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A detective searches for a missing migrant worker in Singapore
A Land Imagined
Dir/scr: Yeo Siew Hua. Sing-Fr-Neth. 2018. 96mins
A Land Imagined sets up expectations of a moody, film noir thriller as a dogged detective trawls the mean streets of industrial Singapore in search of a missing migrant worker. The switch towards something more unexpected is initially disconcerting, but ultimately reveals an ambitious filmmaker striving to subvert expectations. It may be too much to swallow for some tastes but further festival exposure should follow its world premiere at Locarno.
There is a feeling in A Land Imagined of Yeo Siew Hua experimenting with different styles and influences
Writer/director Yeo Siew Hua and cinematographer Hideho Urata swiftly establish a film noir-style ambience as detective Lok (Peter Yu) drives through a neon-lit Singapore like a latter-day Philip Marlowe or J J Gittes. City lights twinkle through the haze of...