Singapore's Funniest Sex Comedy - Rubbers

Sex has always been one of those taboo topic to talk about but at the same time the topic that gets the most attention. How ironic right? It is like we want it but we do not want it at the same time. #Pretentious.

How it all cum about

I was brought to attention about this show many months ago when they actually did a pitch on indiegogo to raise fund for this movie. It is some sort of a kick starter site for movie making.

Read About the Fun Raising Here.

I was very interested in it because sex has always been one of my favourite thing to do topic. I used to run this sex blog - Smithtalksaboutsex.blogspot.com which earned me the title "Singapore Sex Blogger" when I 1st started blogging. And this title still haunts me every now and then with the veteran bloggers who knows about it but I'm proud of it. Because sex is something we all love and we all do and I don't see a problem talking about it. 

Rubber Review (No Spoiler)

The day finally came where rubbers is ready for the big screen. I got my email invite and to be honest this is the 1st time I got so sexcited about a movie invite. A Singapore very own sex comedy. 

My favourite Character. I don't think you need to ask why

The show actually consist of 3 short stories which was 1st meant to be delivered on the big screen 1 at a time but editor managed to convinced the director to present it as 1 movie. I must say the editing was really pretty smooth. It didn't feel awkward or disruptive at all. 

The jokes were very local and that was one of the things that I enjoyed the most. The way they talk, the words they used were so "real". It is just like how you would have spoken to your friend instead of weird scenes like mediacorpse tv drama where 5 people stand in a circle and take turn to read their lines 1 after another. 

Rubber Review (With a bit of Spoiler)

Be prepared to see some familiar faces in this show like local star Chua En Lai, Kim Ng and even our director Han Yew Kuang.  He totally stole the show, his scenes were the best in my opinion. 

You may or may not remember Yew Kuang. Yew Kwang has been in the film and television industry for more than a decade. Since starting out a scriptwriter for popular Chinese sitcoms such as The Right Frequency(1998) and award winning dramas like Pass It Forward (2002), Yew Kwang has gone on to produce, write and direct various projects for film and television. His works include the romantic comedy 18 Grams of Love 愛情⼗十⼋八克 (2007) and the quirky un-romantic romantic comedy When Hainan Meets Teochew當海南遇上潮州 (2010).

Interview with the director (Spoiler Included)

I'm no journalist so do bear with me if anything sounds weird. It was a very casual interview so I would paraphrase some of the answers here and there a bit.

S(mith): What was the inspiration of these stories. Were they based on true story?
Y(ew Kuang): The plumber story is based on porn. We always see lonely female characters seducing plumbers in porn. I ask myself if we can give backstories to the characters... it might turn out to be a good story.

As for the Adam story, I heard a story of a guy, after ejaculating after sex, fell asleep without removing the used condom on his dick. It gave me imagination and I came out with the playboy story.

S: I understand that this is an indie movie which 1st started asking for funding off indiegogo, can you briefly describe how was the experience, how difficult or how easy the platform actually help in this project? 

Y: We raise only about $10K through indiegogo. But the campaign gives quite a bit of publicity to the film. And a few other private investors came and spoke to us after knowing that we were raising money thru indiegogo.

C(hee Nian - Producer): The Indiegogo fundraising idea came about when we were looking for funding to complete the shoot. We had already shot 2 of the stories (Balloons and The Plumber). The whole crowdfunding thing was a real learning experience - not as simple as just listing your idea and hope people come along and donate. It’s a lot of work and a whole jobscope in itself!

S: What was the ratio of the fund raised off indiegogo vs other source of funding. 

C: That would be about 6% of our entire budget if we managed to raise the full sum. In the end, it only comprised about 2.36% of our entire budget.

S: Can you briefly describe the casting experience? There aren't exactly nude scene but still it was a r21 show. Was it difficult to get them onboard or any insider news as in who else was supposed to be which role but rejected the role instead?

Y: We did audition some new faces for Adam's girlfriends... some were willing to strip and have no problem with the lovemaking scenes... but they were quite inexperienced when it comes to acting... some were missing comic timing... so we didn't work with them eventually.

S: Was Alaric really naked in some of the scenes? (I am not even sure why I am interested in this naked man. haha.)

Y: For the bare back scene yes. But we cleared the set, so only myself and the cameraman were in the room... before we rolled the camera, I pretended to seriously asked my cameraman "where's the monitor" and he replied "oh shit, it's outside the room!".. meaning everyone outside the room could actually see what was happening! Alaric freaked out a bit :) 

S: This got my attention. How awkward was it for Shuan to be between Alaric's legs? I am pretty sure she was biting to a harness and not the "real thing"... So is it really?

Y: Shu An was quite comfortable on set. I think she felt comfortable with us and ours was a very small and fun production team. And this is the very NSFW harness. 

S: What are the messages you guys are trying to send within the 3 different stories? Have protected sex? Don't anyhow rate a condom? 1st love is the best? or it is purely just for laugh?

Y:  Actually I don't have any formal message. I just want to bring laughter to the audience. Comedies nowadays are becoming quite complex and are trying to evoke too many different kind of emotions from the audience. So I thought I should just make one to make the audience laugh. 

S: Will we see a possible spin off or part 2 of rubber?

Y: haha, will see the response and box office of the film first. 

S: Any thing you would have done differently now that you have watched the final product. Cast, story, angle, etc. 

Y: Yes, I would have linked the story up better. Our original idea is to have 3 condoms trying to commit suicide together. One condom from each story, including durian. Each will have their sad stories to share... for example, condom from Alaric story will complain that Alaric never uses it. Condom from the old couple story will complain he lives in fear everyday, worrying that he will be blown into a balloon and burst. But we felt this treatment will be too episodic. 

I also thought of having the characters appearing in a scene of the other story. For example, marcus chin will be the first plumber to arrive before Thor. But we shot each story separately at different periods of time... so we didn't have all the cast available throughout the whole shoot.

S: What's some of your favorite scene/character in the show. Both you and Yew Kuang

Y: My favourite is Julian putting on the luminous condom and complaining that women are always so impatient :)

----------------- End of Interview ----------------

There you go, some of the behind the scene trivia. These guys are really fun and working with them was actually quite an experience although it was just a short scene. 

Wait, working with them? (Another spoiler) 

So I got lucky. At that point of time I was actually doing some project with a pretty friend and she introduced me to the producer as they were looking for carelefare. It is really nothing great. I don't think I did a good handjob but it was fun. I have no lines or whatever so but the experience was pretty interesting. And I got credited on the show as - Masturbating Men. LOL! NO SHIT! 

MNSFW - Actually this is not suitable for anything. 

but it was quite funny to see you own name on a movie credit. HAHA. 

I hope you guys can catch this show when it comes on this coming 30th April. It is totally worth the movie ticket money and in fact I am planning to watch it again!!! Support local r21 show!

P.S. If you are looking forward to Oon Shu an or Yeo Yann Yann nude scene... You will be  disappointed. I was. :p

Anyway leave you with the trailer!