Film Review: A Film Never Born

Wen / Liu Ying

In 1992, a group of 18-9-year-old Singaporean high school students made an imaginative film creation under the guidance of American interest group teacher George Cardona. After two summers of hard work, these young people, who love art, assiduously assimilate nutrients from rock music and western classic movies, and finally make their maiden work with the help of their relatives and friends. However, strange things happened one after another, and George, who was in charge of keeping the film box, announced to everyone that the material had disappeared, and there was no news from then on. Children with disillusioned movie dreams fly around the world with regret, trying to learn, grow up and re plan the path of life in the loss. Thirty years later, the film miraculously returned to the surface, and finally the truth of this strange story came to light, and the autobiographical documentary "escapist" came into being.

The title of "escapist" comes from the original film, which is about a young girl killer and her friend's road trip across Singapore. Chen Shanzhi, the director in charge of the camera, is already a mature woman. She was the promoter of that film at that time. She was also a screenwriter and a director, and she also acted as a leading actress《 Escapist is a fascinating work, which reconstructs a period of dust history through the use of image files. The director himself, as the witness and narrator, has injected unprecedented "body feeling" into the film.

The narrative means of the film is mainstream, and the director's voice over leads the audience to explore the origin and development of things. At the same time, in order to increase the visual richness, the director interspersed animation, collage, interview, hand-held, old images and other presentation methods, so that the audience can not catch sight of it. Starting from Singapore in the 1990s, the director describes how he, deeply influenced by the youth subculture in his youth, started a magazine with his friends and kept writing. At the same time, it outlines the structure of a small group of young creators - a teacher with super personality charm and a group of children full of passion and curiosity about the world. Although they held different views on the project, they flew back to Singapore from all over the world in the summer of 1992, and completed their pilgrimage to art with all their might. The third part of the film is about the strange events of the film missing, and the process of the final truth being revealed by chance. The relationship between George Cardona, who was once regarded as a life mentor by children, has also undergone a dramatic reversal.

The documentary "the escapist" tells a story about dreams and lies - the great lies told by adults end with the dreams and passions of minors. The disappearance of the film, like a great misfortune, has been lingering in the hearts of these children for more than 30 years. Their growth trajectory has undergone subtle changes because of this summer experience. It is amazing that the old film that reappears the day is well preserved, and the image of the girl killer and the ancient style of the Southeast Asia jump on the screen. Because of the loss of sound, the film can only be presented in the form of silent film, which has become the director's eternal regret. However, it is a very interesting and unique work in terms of the texture of the picture and the artistic setting. As the critics who strongly supported the film said at that time, if George Cardona's farce had not happened, the escapist would have been a miracle in Singapore's film history. It was so different that it was an absolute subversion to the mainstream film production at that time. Considering that the creators are so young, it's not too much to be called "the work of genius.".

Unfortunately, history can't be rewritten. The escapist in 1992 will still be an independent film that has never been born. However, it has been stirring up the independent film industry in Singapore since the 1990s. In the local film history, it is like a mysterious ghost, appearing between the lines of records and research. What's more, despite the passage of time, its creators still try their best to burn their passion for film and art. Neither Chen Shanzhi nor her collaborators are far away from creation. Because of this, 30 years later, they use a brand-new "escapist" to recount the story of their youth, looking back on this unhappy history and trying to reconcile with it.

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