  Break Up by Xaisongkham Wed,  24 Mar 2004 20: 55: 08 Hi brothers and sister,  Your idea sounds good.  I cant think of anything to add in now,
 just wanna tell you my story idea.  I'm not good at telling story.  So you guys try to comprehend it.  It’ s about the relationship struggle of a couple.  One wants to salvage it while the other tries to get away from it.
 It starts when Mervin wants to take sexy or nude picture of his girlfriend,  Sarah while they are having sex or when they are together.  She first refuses to let him do so but she is afraid it will hurt his feeling.  Besides he says he loves her so much and promises that he won’ t show to anyone and will delete them all immediately.  So she lets him take…
But he demands more and more.  Whenever they are together or about to get intimacy[ is that a correct word?  he will ask her to pose for him which turns her off.  She starts to feel loathed when he commands her perform unusual sex like oral sex or anal sex[ don’
t have to show visually,  just verbally will do or cheat the shot]  So Sarah tries to avoid him and wants to end the relationship.  On the other side,  Mervin starts to sense that something doesn’ t seem right about their relationship and tries to appeal to her.
 He promises her that he wont do that again[ taking picture or demand unusual sex…  she seems to fall for him for few times but whenever they are together,  Mervin can’ t control himself.  He finds himself wanting her more physically,
 emotionally and sexually.  The more she wants to get away from him,  the more he wants her back.  Sarah really avoid him this time.  She doesn’ t answer the call or refuse to talk to him…
He does everything to please her or get her attention[ even try to hurt himself if not commit suicide just so that she will sympathize him]  But his afford is in vain.  Desperately and powerlessly,  he uses her nude photos to threaten her[ distribute in the internet or show to other to humiliate her]
 It works.  She comes back to him.  They sleep together but she does not have any feeling anymore[  she just lets him do…  He knows that it’ s not the right way to get her back but he’
s gone too far to return back.  He hopes he could turn back time.  He’ s guilty.  He knows he can never please her or get her back again.  But he continues to threaten her with those photos just so that he can be with her.
 Or maybe just for physical need,  sex.  I don’ t know how to show the struggle between these two characters how desperately and badly the guy wants to save and salvage the relationship but he has no power to do anything[ although he tries to do everything to please her]  while showing the girl how badly she wants to get out or end the abusive relationship[
she has to struggle between staying in abusive relationship or getting out but being humiliated( what others might think about her if they know that she posses her own nude pictures or sex video)  ENDING?  Maybe one day she comes back to him and wants to have wild sex with him.  She wants him to hurt her[ you know those wild sex for example the guy will hit the girl or ties her in the bed]
 She acts all along[ screaming or seems to be forced to have sex with him]  while she secretly uses her built- in camera hand- phone to tape the action.  This implies that she will use the video tape to against the guy.
 [ sexual offensive get jailed!  . or other alternative ending.  OK it's just my fantasy idea.  Feedback from Soo Hian Thursday,
 March 25,  2004 11: 30 PM hi xai's idea is quite ok,  but the ending is a bit weak.  might need to work on it.  becos the story might be quite predictable or absurd,
 like when the girl takes phots of the guy and threatens him.  i think if we want to shoot silhouttes scenes of sex or anal stuff,  the audience either feel cheated or amused,  knowing that we'd resort to using such techniques to depict sex;  if we have willing actors,  of cos we can do an R(
a)  version,  showing nipples and what is generally allowed in R( a)  movies.  i'm not sure what kind of mood would be inherent in the film,
 is it a dangerous liaisons or fatal attraction kind?  like a thriller where we sympathise with the girl as she gets scared and confused and stalked by her bf?  Going the arthouse route,  the film would most prob dwell on the quirks of the guy and give him some merit by showing his feelings too. going the general route,  the girl would most prob leave him.
 Lets not have some last minute characters who jump in to save the day,  e. g.  girl finds another guy.  about weeliang's idea:  i think its more about the way we're going to shoot it.
 i suggest that we don't shoot it in a chronological drama way.  i think the theme would be ex- bfs or gfs thinking about their other halves. i imagine weeliang means the movie to have about the same kind of mood as wong kar fai's movies about unrequited love,  like the aniki jin character in one of the movies who acts absurd and buys expired cans of fruit with the same date as the breakup anniversary.  correct me if im wrong ok.
 weeliang's idea can be explored further but we have to decide whether it be a straight forward story or one with several other characters,  perhaps having a link with each other.  we dun have to provide a conclusive " ending"  to each of the character's love story;  the film would be almost like a slice of life thing,
 where we have glimpses of the people's past and their thoughts.  yea the imagings of the ex coming back and what not.  ok i had another idea,  going further on the football drama shot as documentary:  the title would be Rags to Riches:  Not the Fandi AHmad Story.
 ( a play on fandi ahmads book)  anyway,  the film starts off with a voice over and a montage of images,  of babies in hospital infant section,  eric khoo like shots of people playing mahjong in hdb flats,
 pple queing up for 4d,  bukit turf club horses racing etc.  the voice over would be a morose voice saying something along this:  " I won.  Life is a gamble and i won.
 " mahjong,  4d,  stupid card games,  horse racing,  there are moments in life where one has to make choices.
 ( visuals:  hand holding cards.  people staring at each other's faces intently around the card table)  " important choices"
 ( visuals:  singapore pools soccer odds)  " whether you want to slog at a dead end 9 to 5 job or you want to experience the high life,  get rich and happy.
 " look at me,  when i was 13 i won my first lucky draw prize:  a bugs bunny soft toy;  when i was 16 i had my first car,  at 18,
 a bungalow.  but life is full of ups and downs,  now 25,  i'm back with bugs.  ( visuals:
 him sleeping with bugs)  Well, my life is pretty exciting,  im glad to say.  okay. roughly like that.
should be edited/ changed)  anyway yea,  i'm thinking of the story of this guy who boasts and talks about his life,  focusing on how obsessed he is with soccer gambling.  He draws up tables and analyses soccer and what not.
 he buys matches and calls up bookies.  At first he wins a match and he celebrates wildly,  freely spending the money and living the high life,  but later he loses,  and this is where we focus on how he tries to get back,  and how he instead falls deeper and deeper.
 there would be tension,  there would be quarrels.  how he spends his last few hundred dollars betting,  how he believes supposed tips given by friends and people,  how desperate he is. yet he seems to be in a state of bliss.
 the gambler's tunnel vision where everyday he is just thinking about the next match,  not bothering about other stuff in life.  This seems like a simple story but this is only the backbone of the film.  How we would flesh out the story would be the documentary part.  we can fill in scenes of people talking about soccer betting,  people in coffee shops being interviewed before the match about who would win,
 who are they buying,  etc.  then we can show the tension,  in their faces as they watch the tv screens,  and the goals and their cheering or sad- stoned faces.
 our anti- hero's friends would also be interviewed,  they would say that they have tried to stop him;  one would say he gave him good tips;  there would be irreverent soundbites from people talking about soccer betting.  we have people who come in and tell us about the different method of soccer betting.
 such experts would say that all matches are kelong ( fixed,  cheated)  and some would debunk it.  there would be people proposing the bet double theory of gambling ( where u keep betting double yr initial amt when u lose untill u win and u stop)
 the drama unfolds within this documentary part.  where the anti hero struggles through the various advice from frens and enemies,  and his different methods of betting ( portfolio theory,  contrarian theory,  bookie tips,
 etc)  the part where he neglects his family could be hinted in one of those sound bites where his mother says something about him not coming home for dinner or what.  yea,  the interviews are all fake and staged.  they are not real interviews as in we ask qns and pple answer.  its more like soundbites,
 as in wee li lin's " autograph book"  where each person just appears out of nowhere and say their shit,  some of it would be funny,  some of it would be like they're gloating over the anti hero,  there would be like bookies saying they got tips and what not.
 ok i hope u get what i mean.  This film would be slightly satiric and funny,  with drama of winning and losing,  and also slow emo bits of pple losing and losing hope.  Money is not the main thing here for these gamblers.  they have gambled to such an extent that gambling is their life,
 gambling gives them hope and meaning to continue slogging in their shitty jobs for " capital"  at one point:  the anti hero muses about:  " what for.
 what is the use of winnin all these money.  money can't buy u happiness.  he rouses himself suddenly:  " well im not in it for the money.  really,
 i have no concept of money already.  i treat these as mere stuff,  i just bet and dun care if i win or lose.  well its all human contradictory talk.
