15 (SINGAPORE, 2003)

15 is a 2003 Singaporean coming-of-age black comedy-drama film about teenage gangsters in the Singapore suburbs. Directed by Royston Tan, the film is an expanded version of Tan's 2002 award-winning short film, also titled 15. It is one of the few Singaporean films to feature brief full-frontal male nudity, together with the Singaporean-Thai film Pleasure Factory and the Singaporean-Hong Kong film Bugis Street. The film stars three real-life juvenile gangsters, all aged 15, giving an accurate depiction of Chinese teenage gang-life in the Singapore suburbs. The 2003 film features two more gangsters as characters as well as a fight sequence with more affluent English-educated Singapore youths. Rather than scripting the movie or employing professional actors, Tan attempted to capture the troubled lives of his characters in realistic fashion, apparently without much prior scripting. "Growing up in the world's most oppressive nanny state can be bad for your mental health and 15 tells it like dis. 26-year-old Royston Tan's social satire has given local censors their biggest ever headache by focusing on Singapore's "problem" boys: the ones from broken homes, the ones who smuggle drugs, the dropouts, the ones who obsess on suicide and tend to die young. But what could have been a grungy social-realist tract is actuslly a dizzying collage of teenage experience...Tan keeps scenes short and stylized, plasters the screen with captions and throws in everything from animation to fast rewinds to keep things cooking. Much of it is universal: gangs, videp games, bad role models, fake tattoos, crypto-gay bonding, piercings, self-pity, amateur rapping...but Tan doesn't shrink from the dark side: he looks at teen suicides with wicked black humour, confrons the reality of self harm, admits that boys pros titute themselves for pocket money..." VANCOUVER FILM FESTIVAL

The film charts the misadventures of five teenagers on the fringe of Singaporean society. Abandoned by the system, they seek answers to their aimless existence among the misfits and outsiders of Singapore's underclass. A provocative film acted by real street kids, it exposes a gritty side of modern-day Singapore life that many never knew existed. Official selection: 2004 Melbourne International Film Festival, 2004 Sundance Film Festival. 18th Venice Film Festval, 2003 Pusan International Film Festival, 2003 London Film Festival, 2003 Stockholm International Film Festival, 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival WINNER: Special Jury Prize, Deauville Film Festival WINNER: FIPRESCI Award, Singapore Film Festival A provocative film acted by real street kids, 15 exposes a gritty side of modern-day Singapore life that many never knew existed. "Frenetic.a fearless depiction of truanting, bullying, body-piercing, self-harming, porn-watching, drug-smuggling, prostitution, and HIV-infection" BBCi Film