Mister John

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.

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.

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.

This film is about grief, and being lost. It's not a badly made film, the subject matter while uneasy is something that other countries have to deal with a lot more than ours. Just because we are unfamiliar with it, or don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It is well shot, has good acting and the music is spot on. It's the kind of film that may hold a mirror up to how one deals with relationships, and that may make people uncomfortable. As always, watch it and make your own mind up.

Set in Singapore, MISTER JOHN has a straightforward plot: Gerry Devine (Aidan Gillen) travels to Singapore to find out what happen to his dead brother, the proprietor of Mister John's bar. He encounters various people including John's wife Kim (Zoe Tay), his daughter-in-law Isadora (Ashleigh Judith White), and John's best friend Lester (Michael Thomas), and while doing so discovers something about John's life, which seems to Gerry to be idyllic, unlike his own life back home in London, where he has experienced marital difficulties with wife Sarah (Molly Rose Lawlor). Despite numerous opportunities to carve out a new life, Gerry opts instead to return to London. Directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy create a claustrophobic world of interior and Singapore night life - a suitable backdrop for a penetrating study of Gerry's indecisive character. Tormented by memories of the past, he cannot make up his mind in the present. The camera focuses intently on his facial expressions, suggesting that he is somehow imprisoned by his nature. On the other hand we can see why he should think like that - even though John had carved out a good life for himself in Singapore, the world of seedy bars, nighttime pickups and one-night stands does not seem in any way idealistic. Modestly budgeted yet sympathetically photographed with an eye for color both in day and night sequences, MISTER JOHN is an unexpectedly haunting film.