Movie Review: Singapore Dreaming

In the last one week, I have watched this movie twice at the cinema, and I believe I'll be back for a third viewing.

Singaporean films never do make money (with the exception of certain films, with immense support from the government). There isn't a Hollywood in Singapore and there isn't a market in Singapore. Just think of this, a film with a cost of one million dollars will require a whooping three million to break even. How will we then, define a perfect, or at least, a good Singaporean film?

I myself, am a passionate film maker, as many of you would know me by. The trouble that a director/writer/producer goes through to realize a film, is much more than anyone can ever imagine. It's tedious and at very often, tiring. Both directors, in my personal opinion, have done up a wonderful film, and I daresay, its the best Singapore's produced.

So it reads from the official website:

"Singapore Dreaming" ( 美满人生) is a story about a family with big dreams, living on a small island.

Well, it's more than that. It is a film that portrays the lives of a country, that presents us with problems that we see everyday, shows us the meaning of how life should be lived, displays the different aspects of a family. It is a film, that depicts the typical Singaporean life.

That is what makes the film a masterpiece.

It brings the joy out of you, it brings the sadness out of you. You see the empathy flowing out of you, and you see the memories flooding back right in. It makes you remember how you are, as a Singaporean and for some, how you might be, as one. It is, I would say, truly the best Singaporean film that has been ever produced to date.

That is what makes the film a masterpiece.

On the technical side, photography is precisely beautiful. The settings and scenes are just memory evoking(probably not to the younger generations, but still), and the music, is just perfectly heartwarming. It holds the usual standards of an international film, but with a divine flavor of locality.

That is what makes the film a masterpiece.

I will not be recommending this film on the basis such that it is one that is locally produced and thus, blindly supporting whatever that comes. I will be ensuring each and every Singaporean that steps into the cinema to come out of it, wondering and thinking of the Singaporean way of life. Past, present and future. The film is an experience and saying that it is one that is a "must watch" is just a total understatement.

That is what makes the film a masterpiece.