Film picks: Didi, Off The Catalogue and A Clockwork Orange
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Aaron Chang, Izaac Wang, Tarnvir Singh and Raul Dial in Didi.
PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR
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Didi (NC16)
94 minutes, now showing at The Projector
4 stars
Poor Chris. This story – which might as well be called Everybody Hates Chris – stands as a test of one’s ability to not groan out loud as the main character stumbles his way through adolescence, making one silly faux pas after another.
It is 2008 and Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) is a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American kid living in California with his mother Chungsing (Joan Chen), sister Vivian (Shirley Chen) and grandmother (Chang Li Hua). Chris is desperate to fit in, but feels like a failure on all fronts. He is neither as confident as his friend Fahad (Raul Dial) nor as high-achieving as the other kids in the Asian community.
Taiwanese-American writer-director Sean Wang’s debut scripted feature won the Audience Award in the US Dramatic section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
On the surface, there is not much to this creatively shot and vibrantly edited coming-of-age tale. Like the few weeks in the teen’s life that it captures, it feels ephemeral, a season that will fade from memory once the pace of life quickens.
The story is rich in small moments, which film-maker Wang captures with the precision of a scientist fixing a microscope slide.
As Chungsing, an embattled single parent beset by two combative teens and a harshly critical mother-in-law, China-born actress Joan Chen will break hearts, leading one to wonder why Hollywood has yet to beat down her door.
Off The Catalogue
Rahim Razali in Sayang Disayang.
PHOTO: SANIF OLEK
This programme at the Asian Film Archive offers a mix of features from the AFA’s repository, giving audiences a chance to rediscover them.
In August, the spotlight falls on films that portray life in modern Singapore. Among them is Sayang Disayang (PG, 2013, 77 minutes, screens on Aug 7). Film-maker Sanif Olek’s debut feature pays tribute to Malay cuisine and music.
Domestic helper Murni (Singaporean director and playwright Aidli Mosbit) strives to prepare a serving of sambal goreng that meets the standards of crotchety widower Pak Harun (Malaysian actor Rahim Razali).
Despite her best efforts, she finds it impossible to please the older man through either conversation or cooking.
The drama was Singapore’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars in 2015.
A review of Sayang Disayang in the entertainment industry publication The Hollywood Reporter calls the film “dreamy, sensual and feel-good, nearly devoid of social commentary but gushing with beautiful sights and sounds”.
Where: Oldham Theatre, National Archives of Singapore Building, 1 Canning Rise str.sg/KzgC
MRT: City Hall/Bras Basah
When: Aug 7 to 28, 8pm (Wednesdays)
Admission: $10 (general), $9 (concession)
Info:
A Clockwork Orange (R21)
137 minutes
A Clockwork Orange stars Malcolm McDowell.
PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR
Released in 1971 and banned in Singapore for over three decades because of its frank display of sex and violence, the film has been brought back for one screening by The Projector.
The indie cinema’s Happy Birthday Kubrick slate of films celebrates the work of American film-maker Stanley Kubrick, the visionary behind some of cinema’s most acclaimed works.
His adaptation of the 1962 Anthony Burgess novel is set in a dystopian future, in which scientists believe that by taking away criminals’ free will, they will solve all crime.
Alex (Malcolm McDowell), the sociopathic leader of a group of thugs, becomes a guinea pig for the scientists following his arrest. His journey through the British systems of justice and politics is a satire that blends pulp science fiction with exploitation cinema.
Though it is now viewed as a seminal work, the film was mired in controversy from the start. Film boards and religious groups around the world tried to block or cut it, or at least issue warnings about its explicit content. In Singapore, the uncut version made its premiere with an R21 classification in 2011 at the Perspectives Film Festival.
Where: The Projector at Golden Mile Tower, Level 5, 6001 Beach Road str.sg/CQ7c
MRT: Nicoll Highway
When: Aug 3, 8pm
Admission: $14 (student/senior concession), $16 (weekend standard)
Info:
