Perth is the journey into the heart of Harry Lee, a 51-year-old part-time security guard and taxi driver. He belongs to a redundant generation, eclipsed by a fast-paced, elitist society that is mesmerized with education and status. Harry desires to leave the antiseptic streets of Singapore for his paradise on earth in Western Australia. His attempt to migrate is complicated when he takes on a job ferrying prostitutes. This evokes painful memories from his past. When he takes an unhealthy interest in a Vietnamese prostitute, it awakens a dark and dangerous attempt at personal redemption. The film tackles an extremely topical issue of emigration in Singapore. It is peppered by denizens of the underbelly of Singapore society, reflecting the multicultural idiosyncrasies of a seemingly pristine city. More importantly, it is a personal journey of a flawed man in a society that does not tolerate failure...
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A surprising film to come out of the country we think of as so squeaky clean. Certainly Singapore is not all fancy shops and malls but although when I visited, I saw plenty that was not as the brochures illustrate, I got no impression of such an underbelly as is portrayed here. Initially this is very difficult to watch. We are not sympathetic with the looser and wife abuser that is, Harry, played by Lim Kay Tong, with some gusto one must admit and we struggle at first with the English variants and sparse subtitles. Nevertheless as we move on and especially with the entry of the bad man's friend, played by A. Panneeirchelvam, we do get a sense that something rather ambitious is being attempted here. It is not entirely successful but the director deserves credit for trying to bring out the fascinating undercurrents in this unique country.
"Perth" shouldn't be taken lightly. It is a film that will sear itself into your memory with its unforgiving portrayal of Harry Lee, a local denizen in every sense of the word.What is it to be Singaporean? Cash, Car, Credit, Chicks and Condo. Harry Lee lacks all of this, but he has dreams of immigrating to Perth, and that makes him the quintessential Singaporean on the wrong side of the income bracket. Harry Lee goes on and on about Perth. Whenever a mishap befalls him or problems abound, he says, "its okay. Don't worry about me. I've got a plan I'm going to migrate to Perth! Leave all this behind." And like tomorrow never comes, you know that Harry will never go to Perth. It's the proverbial castle in the sky.The film is like an extension of Harry Lee's soul, which is interesting because he gives so little. One is cloudy about his past, which reveals itself only when necessary. He was in the merchant army, a security guard, a taxi driver and worked for a pimp. "I'm just a simple man, who wants a simple life," he often says.He is also fond of expressing his loathing of unfaithfulness, and even names a dog he finds in the park "Faithful". His wife is an unfaithful gambling addict, while his son is ashamed of him, and even excludes him from his wedding. The dialogue has a habit of revolving around these three things the simple life, migrating to Perth, and faithfulness, like a broken recorder always tripping. One feels the claustrophobia of Harry's life, a life he's dug himself 51 years too deep into, has nothing to show for it, and at the same time, nothing to go look forward to except the illusion of Perth. But through this, he has two friends. Selvan, himself an ex-army guy turned taxi-driver, and Angry Boy, his ex-supervisor. Their conversations are strictly Singaporean, occurring in coffee shops with common slang like "I salute you brudda!" that abounds. Through Angry Boy, Harry gets a job under a pimp as a driver. There, he sympathises with a Vietnam prostitute who reminds him of a girl he once loved. The details of this mystery girl remains, well, a mystery, but that's Harry Lee for you. He loathes himself and sees no value in remembering his past.This is where the Taxi-Driver references come in. While the actions of the characters may be similar (Harry Lee, like Travis Bickle, wants to free the girl of her slavery), their motivations are worlds apart. While Travis is just a bit crazy, Harry is every bit sane and all his actions practically rational, though sometimes ethically skewed.Though I've left a lot out, in a nutshell, Angry Boy promises Harry the girl's freedom. Pimpboss doesn't allow this, and Harry goes on a particularly brutal and gory alcohol-fueled rampage with a parang and a corkscrew. He frees the girl, but at the cost of his own life as well as four others, and all this happening a week before he's supposed to leave for Perth. Personally, I cannot imagine Harry ever really going to Perth. Perth is, to him, a state-of- mind, not a physical location. Its just he didn't know that difference.I'd like to believe the final shot, an up-ward aerial pan of Harry's lifeless limp body in the backyard of a Geylang pimphouse, is in fact Harry's soul is going to heaven, because despite his outward toughness, Harry is a just good soul caught up in a bad life.Watching the ending, I wondered what it would be like if such an incident really happened in real life. Harry Lee would be vilified in the papers- condemned for his lack of achievements ("I'm sorry my father achieved so little in his life," lamented his cocksure son), his dodgy career history and wife-beating habits. His motivations would be skewed and he would be sold, like a prostitute, as a good-for-nothing gang member. But "Perth" makes no judgments on Harry, and doesn't try to make him a pariah, hero or villain. It doesn't paint Harry's actions (beating his wife, freeing a prostitute, getting drunk) in any emotional light. It just shows Harry as a common everyman who just wants the simple life that went horribly wrong for no explicable and avoidable reason. And that's something everyone can identify with. While I feel the film would benefit from more economy, both of scenes and sounds, it still stands as one of the best films I've watched in recent memory. Watch "Perth" because it is a landmark Singaporean-made film that transcends Singapore, but doesn't forget it either. Watch "Perth" because this review doesn't even begin to do it any justice.
I saw this while I was studying in Singapore. One of my friends just told me its playing here in LA at a festival so I am going to check it out. I thought the film itself was put together really well and it puts you in the mind of Harry Lee. I think we can all relate of having a 'Perth' we can run too and escape all our problems. My only gripe is I wished they would have shown more of Perth itself. However, this is probably the closest you'll see of Geylang and the seedy area's of Singapore on film. I felt that some of the dialogue was hard follow if you haven't been to Singapore, but it is mostly in English and I didn't have a problem understanding. I liked it.
I saw this at Rotterdam Film Festival. I didn't know what to expect after hearing the storyline and Taxi Driver links. I have to say that while there are links to Taxi Driver, this film is something original of which I did not know were being created in conservative Singapore. The photography is great, and Lim Kay Tong give an outstanding performance of a troubled man nearing retirement who's idealistic goal of a simple life is something we can all relate too. I found the ending quite violent, which might upset some viewers, but it has one of the strongest character developments I've seen. It was one of my favorite films at the festival. I truly hope this gets distributed here in the US both in theaters and DVD.