Months after staging its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and opening the Singapore Film Festival, Ken Kwek's Unlucky Plaza is finally having a regular cinema run this week.
The film has a cast of excellent actors that includes Adrian Pang, Judee Tan, Shane Mardjuki, Liang Guo, Janice Koh and Liang Guo — and they are joined by a brilliant actor from the Philippines named Epy Quizon.
Quizon plays Onassis Hernandez, a down-on-his luck permanent resident who owns a failing Filipino restaurant at Lucky Plaza. He turns into a hostage-taker after being swindled of his last $10,000 by Michelle Chan (Tan), wife of motivational speaker Terence Chia (Pang) who inspite — or precisely because of — his flashy lifestyle is being hunted down by a Chinese syndicate for money he owes them from gambling.
Despite a slow start and confusing timelines, the movie manages to take a compliant audience to a highly entertaining and comical hostage scene. The movie starts and ends with the hostage-taker and his victims being interviewed by TV host Anita Kapoor (who plays herself), and is a wry observation on how criminals acts can sometimes be a stepping stone for something bigger, like fame and celebrity.
A welcome treat for design aficionados: the hostages scene was shot in one of Singapore's most stunning and modern residences, the award-winning Ninety7 @ Siglap, designed by Aamer Architects, a three-storey curved house atop Siglap Hill.
Unlucky Plaza is on Shaw, GV, Cathay, Filmgarde and Eng Wah cinemas from April 16. For updates, check Unlucky Plaza's Facebook page.
Months after staging its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and opening the Singapore Film Festival, Ken Kwek's Unlucky Plaza is finally having a regular cinema run this week.
The film has a cast of excellent actors that includes Adrian Pang, Judee Tan, Shane Mardjuki, Liang Guo, Janice Koh and Liang Guo — and they are joined by a brilliant actor from the Philippines named Epy Quizon.
Quizon plays Onassis Hernandez, a down-on-his luck permanent resident who owns a failing Filipino restaurant at Lucky Plaza. He turns into a hostage-taker after being swindled of his last $10,000 by Michelle Chan (Tan), wife of motivational speaker Terence Chia (Pang) who inspite — or precisely because of — his flashy lifestyle is being hunted down by a Chinese syndicate for money he owes them from gambling.
Despite a slow start and confusing timelines, the movie manages to take a compliant audience to a highly entertaining and comical hostage scene. The movie starts and ends with the hostage-taker and his victims being interviewed by TV host Anita Kapoor (who plays herself), and is a wry observation on how criminals acts can sometimes be a stepping stone for something bigger, like fame and celebrity.
A welcome treat for design aficionados: the hostages scene was shot in one of Singapore's most stunning and modern residences, the award-winning Ninety7 @ Siglap, designed by Aamer Architects, a three-storey curved house atop Siglap Hill.
Unlucky Plaza is on Shaw, GV, Cathay, Filmgarde and Eng Wah cinemas from April 16. For updates, check Unlucky Plaza's Facebook page.