Singapore's reviving pic industry looks to strut confidently off-shore with Forever Fever, a cheeky and thoroughly engaging riff on Saturday Night Fever that even manages to wear some smart subtext beneath its tight pants. Well- mounted and exceptionally well-cast movie will ring beaucop bells with auds familiar with the island republic's unique cultural mix, but should also prove accessible to more general viewers in the West, where its camp feel won't hurt it one bit. Though the $880,000 budget came from local sources, the behind-camera roster features many Australians, including Priscilla lenser Brian Breheny, and the final sound mix was done Down Under.
This is the first feature of actor Glen Goei (pronounced "Gwee"), who most
notably played in a U.K. production of M. Butterfly. The magic of Goel's movie is
that it combines solid production values and an unflashy shooting style with lively
subject matter and a flavorsome script. Set in 1977, some 12 years into independence and on the cusp of the island's ruthless modernization, straight-arrow story centers on supermarket worker Hock (Adrian Pang), an easygoing slob whose
main aim in life is to buy an expensive Triumph motorbike. Permanently on the edge of being fired, Hock lives at home in a simple Chinatown apartment with his traditional parents, a sister (Pam Oei) who's obsessed by romantic novels and a studious younger brother (Caleb Goh) who's the apple of his father's eye. Hock decides to take dance lessons and enter a disco competition with a S$5,000 prize after being inspired by a movie called Forever Fever, whose Travolta look-alike star (Dominic Tace) steps out of the screen to encourage Hock directly. Pic doesn't pretend to pull any plot surprises as it edges toward the disco-dancing climax, but writer-director Goei skilfully juggles his rich array of characters. While Pang's terrific perf powers the film, all of the supports get heir moments in the sun, enriching the pic's broad, multigenerational portrait of a society still finding its feet and identity among a multitude of influences, both Asian and Western.
Derek Elley