The Revival of Singaporean Cinema 1995–2014
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BIBLIOASIA APR–JUN 2015 Vol. 11 / Issue 01 / Feature The Rise of Auteur Cinema industry. The feat is all the more amazing when one considers the fact that Mee Pok The first glimmer of hope for the revival Man was able to blaze a trail of its own, Is 2015 going to be a watershed year for of local cinema appeared that same year with none of the baggage connected with Singaporean cinema? Two highly symbolic when Eric Khoo’s August bagged the award the golden age of Singaporean cinema as events have paved the way for it, and, when for Best Singapore Short Film at the newly embodied by the Shaw and Cathay studios taken together, encapsulate the larger picture inaugurated awards. Encouraged by the of yesteryear. Endowed with all the traits of Singaporean film history, from its origins award, Khoo successively directed a few of an indie production, the film is clearly at the turn of the 20th century until today. more short films: Carcass (1992), which the work of an auteur. i Firstly, Run Run Shaw, co-founder in draws parallels between the life of a busi- Mee Pok Man was the first Singa- 1926 of the oldest Singaporean film empire, nessman and that of a butcher, and was the porean feature film to be entered for the passed away in March 2014. His death – at first local film to be given an R(A) rating; SIFF’s Silver Screen Awards, and it was age 106 – brought to full closure the first and Pain (1994), which recounts the story subsequently invited to over 30 interna- great cycle of Singaporean film history of a sado-masochistic young man, and tional film festivals, including the Berlin (largely predating the country’s Independ- won Khoo the Best Director and Special and Venice festivals. The film effectively ence), and marks the passing of a bygone Achievement Awards at the 1994 edition placed Singapore back on the map of era of which he had been the last survivor. of the festival. Unfortunately, Pain was world cinema. Secondly, 2014 saw the return – after three years of inactivity – of the Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) which, since its inception in 1987, has paved the way for what has been the gradual revival of a local film industry leading to its second historical cycle (coinciding with post-Independent Singapore). The hiatus of the festival between 2011 and 2013 was ominous, as there cannot be a serious film industry without a credible and established film festival. Fortunately, the SIFF, as it was known during its first 24 editions, is now back on track with a new acronym, SGIFF; its 25th outing in 2014 included a line-up of no less than 10 made-in-Singapore feature- length films. This is rather impressive, compared with the first few editions of the festival from 1987 to 1994 when there was very little local content to show as film- making in Singapore had ground to a halt. The origins of the SIFF date back to The Revival of 1987. In the absence of active filmmakers and producers, a small group of film buffs banned from public viewing in Singapore Two years later, Khoo directed his led by Geoffrey Malone (an Australian who because of its graphically violent scenes. second feature film, 12 Storeys, a social had settled in Singapore in the early 1980s), These films marked the beginning of the drama in the vein of Mee Pok Man but with the help of two Singaporeans, Philip great revival of Singaporean cinema. with a more intricate structure, unveiling Cheah (who handled programming) and It was only in 1995 that another major the lives of four different families living in Teo Swee Leng (who took charge of admin- step was made, led again by Khoo, then the same 12-storey block of flats (hence is a film director, producer istration) laid the foundations of the SIFF 30-years-old, with the premiere of his first the title). Cleverly cross-cutting between SingaporeanRaphaël Cinema Millet and critic with a passion for cinema the world in 1987. The festival opened a new window feature film, the seminal Mee Pok Man. the intertwined lives of the occupants, over. He divides his time between France for the expression and appreciation of the Symbolically, the release of the film coin- the film sheds a bleak light into the dark and Singapore, and has published two books art of film, and effectively put in place part cided with Singapore’s 30th anniversary of corners of a depressive and eventually about Singaporean cinema, one in French of the ecosystem needed for future film Independence. Khoo was to be a director of destructive Singaporean society – not in 2004, the other in, in English, 2006. simply titled directors to emerge. many firsts. If, when looking back, a movie inured from unresolved anxieties despite Singapore Cinema In its first few years, the SIFF saw itself were to be recognised as truly marking the having been carefully socially engineered 1995–2014 as a bridge between generations, paying revival of Singaporean cinema – the onset by the authorities. Singapore’s flm industry gets a reboot as homage to the long-gone filmmakers of of the second historical cycle following that the golden age and celebrating Singapore’s long coma – it would certainly be this movie. (Facing page) Film still from Eric Khoo's it enters a new phase of its development. film heritage. In doing so, the SIFF helped to Locally produced, directed and acted, Mee Mee Pok Man, which starred Michelle Goh and explains how this nurture new talent in the film industry. An Pok Man set in many respects the tone Joe Ng. © Mee Pok Man. Directed by Eric Khoo, Raphaël Millet produced by Jacqueline Khoo, distributed by important step was taken in that direction for a number of Singaporean productions Zhao Wei Films. Singapore 1995. Courtesy of resurgence came about. when the festival introduced its very first that would follow in the next two decades. Zhao Wei Films. Silver Screen Awards in 1991. Open to both The film is pioneering because of its bleak (Above) Lum May Yee (left) and Koh Boon Pin (right) in 12 Storeys. © 12 Storeys. Directed by Singapore and regional works of film, the social drama theme infused with angst- Eric Khoo, produced by Brian Hong, distributed awards spurred emerging local directors filled melancholy, but more importantly, it by Golden Village Pictures. Singapore 1997. to showcase their productions. single-handedly revived the Singapore film Courtesy of Zhao Wei Films. 24 25 BIBLIOASIA APR–JUN 2015 Vol. 11 / Issue 01 / Feature This skillfully crafted movie spoke volumes 84th Academy Awards, it did not make it to about other unspoken sides of Singapore the final shortlist of nominated movies. (such as lesbianism), and was produced In spite of these minor setbacks, right in time for the 40th anniversary of the Khoo’s contribution to the revival of Singa- country’s Independence. porean cinema is not diminished. He set the Be With Me launched the second direction and the standards for an auteur decade of the revival of Singaporean cin- cinema where an independent director's ema, spanning the period 2005 to 2014. By personal creative vision is paramount, free this time Singaporean cinema was alive from the stresses of commercial goals or and kicking, and Khoo proved that he was worries. With his “film for the sake of film” still a talent to be reckoned with. Be With attitude, Khoo inspired numerous directors Me premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight who emerged at the turn of the 1990s and section in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, 2000s, such as Glen Goei, Djinn Ong, Kelvin another first for Singapore. In the years that Tong and Royston Tan, among others. followed, Khoo remained a major proponent Djinn Ong’s career, although very of Singapore arthouse cinema, with two promising, was largely short-lived, with new opuses in which he managed to renew only two feature films to his directorial and refresh his approach to film: My Magic credit. Return to Pontianak (2001) was (2008) and Tatsumi (2011). Singapore’s first attempt at revisiting the With My Magic (2008), Khoo unexpect- horror film genre left fallow since the early edly focused on the Tamil minority, shooting 1970s (some of Ong’s peers, like Kelvin in Tamil, with a largely Tamil cast. It tells Tong, would explore this genre a few years the heartbreaking story of a young boy and later). Ong’s second film, Perth (2004) tells his father, a former magician. In spite of the story of Harry Lee, a security supervisor its limited acting range, largely due to the at a shipyard who, after losing his job due fact that the lead character was played to brutal downsizing, is forced to become a by a non-professional actor, and the film driver in order to make a living, with hopes appeared “rushed and improvised on all of one day retiring in Australia. With his “film for the sake of film” attitude, technical fronts” as some international Unfortunately, Ong discontinued his media rightfully remarked, it was nominated filmmaking work partly due to personal Eric Khoo inspired numerous directors who emerged for the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film reasons and did not have a chance to take Festival – once again a first for a Singaporean part in the second decade of the Singaporean film. But in the end, My Magic did not win, cinema revival from 2005 to 2014 – a pity, at the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, such as Djinn Ong, perhaps precisely because of its acting and as Perth had a grittiness rarely seen until technical shortcomings, as well as for its then in Singapore films, and still stands out Kelvin Tong and Royston Tan, among others.