| Fridae Movie Club: Singapore | 8th April 2009 / Issue 265 |
| > Join Fridae Movie Club > Forward to a friend | Archive > Subscribe | Unsubscribe > Write to the Editor > Search movie | Read online Do you like cheese? Then you may like the movies opening this week, which range from the cheerfully cheesy Hong Kong action flick The Sniper, to the try-too-hard comic cheese of Handsome Suit, to the stinking slab of sci-fi cheese Knowing and the dry action cheese Killshot. To wit, the new movies this week aren’t very good. But if you must watch one of them, then go with The Sniper, which at least doesn’t pretend to be anything more than slick B-grade action film. Directed by Dante Lam, it also happens to feature bare-chested Asian boys like Edison Chen, Wilfred Lau and Huang Xiaoming swinging guns at one another, and is the most homoerotic action flick we’ve seen since Top Gun.
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Otherwise, skip the general releases altogether and check out some of the arthouse offerings at the Singapore International Film Festival instead. But be careful in your selection or you could end up with, well, a different kind of cheese.
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The Sniper
In Mandarin with subtitles |
FEdison Chen may be embroiled in one of the biggest sex scandals in Chinese history. But there’s no denying his still radiant sex appeal. In his new action film The Sniper, we get to see him walk around shirtless a lot (Thank you, God!), exposing his twinky torso for the benefit of red-blooded gay men and straight women who can’t get enough of him. Directed by Dante Lam (The Beast Stalker), The Sniper revolves around the tense rivalry between two police sharpshooters, played by Richie Ren and Huang Xiaoming. Both are excellent marksmen with unique shooting techniques, and both are gunning for the top position in the police force. Things come to a head when the two are involved in a mission that ends disastrously. Xiaoming is blamed for the death of an innocent man and sentenced to jail. Xiaoming, however, blames Richie and his team for the bungle, and vows to take revenge. Four years later, a rookie sniper (Edison Chen) joins the force and quickly catches Richie’s eye with his effortless marksmanship. Richie handpicks Edison to join his team. But Edison stumbles upon Xiaoming’s unusual shooting technique and becomes fascinated with jailed sniper instead. A relationship triangle develops, leading to an eventual showdown… Helmer Dante Lam directs The Sniper efficiently, but he’s also added a surprising touch of homoeroticism. Playing like a Chinese Top Gun, there are plenty of pretty boys, bare chests, macho swaggering and power play. The three-way relationship between Richie, Edison and Xiaoming feels almost like a love triangle, as the two older cops vie for the allegiance of the younger man. The Sniper may be a B-grade film, but it’s fairly watchable and unpretentious. It also marks a welcome return for Edison. |
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Knowing
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Sometimes it’s just better not Knowing. Ageing action star Nicolas Cage plays a science professor whose son gets hold of a letter written in the past. The letter contains a string of numbers which may seem random to the untrained eye, but actually holds the key to the future. With these numbers, Nicolas can tell when a disaster is about to strike at which part of the world. But the biggest disaster of all is about to happen, and Nicolas knows he can’t stop this one… Directed by Alex Proyas (I, Robot), Knowing begins intriguingly enough, as Nicolas’ efforts to understand the numbers take on shades of a detective novel and a horror movie. Unfortunately, the film’s last fifteen minutes turns Knowing into a cheap science fiction affair that is dumb and absurd on so many levels. Like we said, it’s better not Knowing. |
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Fast & Furious 4
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The first Fast & Furious film in 2001 shifted Paul Walker’s ho-hum career into overdrive, and turned the-then unknown Vin Diesel into a star. Since then, both actors have had a few hits but a whole lot of misses – which probably explains why they’ve returned to make the fourth installment of the franchise. Directed by Asian-American Justin Lin, who helmed the third film The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift, the new Fast & Furious reignites the love-hate relationship between ex-convict Vin Diesel and police detective Paul Walker as they reluctantly team up to bring down a shared enemy. The plot is half-baked, the acting is half-hearted, but the cars and the racing sequences are as exciting as ever, carefully shot to place the audiences in a huge video game. A fast and fun film for speed demons; an infuriating film for everyone else. (Thankfully they went easy on the sex scenes - ED) |
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Killshot
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Here’s a misfire: Diane Lane and Thomas Jane play a couple who witness a crime, and are swiftly placed in the FBI Federal Witness Protection Programme where they are given new identities and new lives. But try as they might, they can’t outrun the bad guys (Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt)… Based on a Elmore Leonard novel, Killshot is a flat and predictable thriller that is made slightly more watchable by the strong cast. Diane Lane and Thomas Jane are reliably good, while Mickey Rourke delivers a fine performance to match his Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler. Joseph Gordon-Levitt over-acts but at least he gives you something to watch. The fault seems to lie squarely with Hossein Amini’s dull script and John Madden’s unfocused direction. John once made marvelous films like Shakespeare in Love and Mrs Brown, but his new film and his last (2005’s Proof) are simply mediocre. |
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Handsome Suits
In Japanese with English and Chinese subtitles |
This wish-fulfillment fantasy-comedy starts off well, telling the story of a fat and unattractive restaurant owner (Muga Tsukaji) looking for love. He fancies the new waitress he’s hired, but she – like every other woman before her – rejects him. Out shopping one day, he finds a magical suit that transforms him into a slim and handsome man. Immediately, he has women trailing him everywhere, offering sex and marriage. But Muga soon feels that he wants to be liked for who he really is… Despite a likeable turn by the lead actor, this Japanese comedy is too long (two hours) for its own good, and loses much of its initial charm when it starts to get preachy and politically-correct in the second half. Director Tsutomu Hanabusa employs many of the kawaii devices that define slapstick Japanese comedies, but they feel shopworn and stale. Skip this. |
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General-interest
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| Revolution-Per-Minute by TheatreWorks / 72-13
$28 / $15 (concessions for students, NSFs and senior citizens) |
1 accident; 2 parties; 3 versions. RPM is a dramatic musing on collision: what happens when lives, bodies and memories plow into one another. One high-speed motorcycle totals itself, taking an unsuspecting pedestrian with it while an incredulous passer-by witnesses the whole event. “Does your life really flash before you eyes before you expire? What will you see? Will you like what you see?” Conceived by Director Choy Ka Fai and written by Robin Loon, RPM is a contemporary theatrical experience that flirts with what defines visual arts, dance and theatre. Featuring a unique collaboration with Osaka dance collective contact Gonzo, this installation performance of sound, lights and multimedia brings you an immersive experience... Where: TheatreWorks/72-13 Mohamed Sultan Rd When: 23-04-2009 to 25-04-2009 |
| LGBT-interest
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| Singapore International Film Festival
Tickets: $9.50 |
DIM SUM FUNERAL National Museum of Singapore, 23 Apr, 7:15pm FEMALE GAMES National Museum of Singapore, 18 Apr, 11:30am JAY The Arts House - Screening Room, 17 Apr, 7:15pm SINGAPORE PANORAMA SHORTS 1
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