JOHN LUI AND BOON CHAN RECOMMEND

Film Picks: A Most Wanted Man, Utter 2014 and more

Cinema still from That Loving Feeling directed by Wee Li Lin. -- PHOTO: UTTER 2014
Cinema still from That Loving Feeling directed by Wee Li Lin. -- PHOTO: UTTER 2014

UTTER 2014

If you missed the first screenings in July, this is another chance to watch the short films adapted from Singapore stories, as part of the Singapore Writers Festival.

The four short films are That Loving Feeling (directed by Wee Li Lin, based on Gopal Baratham's Homecoming), Tin Kosong (directed by Sanif Olek, from Tin Kosong by Muhammad Salihin Sulaiman), At Your Doorstop (directed by Don Aravind, inspired by Peaks, from Kalamadevi Aravindhan) and Going Home (directed by Kenny Tan, inspired by Going Home, from Lin Jin). Tan's Going Home is a slice of social realism, featuring an elderly man travelling to an old housing estate to see a former neighbour. What should be an ordinary visit, however, takes a surreal twist. The films will be screened together as part of The Arts House's But Is The Book Better series.

Where: The Screening Room, The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Lane MRT: City Hall When: Today & tomorrow, 4pm Admission: $10 Info: www.bytes.sg

John Lui


ST 20140905 JOPICKS05 CHINE 634828m

SINGAPORE HERITAGE SHORT FILM COMPETITION

This first short film competition, organised by the Singapore Film Society with the support of the National Heritage Board and the Lee Foundation, asked film-makers to submit works about an aspect of Singapore's heritage.

The third screening of the films, part of a series as it makes its way around the island, will be held at the Gillman Barracks arts hub.

Works include the documentaries Peranakans: Then & Now, about Peranakan culture, Chinese Opera Dreaming, featuring four troupes, and Lion City Dreamers, about a lion dance troupe.

Where: Post Popup at CCA Studio, 38 Malan Road MRT: Labrador Park When: Sept 12, 7.30pm - 9pm Admission: Free, with registration at shsfc3.peatix.com Info: www.sfs.org.sg

JL


ST 20140905 JOPICKS05 MOPST 634861m

A MOST WANTED MAN (NC16)

122 minutes

****

German security operative Gunther Bachmann is a world-weary mess, a cynic who has let his job consume his life. He is as much a skilled bureaucrat as he is a spy, for he works within a system as driven by the needs of glory-seeking managers as it is by the ideals of keeping the world safe from terrorism.

Bachmann, as played by the sublime Philip Seymour Hoffman (with Willem Dafoe) in his last feature role before his death, is George Smiley's crumpled, middle-European cousin, a pack-a-day man who shares Smiley's gift of patience in playing the long game.

2011's John le Carre adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy delved into the paranoia at Britain's MI6 branch. This work, however, is less psychological and more procedural, as well as being the most astute, authentic-looking analysis of spycraft as it is practised today.

JL


ST 20140905 CAFE 8 634807m

CAFE.WAITING.LOVE (PG13)

120 minutes

***

After the commercial and critical success of You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011), it was only a matter of time before another of popular Taiwanese writer Giddens Ko's novels received the big-screen treatment.

College freshman Si-ying (Vivian Sung) gets a part-time job at a cafe where barista Abusi (Megan Lai) is trying to make the perfect cup of coffee for the lovelorn owner (Vivian Chow). Meanwhile, as Si-ying pines for Zeyu (Marcus Chang), she becomes friends with A-Tuo (Bruce), a sunny senior with eccentric habits.

Compared with Apple, the story here is more fantastical and while there remains a sweet innocence in this work, it tries to cram too much in. Still, there is the bonus of seeing the ageless Chow on screen again four years after the lesbian drama All About Love (2010), even if her storyline is not as interesting.

Boon Chan

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.