Berlin
Invisible City
(Documentary -- Singapore)
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With: Lim Cheu-sian, Wee Sheau-theng, Yeo Kang-shua, Chua Ai-hua, Ivan Polunin, Siew-yin Polunin, Han Tan-juan, Chan Cheow-thia, Teng Siao-see, Guo Ren-huey, Ho Kit-meng, Ogura Izumi, Ng Chun-kit, Marjorie Doggett, Tomoko Fuwa, Koh Tai-ann, Ong Chang-woei.
Tan freely shuttles among various threads: a bunch of curious young archeologists excavating a WWII fort buried in one of the island’s few remaining wild spots; an elderly Brit resident with a failing memory, Ivan Polunin, who’s racing to preserve his personal archive of docu color footage shot during the ‘50s; a onetime leftist student activist who suffered during the postwar anti-communist crackdown by the British colonial government; a former member of the Malayan Communist Party with horror stories of Japanese torture; and veteran English photog Marjorie Doggett’s beautiful black-and-white pictures of long-lost colonial architecture. Together, these build a fascinating but raggedy impression of Singaporean history largely ignored by official accounts, though general viewers aren’t helped by Tan’s scattershot approach. Tech package is so-so. Chinese title means “memorandum.”
Camera (color, DV), Ryan Seet, Tan; editor, Inez Ang. (Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival — Forum), Feb. 8, 2008. Mandarin title: Bei wang lu. English, Mandarin, Japanese dialogue. Running time: 60 MIN. (PAL).
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