Escaping his foundering marriage in London, Gerry (Aidan Gillen) goes to Singapore to sort out the estate of his brother John, who owned a hostess bar there and has just died in mysterious c... Read allEscaping his foundering marriage in London, Gerry (Aidan Gillen) goes to Singapore to sort out the estate of his brother John, who owned a hostess bar there and has just died in mysterious circumstances.Escaping his foundering marriage in London, Gerry (Aidan Gillen) goes to Singapore to sort out the estate of his brother John, who owned a hostess bar there and has just died in mysterious circumstances.
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- 3 nominations total
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Andrew Bennett
- John Devine
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8Trev
A dreamy and enigmatic character study about a man who flies to Singapore to wind up his dead brother's affair but finds himself coming adrift. Gerry (Gillen) is a man whose marriage is heading for the rocks and a visit to his dead brother's family and hostess bar in Singapore brings him into contact with a decadent, ex pat' world that starts to fit him too well.
The film plays somewhere between an Antonioni and the wonderful yet under-rated Peter Bogdanovitch film Saint Jack. The bar scenes while stylised feel truthful and affectionate, and the film has some powerful moments - a scene where a bar girl interview becomes a template for a disintegrating marriage is both original and uncomfortable to watch.
Gillen is cast against type and has really worked his way into the character who loses himself through the simple act of wearing a dead man's clothes and walking in his steps.
I notice one reviewer seems concerned with nudity in the film - there isn't any to speak of, so those seeking titillation look elsewhere.
The film plays somewhere between an Antonioni and the wonderful yet under-rated Peter Bogdanovitch film Saint Jack. The bar scenes while stylised feel truthful and affectionate, and the film has some powerful moments - a scene where a bar girl interview becomes a template for a disintegrating marriage is both original and uncomfortable to watch.
Gillen is cast against type and has really worked his way into the character who loses himself through the simple act of wearing a dead man's clothes and walking in his steps.
I notice one reviewer seems concerned with nudity in the film - there isn't any to speak of, so those seeking titillation look elsewhere.
Honestly, there's not much going on in this film. It's one of those movies that you aren't missing out on anything if you don't watch it at all. If you do watch it, you will mostly feel like it had wasted your time. Not sure why someone on Wikipedia called this movie a thriller.
Very slow with no real story to tell and mediocre acting. I persevered to the end but I'd recommend that you don't.
The scenery is probably the best aspect and there are plenty of asiatic girls to ogle but that's about it I'm afraid.
The scenery is probably the best aspect and there are plenty of asiatic girls to ogle but that's about it I'm afraid.
An evocation of a moment - to evoke a moment - to question this - and your - life ...sometimes the pain will show...even though you didn't want to reveal it, or you thought you didn't, but really you did...A spirit in this world...on reflection too many knowing looks in contradiction of the feelings ot tries to evoke...
off the top of my head, I could see snippets/influences of Claire Denis 'The Intruder', and David Lynch, in addition to the more obvious, such as Antonioni's 'The Passenger', and Bogdanovich's similarly-themed, and Singapore-set, 'Saint Jack'. (and at a stretch, I could probably make some Bergman connection, also).
So I guess you could safely conclude that I would classify it as an 'art-house movie', although, perhaps more kindly, an interesting failure than a cinephile's self-indulgence.
'The Passenger' connection might seem the most obvious, on the face of it, but I thing the Singapore connection is more relevant, and particularly to the degree that the filmmakers sought to make an exotic, even mystical connection with the notion that the waters in which the 'Mister John' of the the title had drowned were attempting to claim his soul; which led to brother Jerry immersing himself in those waters with the aim, presumably, of reclaiming his brothers' soul.
I found more interesting the dreamier images set in the bar/brothel, but the filmmakers seemed too focused on domestic pregnant pauses and stares - mostly featuring Aidan Gillen's Gerry - and trivial or tedious dialogues: not so much 'sound and fury' as sound and boredom, signifying nothing.
But I will watch out for the filmmakers next work: if for no other reason than that they've been influenced by the right people.
So I guess you could safely conclude that I would classify it as an 'art-house movie', although, perhaps more kindly, an interesting failure than a cinephile's self-indulgence.
'The Passenger' connection might seem the most obvious, on the face of it, but I thing the Singapore connection is more relevant, and particularly to the degree that the filmmakers sought to make an exotic, even mystical connection with the notion that the waters in which the 'Mister John' of the the title had drowned were attempting to claim his soul; which led to brother Jerry immersing himself in those waters with the aim, presumably, of reclaiming his brothers' soul.
I found more interesting the dreamier images set in the bar/brothel, but the filmmakers seemed too focused on domestic pregnant pauses and stares - mostly featuring Aidan Gillen's Gerry - and trivial or tedious dialogues: not so much 'sound and fury' as sound and boredom, signifying nothing.
But I will watch out for the filmmakers next work: if for no other reason than that they've been influenced by the right people.
Did you know
- TriviaMayling Ng's debut.
- Quotes
Gerry Devine: [visiting his brother in a morgue] Hey John... it's me
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 35m(95 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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