Review of past month's activities of the Penang Film Club

A quick recap of our activities in the past month or so…

Aug26: Screened Soylent Green (1973). Starring Charlton Heston (Ben Hur, Planet Of The Apes) as Robert Thom, a police detective working in an overpopulated New York City in an overpopulated Earth. Due to diminishing resources, the citizens are fed synthetic foods such as Soylent Red, Soylent Grey, …and the new Soylent Green. Heston discovers the true ingredients of this new product… giving a whole new meaning to the term “you are what you eat”.

Sep9: Brick (2005). Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan, a high-school kid who infiltrates a drug gang to destroy it, and find out who murdered his ex-girlfriend. Influenced heavily by hardboiled film noir in terms of plot and dialogue, the film was found by many in the audience to be too slow, too confusing, and perhaps too pretentious. At the end, the audience of around 15 had diminished to just 4 people…

Sep21-23: Freedom Film Fest. On the last day, we screened the documentary we had made about the Penang Clan Jetties. Reception from the audience was very positive.

Oct7: Equilibrium (2002). Last Sunday, we screened to an audience of 12 people. This movie was about a civilization that had successfully eradicated hatred and war. The catch: the population has had their emotions and feelings suppressed with mandatory administration of a drug. Failure to take the medication to become an emotionless, harmless zombie could lead to arrest and execution. Christian Bale stars as a government agent tasked with enforcing the Government’s law and eradicating rebels who have refused the medication. Very close similarities could be found with movies like “The Matrix”, “V For Vendetta”, and George Orwell’s book “1984”.


Upcoming Schedules:

Last Sunday, we also discussed our schedule for the next two months. Below are the dates for future screenings:

October 21: “Sicko” (2007)

November 4: “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” (2006)

November 18: “Fahrenheit 451” (1966)

December 2 : “Brokeback Mountain” (2005)