Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I don't know why people bother comparing the movie to Taxi Driver. That's not going to help you appreciate or study the movie. That's just gonna make you play Spot The Difference, which will make you pretty restless because there are lots of differences. The restless audience is not an attentive audience.And oh, I don't understand why it's been tauted as "Taxi Driver in Singapore" either. Talk about bad marketing, they tell you what to think even before you see the movie! These rants aside, Perth is a movie about a simple man who wants to live the simple life. Indeed, you will find many nicely shot scenes in the movie and you will also hear the plink-pinks of the lonely piano piece that is its theme. These things may or may not work for you but Perthdeserves some merit. I may have given the movie four stars, but that's only my opinion... I say it deserves merit, because it is the first movie made about the pioneer generation of Singapore.It's the raw story of a 51 year old man, who feels this place doesn't care for people like him. It's the raw story of a man who is raw in the way he deals with things and often, people. Just like the society and government he claims that does not care enough for him and the lesser-educated generation of his time.Overall, the pace is not too bad, but a little uneven. Music is nothing special, you won't hear much more than the lonely piano. Which can be problematic, even if this was what the director intended, for the loneliness to seep through from the emptiness visually and aurally. This is mostly due to lead actor Lim Kay Tong, who well, over-acted big time. His voice is what you will be hearing a lot, this man literally tries to spit out rage. The bigger problem with his over-acting is not his speech though, but with he chooses to use his body. Frankly, it can sometimes become quite laughable, which I am sure is not what the director intended.I also have a problem with the violence. Don't get me wrong, I love violence. Which is why I have a problem with how the violence is portrayed. Why did Tartan buy this movie? How is Perth "Extreme Asian Cinema"? (Again, bad marketing, because Perth is just about as Extreme as it is parallel to Taxi Driver.) Trust me when I say the "violence" is totally unbelievable and phony, though perhaps towards the ending it became a little bit more realistic. The blood on Angry Boy Lee's hand after teaching the "ang mohs" a lesson was a nice touch, though.I will end by describing my favourite scene. It's a scene near the ending and by the way, I think the resolution of Harry's final fight was probably the best thing in the whole movie. The best thing about the best thing in the whole movie, for me, would be Harry seeing Mai one last time. That really ties up things nicely. The rest of the ending, I'm not sure if I could say I liked.

Perth is the dream of a simple man, named Harry Lee (played by actor Lim Kay Tong), a fifty-one year old security guard and Taxi Driver. Harry's only dream is to leave Singapore and immigrate to Perth, where he plans on living the simple life. According to Harry, everything is cheaper in Perth, which is why he works two jobs, in order to save up for his retirement plan.The company where Harry works security is run by a local gangster nicknamed "Angry Boy Lee" (played expertly by actor Sunny Pang.) Harry also has an estranged wife and son, as well as a best friend named Selva, played by actor Victory Selvam. After a few scenes depicting Harry's everyday life, we learn that the company he works security is down-sizing, thus Harry is out of the job.In order to stay to stay on schedule for his trip to Perth, Harry and his best friend Selva take jobs escorting prostitutes for Angry Boy Lee's Boss. Once on the job, Harry becomes infatuated with a young prostitute named Mai, played by Ivy Cheng.If the plot sounds reminiscent of Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver, it's because it is. Thematically, the film also explores the same feelings of rage, loneliness, and isolation, that Taxi Driver does. Although, the motivations behind Harry and Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle are hardly the same. But largely, both films are gritty character studies, which degenerate into extremely violent and disturbing climaxes. While Taxi Driver is certainly the better film, Perth is much more violent and just as memorable.Just like Taxi Driver, Perth is paced slowly, but never becomes boring. Much of the film involves detailed character development of Harry and Salva. Most of the conversations, in the film involve the need to "live the simple life", thoughts on faithfulness (mostly inspired by Harry's Ex-Wife), and of course, Perth.One of the things that surprised me most about Perth, was that the majority of dialog in the film was in English. That, or a medley of English an several other dialects, such as Mandarin and Vietnamese. If you ever want to learn swear words in multiple languages, Perth is definitely your movie. Indeed this film features so much cursing that at times it seems a bit overdone, but it also adds to the underlying dark humor in Perth (Even as dark and menacing as Perth is, it still manages to make you laugh now and then).The performances themselves are quite good, but sometimes become a little too melodramatic (Specifically, the scene during Harry's son's wedding). But on the whole, Lim Kay Tong is heart wrenching as the abusive, alcoholic, wife beating Harry Lee. The other performances are all above par, especially Sunny Pang's Angry Boy Lee. The prostitute Harry falls for (Ivy Cheng) is beautiful, but her character is sadly underdeveloped. Also, the dialog being in English, (although most of the characters speak English quite well) sometimes it takes away from the acting. Don't get me wrong, the dialog is easily understandable, it's just that it doesn't always flow as smoothly as it does in the native language.The direction in the film is especially well done, and Perth features some of the best cinematography I've seen in awhile. Coming from the director of the horrible Return to Pontianak, Director Djinn proves he has talent and then some. Perth is shot in such a way, that the film has a very grainy, very raw feel to it. Perth features many beautiful shots of cityscapes in Singapore. The film also features many abstract shots, including a recurring ticking clock, which might create the impression that time may be running out for our characters.All in all, Perth is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. While it might be a retread of territory staked out by Martin Scorcese, it is still an exceptionally well done film. The performances are good, the dialog is good, the direction and cinematography are great, and the ending is amongst the most memorable endings I've ever seen! My Rating (9.5 out of 10) Perth is a slightly flawed masterpiece.

Perth is Harry Lee's retirement plan. As an ex-army commando regular turned security supervisor of a shipyard, he leads a nonchalant life, where he regularly exclaims to others that he's a simple man with little materialistic desires, and harbours a goal to settle in Perth, Australia, where life down under is said to be good.When retrenched, he seeks employment as a taxi driver, but ever looking for that break in life to earn more cash to achieve his objective. However, things turn out more complicated for Harry. When sober, we see the empty facade Harry exudes to others, but we learn of the true state of his life when in drunkenness, pouring out his woes to his friends - he's separated from his cheating, gambling wife, and his son refuses to acknowledge him.His is a lonely sad life, and this movie takes a look at the life of the forgotten pioneers of Singapore's materialistic success. We follow his path to the seedier side of the Lion City, into the world of pimps and prostitutes, where he has a lucrative job to ferry the girls to their customers, no questions asked. A depression-proof job, says his friend Angry Boy Lee.Somehow, coffeeshops feature prominently in Singapore movies of late, and Perth is no different, where characters sit around and rant about the authorities, give subtle jibes on the army, and the eventuality of army regulars after their retirement from the uniformed services. They go on about how a better life in Singapore equates first to having a good education, how materialism has crept into society's moral fiber, and the greener pastures available abroad for the lowly skilled. The jibes on the ang-moh's are not subtle though, them being cursed at and assaulted.We know Harry is a violent man from his inner thoughts, but early in the film, it's like his bark is deadlier than his bite. The occasional rant aside, Harry is a man who values faithfulness and loyalty. He fails to see that though his family might not exhibit these values (probably due to his inner violent nature which led to domestic violence), his friends like Angry Boy and Selvam, actually do.The subplot on love and his budding relationship with a Vietnamese call girl at times drags the movie, but it is necessary to lead the movie to its extremely violent finale. The language used throughout is colourful, and I could not think of a local Hokkien expletive not spewed in this film.Perth looks like a one man show from its trailer and poster, with Lim Kay Tong putting in a wonderful performance in shouldering the movie, but gladly, a cast of familiar (and perhaps stereotypical) supporting characters help add some depth and sometimes, dark humour. You'll see familiar faces from local TV productions too, like Channel 8's Liu Qiu Lian as Harry's wife. From the laughter amongst the audience, Angry Boy Lee and Selvam are easily favourite characters of some.It's a dark and gritty film, some might consider a local adaptation of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. But perhaps expectations will be set too high if benchmarked against that classic. This is story of Harry Lee, not Travis Bickle, so put the comparisons aside, and enjoy the ride.

I saw this at Rotterdam Film Festival. I didn't know what to expect after hearing the storyline and Taxi Driver links. I have to say that while there are links to Taxi Driver, this film is something original of which I did not know were being created in conservative Singapore. The photography is great, and Lim Kay Tong give an outstanding performance of a troubled man nearing retirement who's idealistic goal of a simple life is something we can all relate too. I found the ending quite violent, which might upset some viewers, but it has one of the strongest character developments I've seen. It was one of my favorite films at the festival. I truly hope this gets distributed here in the US both in theaters and DVD.