SHOPLIFTERS (M18)
121 minutes/4.5 stars
Ideas explored in this winner of the Cannes Film Festival's highest prize, the Palme d'Or, include the meaning of family and how society's definition of family often runs counter to how people actually behave.
These are familiar themes for fans of Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's work, but here, they are packaged in a story that might be his strongest and most accessible yet.
A crew of petty thieves and day labourers find a pre-schooler who appears to be abused.
The older man, Osamu (Lily Franky), wants to give shelter to the girl, but the others in the group say she should be returned to her family.
The film also stars Kirin Kiki.
John Lui
JJANG WEDNESDAY
Fans of South Korean films should keep their Wednesdays free because one new Korean movie will be screened every hump day for six consecutive weeks, from now until the middle of next month.
One of the films is crime thriller The Vanished (2018), about the mysterious disappearance of a powerful woman's corpse from the morgue.
Another is romantic comedy What A Man Wants (2018, right, with Lee El and Shin Ha-kyun), about how a married taxi driver's cheating ways start to rub off on his brother-in-law.
Sounds like a "jjang" (Korean slang for awesome) line-up.
WHERE: Golden Village Plaza, 07-01 Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road; and Golden Village Tiong Bahru, 04-105 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road MRT: Orchard/Tiong Bahru WHEN: Till Aug 15, various times ADMISSION: $13 from www.gv.com.sg and at Golden Village box offices
Yip Wai Yee
HONG KONG FILM FESTIVAL
In Hong Kong director Peter Chan's popular gender-bending comedy, Who's The Woman, Who's The Man? (1996), top Hong Kong stars Anita Yuen as well as the late Leslie Cheung (both above) and Anita Mui get entangled in a complex love triangle.
The film opens the Hong Kong Film Festival, which will screen seven acclaimed works from the city.
Better yet, all of them will be showing in their original Cantonese soundtracks.
WHERE: Golden Village Tiong Bahru, 04-105 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road MRT: Tiong Bahru WHEN: July 26 to Aug 1, various times ADMISSION: $13 to $16 from www.gv.com.sg and at Golden Village box offices
Yip Wai Yee
