Genre: Drama
Director: Mel Gibson
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Vince Vaughn
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 minutes
Rating: M18 (Violence and Gore)
Released By: The Walt Disney Company 
Official Website: http://www.hacksawridge.movie/

Opening Day: 19 January 2017

Synopsis: HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers, and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Movie Review:

In this reviewer’s opinion, Andrew Garfield deserves more attention than Ryan Gosling during this awards season. Sure, both actors have pretty faces – but wouldn’t the 33 year old deserve more credit for roughing it out in a war epic (the American British actor gets himself really dirty with mud and blood) than 36 year old Gosling who gets to look suave in his nicely tailored coat in a musical drama?

Then we have Mel Gibson - the 61-year-old actor took home the Best Director Oscar for his work on Braveheart (1995), and went on to helm the controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Apocalypto (2006). Of course, movie goers know him as Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series, as well as the original Mad Max.

With his fourth directorial work featuring Garfield as a combat medic who refused to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind, is Hollywood ready to embrace Gibson, who had his fair share of trouble with alcohol abuse and legal issues?

The 139 minute movie is obviously an Oscar bait – and a very good one too. Based on a documentary about Desmond Doss, an American pacifist who is also a Seventh day Adventist Christian, the film tells the story of his experience in World War II. After nearly killing his brother and a talk from his religious mother, Doss became a firm believer of the Fifth Commandment of the Old Testament, that one shall not kill. With that belief, he is still motivated to sign up with the army to do his part for the country. He eventually went on to rescue over 75 soldiers at Hacksaw Ridge and awarded with the Medal of Honour for service above and beyond the call of duty, making him the first conscientious objector to be recognised with this accolade.

This is not your usual war movie. It is one that actually makes you feel for the characters, as well as their patriotism and personal beliefs. Garfieldis perfectly cast as Doss: you see how the scrawny actor bears the brunt of his team mates and becoming a true hero of war. The ensemble cast is great too. Vince Vaughn does exceptionally well as a sergeant who hollers down his men and injects homour at the same time. Sam Worthington is a captain who stands by his men, while Hugo Weaving is Doss’s alcoholic father who is also a troubled veteran of the war.

Everyone knows war isn’t a good thing, and the battle scenes in this movie confirm that. These intense sequences are violent, bloody and devastating. You will be impressed by the amount of detail that went into choreographing these scenes, and the work done for sound design and editing. There is a generous amount of these scenes, and while watching them unfold on the big screen, you will feel somewhat forlorn that this can happen in real life.

Besides the perfectly executed action scenes, what makes this highly recommended movie stand out is that it has a heartfelt story to tell – one that prides itself with the universal themes of family, conviction, love and atonement. It almost feels like Gibson’s message to Hollywood.      

Movie Rating:

(Mel Gibson delivers a heartfelt piece of work which brings out the beauty of keeping your faith in times of extreme adversity)   

Review by John Li

Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Director: Bill Condon
Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Ewan McGregor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Audra McDonald, Hattie Morahan, Nathan Mack
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Rating: PG (Some Intense Sequences)
Released By: The Walt Disney Company 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 16 March 2017

Synopsis: The story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic “Beauty and the Beast,” a stunning, cinematic event celebrating one of the most beloved tales ever told. “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within.

Movie Review:

Given that the original animated version of Beauty and the Beast was so much beloved by Disney fans, it is inevitable that audiences will ask “how different can the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast be?” The answer comes to you about after two musical numbers when you realise that the live action version is every bit as animated as the original. Yet somehow, it is less lifelike and heartwarming than the original even as it attempts to update itself to be more relevant to today’s social mores without veering too far away from the original storyline.

In this updated version, Belle bravely takes her father’s place as the Beast’s prisoner. While this Belle is still a bookworm, her hobby is a sort of a resistance against the social mores of her poor provincial town where the anti-female literacy is strong and she has to get her books from a chapel (as opposed to openly from a bookstore in the animated version). Her father is an artist instead of an inventor and Belle is actually the one who attempts to sort of invent a washing machine with a rolling pail and a horse.

In an attempt to play down the Stockholm syndrome aspect of Belle and Beast’s budding romance, the Beast is revealed to be a bit of a bookworm, making him a little less beastly. It is also clear that this is an attempt to make the romance between the two a little bit more believable as they bond over Shakespeare. The screenwriters also further attempt to increase the realism of their romance through providing emotional links between Belle and her Beast involving their mutual absent mothers. Such attempts, while valiant, really doesn’t add much substance nor play down the whole Stockholm syndromeness of this relationship.

And that gay moment that has generated so much buzz? It appears near the conclusion as Gaston’s buddy or sidekick, who clearly has a huge unrequited crush, dances with a male partner fleetingly. Not really an important or earthshattering moment reflective of today’s social mores.

The updates feel token and it is really the familiar costumes, scenery and songs that you will enjoy. The new songs are not memorable either despite being composed by the talented Alan Menken with lyrics penned by Tim Rice of The Lion King fame. Perhaps it would have been better for Disney to stick to retaining more of that familiarity than introduce half-hearted updates that really don’t value-add.

Even the cast seem quite not into the story, particularly the non-CGI ones (with the exception of Josh Gad and Luke Evans portraying LeFou and Gaston with great fun). Emma Watson is breathtakingly beautiful as Belle and very much lives up to that name. However, her performance is one that is mainly a series of furrowed eyebrows and pretty poses. Although she does look the part, that is not quite sufficient in getting you to root for her.

Instead, it is the CGI-animated pots, pans, candles and other pieces of household furniture and décor, voiced by incredibly talented actors, who draw you in. They do an amazing job with the song “Be Our Guest” which was pulled off with much aplomb by a utensils cabaret of sorts. This song manages to revive the magic of the original movie with its exuberance and nuttiness without feeling like a mere copycat.

And in the new Beauty and the Beast’s half-hearted attempt to be more than a mere imitation of the original yet wanting to retain the magical feel of it, this version ends up not quite able to stand on its own yet not quite a good imitation of the animated version. Although still entertaining and watchable (thanks to the beautiful CGI effects), it has its moments of awkwardness and that fails to transport you into that magical kingdom and universe where you could believe a beautiful girl could genuinely fall for and soften the heart of a beast (without evoking thoughts of Stockholm syndrome). 

Movie Rating:

(An entertaining movie that is safe enough for the family (that gay moment is really quite discreet) but just don’t expect it to be as magical as the original version)

Review by Katrina Tee

Genre: CG Animation
Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, Pierre Coffin
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: UIP 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 June 2017

Synopsis: The team who brought you Despicable Me and the biggest animated hits of 2013 and 2015, Despicable Me 2 and Minions, returns to continue the adventures of Gru, Lucy, their adorable daughters—Margo, Edith and Agnes—and the Minions.

Movie Review:

As the ‘Minions’ movie demonstrated, too much of the adorable, pill-shaped, banana-obsessed creatures isn’t necessarily a good thing; indeed, they were probably best in smaller and supporting doses, playing bumbling sidekicks alongside Gru as he went about his villainous, then anti-villainous, ways in ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Despicable Me 2’ respectively. Unfortunately, they aren’t given much, if anything, to do in this threequel, who as it turns out, are fed up of working for a good guy and decide to part ways with Gru early in the movie. That means they are here no better than occasional irreverent comic distractions, much like how Scrat was in the ‘Ice Age’ movies, notwithstanding a laugh-out-loud jailbreak sequence set to Pharrell Williams’s hit ‘Freedom’.

And unfortunately, that sums up how ‘Despicable Me 3’ feels as well – always distracted, sometimes amusing, but never really engaging. It wants to be about the rivalry between Gru (Steve Carell) and all-new supervillain Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), the latter a disgruntled former 80s child TV star who had fallen out of favour with the general public after hitting puberty and has since turned to a life of crime. It wants to be about Gru’s new fellow super-agent wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig), who is trying to be a mother to his three adopted daughters – Margo, Edith and Agnes. It wants to be about Gru reconciling with his long-lost twin brother Dru, an empty-headed but successful pig farmer who yearns to follow in their father’s footsteps of being a super-villain. Amidst all this, it also wants to be about Agnes and her longing to find a unicorn.

No wonder then that the sweetness between Gru and his daughters from the earlier two movies is somewhat lost here. No wonder too that the Looney Tunes-esque gags seem to unfold at an almost breakneck pace, sacrificing wit and inventiveness for sheer visual spectacle. No wonder that it all feels drawn-out and overstuffed, cramming too many plot lines without ever developing any satisfactorily – except perhaps for the complicated sibling relationship between Gru and Dru, seeing as how the former tricks the latter into helping him break into Bratt’s Rubik’s Cube-like fortress perched at the tip of a pyramid. It is understandable how returning writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul had felt the need to up the ante with each subsequent instalment of the franchise, but like the ‘Minions’ spinoff, less is sometimes a lot, a lot more.

There are good bits though: Bratt, complete with shoulder pads, pump sneakers and 80s pop tunes of Michael Jackson, Van Halen, a-Ha and Madonna among others, is a hoot; so too the barrage of other 80s references, including Bratt’s army of weaponised figurines christened ‘Bratt Pack’. Carell and Wiig lose none of their verve reprising Gru/ Dru and Lucy, and Parker is a lively, dynamic addition to the ensemble voice cast – in particular as a substitute to Russell Brand, whose Dr. Nefario spends the movie frozen in carbonite. Co-directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda try their best-est to keep up the energy and enthusiasm from start to finish, and largely succeed in spite of a somewhat tedious detour on Dru’s fictional European island in the middle act.

Yet even on the same level of fun as its predecessors, ‘Despicable Me 3’ falls way short. We wish it were simply that what was once fresh has now become familiar; but oh no, the gags are nowhere near as funny nor as clever, and even the minions are starting to lose their subversive edge. Whether that is the cause or consequence of having too many things going on at the same time is anybody’s guess, but the sum of some hilarious bits, some tedious ones and a lot of underdeveloped elements in between is a sporadically amusing affair that hardly lives up to the charm of the previous two chapters. When even kids below the age of five find their patience tested, it’s as sure a sign as any that this franchise is fast turning yellow. 

Movie Rating:

(Nowhere near as clever, funny or sweet as its predecessors, this threequel is a disjointed jumble of some amusing, some tedious and mostly under-developed parts)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SAMUI SONG - INTERVIEW WITH PEN-EK RATANARUANG Posted on 21 Nov 2017 Considered to be one of Thai cinema’s leading “new wave” auteurs, filmmaker Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is no stranger to the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). The 55-year-old Thai director, who helmed arthouse films like LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (2003),INVISIBLE WAVES (2005) and PLOY (2009), will be bringing his long-awaited film noir SAMUI SONG (R21) to the 28th edi ... more

THE MOBFATHERS - INTERVIEW WITH HERMAN YAU Posted on 17 Dec 2016 Hong Kong director Herman Yau does not regard himself as an artist. “Such titles are given by people,” explained the 55-year-old humbly when he was in Singapore earlier this month to grace the 27th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). “After I direct a movie, it’s in the hands of the audiences. What they want to think of me is out of my control.&rd ... more

Being a huge Disney fan, this reviewer owns the cassette soundtrack of the 1994 animated film of the same name. When he earned his first paycheck, he bought the CD soundtrack to keep up with the times. Then came the exquisitely packaged Legacy Collection which contained additional music, which now has a place in on this columnist's CD shelf. If you, like this writer, have these fond memories, it seems almost a given that you will want to own this 2019 soundtrack of the remake.

There aren’t many surprises here. And that’s not a bad thing, really.

The songs are all in place so you can sing along. From “Circle of Life/Nants' Ingonyama” to “I Just Can't Wait to Be King”, the new voice cast brings the well loved tunes to life. Just when we thought no one would beat Jeremy Irons in channeling “Be Prepared”, Chiwetel Ejiofor brings his own brand of menace to this updated version, and it is effectively chilling.

Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen are hilarious as Timon and Pumbaa, and you can feel their chemistry in “Hakuna Matata” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, two of the funnier sequences in the film. Beyoncé flexes her vocals in “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” with Donald Glover, while holding her own in the new song “Spirit”.

And why wouldn’t superstar Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice team up after the original movie’s success? Here, they give us a new track “Never Too Late”, a contemporary and upbeat tune to perk up the senses. South African music producer and composer Lebo M performs “He Lives in You” and “Mbube”, two ethnic tracks that reflect the grandeur of the Pride Lands.

Composer Hans Zimmer, who won an Oscar for his work in the 1994 version, is also back to score the remake. While there aren’t much remarkably new material to the score, you can be sure the soundscape is as big hearted as the original. You will feel young Simba’s idealism, the frenzy during the stampede, the heartbreak when Mufasa dies, and the dramatic turn of events when Simba returns to claim the throne.

Like Aladdin before this, the album is a nice companion to the original soundtrack, which we hope you stillovingly own.   

ALBUM RATING:

Recommended Track: (6) Be Prepared (2019) (Chiwetel Ejiofor)

Review by John Li

Genre: Thriller
Director: Kim Jee-Woon
Cast: Gong Yoo, Song Kang-Ho, Han Ji-Min, Shingo Tsurumi, Um Tae-Goo, Shin Sung-Rok , Lee Byung-Hun, Park Hee-Soon
Runtime: 2 hrs 24 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 5 January 2017

Synopsis: Lee Jung-chool (SONG Kang-ho), a Korean police captain in the Japanese police force, is given a special mission to infiltrate the armed resistance fighting for Korean independence. He approaches Kim Woo-jin (GONG Yoo), a leader of the resistance. These two men who stand on opposite sides of their historical era, each knowing the identity and intentions of the other, become close without revealing their inner thoughts. Meanwhile intel is being leaked on both sides, and no one knows who the informants are. Members of the resistance meet in Shanghai to obtain explosives that will be used to destroy facilities of the Japanese Headquarters in Seoul, while the Japanese police follow them and gather in Shanghai. The pursued and the pursuers, locked in an operation where each side uses the other and is thrown into a confusion of secret enmity and conciliation. Meanwhile, a train carrying explosives passes the border and heads towards Seoul...

Movie Review:

With super slick productions increasingly coming out from South Korea, one might say that the tides are turning towards the rise of Hallyu-wood. With sharp visualisations and even sharper jawlines, the attractive aesthetics of their resources are winning audiences over, especially when it comes with finesse for refreshing classic plots.

Director Kim Jee-woon is one of those preeminent talents - having subverted the tired horror genre with the diabolical A Tale of Two Sisters, then going for the kill with the unflinching I Saw The Devil. In most of his films, he has often excelled at creating complex characters with shifting morals and murky agendas, manipulating the story with arcs that leave the audience arrested, surprised and gaping.

In Age of Shadows, Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho) is the chosen character - the defaulted Korean resistance fighter who now works as a police officer for the Japanese occupying his homeland. When his work pushes him to the frontline, facing up with his past compatriots, the assumed traitor shows sign of remorse, urging his cornered friend Kim Sang-ho (Park Hee-soon) to surrender so that he may keep his life. The agent cleanly rejects this and puts a bullet through his own head.

As the Independence Movement reveals their core group, one comprising of Kim Woo-jin (Gong Yoo), Yun Gye-soon (Han Ji-min), Jo Hwe-ryung (Shin Sung-rok), Ludvik (Foster Burden) and their elusive leader Jeong Chae-tek (Lee Byung-hun), we get plunged into this espionage film set in South Korea in the 1920s, the stylish setting a backdrop for unspooling the current plot, where the fighters are selling antiques to fund and ship explosives from Shanghai to Seoul, in a bid to cripple  the Japanese headquarters.

This plan is closely watched by the Japanese General Higashi (Shingo Tsurumi), who enlists Lee to hunt down and disrupt their plans, given his experience with the group. This sets up the conflict for the hapless Lee, who just wants to stay on the safe side of things. As an officer operating on his own, he has managed to buffer the effects of the General’s blows by surreptitiously tipping off his old friends in the movement. But he is recently assigned Detective Hashimoto (Eom Tae-goo), a zealous Japanese bloodhound who relishes the prize of seeing his enemies captured, thus complicating his double-sided efforts. This interplay between both sides presents the sustained conundrum for Lee, and the tug-of-war manipulations give Age of Shadows some enjoyably taut sequences.

Director Kim orchestrates his characters well - the strapping Gong Yoo the perfectly upright but intuitive right-hand man leading the operation; the exquisite Yun the steely feminine aid; the charismatic Lee a weary but convincing Resistance leader, if a little underused. But his key pawns played by Song and Eom is what keeps Age compelling.

Song Kang-ho, who is on his fourth project with Kim, is a seasoned veteran of the director’s style. As his character Lee gets unwillingly drawn into both alliances - one by birth, one by choice - his unfolding journey is at times, undulating; at others, split-second jarring. Song plays his character with aplomb, with quivering moustache and confused, soulful eyes. His wavering ways keeps us baited - will he or won’t he?

His unexpected shadow, the severe Eom Tae-goo, holds his own against the heavyweight. In one of the best sequences of the film, played out on a gorgeous and lavish train set, he slithers through the cabins, trying to formulate his grand plan to nail the entire group in one swoop, one aided by a secret turncoat in the movement’s own group. This servant of Higashi is a rabid, but delicious villain.

A film by Director Kim wouldn’t be complete without one of his satisfying payouts. Past all the shenanigans, one of the final scenes dutifully delivers. In that sequence, slow-motion reveals, meaningful looks, symbolic objects and paced explosions is paired with Ravel’s Bolero perfectly, delivering a message - and Lee’s final chosen side - loud and clear.

Movie Rating:

(South Korea’s chosen contender for Oscar’s “Best Foreign Language Film” flits successfully, shuffling loyalties in a small deck with skill, played out in a chic period offering)

Review by Morgan Awyong

GANG DONG-WON AND KIM WOO-BIN WILL BE IN SINGAPORE ON 12th JANUARY 2017 TO PROMOTE MASTER! Posted on 23 Dec 2016 Clover Films, Shining Entertainment and Golden Village Pictures are delighted to announce MASTER Singapore Star Tour is happening on 12th January 2017. The Singapore Star Tour of the highly anticipated movie is proudly presented by tvN Movies, whereby leading actors Gang Dong- won, Kim Woo-bin and Director Cho Ui-seok will be attending various events! This will be the movie’s first junket ... more

Genre: Biography/Drama
Director: Michael Grandage
Cast: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce, Dominic West, Vanessa Kirby, Gillian Hanna
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 25 August 2016

Synopsis: From Academy Award-nominated screenwriter JOHN LOGAN (Gladiator, The Aviator, Hugo, Skyfall) and acclaimed, Tony Award-winning director MICHAEL GRANDAGE (former artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse) in his feature film debut, comes Genius, a stirring drama about the complex friendship and transformative professional relationship between the world-renowned book editor Maxwell Perkins (who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) and the larger-than-life literary giant Thomas Wolfe.

Movie Review:

Based on A. Scott Berg’s Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, renowned screenwriter and playwright John Logan (Gladiator, Spectre) penned this passion project of his, which chronicles the turbulent relationship between American novelist Thomas Wolfe and his editor Maxwell Perkins.  

Wolfe (Jude Law) might be a genius, talented writer that churned out lengthy novels but he remains a nobody if not for the quietly intelligent editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth) at Scribner. Sensing Wolfe’s work is unique, Perkins constantly works to shape and pare down Wolfe’s words into a book that is fit for publishing and that results in Wolf’s first major literary success – Look Homeward, Angel.   

It has been said that Wolfe has found a father figure in Max while the latter looks upon Wolfe as sort of a foster son. In a way it’s more of a family relationship than a mere bromance. But with the success of his published books, his maniac egoism starts to believe that Max’s frequent editing of his works might be hurtful to his reputation. At the same time, Wolfe’s older lover, Aline Bernstein (Nicole Kidman) is on the verge of a breakdown when Wolfe spends more time with Perkins than her. And there’s also Mrs Perkins (Laura Linney), an inspiring stage actress and their five young daughters in the story.

Truth to be told, you don’t expect a movie about writers to be that exciting. The entire affair plods along like a stage play, transiting from one talky scene to another in very sparse sets. This is not a surprise consider it is helmed by acclaimed British theatre producer Michael Grandage. The drama spent a considerable amount of screentime showcasing the dynamic interaction of the two men though you might walk out of the theatre knowing very little of Wolfe and Perkins in the end. Wolfe can be considered as a wildly eccentric individual while Perkins has the weird habit of keeping his hat even in the comfort of his own home.

It’s a huge pity Logan’s screenplay fails to delve further into the colorful life of Thomas Wolfe or the real hidden genius, Max Perkins who is also responsible for removing the fats off the works of other literature greats Ernest Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby). There is so much more to tell than repetitive shots of Perkins having dinner with his lovely family or catching the train home. Other recognizable faces include Dominic West (Money Monster) who has a pathetic single scene as Hemingway while Australian actor Guy Pearce (Iron Man 3) portrays a troubled Fitzgerald. Last but not least, Nicole Kidman dazzles as the jealous, disheartened set designer spurned by the young Wolfe.

Genius is a piece of work best watched for the sake of an enthusiastic Jude Law who is exuberance as Thomas Wolfe and Colin Firth for his restrained performance as Maxwell Perkins. For a movie about American literary greats, the production is overstuffed with a Brit and Australian cast. Kind of ironic when you think of it.  

Movie Rating:

(More of a classy stage play than a movie)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez, Daniel Grao, Darío Grandinetti, Inma Cuesta, Rossy de Palma, Michelle Jenner
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 December 2016

Synopsis: Julieta lives in Madrid with her daughter Antía. They both suffer in silence over the loss of Xoan, Antía’s father and Julieta’s husband. But at times grief doesn’t bring people closer, it drives them apart. When Antía turns eighteen she abandons her mother, without a word of explanation. Julieta looks for her in every possible way, but all she discovers is how little she knows of her daughter. JULIETA talks about the mother’s struggle to survive uncertainty. It also talks about fate, about guilt complexes and about that unfathomable mystery that leads us abandon the people we love, erasing them from our lives as if they had never meant anything, as if they had never existed.

Movie Review:

After the trippy but ultimately exhausting high-altitude frivolity of 2013’s ‘I’m So Excited’, Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar returns to more serious territory with ‘Julieta’, adapted from three short stories by Canadian author Alice Munro from her 2004 volume ‘Runaway’. Set across two time periods spanning a quarter-century, it is a tale of two Julietas: the present-day Julieta (Emma Suarez) a middle-aged woman who is about to leave Madrid for Portugal with her partner Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti), for whom a chance encounter with a childhood friend of her estranged daughter Antia unleashes a torrent of memories; and the younger Julieta from the 80s (Adriana Ugarte), a young and gifted teacher of classical literature, for whom a chance encounter with a handsome young fisherman Xoan (Daniel Grao) on board a nocturnal train journey will lead to a romance with life-changing consequences (and yes, if you’re guessing, Xoan is indeed the father of her daughter Antia).

Already from that brief description, those familiar with Almodovar’s works will recognise some familiar themes in his female-centric stories – random fate, buried secrets, and unfathomable guilt. Fate not only determines that the present-day Julieta face up to the ghosts of her past and the younger Julieta give up her passion for teaching to start a new life with Xoan, but also would have that Xoan and Julieta land in a bitter argument just before a tragic accident at sea claims his life and fractures the relationship between Julieta and Antia irrevocably. More than the loss of their loved one, it is silence that proves to be the true villain, leading both mother and daughter to internalise their grief that leads to the chasm between them. Such buried secrets, in Julieta’s case, precipitates that yawning sense of guilt that no individual can ultimately run away from, which Julieta tries to relieve by penning her thoughts – as if explaining herself to Antia – of her earlier adult life.

In the hands of a lesser director, such a character study on the subject of loss could have easily turned into a melodrama; and yet, Almodovar demonstrates elegant restraint in depicting grief, guilt and burden. In fact, Almodovar’s storytelling resembles a Hitchcockian thriller in the way that it pieces together Julieta’s life through extended flashbacks, such that we know something terrible had to have happened to cause the rift between Julieta and Antia but are kept pretty much in suspense till the third and final act. It isn’t just Hitchcock that Almodovar has obviously drawn inspiration from – it is no mere coincidence that Julieta’s first encounter with Xoan plays out as strangers on a train, with a death thrown in no less, which surely is reference to mystery writer Patricia Highsmith’s works (especially given how one character makes mention that he is becoming a Highsmith obsessive). And yet, the surest proof the somewhat unconventional narrative structure works for such a drama is in perhaps the film’s most brilliant metaphor, where the younger Julieta disappears under a towel as a teenage Antia dries her hair to become her rueful older self.

That reveal is classic Almodovar, and the same can be said of ‘Julieta’ as a whole. For one, Almodovar retains a bright lush visual palette throughout the film, beginning with a close-up on the undulating folds of a crimson dress right to the parting image of a bright blue car making its way around the mountain bends next to the ocean. The bold splashes of red, blue and yellow are part of Almodovar’s colourful compositions, and from paintings (a Lucien Freud hangs on the wall) to costumes (Julieta’s robe is printed in a Gustav Klimt pattern) to props (is that a book about the composer Ryuichi Sakamoto lying on the table?), ‘Julieta’ reflects his own personal eclectic imagining of contemporary Spain that will come across exquisite to his fans but indulgent posturing to his critics. Besides looking distinctively Almodovar, Alberto Iglesias’ lustrous yet mournful soft-jazz score also makes sure it sounds just as exquisite, emphasising not only his characters’ inner turmoil but also the noir elements of his ravishing drama.

But more than just being beautiful to look at, ‘Julieta’ is a heartbreaking depiction of coping with loss, dealing with grief and hoping for reconciliation. It also holds a significant lesson for parents, whether mothers or fathers, in how the loss of the other is as distressing – if not more – for their children, for whom not talking about it may lead to suppressed emotions that end up in either fear or resentment. Complemented by two contrasting performances by Suarez and Ugarte both raw and powerful in their own ways, ‘Julieta’ soars as a gripping mystery of emotional intrigue and ultimately poignancy. There’s no point comparing this against his other works (given how many of them he’s made that are worthy of praise), but this is certainly one of complexity, ambition and brilliance, deserving to be seen opposite ‘All About My Mother’, ‘Talk to Her’, ‘Bad Education’ and ‘Volver’ as one of his masterworks.

Movie Rating:

(A ravishing portrait of grief, guilt and burden at the centre of a mother-daughter estrangement, ‘Julieta’ is a welcome return for the Spanish auteur to his complex female-centric masterworks)

Review by Gabriel Chong