A Land Imagined

Absolutely absurd film There is no real meaning to the story so you will waste your time and money for nothing! The story writer tried to make the movie complicated but failed to do so in my opinion!

"A Land Imagined" may shatter the expectations of traditional film noir fans, much to their detriment. First, it's a courageous profile of Singapore's dismal human rights record in its treatment of fiscally-captive migrant workers by unscrupulous land reclamation firms. Secondly, it takes viewers deep into the surrealist existence of these unfortunates, one of whom has gone missing, the target of Lok (Peter Yu), a troubled but highly-competent insomniac cop. Don't expect a standard police procedural. This one's brilliantly unique.

The story belongs to the also-sleepless worker Wang Bi Cheng (Liu Xiaoyi) trapped in a nightmare world of heavy machinery, starvation pay and miserable worker dorms. Seeking relief, Wang discovers an all-night gaming parlor only to be pounced on by a fierce Internet troll.

Kudos to director Yeo Siew Hua for setting a compelling crime drama among the anonymous men wasting their lives in the service of brutal capitalism. It's a story rich in humanity, a passport to a real-world existence captured perhaps for the first time in cinema.

A Land Imagined is described as, and perhaps hoped to be, a neo-noir mystery about an insomniac policeman, who somehow dreams (spot the contradiction) his way into solving crimes. ( Hello Special Agent Dale Cooper!) For those hoping for some sort of crime procedural thriller, don't hold your breath, because it never arrives. We don't even find out who reported the missing guy Wang, that Officer Lok seeks and we never actually see Lok in any sort of police environment.

A Land Imagined is one of those badly constructed films that just doesn't know what it wants to be. It's certainly no mystery thriller, though it kind of attempts to start that way. Then Lok disappears from the narrative for a good half of the film as it goes into social critique mode, exploring the lifestyle (if you could call it that) of (cheaper) immigrant workers from (mentioned in the film) Bangladesh and China. This is not to say the concept itself is unworthy of exploration. But it just doesn't fit, done in the neo-surrealistic style we see here, employed by writer/director Yeo Siew Hua, who to be quite frank, just doesn't have the storytelling goods to let all these different influences coalesce coherently into a worthwhile story.

Unless you're looking for relief from insomnia, I recommend staying well away from A Land Imagined.

Great cinematography, good acting, whimsical storyline. I have no idea what the conclusion of the mystery is. It just ends. So if you like atmosphere and brooding and mysticism, check it out. If you like murder mysteries, or mysteries at all, skip this.

Maybe if I understood the culture better, I'd understand what happened? Not sure. It shows some of the mix of cultures in Singapore between the (poor) Chinese and Indians, so that might interest someone as well. As an American interested in Asian cultures, I'm at a loss. If someone understands it, maybe post here what happens in the end? It'd be nice to know.

What did I just watch?! Was this Singapores attempt to be gritty and surreal. The irony of this movie is that you have a missing insomniac being sought be an insomniac detective and the viewer ends up having to fight to stay awake. I would rather get caught vandalizing cars I. Singapore than be subjected to this again.