About 1965
"1965 is a riveting dramatic thriller that uses a piece of Singapore history like never before. With a star-studded cast comprising of local and regional talents such as Lim Kay Tong as the Late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Joanne Peh, Qi Yuwu, Deanna Yusoff, Sezairi, Mike Kasem and James Seah, 1965 tells engaging and touching stories of immigrants and natives; how a group of people, divided by race, language and religion, saw their intertwining lives profoundly transformed by a defining moment in Singapore history."
(Taken from the net....) |
Qi Yuwu is a Chinese immigrant in real life
acts convincingly (though it helps that he is dishy too)
and btw he is the husband of Joanne Peh (below)
Joanne Peh is now a new mother...
She is a delight to watch in this movie
Lim Kay Tong was convincing in his tearful portrayal of LKY
he had to pause many times to prevent himself from breaking down in sobs, a scene that is not easy to do without over acting or undue dramatics.
(mainly shot in Batam Island)
mainly because there are no more "kampungs" in Spore.
60's inspired furniture and look....
Recreation of a scene of Singapore in 1965
I was in Singapore over the SG50 weekend and I arrived on the 7th of August. My bro in law had booked for me tickets to "1965" a movie that I had not even heard of prior to this! Since I was caught in the wave of Singaporean patriotism which was evident everywhere and which was heightened by the recent death of LKY, their beloved first prime minister, I agreed to catch the movie, and was touched my brother in law had already bought the tickets and chose a time slot suitable for me. ( I had a dinner date with my other classmates later the same evening.) As soon as I arrived at Vivo City with my classmate Bee, I was whisked off to Lido...
So, I asked my sister to take a pic of me framed by the arch...
Here: enlarged for you to see...a 59 year old me and 50 year old Singapore!!!
Here's what I think of the movie 1965...
To be honest, I had doubts about seeing the movie because my time in Singapore was very short, and my sister and her husband were not so free to accompany me as they had to be in Kluang for a temple event the next day. Moreover I had my classmate with me who took me across the causeway (or second link) so I felt quite bad about ditching her. Anyway, I was glad too that they took the trouble to squeeze in a movie for me in our tight schedule as sitting through the 2 and half hour show proved to be no chore as it was well acted, the story line albeit fictitious was engaging, the actors/actresses were locals (Joanne Peh was a darling and every Singaporean's favourite actress, mine too, now) and hey! I was even moved to tears in the end!
Deanna Yusuf
Above is Deanne Yusuf, the Malaysian who acts in quite a number of Singaporean movies:
"The Malaysian actress talks about her involvement in the upcoming film 1965.
Deanna Yusoff has been cast in the leading role in 1965, a movie commemorating Singapore’s 50 years of independence. She plays a single mother opposite China-born actor Qi Yuwu who plays a police inspector in the film that is slated for release next year, to mark Singapore’s 50th birthday."...from the Star
Deanna, who is the only Malaysian among its main cast, was first offered the role three years ago; she was approached again last year in March. The film was mostly shot in Batam, Indonesia from last September to early January.
1965 was directed by Randy Ang and follows the stories of several fictional characters as they witness the historical events leading up to Singapore’s independence.
Khatijah, played by Deanna, is reeling from the death of her youngest son. “Khatijah is a very common woman, she would be invisible, nobody would notice her. She sells kuih by the roadside to earn a living. She has gone through a hard life. She had two husbands; one left and one died. She’s left to raise her four children herself,” Deanna said of her character, in a phone interview from Singapore.
“There’s not much meaning to her life. She’s feeling numbed. When this happens, it awakens her. She starts to live. She starts to feel emotions. The character was dead and with this challenge she became alive,” she continued.
What’s the most memorable experience you had filming 1965?
There was a scene where I realise that my son is dead. It was an emotional scene, there was no dialogue. I had to express my anger, pain and suffering all in a few seconds. It’s the kind of scene where you can’t do many takes; to me, I’d rather do it in one take, which I did.
And what I found magical was that everybody who was involved in that scene, from the camera, the lighting, to the sound, the extras, everybody on set did it perfectly and it was magical. That’s why we were able to do it in one take. Those are moments I will never forget because they’re very rare...(Taken from newspaper article)
Thank you, bro in law and sis for letting me watch the movie with the both of you! We even had to forgo our lunch to be in time for the movie, making do with...MC D! hahaha!!!
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