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1. Last Sunday, my wife and I saw the movie 881 at Tampines Mall with 18 of our grassroots leaders. It was a spontaneous decision because the Ming Zhu sisters who sang the songs for the Papaya sisters in the movie had presented me their autographed CDs the night before at our Bedok Reservoir mid-autumn dinner.

2. It was a touching movie but somewhat melodramatic at the end. The songs linger on in your mind. I thought the line in Hokkien, let each person take half and preserve the relationship, is very wise. A successful Hong Kong businessman told me once that he always left meat on the bone for others. Life is a matter of 'give and take'. If you only take, relationships must break down.

3. The 881 story was rather sad. I had just attended the funeral wake of the siblings who died in Hougang the day before and could not help making a connection. I think many Singaporeans saw aspects of their own lives in the movie which explains its unexpected box office success. By sharing the pain of others, our own pain somehow becomes more bearable.

4. Roystan Tan did well directing this movie. His earlier movie '15' about young gangsters in Singapore did not clear our censorship board. It was also too dark although it did receive some good reviews at international film festivals. Eric Khoo told me that Royston has potential. I had lunch with Eric and Royston two years ago and saw in them hope for our burgeoning film industry.

Do also read my posts on Beyond SG