she could make. eye opening.

i like the way you make films out of the tiniest and seemingly immaterial things- and they take form and colour and that makes it so meaningful.

thanks for inspiring budding film makers like me.
Posted by sedd
21st Aug 05 06:12:27 PM

it was beautiful x) it made me think about alot of things that we, as Singaporeans, would never have noticed, because we're too used to them and we take them for granted. yeah i'm glad this film awoke me to alot of things in Singapore i've always taken for granted. x) from now on i'll always know that the voice doing MRT announcements actually belongs to my "long lost" senior x) thank you so much for making this (:
Posted by XX
12th Aug 05 07:25:52 AM

The director herself just came down to my sch to show us the movie. At first i thought it was a normal movie, but it turns out to my surprise! The whole level enjoyed it! It was wonderfuL!!!!
Posted by Jing Kai From BV
3rd Aug 05 03:01:09 AM

i missed it during the first screening during this year's film fest because i was volunteering at jade, so very happy i managed to catch it at the substation - TWICE !!!

it was a moving series of vignettes which was at the same time hilarious. a very interesting combination as there was an underlying sense of poignancy which lingered.

as i didn't have any clue who was featured inside before viewing, it was a great surprise when Margaret Leng-Tan appeared. I'm a huge fan of hers and have caught 2 of her performances here in singapore.

i hope you'll continue to make these insightful portrayals of sigapore life. in the glitzy celluloid world we're in now it's so easy to overlook reality that's staring at us in the face.


Posted by angeline
9th Jul 05 12:18:36 AM

Very enjoy! My comment will be written in Chinese and Post at
http://malaysia-chinese.com/cgi-bin/czread.pl?file=start&board=luntan&group=2&read=messages/2005/07/8913.html

Posted by lao cao from www.quyi.net
4th Jul 05 10:29:39 AM

A wave of nostalgia came over me when "charlie" spoke. i remember sitting among the audience at one of his shows as a very young child, and he seemed so real to me then.

Thank you so much for making this beautiful film. i loved every bit of it.
Posted by ade
3rd Jul 05 12:08:31 PM

the beauty about Sin-gapore Gaga is it makes you feel you want everyone you know to see it!
Posted by soolian
3rd Jul 05 06:54:09 AM

I am a film-maker who is currently shooting my film on Race and Rock in Singapore...along the way getting bogged down by scripting, funding and all those mundanities tends to drag you down...

I came by on Saturday to find some inspiration,perhaps some twinkle of hope, to experience the "treasures" of Singapore's unheard songs. Sitting in the second row, I watched the film like a child watching thier first fireworks.

You gave me that inspiration. Those strange cuts, those extended shots, the lack of exposition and the pride and beauty of seeing OUR OWN on the big screen was enough to make me laugh and cry.

Thank you and your team for putting together a film that has managed to reach into my heart and squeeze it dry of all emotion.

Posted by Matilda D'silva
2nd Jul 05 11:37:21 PM

GaGa is subversive in a warped patriotic gentle loving way, or rather,
it's patriotic in a gently subversive way, i don't know, just
don't let THEM know
Posted by Daphne
14th Jun 05 01:03:17 AM

Just feel compelled to drop a few lines on this website even though I had congratulated you in person already last nite after the world premiere(!).

I think I didn't answer your question last night very well on how I identified with the film right from the opening song and why it moved me. It is the pathos of wanting to love and be loved by one's country, to belong, mixed with the incomprehension, frustration and helplessness with a country that suffers from amnesia sometimes and at other times ignore or even disown her very own...

Thanks for helping us to see, hear and remember.
Posted by Mei
14th Apr 05 01:52:57 AM

thank you for the experience, showing us the whos, whats and whys of the singaporean life that we might have missed out every day.
Posted by iz
13th Apr 05 07:49:15 PM

The Filmmaker is probably too modest to mention it:
Last night's debut screening was standing room only.

So glad i was there. it was moving in many ways and the first time i laughed out aloud in a cinema in many many years especially thanks to a great piece of editing.

Thanks so much for making this.




Posted by ben
13th Apr 05 06:36:48 PM

Superb! A look at some truly unique Singaporeans!

Some more reviews here:
http://www.sgfilm.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=8
Dave

Posted by Dave
13th Apr 05 04:57:53 PM