Lure of box office prompts movie revival in Singapore

Asian Economic News, April 5, 1999

SINGAPORE, March 29 Kyodo When a local comedy came close to equaling ''Titanic'' at the box office in Singapore last year, many locals were amazed. Who could have imagined a film not from Hollywood, but a staid, overregulated city state would have such appeal? ''Money No Enough'' -- its broken English title taken from Singaporean street slang -- reaped almost 6 million Singapore dollars (3.47 million U.S.

dollars) when it ran in Singapore cinemas last year, second only to ''Titanic'' which made 6.6 million dollars. The film relates the antics of three friends who are out of work and struggling to survive in Singapore's highly competitive environment, and its success has enticed many young Singaporeans to produce their own movies. About 12 to 15 local movies are expected to be released for the big screen this year -- quite a feat for a film industry which has been dead for years. ''One successful film will spawn a lot of films of a similar nature,'' said Vijay Chandran, lecturer on film and media studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. ''Everybody now feels, my God, that made so much money. It made more money than pretty much every other film in the history of Singapore except for 'Titanic'.'' Film critics say the main reason for the popularity of ''Money No Enough'' is that Singaporeans could identify with its theme. ''The money problem is very relevant. Many Singaporeans are living on credit cards and owe the bank money to buy their homes. Singapore is probably the most expensive place in the world to buy a car,'' said Tan Jong Pheng, who produced the movie with a budget of 800,000 Singapore dollars. Tan, 50, said he deliberately chose ungrammatical Singaporean street slang for the title to reflect the so-called ''Ah Beng'' and ''Ah Seng'' stereotypes in the movie, whom he describe as ''the lower income group of people who are very Chinese-educated and lead a carefree life without much responsibility.'' His second movie, ''Where Got Problem,'' which will be released in Singapore next month, is about affluent Singaporeans who have been hit by the Asian economic crisis. ''Previously, making movies was a laughing stock in Singapore....Now when there's money, people's eyes open, suddenly there's a big buzz -- local industry,'' said Philip Lim, 34, who released his first movie ''Teenage Textbook'' last year. Taking the cue, the government set up a film commission in April last year to give a boost to aspiring local filmmakers, including providing funding for selected projects. Singapore used to be a center for the production of Malay movies in the 1960s and early 1970s during the era of the late P. Ramlee, a highly accomplished film director, actor and songwriter who is still regarded as a legendary figure in Malaysia and Singapore. Ramlee, who won awards at film festivals in Hong Kong and Japan, produced 70 films and 200 songs in his lifetime. In particular, his award-winning film ''Penarik Beca'' (Trishaw Rider) catapulted Malay films onto the international stage. It is only in recent years that Singaporeans have started their timorous experimentation with filmmaking. People in the industry say one of the reasons is the government's move in the mid-1990s to promote Singapore as an information and broadcasting hub to attract foreign movie production companies to set up here. ''It does help. It creates an environment where people feel they can make a career out of filmmaking. Years ago, who would have sent their sons or daughters to study film production?'' Tan said. He said he does not feel threatened by the government's effort to attract foreign movie producers. ''Nobody can make local films like we do. They don't know how Singaporeans behave, how they think and talk.'' Global media titan Rupert Murdoch was reported to be in talks to start producing Chinese films in Singapore during a visit in January. Singapore has a population of only 3.7 million but Singaporeans are one of the world's most avid cinemagoers. With about 170 cinemas in Singapore, it has the highest number of cinema admissions per capita in the world, according to the Singapore Film Commission. But moviemaking is a high-risk business and with the preference for Hollywood movies most local films produced in recent years have lost money. Some local producers who used English for their earlier movies say they are turning to Chinese in the hope of targeting the majority Chinese population. ''We are a very fragmented society in terms of race, the languages we speak, our age groups. So in the end you can't reach out to all Singaporeans, not...to even a quarter of the people here. So it's very hard to break even,'' Chandran said. Tan said 60% of the dialogue in ''Money No Enough'' is in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect, and the rest in Singlish -- English with a Singaporean street twang -- and Mandarin. Despite Singapore being seen as an overregulated society with strict censorship rules, Chandran is confident it has the potential to produce films with international appeal. ''Singapore may not be steep or rich in cinematic traditions. But there is no reason why we can't make films that appeal to international audiences,'' said Chandran. ''Singapore is a unique social experiment. We have unique stories here that can be told in Singapore because of the laws and the kind of society we are.'' Chandran said he hopes Singapore movie producers will not be too obsessed about making money. ''That's an albatross that hangs around our neck,'' he said, adding Singapore should learn from Taiwan which produces many films that do not necessarily make a lot of money but bring kudos to the country and win prizes at international festivals. ''We need to concentrate on making more artistic films. We could be very successful, instead of only looking at the box office as a measure of success,'' he said.