ASIAN RESTORED CLASSICS

The festival of forgotten films brought back to life ends this week with three works dating from the early days of each culture's cinema industries.

Indonesia's Tiga Dara (PG, 115 minutes, 1956) is a classic comedy about three sisters who become embroiled in a love rivalry.

Long before Burma became Myanmar, there was Mya Ga Naing (PG, 97 minutes, 1934), an adventure drama about a young man from Rangoon who meets the girl of his dreams, only to become trapped in a crime conspiracy.

Thailand's Santi-Vina (PG, 114 minutes, 1954) is a love story with Buddhist overtones: A blind boy and his beloved must weather a series of setbacks to find a harmonious end to their story.

WHERE: Capitol Theatre, 11 Stamford Road; Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road MRT: City Hall/Dhoby Ghaut WHEN:Until Sunday, various times ADMISSION: $13 INFO: arc.asianfilmarchive.org

John Lui

MIDNIGHT RUNNERS (PG13)

109 minutes

4 stars

It has been a while since such an entertaining buddy action flick came along.

What makes it so watchable is the chemistry between the two charming and likable lead actors. They radiate an energy that is sunny and infectious and have a blast when they are together.

Gi Jun (Park Seo Jun, above left) and Hee Yeol (Kang Ha Neul, above right) are students and best friends at the police academy.

They witness a young woman getting abducted and, having learnt that time is of the essence in such cases, decide to follow up on their own time - even when they run up against red tape and find they could be expelled.

Boon Chan