And that's what i said when Mrs Loy K J, our APEL 3 tutor cum careperson in Yr 3 of TP life asked for bad deeds done by teen today. Months later, a group of young reporters from The Straits Times Teens wants to prove that there are teens who make it to the theatres to watch restricted films, and i do not mean NC16 films.
Thus, they test the water at 6 cineplex in town where R21 films are allowed to be played, and one of the theatre under the list of the test: Yangtze cineplex.
The results: Out of 20 attemps to buy the ticket, 15 make it through. Out of 6 entry in the theatre, 5 make it through. Yangtze, was unsurprisingly, one of the theatre that make it thru.
In the test conducted, Yangtze, Lido, Bugis, Cineleisure Orchard, Suntec and GV Marina were the contenders for the test. (If Golden was included, it would have failed the test, since the staff had strict control and checks on selling R21 flicks tickets to the youngsters. I am barred twice when i attemp to watch Yong Fan's Colour Blossoms and Yoichi Sai's Blood and Bones at Golden. Thanks to that auntie, i missed a award winning Japanese flick highly recommended by Time Magazine.) And the results? Yangtze and Lido passed the test. (And that explains why i could watch Brokeback Mountain at Lido earlier on.)
Movies under the test are: Brokeback, Transamerica (with Felicity Huffman from our favourite Desperate Housewives playing a man who becomes a woman.), Running Scared (before Paul Walker ride with 8 doggies in Eight Below, he brought us the flick featuring sex, violence, drugs and tonnes of blood), The Hills Have Eyes (why not screen the original R21 version, but rather, edited to M18?), Hard Bounty, Lust for Freedom, and Extramarital. While the 1st 4 opens in mainstream theatres, Yangtze carrys the last 3, and no where else.
Yangtze do not carry out the checks frequently, since most of the patrons aged 50 and above, said the manager of Yangtze cineplex. Grrr.........
Have this report make it to the papers a year earlier, i would have paid Yangtze a visit for David Lynch's Blue Velvet (a classic erotic drama that will make its way to home video soon, under M18 rating, where it was previosuly rated R21.) Pedro Almodovar's Matador, Brian De Palma's Body Double, Atom Egoyan's Exotica (and it seems that Yangtze seems to have a penchant of the Egyptian director flick. First we have Ararat, then Exotica, and now Where The Truth Lies.
Anyway, the test shows us one thing: that there are teens who are underage but matured to know what is going on, and those who are an adult but inmatured in thought. Barring one from watching a flick that carrys a strong message yet classified as a R film seems to be unstoppable for those who wanted to watch. I was told i am not allowed to play the R rated version of Marc Foster's Monsters Ball for my sociology project presentation, where it carrys a strong message of racism. But hey, why barred someone from watching a R rated film when the person is not going to learn those wrong values in the film???
Blood and Bones was slapped with a R21 for few rape scenes, but it deplicits the hardship the early Korean immigrants suffered in Japan during the 50's and 60's through the view of a Korean immigrant family.
Brokeback Mountain was rated R21 for potraying a gay romance between two cowboys, Ennis and Jack. But hey, there are tonnes of gays out there in Singapore. We cannot pretend that gay do not exist in Singapore. Even Goh Chok Tong says, homosexuals are allowed to perform more intimate jobs today, and the government sees them equally as the straights.
Monsters Ball potrays racism, and it wants to prove that love has no boundaries, even among different races. While Singapore has been talking about peace, harmony and tolerance among different races, why do the government banned the uncensored version just because it contains sex between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton??
City of God was censored for an M18 rating for strong violence and drug content. What happens in the film may not happen in Singapore, but it is a common sight in developing countries such as Rio De Janerio. The message behind City of God: Peace and harmony in Singapore is not taken for granted.
I could not think more of titles with a strong message that has been classified as R21, but such films deserved to be made open to teens who are matured to know what is going wrong in our society. But such films do have an message behind the film, and definitely it educates the young but matured mind. Rather than allowing cheap B-grade seedy Korean flick such as Mongjungi (Wet Dreams),Yeogyosu-ui eunmilhan maeryeok (Bewitching Attraction), Seom (Isle by Kim Ki Duk) or seedy American flick like those that i mentioned above or Hong Kong Category III flicks, why not allow more such films to be make available to those who are young, but matured in mind??
At least i know i am not going to rape someone after watching Blood and Bones.