Film Picks: Ne Zha 2, Hong Kong Film Awards Special showcase, Mickey 17
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Chinese animation film Ne Zha 2 is loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese fantasy novel Investiture Of The Gods.
PHOTO: ENCORE FILMS
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Ne Zha 2 (PG13)
143 minutes, now showing
Chinese animation film Ne Zha 2 picks up where the first 2019 fantasy adventure ended. Cheeky demonic boy Ne Zha and stoic dragon prince Ao Bing have become spirits after their mortal bodies were destroyed by heavenly lightning.
In their quest to rebuild their physical forms, Ne Zha and Ao Bing must overcome a series of trials while battling ravaging dragons which attempt to rule the heavens.
Directed by Chinese film-maker Yang Yu, also known as Jiaozi, the special effects-laden animation is loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese fantasy novel Investiture Of The Gods.
According to Chinese ticketing site Maoyan, the wildly popular film has grossed over US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) globally, dethroning Disney’s Inside Out 2 (2024) to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Chinese entertainment site iQiyi is streaming the first film on its platform via iq.com and its app for those who want a recap before watching Ne Zha 2 in the cinemas.
The Hong Kong Film Awards Special showcase
Natalie Hsu (left) and Ian Chan in Last Song For You (2024).
PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE
Golden Village has curated four 2024 films competing for top honours at the Hong Kong Film Awards on April 27 in its The Hong Kong Film Awards Special showcase.
The films – The Last Dance, Papa, All Shall Be Well and Last Song For You – will be presented in their original Cantonese language and screened at GV VivoCity till March 9.
Veteran actor Lau Ching Wan, who has received 17 Best Actor nominations – and won three – at the Hong Kong Film Awards throughout his career, is gunning for his fourth win with Papa. The heartbreaking drama follows a father who has to cope with the repercussions after his teenage son, played by Dylan So, murders his mother and younger sister. Papa received 11 nominations, with So earning a Best New Performer nomination.
The Last Dance, a dark comedy revolving around a funeral business, is the most-nominated film with 18 nods, including for Best Film, and Best Director for Anselm Chan. Michael Hui and Michelle Wai are in the running for the Best Actor and Best Actress trophies respectively.
Where: 02-30 VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk str.sg/LriC
MRT: HarbourFront
When: Till March 9, various timings
Admission: From $16.50
Info:
Mickey 17 (M18)
137 minutes, now showing
★★★★☆
Robert Pattinson plays a disposable clone worker in Mickey 17.
PHOTO: WBEI
Broke and on the run from thugs, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) contracts to be an expendable – a disposable clone worker on the icy planet Niflheim. He is sent to perform dangerous jobs because if he is killed, he can be reprinted an infinite number of times.
Nearly every one of celebrated South Korean film-maker Bong Joon-ho’s films is a social critique. In monster movie The Host (2006), it is environmental pollution that gets skewered. In drama-comedy Parasite (2019), winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, Bong makes stark the system that keeps a few at the top and others firmly at the bottom.
Mickey 17, adapted by Bong from Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, reuses those themes with a science-fiction twist, where futuristic technology is weaponised against the poor.
Bong’s metaphor for what migrant workers are – anonymous, cheap to hire and supplied from a seemingly inexhaustible source – packages a sharp message in a well-crafted, if goofy, science-fiction comedy. – John Lui
