Film picks: Wonderland, The Instigators, Singapore Shorts ’24
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In Wonderland, Mark Lee plays an incense shop owner and single parent who sells his kampung home to pay for his daughter’s overseas education.
PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE
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Wonderland (PG13)
125 minutes, now showing
4 stars
This is a rare Singapore film that is specific in its references to local culture and history, but which also takes a deep dive into the inner lives of its characters.
The slower pacing, frequent use of flashbacks and character-driven behaviour give the production all the hallmarks of a festival film, but director Chai Yee Wei, working on a screenplay from Michelle Chang, Chance Wanlass and Situ Bi, never lets the material become too ambiguous or internalised.
It is the 1980s and incense shop owner and single parent Loke (Mark Lee) sells his kampung home to pay for his daughter Eileen’s (Xenia Tan) education in New York. After moving into a small flat, he finds himself lonely and isolated, haunted by memories of his late wife and the good times they shared at the Wonderland Amusement Park in Kallang.
The illiterate Hokkien-speaking man seeks the help of his neighbour Tan (Peter Yu), a church choir director, so he can correspond with Eileen. Together, the men must come to terms with the secrets they hold about themselves and their families.
Chai’s use of music to underscore the emotional beats is not subtle and neither is the story’s emphasis on wholesome family values. There are moments when sentimentality dominates, but those moments are, thankfully, brief.
Yu’s Tan, for example, is offered a measure of redemption, one that will give his story a typically pleasant conclusion. Instead, the film offers him an open-ended journey.
Lee has shown he is versatile enough to work in mass-appeal films (Money No Enough 3, 2024; The King Of Musang King, 2023) and in award-attracting festival-leaning work (Number 1, 2020).
In Wonderland, he once again proves he can dig deep to deliver the sensitivity and vulnerability needed to make the story work.
The Instigators (M18)
101 minutes, on Apple TV+ from Aug 9
4 stars
Matt Damon (left) and Casey Affleck play inept criminals who have to go on the run after a bungled robbery in The Instigators.
PHOTO: APPLE TV+
A crime comedy like this could never get bankrolled today unless Kevin Hart or Dwayne Johnson was locked into the cast, along with an astronomical budget for the stunts.
Thank goodness for the streaming services – in this case, Apple TV+ – for supporting character-driven stories powered by solid performances from a who’s who of award-winning actors: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser (as incompetent gangster Booch), Michael Stuhlbarg (as crime lord Mr Besegai) and Alfred Molina (as Mr Besegai’s associate Richie).
And whenever Ving Rhames appears on screen as evil cop Toomey, one realises that he ought to be in more films.
Rory (Damon) is a divorced dad in financial trouble and Cobby (Affleck) is a former convict who cannot stay out of trouble. The two strangers agree to participate in a heist. Their target: A party thrown by Boston’s corrupt mayor.
Things go awry and the men make a getaway, turning to Rory’s therapist, Dr Donna Rivera (Chau), for help. She becomes entangled in their plans as they dodge both the police and other criminals.
As the trio of Dr Rivera, Rory and Cobby run through traps set for them, they bicker. Cobby is a whiney pessimist, Rory is more upbeat but out of his depth and Dr Rivera intellectualises their predicament. The clash of personalities is beautifully orchestrated by American director Doug Liman.
Singapore Shorts ’24
Among the short films in the Singapore Shorts ‘24 programme at Asian Film Archive is Matinee At Three, directed by He Shuming.
PHOTO: HE SHUMING
The Asian Film Archive’s annual showcase of short films highlights the boldness and diversity of Singapore’s film-making scene. Twenty-two films have been picked from over 120 submissions. They have been grouped into four selections, each with a different theme and screened in separate sessions.
Among the shorts is Beyond The Other Shore (2023, NC16, 15 minutes), marking the debut of Pek Jia Hao and Ang Jia Jun. Winner of the Grand Prize in the Short Film International Competition of the 65th ZINEBI, International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, it tells the story of a technician who meditates on mortality after encountering the death of a stranger.
Matinee At Three (2024, PG, five minutes) pays homage to Taiwan-based Malaysian film-maker Tsai Ming-liang’s acclaimed drama Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), a film shot in an old-school cinema. The latest short film from He Shuming (Ajoomma, 2022) sees patrons in a heritage cinema watch a classic film while connecting with one another. It was filmed in the former Golden Theatre in Golden Mile Tower, now the home of indie cinema The Projector.
Where: Oldham Theatre, National Archives of Singapore Building, 1 Canning Rise str.sg/MJeG
MRT: City Hall/Bras Basah
When: Weekends, until Aug 17, various timings
Admission: $10 (general), $9 (concession)
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