Banned

Why Formula 17 was banned in Singapore I don't know. I mean, I know why, but really, why wasn't it at least R(A)? There's absolutely nothing in there that's provocative.. it's a comedy for goodness sake! Compared to the close-to-porno types they screen in the Chinatown cinemas, this is peanuts! It all boils down to the fact that it's a love story between 2 guys, and it's the "2 guys" part that the censors have problem with. It's so anal (erm), I can't stand it!!!

I don't quite get it, though.. Okay so like Lan Yu was banned, but it was shown during the Singapore Film Festival? Oh so it's okay to show banned films during Filmfest?

Anyway, I thought there was a little too much of dramatic theatre-acting in Formula 17. It also felt like the director was two hearts about making it a comedy with mass-appeal vs one with an art-house slant (re the repeated panning shots from one end of the sofa to the other got a bit tiring). But I suppose overall the effort was quite commendable if you take into account the fact that it's a fresh new movie with many newcomers in the cast and crew. The movie commentary section of the DVD is worth listening to; it's quite heartwarming to hear a group of young people talk about the whole filming process with such passion and invigoration. Some of the deleted scenes were quite well done too, too bad they didn't make it to the final cut in the end. As for the acting, I thought Tony Yang acted really well. Natural and cute, with just the right tinge of naiveness. Duncan's look in the movie was uber-cool. & to top it off, yes there was indeed chemistry between the two leads! ^^