Cinema Reclaimed: Dream Palaces
Since 2020, Cinema Reclaimed has been held as the film strand of the Singapore HeritageFest. Curated by writer and researcher Ben Slater, with curatorial support from Toh Hun Ping, the fourth edition of the programme is titled Dream Palaces, for the local cinemas that have become historical and emotional sites.
The film screenings and talks will be held in heritage cinemas and theatres, namely Capitol Theatre, Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, The Projector and Oldham Theatre.
Architectural and urban historian Lai Chee Kien will give a talk after the screening of the drama Saint Jack (1979, M18, 115 minutes, screening at The Projector, Golden Mile Tower, on May 5, 4pm).
Filmed in Singapore in 1978 by director Peter Bogdanovich, the movie was banned here for nearly three decades for its depictions of the island’s seedier side. It features sites such as the now-demolished Empress Place Food Centre.
Mr Lai’s talk will address the historical and cultural significance of places seen in the film.
In Royston At Capitol! (Capitol Theatre, May 10, 7.30pm), film-maker Royston Tan will introduce five works and take part in a question-and-answer session after the screening.
Tan’s ties with the site run deep, beginning in his youth, when he watched films there, up to the time he used the location in works such as Old Places (2010, PG, 77 minutes), which he co-created with Eva Tang and Victric Thng. Old Places and four other films will be screened.
The event also marks the 94th anniversary of the historic theatre, one of Singapore’s last standalone cinema spaces.
Where: Capitol Theatre, Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, The Projector at Golden Mile Tower and Oldham Theatre
MRT: Various
When: May 5 to 26, various times
Admission: $10
Info: For details and bookings, go to str.sg/koBg
European Union Film Festival 2024
Presented by the European Union Delegation to Singapore, the European Union Film Festival runs till May 25 and celebrates the rich diversity of the region through contemporary cinema.
The roster for 2024 covers 24 films from 24 countries, offering genres such as animation, documentary and comedy.
From acclaimed Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki comes the romantic comedy Fallen Leaves (2023, PG13, 82 minutes, screens on May 5, 5pm), winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and Finland’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards, where it entered the final 15 shortlist.
Helsinki resident Ansa (Alma Poysti) is a single woman who is as luckless in love as she is in finding steady employment. She meets the equally lonely Holappa (Jussi Vatanen). Sparks fly, but a series of events, both silly and serious, keeps them apart.
The Guardian gave the film four stars out of five, calling it “another of Kaurismaki’s beguiling and delightful cinephile comedies, romantic and sweet-natured in a deadpan style”.
Where: Golden Village x The Projector at Cineleisure, 05-01, 8 Grange Road
MRT: Orchard
When: Till May 25, various times
Admission: $16 standard, with concessions
Info: euff.com.sg
Challengers (M18)
132 minutes
4 stars
Italian director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash, 2015; Bones And All, 2022) loves to tease. He takes his time creating the circumstances that will cause repressed desires to emerge, dramatically.
Emotions are messy and he is not afraid to get messy in depicting them – he famously made peaches a meme following the release of his coming-of-age movie Call Me By Your Name (2017).
Former tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is a wife and mother who manages her husband Art (Mike Faist), a tennis professional. His career is in a slump, so she books him to play in a smaller competition, hoping an easy win will restore his flagging confidence.
Playing in the same tournament is Patrick (Josh O’Connor), Art’s former best friend who is also Tashi’s former boyfriend.
This is Zendaya’s movie – she is at its centre, existing as both the object of male rivalry as well as something of an enigmatic femme fatale.
Is she a puppetmaster or a victim dealing with the fallout from her husband’s tennis impotency? Perhaps she is both. That ambiguity, coolly delivered by a gifted actress, makes the interplay all the more intriguing.
