Film and TV Picks: Kurosawa Kanpai!, Agatha All Along and The Substance
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Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954).
PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR
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Japanese Film Festival: Kurosawa Kanpai!
The Projector is celebrating the 41st anniversary of the Japanese Film Festival with a special tribute to legendary film-maker Akira Kurosawa.
From Sept 27 to Oct 20, six iconic Kurosawa films will be screened at both its Golden Mile Tower and Cineleisure locations, offering a guide to his diverse body of work that encompasses multiple genres – from period epics to film noir, and realist dramas to surrealist dream-like fantasies.
The Kurosawa retrospective kicks off with Ran (1985), the award-winning adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, followed by the classic Seven Samurai (1954); the visually stunning anthology Dreams (1990); Rashomon (1950), Japan’s first internationally acclaimed film; High And Low (1963), a sharp critique of classism in 1960s Japan; and Ikiru (1952), a moving meditation on life’s meaning.
Rashomon (1950) by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.
PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR
The late Kurosawa’s career spanned decades and his films have greatly influenced Hollywood directors such as Martin Scorsese and George Lucas, and Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai. – Joanne Soh
Where: The Projector, Cineleisure, 8 Grange Road, and Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road str.sg/Kgaw
MRT: Somerset/Nicoll Highway
When: Sept 27 to Oct 20, various times
Admission: $16
Info:
Agatha All Along (NC16)
Disney+
Kathryn Hahn in Agatha All Along.
PHOTO: DISNEY+
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has had hits and misses with its TV offerings since 2021’s WandaVision.
The series – which followed the story of witch Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her android partner Vision (Paul Bettany) – set the bar with its quirky feel, gripping story and scene-stealing villain Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn).
Hahn’s impressive portrayal turned Agatha into a fan favourite. She even received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series in 2021.
Spin-off series Agatha All Along picks up where WandaVision ended, with Agatha stripped of her powers after being defeated by Wanda.
When Agatha meets a mysterious youth whom she calls Teen (Joe Locke), the amnesiac witch slowly regains her memories. Agatha then sets out to reclaim her lost powers with the help of a motley coven of witches she assembles along the way.
Created by WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer, Agatha All Along is an ideal vehicle for Hahn to fully flesh out her campy, snarky anti-hero.
Together with the delightful Aubrey Plaza, who plays Agatha’s frenemy warrior witch Rio, the nine-episode series makes for an entertaining Halloween treat. – Joanne Soh
The Substance (M18)
141 minutes
★★★★☆
Demi Moore in The Substance.
PHOTO: ENCORE FILMS
The Substance is written and directed by Coralie Fargeat as if understudying David Cronenberg of The Fly (1986). But the French talent (Revenge, 2017) is capable of her own bloody baroque excess in a female body horror satirising the cultural obsession with youth.
Fired on her 50th birthday, Hollywood has-been Elisabeth (Demi Moore) undergoes a cell-replicating treatment that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself, resulting in the birth of a supple sexbot named Sue (Margaret Qualley).
Elisabeth becomes her own worst enemy in her deadly contest with Sue – her idealised self-image and a manifestation of her self-loathing all at once – to regain her career when her 20-year-old clone becomes the US’ hottest babydoll.
Moore is the comeback star, however eye-catching Qualley is with her wriggly Spandexed tushie. Now 61, Hollywood’s highest-paid actress of the 1990s for Striptease (1996) and G.I. Jane (1997) bares her body – mutant breasts included – and defiant anger in a role she understands well.
It is inspired casting and the 13-minute standing ovation Moore received at the Cannes Film Festival 2024 in May was well-deserved. – Whang Yee Ling
