Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Michael Wang
Cast: Adrian Pang, Alaric Tay, Andrea Fonseka, Danielle O’Malley, Alice Lim, Steven Woon, Lek Xiayan
RunTime: 1 hr 36 mins
Released By: GV & Vintage Film Co.
Rating: PG
Official Website: www.carrotcakeconversations.com

Opening Day: 6 November 2008

Synopsis:

The Carrot Cake Conversations is the story of four strangers, who find themselves stranded in Singapore, two days before Christmas and how they find companionship over a plate of carrot cake and a conversation.

The story follows the journey of Kate, a failed American actress, who’s in transit in Singapore for one night, on her way to New Zealand to set up her dream Café.

Kate meets Daniel, a dishevelled businessman who recently caught his wife cheating on him, Matthew, a rich property mogul who finds himself at the crossroads of his life, and Ruth, a prostitute who longs to be Singapore’s first blues singer.

In their conversations, they talk about love, life, loss, carrot cake, Singapore being alone, Christmas, their dreams, their fears, their hopes, and at the end of one night, because of their conversation with a complete stranger, they become different people.

This story seeks to prove the possibility that a conversation can change everything and that sometimes in life, all we have to do is talk.

Movie Review:

Okay, first up: if a supposedly essential element in a movie can be easily replaced by more than one substitute… well, that’s definitely not a positive box office sign.

No points for guessing what I am referring to – yes, I am talking about our dearest local dish of delights: carrot cake! It might as well have been replaced by durians, chicken rice, lasak, or fried kway teow – except that these would not sound as 'glam'; (The Durian Conversations?!) – and the essence of the plot will not be affected in the least bit (well, everyone can talk over a plate of anything anywhere). Sorry, but relying on 'carrot cake' as a plot connector between the 4 characters isn’t convincing enough for me if there aren’t any solid justifications. Well, I am picky about small things like that – if there’s no point to even introduce the dish (except to make it uniquely Singaporean), don’t bother. Plus, if I spend the entire length of the movie getting puzzled over this and that… I don’t think I would have enjoyed it.

So honestly, this is one big problem in most local films (well, for starters, not all because I really liked Teenage Textbook and Eric Khoo’s 12 Storeys). Either they try too hard to be local, or they are not in the least relatable to Singaporeans. While, The Carrot Cake Conversations takes on both 'strategies', and of course, fails miserably.

So I say, instead of trying to be pretentious and all preachy, CCC should have focused on being realistic; in terms of paying attention to comparably small things like casting and plot development (Why would a Chinese prostitute converse with her Chinese-speaking mom in English? Why would she have a Eurasian-looking face, and speak with a distinctively American slang? Why would she be carrying a guitar while… scouring the roads of Geylang for customers – even if she’s an aspiring blues singer? Hmm...).

And be forewarned if you are the sort who:

A) likes action, gore or violence and hates dialogue-heavy, philosophical (or trying to be) movies

B) hates audacious and overly sappy plots (I belong here.)

… you wouldn’t enjoy this movie. It is basically a collection (I wouldn’t use dare to use the word 'story') of conversations between four very emotional strangers who eventually pluck the courage to step out of their current situations and embark on their individual life-changing adventures. And that’s about it. I am not going to go into the specifics of who plays what, what happens, etc, because then there’s nothing else for you, the reader and potential movie-goer, to look forward to.

However, if you like slow movies like this, you are definitely better off with 10 Items or Less – a movie, which I recently reviewed, about two strangers meeting in the weirdest (but believable) situation, and having a genuine and realistic connection.

Conclusion: TCCC is one hell of a train ride to Dreamland and insomniacs should skip their medications and just watch this: equally effective and cheaper. As for the rest of the entire human race, save the $8 – 9, and buy 3 plates of delicious carrot cake.

Movie Rating:



(Not appetizing even when served pipin’ hot with extra chilli and soya sauce)

Review by Casandra Wong