SYNOPSIS:
Inspired by true stories and real-life characters,
Pleasure Factory tells an intimate and seductive tale involving
pleasure seekers and pleasure providers in Geylang, Singapore’s
red light district.
In
the course of one night, an army boy loses his virginity;
a teenage girl gets initiated into the pleasure manufacturing
process; and a jaded prostitute pays a young busker good money
in exchange for a song he never gets to sing…
MOVIE REVIEW:
If I was a married man, I wouldn’t want to be caught
watching this alone at night by my wife, or worse still, my
kids. While it is every man’s dream to indulge in the
pleasures of the local red light district without feeling
any sense of guilt, we all know the pitfalls of frequenting
the pleasure providers in Geylang. Which is why, Thailand
born director Ekachai Uekrongtham’s film about Singapore’s
infamous red light district has an interesting premise: pleasure
seekers visiting pleasure providers in the pleasure factory,
where pleasure is a manufactured commodity.
But
you know how brilliant ideas often become a mess during the
course of execution. And this pseudo art film is one perfect
example.
With
the ever popular storytelling method of intertwining different
tales together, this 79 minute picture narrates three encounters
– a young officer cadet (a feeble attempt to put a local
context to the story) who is on a quest to lose his virginity;
an ageing prostitute who initiates her daughter into the trade;
and a world weary prostitute who just wants to hear a song
being sung.
Ah,
just when you thought the opening montages of fruits, hotels,
people and other familiar sights in Geylang is appropriately
accompanied by the nostalgic tune sung by Chang Lu, things
get messy when the storytelling begins. Bad acting notwithstanding,
the characters are not engaging at all. You’ll probably
end up laughing at the hilarious scene where Loo Zihan’s
(Solos) officer cadet empties out many boxes of condoms during
his first sexual encounter. You’ll probably end up being
bewildered as Ananda Evringham’s (Shutter) mysterious
character walks around throughout the movie as if he is on
the search for something (searching for what, we have no idea
after the movie ended). You’ll also probably end up
befuddled as Jeszlene Zhou’s pretty prostitute whisks
around doing nothing consequential.
Even
more puzzling are the interview segments where it becomes
evident that the movie is going nowhere. It has no idea whether
it wants to be a drama or documentary, because it succeeds
in neither genre. For even more amusement, check out the interview
where Xue Er, the actress playing the Mainland Chinese prostitute
talks about how fat she was as a kid and she couldn’t
balance her head – it will definitely make you go “huh?”
With
acclaimed actress Yang Kuei Mei’s (The Wayward Cloud)
wasted performance (she just sits around and smokes a lot)
and Everingham’s baffling character portrayal (we seriously
don’t get the scene where he appears in his underwear
and stares forlornly at his fish tank), what is left are the
somewhat titillating sex scenes (the local theatrical version
was edited, and this DVD edition has been further jarringly
edited for a M18 rating) that you won’t want your wife
or kids to catch you watching alone.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains a Trailer, some
Film Clips from the movie (Lo’s side-splitting
scene starring the boxes of condoms is worth watching again
for its sheer hilarity), Interviews with Yang Kuei
Mei and Ananda Everingham with a total runtime of
eight minutes. Yang talks about how she got depressed while
playing her ageing prostitute role and Everingham talks about
how surprised that the seedy Geylang actually exists in Singapore.
Included is also a Photo Gallery with some
nice production stills.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There
is nothing to complain about the disc’s visual transfer
because the cinematography isn’t anything to shout about
in the first place, while the audio track is presented in
its original Mandarin language.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by John Li
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