Movies On My Mind

Bring back Lee Ang the no-frills storyteller

The director's early films - unlike his recent technology-packed Gemini Man - told compelling tales of the Chinese diaspora experience without gimmicks

Whang Yee Ling
Gemini Man, by director Lee Ang (above), stars Will Smith as an elite government assassin who is suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his fitter, younger clone, who is a fully computer-generated character (left). The Farewell, starring Awkwafina
Gemini Man, by director Lee Ang, stars Will Smith as an elite government assassin who is suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his fitter, younger clone, who is a fully computer-generated character (above). PHOTOS: PARAMOUNT PICTURES, SHAW ORGANISATION
Gemini Man, by director Lee Ang (above), stars Will Smith as an elite government assassin who is suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his fitter, younger clone, who is a fully computer-generated character (left). The Farewell, starring Awkwafina
Gemini Man, by director Lee Ang (above), stars Will Smith as an elite government assassin who is suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his fitter, younger clone, who is a fully computer-generated character.
Gemini Man, by director Lee Ang (above), stars Will Smith as an elite government assassin who is suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his fitter, younger clone, who is a fully computer-generated character (left). The Farewell, starring Awkwafina
The Farewell, starring Awkwafina (left) and Zhao Shuzhen (right), is reminiscent of Lee Ang's The Wedding Banquet (1993).
Updated
Oct 22, 2019, 05:20 AM
Published
Oct 22, 2019, 05:00 AM
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Will Smith's face is in my face. It is big and distractingly shiny, as is the rest of Gemini Man.

This conspiracy action thriller now in cinemas stars Smith as elite government assassin Henry Brogan. He is 51 and nearing retirement when suddenly hunted by a mysterious sniper - his faster, fitter, 30-year-younger clone named, amusingly, Junior.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 22, 2019, with the headline Bring back Lee Ang the no-frills storyteller. Subscribe

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MCI (P) 066/10/2023. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2024 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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