Perth: The Geylang Massacre (2004)

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

So the box totally suckered me into renting this one. I was browsing around Blockbuster and the bright yellow flash caught my eye. The tag lines on the box read "Singapore's answer to Taxi Driver," "Singapore's most violent film," and "The best and grittiest character study of rage, regret, and redemption yet seen in a Singapore film." That's some pretty heavy press. It seemed like all good things.Man, was I ever wrong.The parallels to Taxi Driver are so obvious its almost ridiculous. Its not an homage to Taxi Driver, its not inspired by Taxi Driver, it simply copied from Taxi Driver.The protagonist is in no way a likable character and he has no redeeming qualities. A character study of rage? If that involves extreme intoxication maybe. Regret? It's hinted at, but never really explained. Redemption? Hardly, if anything, he only ruins things for all the people around him.I was really excited about this movie. For me, the most exciting part was the previews for the other movies put out by Tartan Asia Extreme. Either Singapore just has really weak movies, or I missed something major in this movie.It is interesting at times, but the slow pace is a killer, and its blatant rip-offs of scenes from much more distinguished movies really brings it down.

Perth is Harry Lee's retirement plan. As an ex-army commando regular turned security supervisor of a shipyard, he leads a nonchalant life, where he regularly exclaims to others that he's a simple man with little materialistic desires, and harbours a goal to settle in Perth, Australia, where life down under is said to be good.When retrenched, he seeks employment as a taxi driver, but ever looking for that break in life to earn more cash to achieve his objective. However, things turn out more complicated for Harry. When sober, we see the empty facade Harry exudes to others, but we learn of the true state of his life when in drunkenness, pouring out his woes to his friends - he's separated from his cheating, gambling wife, and his son refuses to acknowledge him.His is a lonely sad life, and this movie takes a look at the life of the forgotten pioneers of Singapore's materialistic success. We follow his path to the seedier side of the Lion City, into the world of pimps and prostitutes, where he has a lucrative job to ferry the girls to their customers, no questions asked. A depression-proof job, says his friend Angry Boy Lee.Somehow, coffeeshops feature prominently in Singapore movies of late, and Perth is no different, where characters sit around and rant about the authorities, give subtle jibes on the army, and the eventuality of army regulars after their retirement from the uniformed services. They go on about how a better life in Singapore equates first to having a good education, how materialism has crept into society's moral fiber, and the greener pastures available abroad for the lowly skilled. The jibes on the ang-moh's are not subtle though, them being cursed at and assaulted.We know Harry is a violent man from his inner thoughts, but early in the film, it's like his bark is deadlier than his bite. The occasional rant aside, Harry is a man who values faithfulness and loyalty. He fails to see that though his family might not exhibit these values (probably due to his inner violent nature which led to domestic violence), his friends like Angry Boy and Selvam, actually do.The subplot on love and his budding relationship with a Vietnamese call girl at times drags the movie, but it is necessary to lead the movie to its extremely violent finale. The language used throughout is colourful, and I could not think of a local Hokkien expletive not spewed in this film.Perth looks like a one man show from its trailer and poster, with Lim Kay Tong putting in a wonderful performance in shouldering the movie, but gladly, a cast of familiar (and perhaps stereotypical) supporting characters help add some depth and sometimes, dark humour. You'll see familiar faces from local TV productions too, like Channel 8's Liu Qiu Lian as Harry's wife. From the laughter amongst the audience, Angry Boy Lee and Selvam are easily favourite characters of some.It's a dark and gritty film, some might consider a local adaptation of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. But perhaps expectations will be set too high if benchmarked against that classic. This is story of Harry Lee, not Travis Bickle, so put the comparisons aside, and enjoy the ride.

I saw this while I was studying in Singapore. One of my friends just told me its playing here in LA at a festival so I am going to check it out. I thought the film itself was put together really well and it puts you in the mind of Harry Lee. I think we can all relate of having a 'Perth' we can run too and escape all our problems. My only gripe is I wished they would have shown more of Perth itself. However, this is probably the closest you'll see of Geylang and the seedy area's of Singapore on film. I felt that some of the dialogue was hard follow if you haven't been to Singapore, but it is mostly in English and I didn't have a problem understanding. I liked it.

I saw this at Rotterdam Film Festival. I didn't know what to expect after hearing the storyline and Taxi Driver links. I have to say that while there are links to Taxi Driver, this film is something original of which I did not know were being created in conservative Singapore. The photography is great, and Lim Kay Tong give an outstanding performance of a troubled man nearing retirement who's idealistic goal of a simple life is something we can all relate too. I found the ending quite violent, which might upset some viewers, but it has one of the strongest character developments I've seen. It was one of my favorite films at the festival. I truly hope this gets distributed here in the US both in theaters and DVD.