Manfred ThamMovie Review: Unlucky Plaza
After the censorship and banning debacle with his previous film Sex.Violence.FamilyValues., Director Ken Kwek returns with another M18-rated film, Unlucky Plaza. With its many Singaporeanisms and black humour, will it be a hit with the audience?
UrbanWire met the cast of Unlucky Plaza at Potato Production’s headquarters, 2 days before the film’s debut to find out more about the Opening Film of the Singapore International Film Festival 2014, which was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014 (where it received a standing ovation).
Unlucky Plaza tells a tale from 3 different perspectives. The title is a pun on Lucky Plaza, a favourite hangout of Filipinos in Singapore and as Adrian Pang muses, a “deeply ironic” title as “[it’s about] a, bunch of people who by the own doing, find themselves in this awful situation but just blame it on bad luck.”
Onasis Hernandez (Filipino actor Jefffey Quizon) owns a restaurant that’s haemorrhaging money and he’s unable to even pay rent for him and his son. His situation worsens when 6 of his customers get infected with salmonella, resulting in several lawsuits against him.
Meanwhile, Sky (Adrian Pang) is an accomplished financial guru who owes a syndicate a large sum of money after his gambling losses. He’s forced to rustle up cash to settle his debt whilst living with the unfamiliarity of financial woes. His wife, Michelle (Judee Tan), is a drama teacher whose psyche has been ruined by the loss of her baby; her husband’s debt further deteriorates her vulnerable sense of self-worth. In desperation, she cheats on Sky with her pastor and plans to elope with him to escape her problems.
The 3 main characters meet in a bizarre standoff when Onasis confronts Michelle at Sky’s mansion after she scams him. At the same time, a syndicate runner turns up to collect Sky’s debt. It quickly spins into a hostage situation with Onasis as the unwilling perpetrator.
Unlucky Plaza is certainly not a visually stunning film, with no big-budget special effects or locations (except Sky and Michelle’s expansive mansion). However, the humble locations help emphasise the problems of each character as they blend into it easily.
What Unlucky Plaza lacks in visual flair is made up for with its cinematography. Shots were framed and composed well, particularly the close-up shots of Onasis that highlighted his frustrations and his woes. Quizon’s favourite scene was one such scene.
“The one in the car! We [Quizon and Shane Mardjuki] did it in the first take and it was really a good scene. When I watch the performance, I recall the energy. That’s why it’s my favourite, it’s the energy we had that day,” recalls the Filipino comedian (and hunk).
But there were a handful of poor shots scattered throughout the run time, such as the intimate reconciliation scene between Sky and Michelle whilst they were tied up that was marred by the shot cutting half of either Michelle’s or Sky’s face.
Quizon’s stellar acting as the title’s lead protagonist helps exemplify his character’s desperation and motivations. In the words of Quizon himself: “[Onasis] just wants a better world for his son.”
Pang is extremely believable as the cocky and self-assured Sky, but Tan as Michelle felt off. However, we chalk Michelle’s bland character up as a scripting issue for her internal struggles were not adequately explored; instead we saw mostly her reactions to her problems.
Unlucky Plaza is a quirky local film that impeccably captures the essence of being a Singaporean whilst keeping you on the edge of your seat. Referencing subjects such as taxi drivers who whine endlessly about the government, to our relentless swearing (“I swear like that everyday,” according to Pamela Oei) and our very Singaporean trait of complaining – even at gunpoint – Unlucky Plaza is as uniquely Singaporean as it gets.
However, the story concludes blandly with little to no takeaway for the audience. It comes off as a rather patriotic film that, despite highlighting social issues in Singapore (such as the xenophobia towards Filipinos), trumpets the fact that people love Singapore so much that they will hold someone hostage just to stay on. It also feels like a safe story that serves only to fuse the numerous subplots together.
As Pang describes, it’s “clever, funny, dark and slightly messed up”. Fortunately, Unlucky Plaza is still a gripping enough drama that’s enjoyable, even at its cringiest.
[xrr rating=3.5/5 display_as=textstars label=”Our Rating:”]
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Information
Release Date: 16 April 2015
Runtime: 122 minutes
Language: English
Censorship Rating: M18 – Coarse Language
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Director: Ken Kwek
Main Actors: Jeffrey Epi Quizon, Adrian Pang, Judee Tan, Shane Mardjuki, Guo Liang,
Photos courtesy of Shaw Theatres