Film Picks: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Millennium Mambo, Sumpitan Rachun

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (NC16)

149 minutes, now showing
4 stars

The Mad Max film series (1979 to present) – of which this is the fifth instalment – has relied on a simple principle: Humans will turn campy after the apocalypse.

The idea that the inhabitants of a wasteland will live each day as if it were a Mardi Gras festival is not an odd one for Australian writer-director George Miller, who believes that the Mad Max stories are tales told around a campfire – the embellishments are meant to signify their status as legends told centuries after the events have taken place.

In this spin-off and prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), a girl is kidnapped from The Green Place by bikers who follow the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). The Green Place, where food and water are readily available, is ripe for conquest, so the girl holds valuable strategic information.

Time passes and she becomes a trusted soldier and driver for another warlord, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). In his service, she would be known as Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy).

As Dementus, Hemsworth is a revelation. The Thor (2011 to 2022) actor flexes and struts like a deity, mannerisms the god-like superhero Thor never developed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Dementus is a leader who believes that just because he rules through cruelty and violence, it does not mean he cannot have fun on the job.

In media reports, Taylor-Joy has talked about rough days on the set, with one hardship being that her character is mostly mute. If this was a complaint – and the articles can be read several ways – she should at least be happy to know that her facial expressions are spot on. Miller asked her to give her best war face and she delivered. 

Millennium Mambo (M18)

119 minutes

Released in 2001, this work by acclaimed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien is being screened as part of ArtScience Cinema’s Screen Icons’ focus on Shu Qi.

Born in Taiwan, she left for Hong Kong as a teenager to become an actress. After getting a start in Category III softcore in the former colony, she transitioned into mainstream films, winning several awards, including at the Hong Kong Film Awards for the comedy Viva Erotica (1996) and crime drama Portland Street Blues (1998).

In Millennium Mambo, she plays nightclub hostess Vicky, a woman torn between aspiring deejay Hao Hao (Tuan Chun-hao) and gangster Jack (Jack Kao). The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and won for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound Effects at the Golden Horse Film Festival.

A review in The New York Times calls it a “sordid yet transcendent” film that relies on the lush, colour-saturated style of Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing, who had worked with Australia’s Christopher Doyle on Hong Kong film-maker Wong Kar-wai’s celebrated In The Mood For Love (2000).

Where: ArtScience Cinema, Level 4 ArtScience Museum, 6 Bayfront Avenue
MRT: Bayfront
When: May 26, 4.30pm
Admission: $12 for standard tickets
Info:

str.sg/FNjs

Cinema Reclaimed: Dream Palaces

In the 2023 edition of Cinema Reclaimed, the film strand of Singapore HeritageFest, the Cathay-Keris crime mystery Hantu Rimau (1960) was screened.

It featured the exploits of Detective Inspector Latiff (played by S. Roomai Noor), a character created by London-born Arthur John Pelham-Groom. From 1954, he lived in Singapore, writing for the Singapore Free Press, while also penning science-fiction, adventure and mystery stories. He died in Hong Kong in 1978.

In 2024, there is Sumpitan Rachun (PG, 97 minutes, 1961, screens at Oldham Theatre on May 26 at 2pm), in which Inspector Latiff returns, once more assisted by forensic pathologist Tan Lai Peng (Mary Lim).

Film researcher Toh Hun Ping in the book World Film Locations: Singapore writes that the noir-inflected film, directed by veteran L. Krishnan, features “stolen jewels, poisoned darts and an alluring singer”.

Sumpitan Rachun also features locations such as the old Cathay Building, owned by Cathay Organisation, which also ran Cathay-Keris Studio.

Also at Oldham Theatre, film historian and memorabilia collector Wong Han Min will give a talk titled Cinema Paradiso – The Lost World Of Singapore’s Picture Palaces (May 26, noon). Mr Wong, who owns one of Singapore’s largest collections of film memorabilia and ephemera, will cover the period from 1896 to 2000 and show rare images of pre-war cinemas.

Where: Oldham Theatre, 1 Canning Rise
MRT: City Hall/Clarke Quay/Bras Basah
When: May 26, 2pm
Admission: $10
Info: For details and bookings, go to

str.sg/koBg