It’s indeed a blue moon when we have two Singapore films hitting the big screens here at almost the same time. Haunted Changi is now playing, but if family drama is more your cup of tea, then Clover Films’ Love Cuts, starring the Queen of Caldecott Hill Zoe Tay, will be your choice as it opens this week.
This is the stuff of what Hong Kong action crime thrillers are made of, with the sets being the real streets of the city upon which a high intense cop and robbers drama unfolds, and engaging characters that you actually care about.
Sonam Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone burst onto the Bollywood scene just about the same time with one another in 2007, with the Kapoors (no relation here) starring in their first feature film together in Saawariya. We know how prolific Ranbir Kapoor has become with a successful 2009 and 2010 seeing him all serious in Raajneeti, while Deepika Padukone herself is fairing none too bad with a string of releases.
At first look, Curse of the Deserted may seem like an Inception knock off with its dream within a dream, story within a story sequences, where we follow the characters in waking up from their conceived notion of reality, only to find that there was wool firmly pulled over their eyes, and you’d have to pause and figure out whether they’re in dreamland, or otherwise.
It’s been a couple of years since we last saw Phua Chu Kang and his zany family on Singapore television, since he has since plied his trade up north in Malaysia with the television sitcom PCK Sdn Bhd.
I must admit I was curious about this film because of its box office champ status in Thailand, and not just being a film with a romance set in and around Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain system, which agreed to lend its name to the movie as it celebrates its 10th year anniversary, providing a rare glimpse into its depot locale and the acknowledgement to the unsung heroes of the transportation network – the nocturnal track maintenance engineers.
You can probably name a number of films with titles “Once Upon a Time in…” where we go back in time to eras in cities or countries past, with room for plenty of astounding stories to be told, complete with that nostalgic peek in a time long gone.
The local mainstream movie offering has so far largely experienced the onslaught of Chinese productions, and quite frankly, been nothing but a lacklustre affair.
If your idea of a Taiwanese film veers toward that of art house fare, then think again. Of the two Taiwanese movies which are released here in close succession, one next week with Au Revoir Taipei, and this one which is executive produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien and already screening, both showing plenty of promise in mixing mainstream sentimentalism with art house production values.
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I think I’m feeling a little unfocused this week. See, my last few feature articles all have a focus to them, but this week I’m all over the place. Talk Sex.
Yes, there you go. It all comes back into focus. I’m listening to my sub consciousness and it keeps telling me, “You know what you [...]
It’s indeed a blue moon when we have two Singapore films hitting the big screens here at almost the same time. Haunted Changi is now playing, but if family drama is more your cup of tea, then Clover Films’ Love Cuts, starring the Queen of Caldecott Hill Zoe Tay, will be your choice as it opens [...]
This Sunday (8th August), a new documentary film will be screened at 10pm on Okto. OLD PLACES is produced by Chuan Pictures, directed by Royston Tan, Victric Thng and Eva Tang, and features the voices of Singaporeans as they recall their memories of disappearing places in Singapore.
As a preview, Civic Life blog writer Ng Yi-Sheng interviews [...]
