About Perth
Sporting brown police shades, tight clothes of the 70s fashion and a gold pendant on his neck, 41 year-old Harry Lee is trapped in the fringes of an elitist society. In his heyday, he was a top sailor in a merchant navy and traveled all around the world. Now, he could not even keep his day job as a security guard due to the company’s implementation of security cameras. This is no wonder that he loathes the society for over-relying on technology and believes there is no place for him in Singapore. The fact that Harry is on bad terms with his family, lives alone and has few friends only serves to pave the escape route to Perth; his dream city for retirement. Of course, things are never as simple as it seems. Harry’s sense of righteous ness and his obstinate character led him to fulfill his word to a Vietnamese prostitute; who resembles a woman he had loved, with disastrous effects.
On a side note, Perth makes references to the 21 st century Singapore. The old guards have no place in this realistic cold ground. The society embraces paper qualifications and thus, brand s university graduates the elite. Yet, Perth courageously challenges this approach. Djinn creates this paradox of grooming the mind but neglecting the basic moral values. For instance, the supposedly elite graduate was ashamed of his own father (Harry). The sad irony is of course, the latter was so proud of his son. Hence, despite not having been invited to his wedding banquet, Harry insisted on going to congratulate him. Unfortunately, the ungrateful son threw his father out. Besides being selfish, the younger generation is also portrayed as too pampered and weak . To prove its point, the film makes jokes out of those National Service men are physically inferior to their predecessors. From the characters point of view, these young men would faint or break down unnecessarily in camp, whether from the fatigue of running or fright of a snake; a complete contrast to how they themselves used to endure hardships. As the standard of living rises, it seems that no one will appreciate ‘the simple things in life’, as people like Harry gets left behind. Apparently, his are the only group of people who sees what Singapore can turn into; a society of wimps, ingrates and greedy pigs who depend on machines to survive.
The Seminar
Perth’s writer/director Ong Lay Jinn; better known as Djinn, could not make it for the screening in the Singapore Art Museum as he was still recovering from of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). Hence he sent a video of himself from his home in Los Angeles that morning to producer and moderator of the event – Juan Foo to screen for this event.
Perth is Djinn’s second feature film. Prior to this, he had directed and written Return to Pontianak; his first feature and he also clinched the Best Short Film award for his short – By The Dawn’s Early Rise. Ironically, Djinn had never been to Perth. In the video, he explained that he had conceived the character of Harry Lee to “capture the passing of a generation into obscurity before it disappears”. He also shared his philosophical insights on Singapore, a society “that cannot accept failure”. Djinn admitted that he had admired Perth’s main actor - Lim Kay Tong ever since he acted in local sitcom Growing Up and thought that he is one of the best actors in Singapore. He then went on to lavish ly praise on Kay Tong, whom he thought was dedicated and “put a lot of thought and effort into his character”. To make his point, Djinn recollected how Kay Tong had voluntarily downed alcohol so that he could get into his character and insisted on continuing the shoot despite a toe injury that causes him constant pain (which explains his limps throughout).
The Technical Aspects
Shot in 16mm film, Perth is an aesthetic success. Every single frame is beautifully crafted to create a distinct mood that suits the context of the respective scene. Most of the film was shot with low-key lighting, producing high contrast, which serves to bring out Harry Lee’s loneliness very well. This is particularly so in the scenes in which Harry reminiscences his glorious past and when he visits his mother’s grave. In fact, you could find brilliant photographs in the still images of these scenes. Besides the aesthetic qualities, there are sparks of creativity in the use of jump shots. In the scene after Harry was thrown out of his son’s wedding, there’s a sequence of point of view jump shots that shows him downing glasses of alcohol. Combined with competent acting, this highlighted how drunk and depressed he was at that point. Although there are occasionally long conversations among the characters, they are refreshingly engaging. Marked with some Hokkien and English vulgarities, the dialogues are filled with humour and wit and contain controversial views about the society.
Conclusion
Littered with cuss throughout and concluded with a violent finale, Perth is not a movie for the faint-hearted or the angels who are aghast with any slight foul language. It is also not for moviegoers who watch the feel-good movies for the thrill of it. Perth is one deep, dark tragedy of a film, which effectively conveys the vulnerability of an average middle-aged Singaporean man coping with the rapid changes in his life.
Like he says:
“ I’m a very simple man. All I want are the simple things in life. Somehow, along the way, my life has become a little too complicated.”
- Harry Lee
Written by: Kee Ya Ting
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