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PLEASURE FACTORY

 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Drama
Starring: Yang Kuei-Mei, Ananda Everingham, Loo Zihan, Xu Er, Katashi Chen, Isabella Chen, Jeszlene Zhou, Ian Francis Low, Vincent Tee Soo Poo, Theresa Chua Yunn Chin
Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham
Rating: M18 (Some Sexual Scenes)
Year Made: 2007

 

 


 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Trailer
- Film Clips
- Interviews with Yang Kwei Mei & Ananda Everingham
- Photo Gallery

 

 


 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: Mandarin
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Letterbox
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
Running Time: 1 hr 19 mins
Region Code: PAL 3
Distributor: InnoF
orm Media

 

 

SYNOPSIS:

Inspired by true stories and real-life characters, Pleasure Factory tells an intimate and seductive tale involving pleasure seekers and pleasure providers in Geylang, Singapore’s red light district.

In the course of one night, an army boy loses his virginity; a teenage girl gets initiated into the pleasure manufacturing process; and a jaded prostitute pays a young busker good money in exchange for a song he never gets to sing…

MOVIE REVIEW:
  

If I was a married man, I wouldn’t want to be caught watching this alone at night by my wife, or worse still, my kids. While it is every man’s dream to indulge in the pleasures of the local red light district without feeling any sense of guilt, we all know the pitfalls of frequenting the pleasure providers in Geylang. Which is why, Thailand born director Ekachai Uekrongtham’s film about Singapore’s infamous red light district has an interesting premise: pleasure seekers visiting pleasure providers in the pleasure factory, where pleasure is a manufactured commodity.

But you know how brilliant ideas often become a mess during the course of execution. And this pseudo art film is one perfect example.

With the ever popular storytelling method of intertwining different tales together, this 79 minute picture narrates three encounters – a young officer cadet (a feeble attempt to put a local context to the story) who is on a quest to lose his virginity; an ageing prostitute who initiates her daughter into the trade; and a world weary prostitute who just wants to hear a song being sung.

Ah, just when you thought the opening montages of fruits, hotels, people and other familiar sights in Geylang is appropriately accompanied by the nostalgic tune sung by Chang Lu, things get messy when the storytelling begins. Bad acting notwithstanding, the characters are not engaging at all. You’ll probably end up laughing at the hilarious scene where Loo Zihan’s (Solos) officer cadet empties out many boxes of condoms during his first sexual encounter. You’ll probably end up being bewildered as Ananda Evringham’s (Shutter) mysterious character walks around throughout the movie as if he is on the search for something (searching for what, we have no idea after the movie ended). You’ll also probably end up befuddled as Jeszlene Zhou’s pretty prostitute whisks around doing nothing consequential.

Even more puzzling are the interview segments where it becomes evident that the movie is going nowhere. It has no idea whether it wants to be a drama or documentary, because it succeeds in neither genre. For even more amusement, check out the interview where Xue Er, the actress playing the Mainland Chinese prostitute talks about how fat she was as a kid and she couldn’t balance her head – it will definitely make you go “huh?”

With acclaimed actress Yang Kuei Mei’s (The Wayward Cloud) wasted performance (she just sits around and smokes a lot) and Everingham’s baffling character portrayal (we seriously don’t get the scene where he appears in his underwear and stares forlornly at his fish tank), what is left are the somewhat titillating sex scenes (the local theatrical version was edited, and this DVD edition has been further jarringly edited for a M18 rating) that you won’t want your wife or kids to catch you watching alone.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

This Code 3 DVD contains a Trailer, some Film Clips from the movie (Lo’s side-splitting scene starring the boxes of condoms is worth watching again for its sheer hilarity), Interviews with Yang Kuei Mei and Ananda Everingham with a total runtime of eight minutes. Yang talks about how she got depressed while playing her ageing prostitute role and Everingham talks about how surprised that the seedy Geylang actually exists in Singapore. Included is also a Photo Gallery with some nice production stills.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

There is nothing to complain about the disc’s visual transfer because the cinematography isn’t anything to shout about in the first place, while the audio track is presented in its original Mandarin language. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING:


Review by John Li

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This review is made possible with the kind support from InnoForm Media


 

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