Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Celine Song
Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro Park
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 August 2023
Synopsis: Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.
Movie Review:
‘Past Lives’ owes its title to the Korean concept of ‘In-Yun’, which refers to the providence that binds people across both past and present lives, such that they are bound to weave in and out of each other’s worlds. That is the fate which Na Young and Hae Sung have to confront over the span of more than two decades, learning ultimately about friendship, love, regret and what it means to move forward with the life that is here and now.
Already destined to be among the best movies of the year, it is the writing-directing debut of Korean-Canadian-American playwright Celine Song, who draws on her own life to make a film that is both beautifully restrained and brimming with feeling. Told in three acts, each separated by 12 years, it begins intriguingly with a shot of two Asians and a white guy seated at a bar, while voices offscreen speculate how they might be related to each other.
Act one begins 24 years earlier in Seoul, with Na Young and Hae Sung (played here by Seung Ah Moon and Seung Min Yim respectively) walking home from school mostly in silence, until Hae Sung chides Na Young for begrudging the one time he has beaten her in Maths at school. Na Young returns home to her parents packing their stuff as they prepare to immigrate to Canada, and when asked if she has settled on an English name, her father suggests she adopt the name Nora. Upon Na Young’s request, her mother arranges for her to have a play date with Hae Sung in the park before they leave for good, and after an afternoon out, Na Young and Hae Sung end up holding each other’s hands in the car on the way back, with her head on his shoulder.
The next act starts with the title card ’12 years pass’, with Na Young in college in New York City and Hae Sung just completed national service back in Korea (now played by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo respectively). While having a random chat with her mother on the phone about her former classmates, Na Young recalls her crush on Hae Sung, and after looking him up on Facebook, realises that he had left a message on the page for her father’s restaurant asking to find her. Before long, Na Young and Hae Sung are not only connected as friends on Facebook, but also chatting frequently with each other on Skype.
Alas, their long-distance relationship comes to an abrupt end when it dawns on Nora that it would not be possible for them to see each other physically until more than a year later and she decides that they should stop talking for a while so she can focus on her writing. Soon after, Nora attends a writers’ retreat in Montauk, where she meets Arthur (John Magaro) whom she will make love to and eventually marry. It is during that retreat however that she first describes ‘In-Yun’, but when asked by Arthur if she believes in it, Na Young dismisses it as just “something Korean people say to seduce someone”.
The third and final act though demonstrates how time (another “12 years pass”) changes perspective. On the guise of a vacation to New York, Hae Sung looks Na Young up, and after spending one day touring the city together, Na Young realises that he had specifically came to see her after breaking up with his girlfriend. It will take another day spent together for Na Young to recognise the feelings she has for Hae Sung, feelings that never quite went away since their childhood times back in Seoul and which are awakened seeing each other for the first time after 24 years.
It is only at this point that we realise the significance of the very first scene of the movie, because it is at the bar that Na Young and Hae Sung will confront how they feel and what it means in the context of their present lives. It is also at that setting that Hae Sung will bring up ‘In Yun’, wondering what they were to each other in their past lives and if things would have been different had Na Young not left all those years ago. Consider this fair warning that it does get achingly bittersweet, and perhaps even the most stone-hearted may find themselves moved to tears.
Indeed, Song’s true accomplishment is in how she taps her own life story to make us reflect on our own – the choices we had made and those that lie before us, the people we have met and the ones we have left behind, the connections whether as friends or lovers that we had forged at some point in our lives that we have lost with or over time, and last but not least the summation of all those could-have-beens and would-have-beens that we must learn to accept. It isn’t just Na Young and Hae Sung’s story per se that is moving, but in fact how real and relatable their story is to a certain chapter of our very own lives that gives it added poignancy.
Besides Song’s treatment of her material, Lee deserves absolute credit for drawing us into her world seamlessly. Best known for her role in the Netflix comedy drama ‘Russian Doll’, Lee stuns in a star-making lead turn with a terrifically subtle and immediate performance. She communicates each and every unsaid emotion within Na Young effortlessly, and cuts to the heart of her character’s self-divided identity as a native Korean growing up in America. Yoo and Magaro carry their respective characters with grace and equanimity too, especially in how both Hae Sung and Arthur manage their own emotions as Na Young deals with her own.
If we seem to be waxing lyrical about ‘Past Lives’, that’s because it has been some time since we were this unexpectedly moved by a film of such intimacy. It is a truly emotional experience all right, a meditation on choice and destiny that will resonate with you long after the credits are over. Indeed, no matter what has happened before, or what we might think could have been, the life before us is what each of us has to come to terms with, deal with, and do so as gracefully as we possibly can.
Movie Rating:
(Subtle, moving and heart-breaking, this meditation on choice and destiny is an emotional rollercoaster that will have you reflecting on what was, what could have been, and the here and now)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Da Peng
Cast: Huang Bo, Wang Yibo, Liu Mintao, Song Zuer, Yue Yunpeng, Xiao Shenyang, Zhang Zixian, Casper, Zhang Haiyu, Wang Feifei, Jiang Long
Runtime: 2 hr 4 min
Rating: PG
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 August 2023
Synopsis: Chen Shuo, who has been performing “commercial street dance” for a living, meets his "life mentor", Ding Lei, and joins the street dance club Exclamation Point. The dancers in the club have different personalities, and it was difficult for Chen Shuo to work with them. Gradually, Chen Shuo managed to integrate into the team. Exclamation Point is facing a disbandment and Chen Shuo encounters more obstacles along the way. The love for dance and support from their teammates enable Chen Shuo and Ding Lei to overcome difficulties and come back stronger. In the end, Chen Shuo and Ding Lei win the highest glory of their own.
Movie Review:
Award winning Chinese actor, Huang Bo has played many roles in his career, including Sun Wukong in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013), an engineer who perfected the automatic flag-raising mechanism before the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in My People, My Country (2019), as well as a volleyball coach in Leap (2020).
What we did not expect him to portray is a veteran street dancer who is training and inspiring a younger generation of dancers. And a quick check online shows that current vice chairman of China Film Association was a dance instructor before he became an actor, and that explains where he got those eye popping dance moves.
In this comedy drama directed by Da Peng, Huang plays Ding Lei, the owner of a professional dance club who is finding all ways and means to increase exposure and gain recognition for his troupe. He meets Chen Shuo (the very popular Wang Yibo), a teenager who loves street dance and is pursuing his dreams – he is the likeable protagonist from a motivational movie whom you won’t bear to dislike.
Chen Shuo joins the club and meets other dance masters who slowly warm up to him. In an expected plot development, his journey hits obstacles and he has to work extra hard to continue chasing his dreams. Besides a snobbish big shot who may destroy Chen Shuo’s aspirations of dancing in a professional troupe, he also has to deal with family obligations which may deter him from being fully committed to his craft. And thanks to Huang Yibo’s extremely earnest persona, Chen Shuo is a character you’d root for all the way till the end credits roll.
When it comes to dance movies, the Step Up franchise comes to mind. There is also the Magic Mike series if you are in the mood to see Channing Tatum and his mates show off their moves on stage as male strippers. This Chinese production is definitely a notable entry to the genre. A hit in its home country when it was released earlier this year, the movie effortlessly became one of the biggest blockbusters at the summer box office, and it is easy to see why.
The movie carries a wholesome message about working hard for your dreams, and it is unapologetically positive in its storytelling. Chen Shuo is a hardworking young man who takes on less than glamourous projects to earn his keep, while seizing the opportunity to hone his dance skills. Back at home, he has a hardworking mother who is running a restaurant and an uncle suffering from a nervous breakdown. His father died some years back and the close knitted family is holding things together. It’s all very dramatic, but because of the perfect casting of Wang Yibo, you go along with this rather convenient backstory.
Huang Bo is also perfectly cast as a world weary performer who has seen quite a bit of injustice and unfairness in his career. But with the determination to produce a hit, he presses on and gets his troupe to do their best. This culminates in an unforgettable and very captivating finale where we witness a street dance competition where different troupes face off with their impressive moves. This is the highlight of the 124 minute movie, and your eyes will be glued to the screen for the 20 odd minutes where a stunning spectacle unfolds. You will hold your breath as Huang Bo shows off what he is capable of, and Wang Yibo’s final dance move creates a lasting impression.
Movie Rating:
(Huang Bo and Wang Yibo are perfectly cast in this unapologetically positive movie that features a stunning spectacle in its memorable finale)
Review by John Li
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ammar
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 31 August 2023
Synopsis: Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.
Movie Review:
Unlike ‘Taken’, which squandered its franchise opportunity with two hastily and poorly done sequels, ‘The Equalizer’ has taken its time over the course of almost a decade to get to the inevitable trilogy, and in doing so, remain consistently and reliably watchable. Indeed, both Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills in the former and Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall in the latter are men with a very particular set of skills, but ‘The Equalizer’ has proven with its 2018 sequel and this latest that it is the superior vigilante action film with an aged action hero.
It should come as no surprise that Washington is the very raison d'etre of ‘The Equalizer’ trilogy. Whilst critics embrace his thespian performances in dramas such as ‘Flight’, ‘Fences’ and ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq’, it is his action hero shtick in the late Tony Scott’s ‘Man on Fire’, ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’ and ‘Unstoppable’ and in director Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Training Day’ and ‘The Magnificent Seven’ that audiences have lapped up. As McCall in ‘The Equalizer’ films, all of which have been directed by Fuqua, Washington is peerless smoldering, swaggering and lighting up the screen as a deliverer of slick justice.
To their credit though, Fuqua and series writer Richard Wenk do not just take this latest (and possibly last) film as just another rehash of the earlier two. As much as the opening scene at an Italian vineyard strewn with bodies, knives and bullet wounds remind us of how ruthless efficient he is, it also ends with McCall getting shot in the back by a child he thought was innocuous, which he takes a moment to absorb lying on the grass. McCall does manage to make it into a car, drive onto a ferry, and steer his way up a mountain road en route to a fictional seaside town of Alamonte along the Amalfi Coast.
Most of the action takes place in that picturesque setting, where McCall is nursed back to health by a kindly elderly doctor Enzo (Remo Girone) at his home, after being brought there by a kindly carbinieri (Eugenio Mastrandrea). Pretty soon, the rest of the community also grows on McCall, including the barista (Gaia Scodellaro) at the café in the village square he goes to every morning, the fishmonger that initially refuses payment on account of being Enzo’s friend, and even the priest at the church on the hill he takes daily climbs up to in order to regain his stamina.
If it was purpose he was after in the earlier two films, it is peace that he longs for here – and it is precisely that peace he steps in to safeguard fiercely for the community when their lives are disrupted by the Italian mafia (specifically, the Camorra). Besides extortion, the mafia are also forcing people out of their homes in a bid to redevelop the real estate into hotels and casinos. After holding himself back when they set fire to the fishmonger’s store, McCall gets back to what he does best when he sees them openly threatening the policeman and his family in a restaurant.
From squeezing a median nerve, to turning a knife against its very aggressor, and to driving a corkscrew up into a baddie’s mouth, Washington’s savage, untroubled dispatching of the Camorra is an utter guilty pleasure. An absolute pro at pushing our buttons, Washington has perfected his trademark gestures – the smirk, pursed lips, and occasional sardonic aside – that make his kills as much for justice as they are for sheer entertainment. None of the sequences rival the showdown in the first movie at a home supplies depot, but watching Washington do what he does never loses its cathartic joy.
Like we said at the start, ‘The Equalizer’ trilogy exists because of Washington. He is its force of nature, whose ferocity is nicely balanced with charisma, grace and equanimity. Though he is obviously better than the material, Washington remains a consummate movie star through and through, never phoning it in even if he could easily do so. Those who remember his ‘Man on Fire’ will also be in for a treat – close to 20 years later, his reunion with Dakota Fanning, who plays a CIA desk clerk turned junior operative whom McCall strikes an unlikely partnership with, is surprisingly delightful thanks to their easy chemistry. If this is indeed the end of the road for ‘The Equalizer’, it is a satisfying conclusion that ends the franchise on a pulpy high note.
Movie Rating:
(Smoldering, swaggering and lighting up the screen as a deliverer of slick justice, Denzel Washington proves once again why he is 'The Equalizer' par none)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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WATCH OUT FOR THE GOLDFINGER (金手指) THIS DECEMBER!Posted on 17 Aug 2023 |
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Kelvin Tong
Cast: Rebecca Lim, Cynthia Koh
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures and Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 19 October 2023
Synopsis: CONFINEMENT tells the story of Wang Si Ling (Rebecca Lim), a pregnant painter who moves into her dream home and hires a confinement nanny after winning an award. As Si Ling begins her one month in confinement, inexplicable incidents start mounting in the house, threatening both her and her baby…
Movie Review:
One can’t possibly ask for a more timely publicity than this. Singaporean actress Rebecca Lim, who is headlining Kelvin Tong’s latest work announced last month that she is pregnant, complete with a photo of herself with a visible baby bump. The thing is, in Tong’s psychological thriller, Lim plays a single mother who experiences weird (read: supernatural) happenings when her confinement nanny moves in to take care of her newborn. Yup, this means that Lim’s appearance at the movie’s publicity events will cause a natural buzz.
Depending on how superstitious you are, watching a movie of this genre when you’re pregnant may not be the best idea, especially when you are the one playing the character who is being spooked. We are sure Lim is sensible about this, but we aren’t so sure about Si Ling, the single mother she plays in the movie.
It is almost the same set of peculiarities for any horror or psychological thriller. The characters always involve themselves in situations that most of us wouldn’t have landed ourselves in. For example, if you keep hearing strange voices and seeing shadowy figures while staying in a huge house with your newborn, would you have made attempts to find another accommodation? If you are perpetually haunted by a recurring nightmare about a ghostly figure that pounces at you in the house, would you have made more effort to move out?
Maybe the protagonist of this movie is taking the advice of her confinement nanny Ah Qing (Cynthia Koh) seriously, because she warns her not to step out of the house during the one month period. But hey, you see Si Ling heading over to a neighbour’s house to check out the old lady who calls her “dirty”, and going to her manager’s office to demand for answers whether anything sinister happened in the lodging he procured for her. Oh, and we don’t exactly understand why Si Ling uses the landline and doesn’t have any Internet enabled device to go online to search for answers.
Then there is the confinement nanny herself, who behaves is behaving suspiciously. Is Ah Qing secretly communicating to the father of the child behind closed doors? And what exactly are the ingredients in the confinement meals she cooks for Si Ling?
Questions, questions, questions.
This 95 minute movie takes its time to build up the mood, and a substantial amount of time is dedicated to Si Ling’s strange and frustrating encounters. There are very few jump scares, and the filmmakers are not interested in delivering gore and horror. Lim does a decent job in playing a character who is psychologically confused by the happenings around her, while Koh is appropriately unsettling with her cold stares and unaffectionate behaviour (one look at we wouldn’t trust Ah Qing with a newborn). The technical aspects of the movie are top notch. Director Tong is a confident filmmaker who knows how to use cinematography and sound design to bring out the best of the production set.
When the truth is finally revealed in the very last moments of the movie, you try to recall all the clues that Tong has placed throughout the story. But you also wonder why Si Ling didn’t get out of the house earlier, like any other normal human being would.
Movie Rating:
(There is an emotional payoff for this psychological thriller featuring decent performances from lead actresses Rebecca Lim and Cynthia Koh)
Review by John Li
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Nimrod Antal
Cast: Liam Neeson, Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell, Jack Champion, Embeth Davidtz, Mathew Modine
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 September 2023
Synopsis: Matt Turner (Liam Neeson) is a successful Berlin based American businessman juggling a booming financial career with family responsibility. Driving his kids to school one morning, Matt receives a phone call from a mysterious voice: there's a bomb under his seat that will detonate unless he completes a specific series of tasks, and fast. Trapped in their car in a high-speed chase across the city, Matt must follow the stranger's increasingly dangerous instructions in a race against time to protect his family and solve the mystery that plays out over the course of one day.
Movie Review:
We could never resist the temptation to make a pun on Liam Neeson and his special set of skills. But it had comes to a point whereby it is becoming repetitive and exhausting that we decides to give it a rest. Unlike us, the 71 year old Irish actor stars yet again in another generic, repetitive and exhausting action thriller of the year called Retribution. See, even the name smells generic.
Neeson plays Matt, a Berlin-based investment banker whose punishing working schedule has drifted apart his relationship with his wife and children. While his wife, Heather (Embeth Davidtz) is secretly planning a divorce at the lawyer’s office, it’s Matt’s turn to drive the kids, Zack (Jack Champion) and Emily (Lilly Aspell) to school.
Soon enough, Matt receives an anonymous call on a cell phone placed inside his car compartment. The psycho on the other side of the call informs Matt that there is a bomb hidden under his seat and it will detonate if he or the kids attempt to get out of the car. In the meantime, Matt needs to follow the psycho’s order such as watching the deaths of his office colleagues including his boss (Matthew Modine) and asking his wife to withdraw money from his deposit box.
Retribution in actual fact is a remake of a Spanish thriller which none of us here has watched. Thus there’s no way to make a decent comparison though we can attest that this English language version is so boring that the brief 91 minutes duration seems like eternity.
There’s no suspense, thrills or adrenalin for that matter as we follows Matt in his swanky Mercedes as he drives aimlessly around Berlin. Helmer Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Predators, Stranger Things) certainly has an easy job directing Neeson who is practically stuck in the car the entire time. Besides some lame attempt to communicate with his estranged son and assuring his daughter, Neeson’s only other job is to toggle between the phones and control system of his car.
The material and direction is so weak that the handful of car chases and explosions are amateur at best. Even with Neeson’s trademark gruff and machismo on full display, there isn’t enough compelling elements and plot turns to keep things going. Even the so-called plot twist is standard screenwriting 101.
For a 2023 movie, Retribution is horrible on all accounts if you insist on comparing this to a nearly three decades, bomb-on-a-bus action thriller, the all-time superior Speed. Neeson needs to seriously stop his subpar everyday action hero routine or risk endangering his wholesome acting career.
Movie Rating:
(This Neeson vehicle lacks the horsepower to run from start to finish)
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Picking up a few months after the end of “Vacation Friends,” this uproarious sequel finds newly married couple Marcus (Howery) and Emily (Orji) inviting their uninhibited besties Ron (Cena) and Kyla (Hagner), who are also newly married and have a baby, to join them for a vacation when Marcus lands an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort. His reason for traveling there in the first place is to meet with the owners of the resort to bid on a construction contract for a hotel they own in Chicago. But when Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese (Buscemi) is released from San Quentin and shows up at the resort unannounced at the worst possible moment, things get out of control, upending Marcus’ best laid plans and turning the vacation friends’ perfect trip into total chaos.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The money that goes to making Vacation Friends 2 should go to better use. Maybe the money from Hulu should go to several indie filmmakers or the WGA strike. Perhaps even charity. In short, nobody needs a sequel to the tepid Vacation Friends.
Set shortly after the first, Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) has invited their hard-partying friends, Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner) on an all-expenses paid trip to a Caribbean resort. In actual fact, Marcus is meeting the head of a Korean conglomerate at the resort to discuss the possibility of building a resort in his hometown, Chicago. The meeting is supposed to take place four days after but the Vice President, Yeon (Ronnie Chieng) decides to bring things forward.
As if there’s not enough trouble for Marcus, Kyla’s father, Reese (Steve Buscemi) who has just been released from jail joins them on the resort.
Honestly, after sitting through nearly two hours of Vacation Friends 2, we can’t really decipher what’s particularly funny or absurd that it deserve the audiences time. The whole movie tries hard to deliver something provocative maybe like The Hangover. But the moment never arrive. Not a gag, a one-liner or anything. A potential surfing went wrong gag just appear and sort of quietly vanishes, another gag involving cocaine also ends up being a flop.
Mostly, it’s Marcus getting angry and exasperated, his wife Emily doesn’t want a baby if you are keen on this part of the story. Ron is busy trying to win over his up-to-no-good father-in-law. Despite being a new mom, Kyla tends to leave their baby to Maurillo (Carlos Santos), the hotel concierge from the first one and the only pathetic reason why his character returned for the sequel.
As with all sequels, the second instalment gets bigger with a finale that’s equipped with drug dealers, dirty money, explosion and car chases. You know all these noisy shenanigans doesn’t make things any more entertaining, hilarious and meaningful.
The chemistry of the four leads remains the only draw especially John Cena who is destined to be quite a versatile actor. Other than that, there shouldn’t be a need for Vacation Friends 2 at all.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Stacy and Lydia are BFFs who've always dreamed about having epic bat mitzvahs. But things start to go comically awry when a popular boy and middle school drama threatens their friendship and their rite of passage.
MOVIE REVIEW:
We heard Adam Sandler is such a generous actor that he invites his gang of Hollywood buddies for Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2. And now he has round up his entire family for You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. Nepotism you might say.
But hold your horses, Mitzvah is in fact one of the sweetest teenage comedy in recent times that you will be labelled a scrooge if you detest it.
Stacy Friedman (Sunny Sandler) and Lydia Rodriguez Katz (Samantha Lorraine) are two best friends dreaming about their ideal bat mitzvahs. Mitzvah is a Jewish ceremony of becoming an adult for the uninitiated. But their friendship suffers a setback when they fall in love with the same bad boy in school, Andy Goldfarb (Dylan Hoffman). Suddenly, the two girls who have been friends since they were babies begin to feud with each other over the slightest thing. Will their lifelong dream bat mitzvahs ever happen given the current situation?
Director Sammi Cohen and writers Alison Peck, Fiona Rosenbloom perfectly captures the spirit of the coming-of-age story tailored for the Tik Tok generation. There’s never a single dull moment right here as viewers are treated to the incredible rivalry of the once best friends. It all arises from a minor misunderstanding but Stacy isn’t going to take things lying down even resorting to volunteering at an old folks home where Andy’s grandma is residing.
From the unrealistic desire to go for more adult fashion choices to a forbidden kiss at the temple, the themes are so universally appealing that every parents with an angst teenager at home will attest to it. Sunny’s real-life dad, Adam Sandler plays her onscreen dad and he appears on and off offering some goofy not offensive humour.
Talking about offensive humour, there’s a big gag about a bloody floating tampon, probably pretty mild for a Sandler comedy. Another admirable fact about Mitzvah is the obvious missing of Sandler regulars and it’s definitely a good sign because you have SNL regular Sarah Sherman appearing as a very likeable singing Rabbi and Israeli actor Ido Mosseri playing an over-the-top DJ.
As for Sunny Sandler, she is truly the breakout star here. This nepo-baby is both funny and charming. Wonder where she inherit her genes from. Her elder sister, Sadie appears as her on-screen sister and she is amazing as well.
For a movie that covers first crush, friendship, humiliation, teenage awkwardness and lots of stuff about the Jewish culture, this Happy Madison production comes highly recommended. This is not a joke seriously, we repeat not a joke.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Crime/Action
Director: Lui Mei Fung
Cast: Chrissie Chau, Gillian Chung, Karena Ng, Carrie Ng
Runtime:1 hr 28 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 September 2023
Synopsis: Top Sis (Chrissie Chau) was a successful businesswoman who is framed and sent to prison. She quickly realises that there is a turf war going on with Mrs. Ball (Gillian Chung). In light of self-preservation, she joins forces with Kelly (Karena Ng) and Mother Bo (Carrie Ng) to go against Mrs. Ball. She uses her business skills and turns the black market within the prison upside down. The war between the two clans continues to heighten.
Movie Review:
Those old enough to know the women-in-prison subgenre might be curious to find out if ‘Prison Flowers’ is a throwback to the Cat III Hong Kong films from the 80s. Unfortunately, except for an entirely gratuitous bare back shot, there is nothing remotely scintillating about this tedious redemption drama, which probably should have stayed in its own incarceration after a four-year delay.
A barely competent Chrissie Chau anchors the film as Tai Yim-kwan, a successful businesswoman who is sent to prison after being framed for embezzlement. Ignorant of the hierarchy within the inmates, Tai – otherwise known as Top Sis – unwittingly offends resident bully Mrs Ball (Gillian Chung). Compared to Chau, Chung fares even worse as the prison matriarch, exuding neither menace or awe.
For her own survival, Top Sis joins Mother Bo’s (Carrie Ng) clique, and together decide to set up their own cigarette trading business to rival that of Mrs Ball. So the film doesn’t end up on the wrong side of the censors, a prologue carefully explains how the setting is pre-handover to China, when the British rulers could hardly care about running the colony properly and where therefore such illegal activities even behind bars were rampant.
As much as the synopsis teases a showdown between Top Sis and Mrs Ball, their rivalry hardly amounts to anything compelling within the movie. Instead, the real villain here is Butcher Wan (Rain Li), a psychopathic career offender who had stabbed Mrs Ball in the abdomen just before her last release from jail. It doesn’t take long before Top Sis and Mrs Ball decide to team up against Butcher Wan, not least when the latter indirectly recruits Mother Bo’s daughter Bobo (Jeannie Chan) just to spite Bo.
Making her feature debut, short-film director Lui Mei-fung falls back on the usual melodramatic narrative tropes to pit Top Sis and Mrs Ball against Butcher Wan. You can see coming the unfortunate demise of one of the characters, which will reinforce the alliance between the two former factions led by Top Sis and Mrs Ball respectively. Likewise, you’d expect too that there is a sob story behind each of our protagonists, which has led to their imprisonment.
Sadly for Lui, she has neither the finesse to turn this into a cliched but engaging genre piece nor the actresses to deliver the material. Oh yes, there is no guilty fun to be had here, with the plot turns and dialogue taken with tin-eared seriousness. The setting too is poorly constructed, with only as much realism as a cut-rate TV drama. Whether the intention was to be gritty or trashy, the result is ultimately cringe-worthy.
Indeed, there is nothing pretty about the movie, notwithstanding its pretty-faced cast. Compared to the male-driven ‘Breakout Brothers’ by the same production company, this attempt at a female-driven prison movie falls utterly flat. Given the sociopolitical climate today, it is not realistic to expect that ‘Prison Flowers’ will aim to be a modern-day Cat III exploitation film; that said, we had hoped at least for more drama and less cliches. Like we said, it’s probably better if this production had stayed in own prison.
Movie Rating:
(Neither trashy or compelling, this tedious prison drama is bogged down by melodramatic cliches, amateurish execution and mis-casting)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Anthony Chen
Cast: Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, Qu Chuxiao
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 September 2023
Synopsis: THE BREAKING ICE is set in Yanji, a border city in the north of China. It tells the story of the blossoming relationship among three young adults in their twenties, set over a few short days in the winter snow.
Movie Review:
Anthony Chen’s first foray into mainland China sees the Hong Kong-based Singaporean filmmaker venture to the frozen landscapes of Yanji, a small border city within shouting distance of North Korea. Against the working-class landscape of industrial smokestacks and the snowy peaks of Changbai Mountains, Chen devises a three-hander as a “love letter to the young people of China”. That however should not be taken to imply that ‘The Breaking Ice’ is in any way whimsical; in fact, we should warn you that even though it is never heavy-handed, it does deal with heavy themes such as alienation and ennui.
Indeed, each one of Chen’s protagonists is struggling with some degree of dislocation at the start. Nana (Zhou Dongyu) is a disaffected guide who gamely puts on a smile to host the busloads of tourists who have come to visit the city’s ethnic folk villages and hopefully support its local economy, but she quickly falls back on pursed lips once her customers are out of sight. She also nurses a foot injury whose significance will only become clearer in the second half of the movie, and without giving too much away, let’s just say hers is the most fully formed character arc of wasted potential, thwarted ambition and deep-seated regret.
Haofeng (Liu Haoran) is a Shanghai-based urbanite visiting Yanji to attend a friend’s wedding. Though his habit of chewing on ice cubes and looking over ledges makes it clear from the very start he is suffering from borderline depression, it is never satisfyingly clear what led him to this state, except some vague mention of how this boy from Henan had somehow cracked under the parental pressure of making it in life. Completing the triumvirate is Han Xiao (Qu Chuxiao), a rough-edged but good-natured local who works at his aunt’s Korean restaurant that Nana hosts her tour groups at for lunch. Unlike Nana and Haofeng, Han Xiao is simply adrift, and would have been content remaining a slacker enjoying an on-off flirtation with Nana if not for an unexpected romance that develops between Nana and Haofeng.
Over the span of four days, the trio traverse the city and its outskirts, including a walk along the border fenceline with North Korea, a visit to a night-time funfair where Nana is reminded of her past as a promising figure skater, and a massive ice maze where they play hide and seek with one another. They also spend time at a dance club where Nana and Han Xiao share an intimate dance while Haofeng wallows in his unhappiness chewing ice cubes, and indulge in a game of shoplifting while in a bookstore. Their sprees culminate in a trip up to the Changbai mountains to visit Heaven Lake, where an unexpected near-death encounter will force them to confront their frustrations, fears and future.
Given Chen’s previous works, it is not surprising that one may expect this to be a character study and therefore come off somewhat disappointed. Indeed, even though it is a relationship drama, it isn’t intended in the same way as ‘Ilo Ilo’ or ‘Wet Season’ was; rather, this is best appreciated as a heartfelt observation of three people whose lives intersect in intimately profound ways over a brief but consequential period. And in that regard, it is amazing how Chen lets the characters grow on you, develop within the course of the movie, and find hope, resolve and confidence to forge new beginnings on their own and with each other.
Those familiar with Chen’s oeuvre will know that he is a detailed filmmaker, and it is therefore entirely deliberate that we only know so much of the back stories of these characters. Whilst some would clearly prefer a more in-depth treatment, it is equally true that we know as much about their past as they do of one another, which in no way diminishes the experience they have with each other during those momentous days together. That said, it is true that a recurring motif of a runaway criminal never quite solidifies into anything truly compelling, but that is thankfully largely kept to the periphery of the movie.
In more ways than one, ‘The Breaking Ice’ sees Chen break out of the mould of his comfort zone. Not only has he chosen to apply his filmmaking sensibilities to reflect the undercurrents of today’s Mainland Chinese youth, he has also challenged himself to work with an entirely unfamiliar set of cast and crew in a foreign setting. Though it does feel familiar in some regard, it is nonetheless still an impressive achievement for the Singapore-born, now Hong Kong-based director, especially as a new chapter in his journey towards being a truly international filmmaker. Our heartiest congratulations to Chen, and we hope local audiences will continue to support local talent – after all, it may not be set in Singapore, but its themes, language and sentimentality is absolutely universal and just as keenly relatable.
Movie Rating:
(Intimate, heartfelt and ultimately uplifting, this tender observation of three people whose lives intersect over a brief but consequential period is an impressive new chapter for Singapore-born filmmaker Anthony Chen)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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