15 (film)

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15: The Movie
15: The Movie theatrical poster
Directed by	Royston Tan
Produced by	Tan Fong Cheng Eric Khoo
Written by	Royston Tan
Starring	Melvin Chen Erick Chun Melvin Lee Vynn Soh Shaun Tan
Editing by	Pinky Calica
Release date(s)	2003
Country	Singapore
Language	Hokkien, Mandarin
IMDb profile

15: The Movie, also known simply as 15, is a 2003 Singaporean film about teenage gangsters in the Singapore suburbs. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Royston Tan, the film is an expanded version of Tan's 2002 award-winning short film, also titled 15.

1 Plot
2 Reception
- 2.1 Censorship
3 Trivia

[edit] Plot

The film stars three real-life juvenile gangsters, aged 15, giving an honest and 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 cinema verite fashion.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Censorship

While 15: The Movie was initially banned in Singapore, the Singapore board of censors later ruled that the film should be rated R(A) and made 27 cuts to the film. Opposition was also raised against the heavy use of the Hokkien language in the film, which is discouraged by the Singapore government in favor of Mandarin and English. These restrictions infuriated Tan, and would later lead him to create his satirical short film Cut.

[edit] Trivia

15: The Movie has been advertised outside of Singapore in gay publications, due to the heavy homoerotic tension between the characters. However, in an interview segment of the DVD Royston's Shorts, a collection of Tan's short films, Tan affirms that the boys whose lives he portrayed do not identify as gay.