Continued from Tony Perez's Electronic Diary (October 19, 2018 - March 12, 2019) http://tonyperezphilippinescyberspacebook41.blogspot.com/

Photo by JR Dalisay / April 21, 2017

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Watched all 13 episodes of Mystic Whispers (2014), a Chinese production set in Singapore with a Singaporean cast. Xiao-yun reports for her first day of work at an architect's office and immediately encounters the spirit of an employee who just died. The office manager hires Ji-en, a mortician who claims to be an exorcist. Xiao-yun and Ji-en eventually team up to assist other spirits.

The movie is a Sino-Singaporean version of U.S.A.'s Ghost Whisperer, even as its title suggests, but with many comic elements, an understated production design, and most refreshing fashion coordination. Among the spirits the duo encounters are an overweight victim of unrequited love, a teen-ager whose parents are on the verge of a divorce, an Indonesian maid who refuses to abandon her ward, an old man who cannot bear to leave his ancestral house to his two sons, ghosts at a crossroads, and--Ji-en's former girlfriend. Approximately two episodes are devoted to each ghostly adventure. 

Loved Flapper the dog. Also loved those tourist tugboats floating along the Singapore River. They reminded me so much of the playwriting workshops I held in Singapore, because the theatre was right on that river and I would see all of those tugboats passing by during breaks.

A pleasant screening, but I felt that the ending had too much comic irony.

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