Written by Anna Kwa Warning: This review will be breaking the first rule. Based on the 1996 novel of the same name by American novelist Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club opens with a gun to the protagonist’s (Edward Norton) mouth.  For a second, he forgets about the impending danger and, instead, wonders how clean the gun is. His deadpan internal monologue introduces the audience to his past, where he attends a support group for men with testicular cancer. It’s a darkly comic scene – members of the group cling to each other, sobbing while reassuring each other that they are still ‘men’.  ..read more

Written by Goh Kai En The Room (2003): The Best Worst Film Imagine a movie so hilarious that everyone erupts into uproarious laughter at the same time. Imagine a main character so beloved that the audience cheers for him when he is happy, and boos when he is upset. Imagine it being made by a director so remarkable, people chant his name as the opening credits roll. Imagine a film checking all these boxes for all the wrong reasons, and you’d get Tommy Wiseau’s directorial debut, The Room (2003), a melodramatic romance film widely known to be the worst film ever made. The premise follows Johnny ..read more

Written by Deepesh Vasudev SPOILER ALERT: Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially Ant-Man: Quantumania, Wandavision, and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness. Let’s be honest here, something is wrong with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of late. Their latest outing, Ant-Man: Quantumania, has been a disappointment, and this has been a trend since the end of their ‘Infinity Saga’, which was Avengers: Endgame. There have been diamonds in the rough like Wandavision, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Shang-Chi; however, there seems to be a downward trend in each individual piece of media and we might be ..read more

INTERVIEW WITH MARYAM TOUZANI – Director of THE BLUE CAFTAN Q1: How did The Blue Caftan come about? Did it originate from your own experience or purely from your imagination? I work a lot based on my feelings and inspiration; I don’t intellectualise things when I write. While I was scouting for a location for my previous film,Adam, I made a decisive encounter in the medina of Salé with a gentleman who ran a hair salon for women. He greatly inspired the character of Halim (Saleh Bakri). I felt that there was, in his life, the presence of something unsaid, something smothered with respect to w ..read more

 “It is not uncommon to hear of art inspired by Zen philosophy, from calligraphy to archery to architecture to gardening, but filmmaking is a complex process that is highly conditional and dependent on external factors.” How do you make a film with a Zen-mind? What will it look like?” For most art forms, the process of making is as important (and enjoyable) as what is made. While filmmakers enjoy making films, the end justifies the means. ‘You are only as good as your last film’, they say. The making itself often brings more pain than joy to the filmmaker because of numerous conditions ..read more

Written by Deepagcharan Chandran Have you heard of Phunk, Stomping Ground, or Zircon lounge? These art collectives and artists are pioneers of the underground art scene in Singapore. Chris Ho, lead singer of Zircon Lounge, recollects how one even labels alternative scenes when we did not have a mainstream scene to parallel with. This highlights how enigmatic and groundbreaking the creative movement was. Class Acts does not follow a single artiste; which may have led to a more parochial view of the art movement in the 90s. Instead, it charts the birth and trajectory of the alternative art scen ..read more

Written by Heng Wei Li [Tickets for 12 March, 1pm screening with Director Q&A are available via The Projector: https://theprojector.sg/films-and-events/a-new-old-play/] A huge reason why I love writing about films is sharing titles that might have slipped under the radar of even the most thorough of cinephiles. It’s a two-step process: (1) discovering great, unique cinema from filmmakers that have their own wholly interesting approach to the artform, and (2) articulating my need to make said film known to as many people as possible. Over 400 movies were made in the United States and Canada ..read more

Written by Deepesh Vasudev Same Formula, Exceptional Results Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a masterfully crafted whodunnit that keeps you engaged and gripped throughout its runtime; however, at times it feels like the first film, just in new clothes. Rian Johnson, the director of Glass Onion has outdone himself with this film. All aspects of the film are expertly accomplished and the actors are at the top of their game. Daniel Craig, who is the only character returning from Knives Out, steals the show in every scene with his exceptional Southern accent and mannerisms which is miles awa ..read more

Written by Heng Wei Li Asian-American cinema is admittedly not a field that I have explored as deeply as I would like. While in recent years there has been a visible upswing in the diversity of Asian-American stories on film, from Jon M. Chu’s romantic comedy blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians to Lulu Wang’s poignant depiction of familial isolation in The Farewell and the Daniels’ stir-fry of genre film with Everything Everywhere All at Once, the history of Asian-American representation on film gets exponentially sparse when one goes past the 2000’s and into the 1990’s. Prominent Asian-American act ..read more

Written by Donovan Wan The documentary explores the teaching of the Zen Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. He is known for bringing Buddhism to the West, opening Plum Village Monastery in the south of France after being exiled from his home country for not supporting the Vietnam War during the 1960s. This is where Thich Nhat Hanh would spread the word of mindfulness and soon gain a large following. This mindfulness refers to a form of energy that comes from anchoring ourselves in the present, and truly appreciating what we are doing at that point in time. Many would convert into nuns and monks t ..read more