Film Picks: Le Musk, Holy Night: Demon Hunters, Fox Hunt
37 minutes, exclusively at GV Suntec
Acclaimed Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman makes his directorial debut with the short film Le Musk, which is billed as a ground-breaking virtual-reality (VR) stereoscopic cinematic and sensory experience.
The story follows orphaned heiress and musician Juliet Meridinian (Nora Arnezeder), who is haunted by her parents' murders. She is on a quest to find the murderers using a powerful memory – their lingering scent.
Rahman developed the story based on his love for perfume and wanted to use fragrance as a narrative device. Besides directing the film from a screenplay by Indian writer Gurachi Phoenix, he also composed the score.
Shot in Rome, Le Musk sees the Oscar- and Grammy-winning Rahman using pioneering camera technologies to present an immersive film that blends virtual reality, haptics, music and fragrance.
The film had its world premiere in 2022 at Cannes Film Market's Cannes XR programme, an event dedicated to virtual- and augmented-reality projects.
Le Musk will be screened exclusively at GV Suntec, where viewers will wear VR headsets and sit in special egg-shaped chairs that release scents.
Where: GV Suntec City, 03-373 Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard
MRT: Promenade
When: From May 11, various timings
Admission: $40 (weekdays), $50 (Fridays from 6pm to Sundays)
Info: str.sg/buxLP
Holy Night: Demon Hunters (NC16)
92 minutes, now showing
★★★☆☆
(From left) Seohyun, Don Lee and David Lee in Holy Night: Demon Hunters.
PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE
A psychiatrist (Kyung Soo-jin) calls on Holy Night, an elite team of exorcists in Seoul, when her sister (Jung Ji-so) begins exhibiting disturbing symptoms no medical diagnosis can explain.
Don Lee of The Roundup detective series (2017 to present) is agency boss Ba-woo, whose physical strength is his superpower. Sharon (Girls' Generation pop idol Seohyun) is the psychic shaman aswirl in boho-chic gowns, while young sidekick Kim Gun (David Lee) provides technical support plus comic relief.
The trio investigate and then battle to save the possessed girl contorting and levitating in billows of smoke.
Based on a 2024 webtoon, the action in the K-occult thriller is intense and atmospheric, until it becomes a repetitive cycle of Ba-woo punching the invading demon and Sharon bellowing 'return to hell'.
The three heroes are each a captivating personality, dynamic in their synergy. The sequel hinted at in the end credits is certainly not unwelcome because they are capable of much more than just this one job. Lee may have found himself another hit franchise. – Whang Yee Ling
Fox Hunt (NC16)
106 minutes, now showing
★★★☆☆
Tony Leung Chiu Wai in Fox Hunt.
PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION
Financial fraudster Dai Yichen (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) has swindled the life savings of many across China, yet lives the high life in Europe. To nab the wily Dai, China sends the Fox Hunt Team, its cross-border commercial crimes specialists, led by detective Ye Jun (Duan Yihong).
Director Leo Zhang (Bleeding Steel, 2017) is fully aware that one cannot make a movie about a high-living swindler without spending on locations, wardrobe and expensive vehicles. The movie showcases this admirably as the action moves from the fine apartments in Paris to the millionaire ghettos in the south of the country.
Leung is in fine, smirky form as the urbane criminal embedded within French high society, a class of people which serves to validate and protect him.
Dai is without argument a scumbag in an expensive suit. But Leung's understated manner makes him watchable onscreen, far more so than if he had been portrayed by a less restrained actor.
Fox Hunt has a good balance of international financial intrigue and action. The plot also keeps the action grounded in reality, with neither the villain nor the good guys possessing convenient hacking skills. – John Lui
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