"Perth: The Geylang Massacre" Returning to Singapore Screen 19 years later!
Feature film "PERTH" ("Perth: The Geylang Massacre") will be getting the big-screen treatment again, 19 years after it's premier in Singapore!
The one-day-only screening is part of the programme "Cinema Reclaimed: DRIVING, KICKING & PUNCHING!" (curated with support and collaboration from the Asian Film Archive.), which in turn is apart of the Singapore HeritageFest, currently celebrating it's 20th edition in the month of May.
"Echoes of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, but Perth is its own film. Lim Kay Tong’s Harry Lee, an ageing, angry ex-Navy veteran struggles to make a future in a modern city-state that doesn’t want him any more. He becomes a taxi driver to save up towards his dream of escaping to Australia, but gets stuck ferrying drunk yuppies late at night. When he starts chauffeuring sex workers pimped by sinister gangsters operating out of a bar in Geylang, Harry faces the heart of Singapore’s darkness, and believes he can find redemption for his past sins. The details of a taxi driver’s life are spot-on: pandan leaves in the back, the over-sharing conversations, but Djinn’s film is best viewed as grotesque black comedy (often wallowing in misogyny and brutal violence), led by Lim’s intense go-for-broke performance.". (Text via sgheritagefest.gov.sg)
Directed by Djinn, the 107-minuter film stars Lim Kay Tong, Sunny Pang, A. Panneeirchelvam, and Liu Qiu Lian. Spoken in English (Singlish/Singslese), Hokkien, Mandarin, Vietnamese, with a "Coarse Language and Violence"-advisory (on the DVD), which I can only imagine my own80+ year old mother tsk-ing at ...!
"Perth" will be screened at Oldham Theatre on May 28th, 2023, from 5PM to 7PM. The cast and crew (including yours truly) will be present at the screening to introduce the film and for a Q&A afterwards. Tickets are SG$10 per, and you can register online via perthcinemareclaimed.peatix.com.
GETTING TO OLDHAM:
Cinema Reclaimed: "Writer and Researcher Ben Slater (author of Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore) working with researcher Toh Hun Ping (SG Film Hunter) presents the third edition of the Cinema Reclaimed programme entitled Driving, Kicking & Punching in partnership and collaboration with the Asian Film Archive for Singapore HeritageFest."
I was the Production Designer for "Perth" (IMDb), and was the fifth feature film I had been involved in, in my short cine-life in the industry, cheers. I had screened this film once for my students none too many years ago, and the generational lapse was glaring (Might not have been born even then yet?), and I truly wonder how folks at the upcoming Sunday screening will react to this slice of cine-life from the mid-2000s, and an era before privvate hire rides...?
BONUS IMAGES:
Seen above is a scan of the Region 3 DVD (found in Singapore), while seen below is the Region 1 DVD distributed in the U.S. under Tartan Films (which has a "Set Design Featurette" which I wished I had a digital copy of to showcase my work, instead of blogging about it) ... I also realized in this current age, "physical media" has become a rarity, hasn't it? And I am still grasping unto the past... having become "Harry" myself, unable to "let go"...!
The one-day-only screening is part of the programme "Cinema Reclaimed: DRIVING, KICKING & PUNCHING!" (curated with support and collaboration from the Asian Film Archive.), which in turn is apart of the Singapore HeritageFest, currently celebrating it's 20th edition in the month of May.
"Echoes of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, but Perth is its own film. Lim Kay Tong’s Harry Lee, an ageing, angry ex-Navy veteran struggles to make a future in a modern city-state that doesn’t want him any more. He becomes a taxi driver to save up towards his dream of escaping to Australia, but gets stuck ferrying drunk yuppies late at night. When he starts chauffeuring sex workers pimped by sinister gangsters operating out of a bar in Geylang, Harry faces the heart of Singapore’s darkness, and believes he can find redemption for his past sins. The details of a taxi driver’s life are spot-on: pandan leaves in the back, the over-sharing conversations, but Djinn’s film is best viewed as grotesque black comedy (often wallowing in misogyny and brutal violence), led by Lim’s intense go-for-broke performance.". (Text via sgheritagefest.gov.sg)
Directed by Djinn, the 107-minuter film stars Lim Kay Tong, Sunny Pang, A. Panneeirchelvam, and Liu Qiu Lian. Spoken in English (Singlish/Singslese), Hokkien, Mandarin, Vietnamese, with a "Coarse Language and Violence"-advisory (on the DVD), which I can only imagine my own80+ year old mother tsk-ing at ...!
"Perth" will be screened at Oldham Theatre on May 28th, 2023, from 5PM to 7PM. The cast and crew (including yours truly) will be present at the screening to introduce the film and for a Q&A afterwards. Tickets are SG$10 per, and you can register online via perthcinemareclaimed.peatix.com.
Cinema Reclaimed: "Writer and Researcher Ben Slater (author of Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore) working with researcher Toh Hun Ping (SG Film Hunter) presents the third edition of the Cinema Reclaimed programme entitled Driving, Kicking & Punching in partnership and collaboration with the Asian Film Archive for Singapore HeritageFest."
I was the Production Designer for "Perth" (IMDb), and was the fifth feature film I had been involved in, in my short cine-life in the industry, cheers. I had screened this film once for my students none too many years ago, and the generational lapse was glaring (Might not have been born even then yet?), and I truly wonder how folks at the upcoming Sunday screening will react to this slice of cine-life from the mid-2000s, and an era before privvate hire rides...?
Seen above is a scan of the Region 3 DVD (found in Singapore), while seen below is the Region 1 DVD distributed in the U.S. under Tartan Films (which has a "Set Design Featurette" which I wished I had a digital copy of to showcase my work, instead of blogging about it) ... I also realized in this current age, "physical media" has become a rarity, hasn't it? And I am still grasping unto the past... having become "Harry" myself, unable to "let go"...!
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