Rodeo (NC16)

105 minutes

This 2022 French drama follows Julia (Julie Ledru), a troubled young woman who finds joy in the male-dominated world of urban motocross racing. She has to cope with sexism as well as her lack of money, a problem she fixes by turning to crime.

Film-maker Lola Quivoron’s debut earned a nomination in the Un Certain Regard, Camera d’Or and Queer Palm sections at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Guardian newspaper says the film “thrillingly captures the subculture of daredevil dirt bike riders who subsist on adrenaline and petrol”, with the film’s authenticity boosted through the use of non-professional actors.

Rodeo is presented in collaboration with Institut Francais and with the support of the Embassy of France in Singapore.

The film is part of indie cinema The Projector’s Women Make Film Festival 2024.

Where: The Projector, 05-00 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
MRT: Nicoll Highway
When: March 30, 5.30pm
Admission: $12.50 (standard), $10.50 (concession)
Info: theprojector.sg/films-and-events/rodeo

My Beautiful Laundrette (M18)

98 minutes

Now viewed as one of the most significant British films of the 20th century, this 1985 drama-comedy was also the work that pushed the careers of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi into overdrive.

Set in 1980s London, it follows British-Pakistani man Omar Ali (Gordon Warnecke) as he cares for his alcoholic father, while trying to make a success of a laundrette given to him to manage by a prosperous uncle.

An encounter with racist thugs leads him to discover that among them is childhood friend Johnny (Day-Lewis). They reunite and, together, they try to improve the laundrette and soon develop feelings for each other. They have to deal with the fallout of their relationship in Omar’s community, as well as Johnny’s past links with white supremacist gangs.

Kureishi’s writing earned nominations at the Academy Awards and Bafta Film Awards, while Day-Lewis won the Best Supporting Actor prize from the US National Board Of Review of Motion Pictures.

The film is being screened as part of the ArtScience Cinema’s Notes On Tenderness Film Programme, created for the extended Valentine’s season.

Where: ArtScience Cinema, level 4, ArtScience Museum, 6 Bayfront Avenue
MRT: Bayfront
When: March 31, 2pm
Admission: $12 for standard ticket price
Info: str.sg/k5Sa

We Are Family (PG)

103 minutes
3 stars

Eric Tsang serves as producer and stars as an ageing movie extra recruited into a family rental company that provides surrogate relatives.

The agency, WeFamily, has Carlos Chan as the boss-founder, Catherine Chau as a struggling actress and single mum, her precocious wee daughter (Alexandra Della Pietra), Tsang’s excitable sexagenarian and Tien Niu as Tsang’s landlady.

The quintet is a versatile pan-generational operation. Its professional services span role-playing the reputable household of a bride (Angela Hui), whose affluent in-laws (Shek Sau as Eugina Lau) must not know her father is in prison; and Chau’s rent-a-wife for lovelorn bachelors.

What defines a family? The comedic episodes touch on deeper themes of human connection, the loneliness epidemic, and the lies families tell themselves and others to stay together.

The personable cast keeps its hold on the audience’s affection and attention even when the movie turns maudlin. There is Tsang’s warmth, especially. And 1970s Shaw Brothers siren Tien, now 66, is timeless in her grace. – Whang Yee Ling