Unlucky Plaza

Unlucky Plaza is a 2014 Singaporean black comedy thriller film written and directed by Ken Kwek. It stars Epy Quizon as a Filipino immigrant to Singapore who takes hostages after falling for a scam. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in Singapore on 16 April 2015. The story is told in a series of flashbacks from the point of view of a talk show that has reunited the captor and his former hostages.

Unlucky Plaza
Film poster
Directed byKen Kwek
Written byKen Kwek
Produced by
  • Ken Kwek
  • Kat Goh
  • Leon Tong
Starring
CinematographyMichael Zaw
Edited byOlly Stothert
Music by
  • Joe Ng
  • Ting Si Hao
Production
company
Kaya Toast Pictures
Distributed byShaw Organisation
Release date
  • 4 September 2014 (2014-09-04) (TIFF)
Running time
122 minutes
CountrySingapore
LanguageEnglish
BudgetS$800,000[1]
Box officeUS$46,331 (Singapore)

Premise

Filipino immigrant Onassis Hernandez mistreats his restaurant workers, causing a disgruntled cook to sabotage an inspection by the Singaporean health department. After Hernandez subsequently falls for a popular rental scam that targets immigrants, he takes several Singaporeans hostage and broadcasts his demands for social change on YouTube.

Cast

Production

The film was based on reports of rental scams that were popular on immigrants.[1]

Release

Unlucky Plaza premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival[2] on 4 September 2014.[3] Its Singaporean premiere was at the Singapore International Film Festival on 4 December 2014.[1] Shaw Organisation released it in Singapore on 16 April 2015,[4] and it grossed US$46,331.[5] Cinemaflix Entertainment released it in the US in January 2016.[6] & finally released in the Philippines co-produced by VIVA Films in April 2016.

Reception

Collecting four American reviews, Metacritic, a review aggregator, rated it 38/100.[7] Stephanie Luo of AsiaOne rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote that it "highlights real issues in Singapore society well", though it has several unrealistic scenes.[8] Iliyas Ong of Time Out Singapore rated it 2/5 stars and wrote the film's social satire, "As belaboured and on-the-nose as Kwek's point is, it's also terrifyingly real."[9] Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Sentimentality and small-screen aesthetics turn social critique into soap opera."[10] Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times wrote that the talk show framing device "destroys the suspense and seals a sense of the movie as both slick and amateurish".[11] Martin Tsai of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Writer-director Ken Kwek means for the proceedings to be farcical, but seldom are they actually funny."[12] Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote, "Kwek's refreshing focus on his terrorized protagonists' pre-abduction lives keeps Unlucky Plaza afloat once it invests in generic ticking-clock thrills."[13]

References
  1. Lui, John (12 November 2014). "Singapore film festival opening film Unlucky Plaza is entertaining and has depth, says festival director". The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  2. Coonan, Clifford (8 September 2014). "Toronto: Banned Singaporean Director Debuts 'Unlucky Plaza'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  3. "What's On - September 4". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  4. Loh, Genevieve Sarah (22 December 2014). "Unlucky Plaza to be shown in cinemas in April 2015". The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  5. "Unlucky Plaza". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. Loh, Genevieve Sarah (31 December 2015). "S'pore film Unlucky Plaza to show in US". Today Online. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  7. "Unlucky Plaza". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  8. Luo, Stephanie (15 April 2015). "Movie review: Unlucky Plaza". AsiaOne. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  9. Ong, Iliyas (1 April 2015). "Unlucky Plaza". Time Out Singapore. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  10. Tsui, Clarence (4 December 2014). "'Unlucky Plaza': Singapore Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  11. Rapold, Nicolas (7 January 2016). "Review: In 'Unlucky Plaza,' a Comic Hostage Crisis via Tabloid Storytelling". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  12. Tsai, Martin (15 January 2016). "Review 'Unlucky Plaza' undeftly delves beneath Singapore's orderly, multicultural facade". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  13. Abrams, Simon (5 January 2016). "Singaporean Hostage Thriller 'Unlucky Plaza' Has Character to Spare". The Village Voice. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
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