Film Picks: The Breaking Ice release events, The Equalizer 3, Shortcomings

The Breaking Ice release events

Cinema chain Golden Village and indie cinema The Projector are holding events tied to the release of The Breaking Ice, a drama by celebrated Singapore film-maker Anthony Chen.

The Breaking Ice (M18, 97 minutes, opens Sept 7) is set in Yanji, a city in northern China close to the border with North Korea. In the depths of winter, three young persons, played by Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran and Qu Chuxiao, spend a memorable few days together. 

This is Chen’s third released film after Ilo Ilo (2013) and Wet Season (2019). The Breaking Ice was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this year.

On Monday, Chen and Zhou will be at Golden Village Bugis+ for a Q&A session after the screening of the film. 

Where: Golden Village Bugis+, 05-01 Bugis+,  201 Victoria Street
MRT: Bugis/Rochor
When: Monday, 8.45pm
Admission: $28 standard, $24 for GV members
Info: Go to

b

it.ly/TheBreakingIce-GVReelTalk

to book

The Projector is holding a free post-screening ambient beats set by The Breaking Ice’s soundtrack composer Kin Leonn. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter magazine, Chen says he reached out to the Singaporean sonic artist, performer, DJ and composer after stumbling across his work on Spotify. Unlike his previous films, which tended to not rely on soundtrack, Chen makes use of Kin Leonn’s synth-based work to reinforce the story’s emotions. 

Where: 6001 Beach Road, 05-00 Golden Mile Tower
MRT: Nicoll Highway/Lavender
When: Sept 8, 8.30pm
Admission: $15 for standard ticket prices
Info:

theprojector.sg/films-and-events/the-breaking-ice

---

The Equalizer 3 (NC16)

109 minutes, now showing, 4 stars

American government assassin Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has retired to southern Italy. He discovers that the Sicilian mafia is operating as tyrants in the area. 

McCall is an avenger for the oppressed, and the ageing superhero makes it his mission to protect the gentle townsfolk who have become his family, especially his elderly doctor benefactor (Remo Girone) and the police chief (Eugenio Mastrandrea).

Washington, the son of a Pentecostal minister, stalks through the pulp revenge fantasy with a noble righteousness that is unchallenged by the absolute evil of the cookie-cutter thugs.

The Equalizer 3 is his fifth film under Antoine Fuqua

since the director steered him to a Best Actor Academy Award for Training Day (2001).

There is a satisfying sense of closure as the trusted collaborators wrap up the nine-year trilogy – The Equalizer originated from a 1950s TV series – while reuniting Washington with his Man On Fire (2004) co-star Dakota Fanning in her role of a Central Intelligence Agency analyst.

---

Shortcomings (M18)

92 minutes, now showing at The Projector, 3 stars

This feature directing debut by Korean-American actor Randall Park – best known for the sitcom Fresh Off The Boat (2015 to 2020) – digs into the Asian-American community’s conversations about ethnic identity, gender politics and mixed-race couplings.

Ben Tanaka (Justin H. Min) is a Japanese-American wannabe film-maker who manages a floundering repertory cinema in California’s Bay Area and fantasises about white women.

He is left to confront his shortcomings – cynicism, narcissism and self-loathing, for starters – when his fed-up long-time girlfriend Miko (Ally Maki) decamps to New York for the summer, followed by his gay best friend Alice (Sherry Cola).

Park’s comedic take on millennial dating mores is adapted from co-writer Adrian Tomine’s 2007 same-title graphic novel. It is never less than an easy watch, thanks to the well-played threesome of neurotic urbanites traversing the country in search of love.

Chinese-American comic Cola, fresh off the comedy Joy Ride (2023), is the scene-stealer as the acerbic girl-chasing grad student.