'15' (2002)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Royston Tan

Writer:

Royston Tan (writer)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Arrow | Vulgarity | Friendship | Rebellious | Piercing

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Melvin Chen	...	Himself
Vynn Soh	...	Himself
Royston Tan	...	Introduction Voice-Over
Shaun Tan	...	Himself

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

Singapore

Language:

Mandarin | Hokkien

Color:

Color

Company:

Infinite Frameworks Pte. Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 15: The Movie (2003)

Is it not a gay movie?

Um .... a serious film about troubled teens in Singapore, a country I have not much knowledge on but have the previous wrong impression that all the kids there are highly disciplined and controlled by their family and government. Well, I guess I am wrong, just like other cities/ countries, they also have their troubled teens who also lead the not so surprising rebellious way of life of drugs, fights, bad language, and .... many other obvious signs of being a bad boy. The surprising part of this film isn't really about how these kids running around causing themselves and others trouble, but rather the subtle gayness hidden behind their so call loyalty between them. The bond between these "brothers" may very well originated from an unconscious gay tendency inside these boys. Though it isn't uncommon for str8 guys to have very close friendship with each other, but watch this film closely, it should be entering all sorts of gay film festivals and I would not be surprised that it may win itself a lot more awards toward this direction!