Rest in peace, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I was in Bali the past 10 days for a film shoot that I wasn't exactly involved in. (Basically, I was renting out my Blackmagic Cinema Camera for an Indonesian-Japanese film shoot, and had to stay around to ensure that no one was going to break my camera... of course, a free trip to Bali, which I've never gone before, was too tempting an offer to turn down)

While I was seemingly trapped in a time warp (like all film shoots tend to feel, despite my lack of involvement in this one), many things had happened in this world, mostly tragedies. One of my favourite wrestlers from my childhood, THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR, passed away on the day that I was flying off to Bali.

Since then, there was the South Korean ferry disaster in April 16, followed a day later, on April 17, by the deaths of Malaysian opposition politician Karpal Singh and literary giant Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Now that I am back in Malaysia for a day before I return to Tokyo tomorrow, I feel nothing but melancholy for the recent losses.

Making sense of the Malaysian Chinese experience

Recent circumstances, especially constant questions from my comrades from China, had caused me to evaluate my place as a Malaysian Chinese.

REUNION 我們都是這樣長大的 (1986), a Taiwanese film that haunted my memories since I was 12

When I was 12, I caught a film on TV.

The film follows the lives of a group of elementary school students and their teacher. I was initially interested because the children were my age, and the teacher in the film was dedicated, like the teacher I was having then, Teacher Thor (that's her family name, yeah, but we all call her "Tu Lao Shi", which means Teacher Thor in Chinese).

But I was slightly surprised when there were a few time skips in the film. The children suddenly became teenagers, and there was a class reunion with their teacher (that led to tragedy).

They then became adults, and had another reunion, this time for a wedding. I remember that one of the main boys was in love with the bride.

I didn't exactly finish the film, but a few of these scenes remained vivid until this very day (the teacher's fiancee sacrificing himself to save a drowning student during one of the class reunions, and also the aforementioned wedding). Perhaps the film was mesmerizing to me because it seemed to suggest what things are like in this journey of life, when I were to move to my teens, and then my adulthood.

When I returned to school the next day, I was surprised that my teacher, Tu Lao Shi, was talking excitedly about the film too, along with a few classmates of mine.

Yet I never knew what the film title was. It was possibly my very first exposure to a Taiwanese film.

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS postproduction adventures

No, the process of postproduction, so far, had not been an adventure.

But it's been a week since I came back to Tokyo, just so I could work on this film with utmost concentration, and solitude.

Turning 30

So, I turned 30 yesterday. A while ago, I looked at it with slight trepidation, I don't think I was prepared to say goodbye to my twenties just like that.

The final days of the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS shoot (Cameron Highlands, protesters etc.)

Today's the last day of my twenties. I'm just doing what I like best, going through the post-production of my film, RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS.

So, while I have to wait patiently for the tedious process of syncing the audio and video before I start editing, I'm just going to revisit the final days of the shoot.

Shooting RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS at the 140-year-old annual Johor Parade of the Gods

On February 20th, my RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS team and I headed off to Johor to shoot our ending. The reason why we were willing to endure a 4+ hour trip was because we wanted to catch the annual Johor "Parade of the Gods", a Chingay Parade that has been going for more than 140 years.

More photos from phase 2 of the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS shoot

Due to the episodic nature of the film, THE RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS film shoot is divided into three phases, with a rotating cast and crew.

Phase 1 happened in early January.

Phase 2 happened from February 5 to 14.

My team members had some pretty cool collection of photos from Phase 2.

School scenes from the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS film shoot

After 9 intense days, the second phase of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS film shoot is finally over.

In my earlier post, I lashed out at my former high school Catholic High School for reneging on a deal to let me shoot within their premises... just a day before the shoot.

In the end, thankfully, we found a new school to shoot the film. But I remain disappointed with Catholic High's unprofessionalism.

Anyway, I will never forget this.

Other than that, these are the photos taken during the two days that I was shooting the school scenes.

WATCH: James Lee's new short THE GIRL FROM TOMORROW, starring Joseph Germani and Koe Yeet

Open letters to Catholic High School PJ

Last night. I wrote an open letter to Catholic High School.

This happened because, a few weeks after agreeing to let me shoot RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS within their premises, they suddenly reneged on their promise.

A day before the shoot.

When everything's already finalized.

When a Taiwanese actress had already flown here, to good old Malaysia, to do my film, within a limited schedule.

When a large group of actors have been scheduled to act in my school scenes.

When a large amount of money and time had been committed to the shoot.

Good old Catholic High School of Petaling Jaya, which I attended from 1997 to 2001, NONCHALANTLY went back on a deal that almost jeopardized the entire production and flushed all my money into the drain.

The reason given?

A carnival day that they conveniently did NOT tell us about until a day before the shoot. Very convenient.