Crappy film

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

15 follows several 15 year-olds in suburban Singapore. They display their angst by acting like typical teenagers: talk sex, do drugs, and act obnoxious.Their innocence is slowly lost as they begin to dwell on gang life and suicide.Overall, it's very stylish, using different color filters and flashy effects. It transitions between chapters with titles that give off a feeling of angsty teenage philosophy and tells of their struggles. This develops a lot of potential to be like other great films with similar subjects, like Donnie Darko. Some of the themes of suicide bring up the great films of Sion Sono, such as Suicide Club and Noriko's Dinner Table.This film does not live up to those titles. The style is great at first, especially in the character's "music videos", but eventually gets repetitive.There isn't that much of a plot. You just kinda follow the characters around, there isn't a real conflict or goal. Then again, it doesn't really follow the traditional three-act format. It jumps around from different groups of characters. You don't spend that much time with some so it's hard to connect with them. This is my main complaint.Some of the emotional scenes seem a bit forced. There are a couple scenes that go on for a long time with one shot, and try to be kinda artsy and emotional but just don't work.The film does have a few instances of dark comedy, which is one of the best points. There isn't much though.If the film had more story and balance, it would be much better.

The last time a local film actually garnered critical acclaim, Cleopatra Wong was still karate chopping up policemen in shorts. Hailing from 21th century Singapore, I was all eager to watch 15. Too eager, on hindsight, as I passed up Broken Flowers and Julie Delpy for it.Opening sequence with 3 leads playing bow-and arrows in a metaphorical wasteland (Nope! There's no desert in monsoon-ravaged Singapore), a sense of foreboding crept up inside me. A film which purports to capture street life grittiness but opens with some high arty farty concept, is suffering from a clash of ideologies, something akin to getting Jesus and God of Mercy tattooed on your back.So the movie meanders down this slippery path of pseudo high concept art. We find Ah-bengs, or 'street thugs' in colloquial Hokkien, not in the streets spilling blood, but hanging around in their not-so-spartan HDB flats musing about the vagaries of life and occasionally breaking into colourful song-and-dance. Sounds a lot like my life, thank you.Granted, there were a few great takes of self-mutilation and drug-smuggling, which was stomach churning even to the hardboiled. But the terrible pacing blunted the scenes and ruined the senses. It was with much gratitude that I survived the extreme tedium, thanks to my fingers on the FAST FORWARD button. Mind you, it was not just a casual fast forward, but a SUPER TURBO FAST FORWARD of 8x.15 would indeed be a smashing hit as a 15 min long feature. Royston Tan shouldn't have dragged 15 out from the relative comforts of short films to the hazards of full-lengths. A full-length film needs to be sustained by a story, a heartbeat. Witness how blood courses through the veins of Amores Perros, or Cidade de Deus. A concept alone, even if wrapped up in garish lighting and high contrast colours, is simply not enough.IMDb Rating: 4.7 (-1 for lack of Ah Lians in a movie about Ah Bengs. Oh! Ludicrious!)

basically this is the story of two 15 year old Asian boys living in singapore. they are what we would categorize as "at risk" in the good ole USA. both of them are into drugs and into smuggling drugs. and there is this one scene where a condom filled with pills is being forced down the throat of one of the boys. he is doing this himself and is in obvious pain and discomfort. his eyes are watering and saliva drips from his mouth and he tries to shove this giant pill stuffed condom down his throat. luckily we do not get to see the illegal contraband exiting the other end. but the movie has a lot of comedy in it, for instance when the boys buy a blow up doll and run thru the city center throwing it to the ground and humping it. and then there are scenes where the 2 boys place the doll between them and the guy on the top simulates a violent rape of the doll. the two boys spend a lot of time together but other friends are featured also. eventually the two spend some time in bed together and their attraction for each other is homosexual, and there are some tender scenes where one gently hugs the other one. this movie does not pull any punches, this is the reality for these boys in the circumstances that they are faced with. it is more of a documentary than a movie, sort of like pixote, but not as long or as complex. an excellent examination of teenage boys in singapore.

This is one of my favourite movies. Can't wait 'til I can buy it. It is a chockingly beautiful movie, the colours and the camera angles and everything is perfect. It is so close, everytime the actors cut their wrists or try to press down a condom full of pills in their throat, it feels like they're doing it to me.Even the violence is beautiful. I don't mean kill bill-violence, but in some way the director makes everything seem so realistic but at the same time extraordinary. I don't know how else to describe it.This is true beauty. See it!