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Appraising the Apprentice

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8 years ago

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By Dan Koh

What were you doing on 20 May, Friday morning?

In the blue light of first dawn, crickets chirped steadily, a lone Asian koel bird hopefully called out and your neighbour stirred, hacking and hawking away in the toilet. Buses began running, newspapers dropped on doorsteps, building gates creaked open. A prisoner was loaded on to a van and taken to court. He was hanged later that day.

For a country that hangs criminals regularly and very recently—over 400 since 1991—and boasted possibly the world’s highest execution rate per capita in the late 1990s, it is puzzling that the corpus of Singapore literature on capital punishment remains slim, recent and suppressed. In 2005, the play Human Lefts was censored of all references to the death penalty a day after Nguyen Tuong Van’s execution, followed by author Alan Shadrake’s prison sentencing for contempt of court due to his variable Once A Jolly Hangman (2010). Only the plays Good People (2007) and Senang (2014), which deal tangentially with the death penalty, Alfian Sa’at’s harrowing short story “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Hanging” (2010), Seelan Palay and Shikin Ali’s mixed-media exhibition CAPITAL (2011) and more lately the play reading of Judgement Day (2015) have escaped unscathed, if little-experienced by the wider public. This enforcedly unreflective state of affairs, a by-product of our helpless acceptance of capital punishment as a non-issue, when Singapore is one of the last 36 nations to actively retain it, has even allowed the National Gallery Singapore to entice visitors in its similarly unquestioned promotional video, titled ‘What Will You See?’, with: “Criminals were once sentenced to hang here / Iconic masterpieces now hang on the walls instead”.

Quietly blowing open this dispiriting collection of works is Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice. Its long-awaited release comes at an unprecedentedly productive time for the Singapore prison film, what with fellow Cannes Film Festival debutant A Yellow Bird by K. Rajagopal, Ivan Ho’s upcoming comedy Take 2 and Tan Shijie’s haunting segment in Distance. Could SG50 have sparked off an inadvertent examination of the state-sponsored and largely mandatory retribution that supposedly props up our success and security? Boo’s sophomore film successfully transcends the potential pitfalls of its divisive subject by penetrating into the very soul of crime and punishment in order to meditate upon our everyday culpability. Despite what The Straits Times may suggest, Apprentice does not in the least put “a human face on the abstract idea of capital punishment”, but reveals its inhumane, barbaric nature and the untold sufferings that visit even its abettors.

Photo: Meg White

Photo: Meg White

The multi-country co-production traces the fraught, voyeur-to-partaker journey of its titular character, 28-year-old correctional officer Aiman (Geng Rebut Cabinet‘s Firdaus Rahman), as he is transferred to the maximum-security, fictional-but-all-too-real Larangan Prison. Laden with a personal and unresolved link to the death penalty, Aiman forms a budding and all-consuming mentorship with magnetic chief executioner Rahim (the masterful Malaysian actor Wan Hanafi Su in his first movie and overseas role) that threatens the relationship with his Australia-bound sister Suhaila (Mastura Ahmad), his last family connection, in addition to his precarious self-identity. 

A violent teenage gangster made good, Aiman joins the prison force, after a disciplining stint as an army regular, in order to “make [prisoners] better people… those who want to change”, a rehabilitative goal that parallels part of the Singapore Prison Service’s mission. Trained in a vocational institute, he and the Company Sergeant Major-like Rahim—complete with endless cigarettes, tasteless jokes and helmet-like white hair—belong to an older generation and underclass of Singaporeans. They bond over their mutual hatred of scholars, Singapore’s new and influential technocrats, the cause of Aiman leaving the army and Rahim’s complaint that “nowadays there’s no one tough enough” to succeed him. Most significantly, after his assistant suddenly quits, Rahim recognises a kindred spirit in his ostensible heir apparent, telling Aiman, “You have morals”. 

That seemingly straightforward, simple statement lies at the dark heart of Apprentice. Rahim’s expert role as a veteran executioner raises troubling questions about the nature of justice and mercy: from the 65-year-old sergeant’s steadfast belief that “what’s important is to face the consequences” laid down by the court, to his not-so-white lie to a death row prisoner that his estranged wife has forgiven him; from his reassuring, gentle and almost paternal guiding and coaxing of the lamb to the slaughter (“Don’t worry…I’m sending you to a better place”, a phrase of Singapore’s long-time hangman Darshan Singh), to his careful and self-proclaimed “humane” craft of ensuring that the criminal hangs “quick and painless”, without prolonged strangulation or decapitation. While witnessing him in action, the perverse thought hit me that if I was sent to the gallows, I would gladly throw myself upon the small mercies of Rahim—the Arabic word, fittingly, for “merciful”.

While some critics felt Apprentice lacked a unifying meaning or clear-cut stand in regard to its controversial subject, the ‘should-capital-punishment-be-abolished-or-not’ debate to me is circumvented as soon as we are confronted with an execution. Following an in-depth and strangely fascinating tutorial and initiation into the technicalities behind a “10 upon 10” hanging—the ideal thickness and type of rope, along which vertebrate to place the noose’s knot, the correct formula of rope length to body weight—Boo places us front and centre of a hanging and its aftermath that are all the more shocking, unflinching and climatic in their lack of forewarning and cut-away. The scene, about three-quarters in, is hopefully the closest I’ll get to George Orwell’s infamous epiphany in “A Hanging” (1931): “It is curious, but till that moment I had never realised what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide.” The prisoner here, Randy Tan (Crispian Chan), buckles and hyperventilates during his painfully long approach to the gallows, and in the autopsy afterwards, I was struck by his graceful, pianist fingers sticking out of the evidence sheet, like the “childish feet, tilted, dangling”, of the “dwarfish boy-man” after execution in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (1965). To me, Apprentice only gains in complexity in its humanistic surpassing of direct questions of capital punishment’s morality and efficacy. As Boo shared at the Singapore gala premiere, “My only hope with this film is to raise the right and important questions… If I had a message, I would just say it”.

Photo: Meg White

Photo: Meg White

Apprentice’s lasting resonance, then, lies in its subtle and damning revelation of the blood on all our hands for living with our justice system. Partially filmed in disused Australia jails, the film through clever editing and lensing cuts down to a discomfiting closeness the gap not only between the two countries, but also between so-called civilisation and the penal institutions that police its moral borders. From the get-go, Boo, cinematographer Benoit Soler (Ilo Ilo) and editors Lee Chatametikool (Cemetery of Splendour) plus Natalie Soh (In the Room) consistently parallel the worlds and architecture of the jailhouse complex and heartland estates. In one breathtaking, collapsing shot, we slowly pan from the electric fence, where the families of the never-ending stream of the next-to-be-executed keep vigil, to a uniform Singapore road, rumbling with indifferent traffic, just a stone’s throw away. In accordance with tracking shots of a condemned prisoner’s last march to the trapdoors and a point-of-view experience through a Manila hemp execution hood, the deceptively simple opening shot of a landscape at daybreak, as seen through the blades of a ventilation fan, repeated later with a view of the shadow it casts after execution, effectively erases any dichotomy between us versus them, victim and prosecutor, criminal and citizen.

A triumph of intense restraint and sustained, almost horror-like suspense and claustrophobic mood, Apprentice sets new standards for Singapore cinema. Far surpassing Boo’s nostalgia-drenched debut Sandcastle (2010), it succeeds by never letting up, in no small part due to the sensitive work of production designer James Page (Canopy), who includes items as small and telling as the 1990s stickers of hyper-masculine yet quotidian emblems like army tanks and Popeye on Aiman’s broken childhood cabinet; supervising sound editor Ting Li Lim (In the House of Straw), who crafts an overwhelmingly confined, heightened and uncomfortable, if one-note, atmosphere (never have I been made so achingly aware of the tensile strain of rope and every reverberating footfall plus clanging door); and the star bit-turn of Koh Boon Pin (12 Storeys) as Aiman’s superior—he is the ultimate, chillingly efficacious bureaucrat, conveying as an unshakeable vessel shadowy directives from the corridors of power above.

If Apprentice is to be nitpicked, its steady build-up of tension, perhaps too monotonous in mood to some (an even bolder, purely atmospheric film would have jettisoned narrative arc), is let down by an oddly anti-climatic and suspense-free ending. After journeying this far and hard with Aiman, we surely deserve a more fulfilling conclusion than an apparent and rather cheap shock. As with Sandcastle, the main protagonist also suffers slightly from a lack of meaningful character development. Try as he might, Firdaus is not given enough to pierce the central, cipher-like nature of this sphinx, an issue only because so much of Apprentice’s driving force relies on the exploration of the ultimately unresolved question of Aiman’s real motivation: morbid curiosity, vengeful quest or discovery, then complete disavowal and betrayal of his and his family’s past?

As a non-campaigning film, Apprentice ironically came too close to its subject matter when, in the same week as its Cannes world premiere, and after an excruciating process of a temporary reprieve and multiple dramatic appeals, the Sarawakan migrant worker Kho Jabing was executed in Singapore for a murder he committed during a robbery gone wrong. Possibly the first-ever execution here completed after Friday dawn, the untimely murder of Kho was swiftly followed by the sentencing to death of two drug traffickers and the appeal on behalf of four others on death row. “I know you’ll make the right decision,” Aiman’s sibling Suhaila encourages him before a life-changing moment, “you always do.”

If and when their Friday mornings come, what will you be doing?

Apprentice is now showing in Singapore—at select Golden Village and FilmGarde Cineplex cinemas—and France. The film will also open in the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Turkey, Poland, Greece and Hong Kong and screen at the Jerusalem, Melbourne and New Horizons International Film Festivals. For screening details and more information, visit Apprentice‘s Facebook page at: http://fb.com/apprenticefilm

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Arts & Culture

Epigram Books to close SAM bookshop amid low sales and footfall

Epigram Books will shut down its bookshop at the Singapore Art Museum on 26 January 2025, citing low sales and foot traffic. The independent bookstore, known for supporting local authors, will continue to operate its online store, but its future in brick-and-mortar retail is uncertain.

Published

4 weeks ago

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19 September 2024

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Epigram Books, a major supporter of Singaporean literature, will close its Epigram Coffee Bookshop at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) on 26 January 2025.

The decision comes after years of struggling with low sales and foot traffic at the Tanjong Pagar Distripark location, marking the end of the bookstore’s three-year lease.

The announcement on 19 September follows Times Bookstores’ closure of its final outlet in Holland Road, highlighting the growing challenges faced by brick-and-mortar bookstores in Singapore.

Edmund Wee, publisher at Epigram Books, expressed disappointment, stating: “We tried everything to make this work. Over the past three years, we’ve often asked ourselves, how many people even knew our bookstore existed here, let alone visited?”

Despite efforts to boost traffic, including operating shuttles to increase accessibility, the bookstore struggled to attract visitors consistently.

Epigram Coffee Bookshop, previously located at the Urban Redevelopment Authority Centre on Maxwell Road and later in a pop-up at Beach Road, relocated to SAM in May 2022 in partnership with Balestier Market Collective.

The 20-seater store featured towering shelves showcasing local and Southeast Asian titles, including books from other independent publishers like Ethos Books and Math Paper Press.

However, the location’s industrial setting, which only saw spikes in visitors during major exhibitions like Olafur Eliasson’s, limited consistent footfall.

The closure coincides with the end of Eliasson’s exhibit on 22 September 2024. Although the exhibition provided a temporary boost to the bookshop’s sales, Epigram noted that the increased traffic was short-lived.

Epigram’s future in physical retail remains uncertain. Mr Wee indicated that high rental costs make reopening a physical store unlikely: “Unless rent prices relent, it’s unlikely we’ll move into another space.”

Epigram Books has been a significant presence in Singapore’s independent book scene, promoting local authors and holding literary events.

The bookshop was also a community hub for the literary arts, hosting numerous book launches and events supporting local writers. “These spaces are special to our literary arts community. They’re where book lovers gather, where literary events and book launches happen in support of our writers,” said Mr Wee.

Despite the closure of the SAM store, Epigram will continue to operate its online store. The publisher emphasized the need for continued support from readers: “We’ve come this far with everyone’s support, and we look forward to continued support from our readers as we transition to focus on online sales.”

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Arts & Culture

2024 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion unveils 63 selected projects, celebrating global creativity and innovation

The 2024 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion has unveiled 63 selected projects, featuring a diverse array of genres and international collaborations. With 38 films in development, 13 in progress, and 12 series, this year’s lineup highlights innovative storytelling and global creativity.

Published

1 month ago

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3 September 2024

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The Golden Horse Film Project Promotion (FPP), a prestigious platform dedicated to nurturing emerging talent and fostering international collaboration, has revealed its 2024 project lineup.

This year, the event will showcase 63 selected projects, including 38 Film in Development (FPP), 13 Work-in-Progress (WIP), and 12 Series selections. These projects represent a diverse array of genres, styles, and creative visions, underscoring the dynamic and evolving landscape of Asian and global cinema.

Diverse and Cutting-Edge Filmmakers Dominate FPP Selections

The 38 projects selected for the FPP section reflect a broad spectrum of themes, with many films pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling.

This year’s selections include works from acclaimed filmmakers, many of whom have previously been recognized by the Golden Horse Awards. These projects promise to bring fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to the big screen.

Among the standout selections is “Wake Me Up When the Mourning Ends,” directed by LAU Kok-rui, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Director with The Sunny Side of the Street.

This film is expected to deliver a poignant exploration of grief and healing. Another highlight is Water of Immortality, directed by LIN Chun-yang, known for Eye of the Storm. This film tells the touching story of sculptor HUANG Tu-shui and his wife, blending art, history, and personal struggle.

Venturing into the horror genre, The Room Raising Children’s Soul by CHANG Yao-sheng, director of A Leg, explores themes of revenge and the supernatural, promising to captivate audiences with its eerie narrative.

LOU Yi-an’s Snake in the Dreamscapes combines elements of history, suspense, and politics, weaving a complex tale where three past-life dreams unravel three murder mysteries. WANG I-fan’s The Cat out of the Bag, with its violent aesthetics and revenge-driven plot, is set to be another visually striking addition to this year’s lineup.

Comedy also plays a significant role in this year’s FPP selections. God’s Lie in the Wonderland by veteran Hong Kong producer Roger LEE and director Kris LI uses a bizarre aquatic monster as a metaphor for the absurdities of real estate economics, offering a satirical take on modern society. Grannies Revenge by HSIEH Pei-ju, known for Heavy Craving, introduces a “women’s avengers” squad of grandmothers seeking justice against their unscrupulous husbands, promising both humor and empowerment.

Social issues are at the forefront of several FPP projects, often explored through the lenses of crime, thriller, and horror. Far End of Heaven by TSAO Jui-yuan, executive produced by Sylvia CHANG, follows the intense journey of a father and son on a wilderness escape, while Truth in Quarters by Boi KWONG, director of Geylang, delves into society’s interpretation of truth through a mysterious murder case.

The Day Before Tomorrow by LEE Yi-fang presents a suspenseful depiction of the immense pressure the education system imposes on students.

These selections not only reflect a deep engagement with contemporary issues but also highlight the diverse range of voices contributing to the cinematic landscape.

Films like Will You Please Reply, Please? by Jeffrey POON, which explores the disillusionment of post-1997 Hong Kong speculators, and Isolation by YU Chih-chieh, which uses a zombie crisis to comment on cross-strait tensions, illustrate how filmmakers are using genre cinema to address real-world anxieties.

The FPP lineup also includes historically inspired projects that offer authenticity and insight into significant events. LIFE DERAILED by CHAO Hsuan, for instance, explores the Puyuma train derailment accident, while He Sang a Dirge by Malaysian director LOH Din-yung exposes a scandal involving fake degrees and a corrupt tutoring empire in Malaysia.

Documentary filmmakers are well-represented in this year’s FPP section, tackling topics ranging from cultural identity to historical injustices.

The Songs from Within by Elvis LU focuses on the identity struggles of indigenous youth, while Exodus from China by LI Wei provides a poignant portrait of young people’s quest for freedom in the post-pandemic era.

Animated projects like Boy A-Nee-Gu Gets into Trouble Again! YA~ by Jack SHIH and The Dog That Lost His Home by CHEN Qiang add a unique visual element to the FPP selections, highlighting the versatility of animation as a medium for storytelling.

Emerging filmmakers are also making their mark with exciting new projects that reflect the evolving trends in global cinema. Japanese director NAKANISHI Mai’s Child, Uninvited uses suspense to explore societal pressures on women, while Indonesian director Jason ISKANDAR’s First Breath After Coma captures the turmoil of a fractured family against the backdrop of Indonesia’s 1990s regime change.

WIP Selections: A Glimpse into the Future of Cinema

The 13 projects selected for the WIP section offer a tantalizing glimpse into films that are currently in production but still seeking additional funding or collaboration opportunities. These films, which are already generating buzz within the industry, reflect the abundant creativity and diverse storytelling approaches that define this year’s Golden Horse FPP.

Among the highlights are Running Wild, a noir road film directed by WANG Yi-ling and executive produced by LIAO Ching-sung, and BLIND LOVE, directed by CHOU Mei-yu and starring Ariel LIN. These films promise to combine compelling narratives with strong visual storytelling.

Documentaries in the WIP section also stand out for their engagement with pressing social issues. One Day in the Future by JIANG Xuan-nian and JI Hang explores gender diversity and family dynamics, while A Thousand Winds by MOK Kawn-ling documents social movements in Hong Kong, providing a powerful commentary on contemporary struggles for freedom and justice.

Regional perspectives are again a key feature of the WIP selections, with projects like Malaysian filmmaker YEO Joon-han’s You Are Here and Singaporean director ANG Geck Geck Priscilla’s AH GIRL bringing unique cultural insights to the forefront. These films, along with others like Kong Tao, a horror film by Malaysian directors YONG Choon-lin and GOH Pei-chiek, emphasize the global nature of this year’s event.

Series Selections: Imagination Meets Reality

The Series section, now in its fifth year, continues to expand its scope with 12 projects that explore everything from fantasy and science fiction to crime, suspense, and drama. These selections are marked by their imaginative storytelling and bold narrative choices, reflecting the increasing convergence of television and cinema.

Fantasy and science fiction dominate several of this year’s Series selections. Super Cat, produced by HUANG Hsin-yao, deconstructs modern life through the surreal experiences of 10 delivery workers, while Survival Guide for Doomsday Kids by Kiwi CHOW presents a dystopian world where two siblings must navigate survival in the absence of adults. The blend of folklore, technology, and social commentary in Islanders, co-directed by YAO Hung-I, SHEN Ko-shang, and WU Mi-sen, promises to captivate audiences with its unique narrative approach.

Crime and suspense are also central to several Series projects, including The Fundamentals by YEO Siew-hua, which investigates the dark underbelly of a cult through a series of gruesome murders, and Godless by CHEN Kuan-chung, inspired by a real-life Taiwanese serial murder case. These projects highlight the versatility of the Series format in tackling complex themes and engaging viewers with gripping narratives.

Other notable Series selections delve into the world of medical professionals, sports, and jazz music. The Hand of God, from the creators of The Hospital, explores the high-stakes decisions faced by doctors, while Toh-kiu, directed by HUNG Tzu-peng, uses the drama of table tennis to examine the life lessons learned through competition. Jazzers by YAO Chiang, meanwhile, brings a unique animated twist to the world of music, portraying anthropomorphized musical instruments composing their symphonies in a world dominated by humans.

Looking Forward to the Golden Horse FPP Event

The 2024 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion will be held in Taipei from 18 to 20 November, culminating in an awards ceremony on 20 November. The event promises to be a celebration of creativity, innovation, and collaboration, bringing together filmmakers, producers, and industry professionals from around the world. With its diverse selections and strong emphasis on cross-cultural storytelling, this year’s FPP is set to be a highlight of the global film calendar, continuing the Golden Horse tradition of showcasing the best in contemporary cinema.

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