Film Picks: Killer Films showcase at The Projector, Stranger Eyes, Better Man

Killer Films: A Neo Noir Showcase

Before Lee Byung-hun engaged in violent killings as the nefarious Front Man in

Squid Game (2021 to present)

, the South Korean actor was on a rampage in I Saw The Devil. He was chasing after a serial killer – played by Choi Min-sik of Oldboy (2003) fame – who brutally murdered and dismembered his fiancee.

The acclaimed 2010 South Korean revenge flick is one of five serial killer classics The Projector has curated for its Killer Films showcase, which runs at Golden Mile Tower and Cineleisure from Jan 12 to Feb 8.

Included in the line-up is influential Japanese film-maker Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1997 horror flick Cure, which follows a detective investigating a series of bizarre murders committed by individuals with no memory of their actions. 

Another must-watch is American film-maker David Fincher’s 1995 crime masterpiece Se7en, which has been remastered in 4K for its 30th anniversary.

Considered one of the greatest thrillers of all time, the Oscar-nominated film follows a seasoned detective (Morgan Freeman) and his rookie partner (Brad Pitt) as they pursue a serial killer who targets victims based on the seven deadly sins.

The other films are the Oscar-winning psychological thriller The Silence Of The Lambs (1991), featuring Anthony Hopkins in his most iconic role as cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter; and Fincher’s suspenseful Gone Girl (2014), starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, which explores the sinister sides of marriage and identity.

Where: The Projector, Cineleisure, 8 Grange Road; and Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
MRT: Somerset/Nicoll Highway
When: Jan 12 to Feb 8, various times
Admission: $16 a screening
Info: 

str.sg/xNNc

Stranger Eyes (NC16)

126 minutes, now showing exclusively at The Projector
★★★★☆

Young couple Junyang (Wu Chien-ho) and Peiying (Anicca Panna) are devastated when their toddler goes missing at a playground in Singapore. They then receive mysterious videos showing that their everyday movements are being recorded.

In this Singapore-Taiwan-France-US production, Singaporean film-maker Yeo Siew Hua explores a modern paradox: Your safety is guaranteed only to the extent to which you are willing to give up your privacy.

Yeo starts with questions about society, such as where does justified surveillance end and voyeurism begin? He also wades into deeper psychological waters, asking audiences to ponder the act of seeing and its opposite, wilful blindness.

This is not a tidy movie by any definition. Its philosophical interludes and pensive silences are challenging, and the lives of its main characters are messy. But few film-makers here can match Yeo’s ability to ask heavy questions with such a light touch.

There will be a virtual question-and-answer session with Yeo and Singaporean actress Xenia Tan, who also stars in the film, at The Projector at Golden Mile Tower on Jan 9 after the 7.30pm screening. The event will be moderated by local film-maker Kirsten Tan. – John Lui

Better Man (M18)

134 minutes, now showing
★★★★☆

Britpop superstar Robbie Williams is a walking, talking and singing chimpanzee in an autobiography of his childhood through his three decades in the music industry, breaking away from 1990s boy band Take That for solo success.

The simian creation by Weta FX digital effects company of the rebooted Planet Of The Apes franchise (2011 to 2024) is performed to perfection via motion capture by English actor Jonno Davies, with Williams narrating his origin story.

Its irreverent candour is unmistakably Williams, his feral self-loathing stemming from his father’s abandonment and the insecurities of fame.

A prototypical rise-fall-redemption celebrity biopic becomes an intimate confessional, dark and profoundly emotional. – Whang Yee Ling