Wonder Boy (2017 film)

Song Featured In The Motion Picture Wonder Boy (Songs Inspired by the Motion Picture)
Song Featured In The Motion Picture Wonder Boy (Songs Inspired by the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by Dick Lee
Released	August 1, 2017
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	24:01
Label	AOR Studios

Wonder Boy
Wonder Boy
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dick Lee; Daniel Yam
Written by	Dick Lee ; Ong Kuo Sin
Produced by	Melvin Ang ; Bert Tan ; Boi Kwong ; Teri Tan ; Ricky Ow ; Chang Long Jong ; Ng Say Yong
Starring	Benjamin Kheng ; Julie Tan ; Zachary Ibrahim ; Chen Xi ; Fang Rong ; Michelle Wong ; Ryan Ang
Cinematography	Yong Choon Lin
Edited by	Neo Rui Xin
Music by	Dick Lee
Production; companies	mm2 Entertainment ; Bert Pictures ; Dick Lee Asia
Distributed by	Golden Village Pictures
Release date	August 3, 2017;
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Singapore
Languages	English ; Mandarin; Cantonese
Budget	S$1.3 million

Wonder Boy (Chinese: 音为爱; pinyin: Yīnwèi Ài) is a 2017 Singaporean coming-of-age musical film directed by Dick Lee in his directorial debut, and co-directed by Daniel Yam. An autobiographical film, it stars Benjamin Kheng as a younger version of Lee.

Plot

16-year-old Richard (Benjamin Kheng) grew up during a time when rock music was banned and long-haired men were considered gangsters. During his rebellious teenage years, Richard joins a singing group in school named The Wonder Boys, and embarks on his coming-of-age journey through youthful ambition, friendships and first love, all the while trying to have his music heard.

Cast

Benjamin Kheng as Richard "Dick" Lee
Julie Tan as Linda, Richard's love interest
Constance Song as Elizabeth Lee, Richard's mother
Gerald Chew as Richard's father, Mr Kip
Zachary Ibrahim as Mark, Richard's bandmate and best friend
Chen Xi as Sammy, Richard's friend and bandmate
Fang Rong as Louise, Richard's ex-crushee
Michelle Wong as Patricia "Pat" Lee, Richard's younger sister
Ryan Ang as Roy, Richard's friend and bandmate
Jensern Lim as Andrew Lee, Richard's youngest brother
Amy Cheng as Richard's teacher

His Record Label Company Members

Alexis Bauduin
Gerry Rezel
Richard Herrera
Shane Mardjuki

Production

Pre-production

Lee, who decided to venture into film-making, wanted to make a film inspired by his experiences as a budding singer-songwriter and student at St. Joseph's Institution from 1972 to 1974. According to an interview during the press conference for Wonder Boy, Lee said that "not much is known about my teenage days because a lot of people only know me from (album) The Mad Chinaman onwards, which was in the late 80s", and that the film "will be a revelation to a lot of people, even to my oldest audience".^[1] Meanwhile, the film would depict the era correctly and truthfully, including taking drugs,^[2] although some of the content would be fictionalized because "there are several characters that are being made into composite characters and we don’t want living people to come accuse me of this and that".^[3] Wonder Boy was initially envisioned to be a play, but during development, it evolved into a film.

Casting and crew

Benjamin Kheng, who is best known for being a member of the group The Sam Willows, was picked for the lead role. He still had to audition for the role as Lee wanted to be sure he was the perfect choice. Kheng had previously played Lee in TheatreWorks' 2012 musical National Broadway Company.^[2]

Most of the cast were announced during the press conference, although the role of Richard's father, which would be taken up by Gerald Chew, was not yet cast.

Daniel Yam was brought in as co-director to help Lee in the technical side of filming.

Filming

Filming started in October 2016, and took place in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia. During the press conference held on August 1, 2017, Lee admitted that he had a difficult time filming as he was painfully reminded of his rebellious teenage past.^[4]

Reception

John Lui of The Straits Times gave Wonder Boy a 2.5 out of 5 stars, feeling that it "delivers a frank look at the swinging seventies", telling the story of "a musician trying to be heard in a world that does not care for tunes they have not heard on the radio - when Lee (Kheng) performs, audiences literally walk out". However, it "suffers from structural issues" as "the collapsing of several real people into a single character has also led to schizophrenia; bullies turn into best friends overnight, before they flip again".^[5]

Soundtrack

The songs featured in Wonder Boy are mostly covers of Lee's songs from his debut album Life Story, including "Life Story" and "Fried Rice Paradise". The music video for "Fried Rice Paradise", sung by the film's main cast, was uploaded onto YouTube on June 15, 2017. On August 1, 2017, Lee released an EP entitled Song Featured In The Motion Picture Wonder Boy (Songs Inspired by the Motion Picture), which consists of re-recordings of his songs featured in the film.

References

^ Low, Tracy (30 July 2016). "Dick Lee's upcoming biopic will be 'a revelation'". The New Paper. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
^ ^a ^b Abdul Hadi, Eddino (29 July 2016). "Dick Lee biopic Wonder Boy will be authentic, features drug culture and prostitution". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
^ Loh, Genevieve Sarah (29 July 2016). "Benjamin Kheng to play music personality Dick Lee in new film Wonder Boy". Channel NewsAsia. Mediacorp. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
^ Iau, Jean (1 August 2017). "Dick Lee: Shooting Wonder Boy was very emotional for me". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
^ Lui, John (2 August 2017). "Wonder Boy a mildly shocking look at 1970s Singapore". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.

External links

Wonder Boy at IMDb
Wonder Boy on Instagram

[tnp-1] Low, Tracy (30 July 2016). "Dick Lee's upcoming biopic will be 'a revelation'". The New Paper. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2017.

[st-2] Abdul Hadi, Eddino (29 July 2016). "Dick Lee biopic Wonder Boy will be authentic, features drug culture and prostitution". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.

[cna-3] Loh, Genevieve Sarah (29 July 2016). "Benjamin Kheng to play music personality Dick Lee in new film Wonder Boy". Channel NewsAsia. Mediacorp. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.

[st1-4] Iau, Jean (1 August 2017). "Dick Lee: Shooting Wonder Boy was very emotional for me". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.

[strev-5] Lui, John (2 August 2017). "Wonder Boy a mildly shocking look at 1970s Singapore". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.

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