Over The Moon (PG)
100 minutes / now on Netflix / 4 stars
This Netflix animated musical is what Disney's 2020 Mulan should have been: An upbeat celebration of a girl overcoming the odds, not the dour lecture about values that audiences got instead.
As in Mulan, the story here concerns a Chinese girl who is told to know her limits. Admittedly, the stakes are lower: Fei Fei (voiced by Cathy Ang as a teenager) just wants to prove that the legend of the moon goddess Chang'e is real - it's her link to a painful past that she will not release.
In trying to prove to her sceptical family that Chang'e still lives on the moon, pining for her husband, the archer Hou Yi, Fei Fei steps into a looking-glass world of fantastical creatures that embody the Mid-Autumn Festival, as well as those that are purely the creation of storytellers.
Glen Keane, director and former Walt Disney Animation Studios alumnus - working with a screenplay by Alice Wu, Audrey Wells, Jennifer Yee McDevitt - lets the songs do the emotional heavy lifting, which is the proper Disney thing to do.
German Film Festival
The 24th edition of the festival will present eight films,which will be screened either at The Projector or online at Projector Plus.
An additional screening has been added for the sold-out social drama System Crasher (2019, NC16, 120 minutes, cinema screening only, Nov 4, 5 pm) - a portrait of Benni, a nine-year-old dubbed a "system crasher" by social workers because her destructive behaviour renders her unsuitable for any foster care programme.
Writer-director Nora Fingscheidt based her story on research into such children. The film is Germany's official entry into the 2021 Oscars and the winner of the Silver Bear at last year's Berlin Film Festival.
Where: Cinema screenings at The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road; online screenings at Projector Plus
When: Till Nov 1
Admission: $13.50 for in-cinema screenings, $8 for online screenings
Info: theprojector.sg/germanfilmfest
Perspectives Film Festival
Singapore's first and longest student-run festival returns with an all-online programme of eight films.
Making its Southeast-Asian premiere is Israeli psychological thriller Incitement (2019, M18, 123 minutes). In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by right-wing hardliner Yigal Amir, a law student. The movie tracks Amir (played by Yehuda Nahari Halevi) in the months leading up to the murder, showing the cultural and political trends that affected his thinking.
A review in the Los Angeles Times called the work "a chilling portrait of how fanaticism can grow and be enabled. It was Israel's entry for Best International Feature Film at this year's Academy Awards.
Where: www.perspectivesfilmfestival.com
When: Till Nov 1
Admission: $8 for a 48-hour viewing window. Discounted bundles are available
