This film has an interesting theme and the potential to be much more than what it is. The central character arrives in Singapore after his brother's death there and, over the indeterminate ensuing period, dreamily drifts into his dead brother's ex-pat life - staying with his family and floating around the seedy bar he ran - while having nightmares/flashbacks about his problematic marriage back home. So, the breakdown of a marriage on the one hand and bereavement on the other. Rich ground for exploring human feelings, yet I didn't really get a sense of his (or affected others') pain or any soul-searching to make sense of his situation. A good drama seldom neatly resolves all the key 'dramas', centring instead on the human condition and the nature of relationships. This film attempts to do that, but the lack of character development makes it difficult to identify with the protagonists and to be moved by or care much about their plight. The actors make a decent fist of a narrative that sometimes wants for coherence (not all scenes/subplots seem relevant or in some cases are underdeveloped) and the largely insipid dialogue, which, with few exceptions, reveals little about the characters and their motives and needs some attention to lend them greater depth. The overall effect is of a potentially relevant piece of work made somewhat prematurely, before the authors had really decided what story it was they wanted to tell or how best to tell it. Despite the score, I'd be tempted to give it a second chance some time to see if I was just being unreceptive.
OK, 3 years later, 2nd viewing accomplished. Enjoyed it more. 3/10? It's better than that. Characters seemed more life-like; some good dialogue; quite atmospheric; may linger.
Review of Mister John
