Angelina Jolie plays Maria Callas admirably in Larrain’s elegantly shot biopic about the troubled final days of the famous opera singer, though it somewhat suffers from a contrived script.
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Maria (2024)
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Author / Eternality Tan
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Swallowtail Butterfly (1996)
Iwai captures vividly the feeling of being nowhere and everywhere at once as his chaotic, genre-blending work of linguistic pluralism explores marginalised lives chasing their rags-to-riches story in an alternative-future Japan.
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Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Lynch’s feature-length prequel to his ‘Twin Peaks’ series is a psychedelic head trip into the lower rungs of hell, backed by an extraordinary if unexpectedly emotional performance from Sheryl Lee, as the narrative traces the final days leading up to her character’s demise.
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Real Pain, A (2024)
Featuring an exceptional performance by Kieran Culkin, Eisenberg writes, produces, directs and stars in this unassuming comedy-drama that was shot primarily in Poland, about two incompatible Jewish cousins on a Holocaust tour to remember their late grandmother.
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Bound (1996)
This neo-noir thriller is a terrific feature debut by the Wachowskis, with its careening twists and turns, and upending of gender codes, as two women must work out a survival plan after an opportunistic ‘heist’ gone wrong.
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Outguess ET 2025 – Oscars Prediction Contest
The 12th edition of my annual Oscars prediction contest is back!
I will share my predictions on the weekend of 28 Feb to 2 Mar. The Oscars will happen on Mon 3 Mar, 8.00am (SGT).
Instructions:
- The contest is open to folks residing in Singapore only.
- Copy and paste the below categories into an email.
- Indicate clearly for each category whom/which film you think will win the Oscar (‘WW‘) and one dark horse (‘DH‘).
- Email to eternalitytan@gmail.com with the subject header ‘Outguess ET 2025’ latest by 27 Feb 11.59pm (SGT).
How to win:
- Predicting correctly ‘Will Win’ earns you 3 points per category
- Predicting correctly ‘Dark Horse’ earns you 1 point per category
- Score more points than me – a tie doesn’t count
- If there is more than one winner with the same points, the participant who submitted his or her predictions earlier (based on email timestamp) will win.
If you win, you can pick one of the following prizes:
- 3-month Singapore Film Society membership (worth SGD39)
- SGD25 worth of movie tickets from The Projector and/or Asian Film Archive
- SGD25 Amazon Gift Card
- 1x Criterion Blu-ray of PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002) from my collection (worth SGD25)
Here are the 23 categories in contention:
- Best Picture
- Best International Feature
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Documentary Feature
- Best Director
- Best Leading Actor
- Best Leading Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Cinematography
- Best Film Editing
- Best Production Design
- Best Costume Design
- Best Hair & Makeup
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Song
- Best Sound
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Live Action Short
- Best Animated Short
- Best Documentary Short
Have fun and good luck!
Fall, The (2006)
One of the most beautifully shot movies ever made, Tarsem Singh’s modern cult classic is an ‘elegiac epic’, an intertwining of two sets of narratives about the endless imagination and despair that the human mind can experience.
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Dahomey (2024)
Some centuries-old Beninese treasures are returned by France, sparking debate over its neocolonial political posturing sublimating as cultural diplomacy as Diop’s quaint Berlinale Golden Bear-winning documentary highlights the dissonances inherent in this ‘homecoming’.
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Hot Fuzz (2007)
Wright’s over-the-top, parodic, buddy cop action-comedy is ‘pop’ confetti cinema in pleasing, anything-goes mode, as a police sergeant reassigned to a sleepy countryside town must contend with a spate of gruesome murders.
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Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
To some degree an anti-blockbuster par excellence, this much maligned sequel sees the infamous villain navigating a new and treacherous psychological terrain, packaged as an unorthodox if imaginative musical-cum-courtroom drama.
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