A Leap of Love

Last night I had the privilege of being invited to watch the gala premier of the new Raintree Picture "The Leap Years". During the cocktail, I managed to rub shoulders with some of Mediacorp's big guns and even had 2 photos taken by the official photographer (I hope he got my good side).




Anyways, the movie was based on local author Catherine Lim's book 'A Leap of Love' and I actually read the book a few years ago. I remember reading it from cover to cover within a couple of days. It's a love story and is based on an irish tradition that revolves around the 29th of February. It's Raintree's first full-fledged english feature film, and it's a breath of fresh air after the very local-local type shows like "I not stupid" and "881" and "Ah Long Pte Ltd".


A few months ago, I was actually invited to be part of a focus group for the final cut of the movie, and at that point I already thought the cast did a great job. Although the story was one of those fantasy, will-never-ever-happen-in-the-real-world-type shows, that, i felt was the best part of the movie. Also,the setting of the movie was quintessentially Singaporean, which I thought was wonderful. The sights, the sounds, the friendships, the language etc... singaporean (or what I know to be Singaporean).


Although I think the movie could have been improved more, and that Joan Chen was not actually necessary in the film at all, I would still recommend it to anyone who wants to spend 2 hours immersed in love and fantasy. But more than that, I would strongly recommend it simply because it's a Singaporean film, based on a story written by a local author, directed by a local director and produced by our very own home grown Raintree Pictures. I'm sure you can tell I'm proud of the local arts scene... more more more!