Film Picks: Minds Film Festival, My Cousin Rachel and more

John Lui Film Correspondent recommends

The Importance Of Tying Your Own Shoes PHOTO: MINDS FILM FESTIVAL
Rachel Weisz in Rachel PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX
Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan in Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE PICTURES
Lum May Yee in 12 Storeys PHOTO: ZHAO WEI FILMS

MINDS FILM FESTIVAL

This year's edition opens with the Swedish comedy The Importance Of Tying Your Own Shoes (PG, 2011, 100 minutes).

Young Alex (Sverrir Gudnason), at a dead end in his life, takes on a job as leader of a theatre group comprised of people with learning difficulties. It is an experience that will change his life.

The screenplay is drawn from true stories about members of a theatre for the intellectually disabled, who play themselves in the film. Director Lena Koppel will speak at the post-screening session.

WHERE: Golden Village VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk MRT: HarbourFront WHEN: July 29 to Aug 5, various times ADMISSION: $6 INFO: www.gv.com.sg


MY COUSIN RACHEL (NC16)

106 minutes/ 3.5 stars

This is a rare work: a thriller set in the 19th century that is neither grimy and dark, nor eroticised and psychological, but loses nothing in its direct approach. Based on the 1951 Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name, the story is set in the 1830s and revolves around Philip (Sam Claflin), an orphan who is convinced that the mysterious Rachel (Rachel Weisz) murdered his guardian.


VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (PG)

137 minutes/ 4 stars

This visually dazzling, grin-inducing space adventure features Laureline and Valerian as space operatives working to keep peace in the galaxy. Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan play the sourpuss-and- slob odd couple.

French director and screenwriter Luc Besson returns to the science-fiction realm he left after The Fifth Element (1997).

If the Star Wars saga is about empire and democracy, reflecting its American roots, Valerian is more European in its lower-stakes preoccupations with solving mysteries, mocking dumb tourists, wooing frosty women and picking the perfect vacation beach in a galaxy with a million sandy shores.


12 STOREYS (20TH ANNIVERSARY, PG)

105 minutes

After his debut feature, the horror picture Mee Pok Man (1996), director Eric Khoo opted for social realism in his follow-up, 12 Storeys (1997), which stars Lum May Yee, but kept his sharply satirical edge intact.

Three stories take place in a Housing Board block in a day, reflecting Singaporean concerns about money, status and repression, sexual and otherwise.

This 20th-anniversary screening features a new print and a post-screening discussion with some members of the cast.

WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: July 29, 8pm ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: theprojector.sg

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 21, 2017, with the headline Film Picks: Minds Film Festival, My Cousin Rachel and more. Subscribe