SOLOS

Wow!  Sometimes, you feel like you were just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.  When the press kit for this film came my way, I was extremely intrigued.  A film that is practically silent and has had most of the color stripped away.  It is also a gay film from Singapore, where homosexual acts are punishable by prison and caning.  It is also the first feature directed and written by a young man named Zihan Loo.  In one brave act he came out on film in a country that could imprison him if they ever catch him in the act of being in love.  He also talked the biggest male star in his country to play the part of his lover….. Ok….  I am intrigued.

So, before I saw the film and before he had to go back to school in Singapore I set up an interview.  (That will be up asap)  In the interview we discovered an artist that knew what he was creating.  A strength that truly belies the youth of this young man.  I also saw the possibility that this might be a true work of art.  I was not disappointed!

Here is the plot from AFI…

Based on the true story of a teacher-student love affair in Singapore, SOLOS depicts the crushing quiet of a doomed relationship.  As the couple, Lim Yu-Beng and Zihan Lu paint a harrowing picture of love in its final breaths, mixing passion with cruelty, jealousy and betrayal the story is juxtaposed with the sadness of Zihan's mother (Goh Guat Kian), who mourns both her son's choices and their dismal consequences.

After watching this film, I was overwhelmed with emotion.  The style of the film is so simple that the emotion is extremely heightened.  The camera is placed and doesn’t move in each scene.  The characters seamlessly move in and out with every shot and create a visual landscape that I was truly moved by.  It was like watching an amazing dance piece for me.  I am a classically trained dancer, who will never dance again.  This film was like dancing.  This film even utilizes dance to a degree.

The acting is brilliant.  All three of the main characters leave you devestated.  And they appear to do so effortlessly.  The film does not shy away from fairly graphic scenes sexually.  I would like to commend Lim Yu-Beng for being brave enough to do this film.  He has a huge career in Asian cinema and risked a lot by doing this film, I would think.  He was fantastic in this film.  You could see him breaking more with every breath throughout the movie.

This film kept reminding me about how easy it is to be alone, even in a room full of people.  To truly connect is something we strive for every day in our life and many people are unsuccessful and so are alone their entire life.  You could see this in the movie plainly.  The simplicity of this movie is what is so stunning, visceral and complicated, that it leaves us beaten.  

The muted tones in the film create a jarring effect whenever color is brought into the film in it’s stark entirety.  Visually this is a film that you have to see if you love cinema.  It is a reminder that an amazing film does not need a huge budget, a studio, big special effects or even dialogue.  All you need is a good story, great actors and someone who can put it all together.  The music in the film was composed by Zihan’s friend on a synthesizer.  It is a film that defies time, emotion and barriers.  It is a film you need to see.  Zihan Lu will be a big star and his ascent begins now!

Kristoffer