Wonder Woman, Baby Driver and Blade Runner 2049 – 2017 has seen some pretty spectacular movies and our local film scene hasn’t been lacking either. From arthouse and thrillers to documentaries, here are our favourite Singaporean films that’ve graced our silver screens this year, just in case you missed them.
Released in April
Directed by Kirsten Tan
What’s it about A fateful story of a bromance between a discontented man and his long-lost elephant, Pop Aye, as they travel across Thailand to return to their hometown in the countryside.
Why you should watch Tan, whose other works include Cold Noodles (2010) and Granny (2014), won the screenwriting award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival for this movie.
Released in November
Directed by Gavin Lim
What’s it about Premiered at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival, Gavin Lim's debut feature film Diamond Dogs is a bloody revenge action-thriller about a man with stage-three cancer who finds himself part of an underground social experiment.
Why you should watch For fans of Asian thriller flicks like Oldboy and I Saw the Devil. Lim also directed Hello? in 2006 if you remember being a fan of that.
Released in September
Directed by Tan Pin Pin
What’s it about Set in modern day Singapore and shot over the span of four years, this almost silent film by award-winning director Tan Pin Pin, whose films include To Singapore, With Love (2013), and 7 Letters (2015), is nothing but a visual masterpiece that doesn’t follow a cohesive narrative. Think: picturesque shots of MacRitchie Reservoir and Marina Coastal Expressway void of traffic.
Why you should watch Tan has captured our daily routines in a different light that’s almost eerie, grim and dystopian-like.
Released in August
Directed by Dick Lee
What’s it about Inspired by composer-director Dick Lee’s own story, this coming-of-age drama follows Richard (starring The Sam Willows’ Benjamin Kheng), an aspiring musician growing up in 1970s Singapore – where listening to rock music was considered taboo and longhaired men were then deemed as thugs.
Why you should watch Okay, this one’s totally biased but it’s got Benjamin Kheng as its leading man. Plus he’s decked out in cheesy ’70s getup, too.
Released in May
Directed by Boris Boo
What’s it about Chronicling the life of Lin Yu – played by Ah Boys to Men actor Wang Weiliang – and his misfortunes, Lucky Boy is a light-hearted rom-com that deals with growing pains, friendships and the unlucky attempts at pursuing a childhood crush. Hashtag, very relatable, don’t you think?
Why you should watch If you like local humour. Or if you’ve ever had your secondary school crush reject all your advances.
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