Dear Editors,
I watched the movie 1965 with an open mind. I regret to inform you that this film motion picture is definitely below sub-par.
I am neither a fan of Lee Kuan Yew or Qi Yuwu or Joanne Peh or Nicole Seah. I understand that Mr John Lui from SPH also rated your film 1.5 stars out of 5 stars. At most, I can give it a 2 star out of 5 stars.
Below are some pointers which is transferable to other screenplays
1) It is always a good starting point to have 2 very contrasting protagonist and antagonist. The wider the contrast, the more memorable it is. In your motion picture, I hardly can see who is the antagonist and it makes the experience to be rather bland.
Nicole Seah's talent is wasted and there is no transformation emotional arc in her character. The arc I am telling is when a character undergoes turmoil, obstacles and then self-doubts before overcoming all difficulties.
2) It is also good to have characters with shades of grey and ethical dilemmas. For Qi Yuwu, he always play the good cop and good husband and for me, he always inspire justice but that to me, just isn't enough. Many good guys experience self-doubts and times of despair and conflicts with their peers and this is what makes a movie interesting.
3) Last but not least, a biopic being made into a movie can either succeed or fail.
Many bio/ historical films fail because they need to portray their political figures the 'correct' way or else they can be faulted by historians. But they forget that the 'correct' way can also mean that it's boring.
For example, Michelle Yeoh's recent movie The Lady which depicts the life of Myanmar leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi is a faithful movie which follows closely to her life and biography. But it failed miserably because movie producers forget that her biography can be boring to many audience.
For 1965, to follow Lee Kuan Yew's life faithfully, maybe due to pressure from MDA's censorship, it becomes a flat one dimensional storyline that befits just a documentary only.
This movie was made using taxpayers money from MDA grants.
I presume that this movie will stink so much, our cinemas will pull the plug off after National Day because it is a box office bomb.
If that is true, should we, the taxpayers demand our money back after Elections? This movie is so bad that if we were to screen it overseas, it will insult other people's intelligence.
CJ
A.S.S. Contributor
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