GUNS AKIMBO (M18)
97 minutes/Now showing/3.5 stars
Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) is a nerdy games designer who is bullied by everyone he knows. He releases his rage by trolling Internet bullies, but after he insults an underground cult that organises a murder game livestreamed to millions, the cult inducts him into a deathmatch against his will by surgically attaching guns into the flesh of his hands. His opponent: The champion, Nix (Samara Weaving).
New Zealand writer-director Jason Lei Howden knows his stuff, with gunplay scenes that recall Hong Kong classics (Hard Boiled, 1992), livened up with headshots and blood spatter from disposable 1970s American and Australian cinema, the ones with the word "game" or "death" in the title.
SORRY WE MISSED YOU (NC16)
100 minutes/Now showing
As the recent saga over the banning of e-scooters showed, food delivery riders here were hard hit and needed help from the Government and private sector when the vehicles on which their livelihoods depended had to be abandoned.
In Sorry We Missed You, the dream of good money and flexible hours has enticed United Kingdom resident Ricky (Kris Hitchen), who puts what little money he has into becoming a contract worker for a parcel delivery giant.
Director Ken Loach, known for his stories about the working poor (the Palme d'Or-winning I, Daniel Blake, 2016), illustrates how, for people like Ricky, the gig economy can resemble modern slavery.
WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: theprojector.sg
THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA (NC16)
137 minutes/Streaming on Netflix/4 stars
One of the films in the bundle licensed from the legendary animation house Studio Ghibli, this 2013 work is a quiet drama - minimalist in its art design and formal in its adherence to the classic fairy tale on which the screenplay is based.
This story of a foundling who grows into a princess makes unapologetic references to Shinto Buddhist and Japanese folk beliefs, but should still be a hauntingly poetic experience for any viewer.
Nominated at the Academy Awards in 2015, it lost to Big Hero 6 (2014).
