A migrant worker from China goes missing at a Singapore land reclamation site after suffering from insomnia. The trail leads the police to discover more than just history buried under all that sand.
In a city that never sleeps, its inhabitants dream awake. The film follows a sleepless policeman and his partner, who are tasked to uncover the case of a missing Chinese migrant worker.
Crew
DoP: Hideho Urata
Editor: Daniel Hui
Production design: James Page
Press & Reviews
“Unidentifiably new … a dreamy neo-noir that unfolds like a Singaporean ‘Chinatown’ … this movie does for sand what ‘Chinatown’ did for water“
– David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“An ambitious filmmaker … The score is jazzy, the mood is fatalistic and there is the sense that the case of one individual will reveal bittersweet truths about the state of the nation.“
– Allan Hunter, Screen International
“a huge boon to Singaporean cinema … it’s testament to the quality and clarity of vision of the smart, eerie tech-noir that it came out on top [at Locarno Festival], becoming the first Singaporean film to take the top prize at a major film festival … the film, lit as it is by buzzing fluorescent lights and scored with ominous synths, is a series of questions, asking what we mean when we talk of modernisation, of globalisation, of who we leave behind when we move forward … a pulse-pounding, frightening gem of a film, and now it has its name in the history books” 5/5, Top 10 Films of 2018
– Theo Howe, easternKicks
“Yeo’s Golden Leopard-winning film opens in dreamy noir-like fashion before blooming into a sobering social drama concerning the lives of Singapore’s ignored and exploited immigrant and working-class communities” 3/4
– Wes Greene, Slant Magazine
8Days
https://www.8days.sg/seeanddo/moviereviews/8-days-best-movies-of-2019-12202952
CineLand
https://cine.nl/a-land-imagined/
Deprotagonisten
http://www.deprotagonisten.nl/recensies/a-land-imagined/
Cinemagazine ⅗ Blog
https://cinemagazine.nl/a-land-imagined-huan-tu-2018-recensie/
FilmTotaal 3.5/5 Newspaper
https://www.filmtotaal.nl/recensie/14038
NRC ⅘ Newspaper
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/12/31/droom-en-realiteit-versmelten-in-singaporees-neonlicht-a3985404
FilmKrant Review/Feature & Interview
https://filmkrant.nl/interview/yeo-siew-hua-a-land-imagined
Parool Newspaper
https://www.parool.nl/kunst-media/a-land-imagined-is-een-schemerige-en-ambitieuze-film-noir~b2b44f4b/
Volkskrant ⅗ Newspaper
https://www.volkskrant.nl/cultuur-media/a-lang-imagined-is-betoverend-mooi-maar-bezwijkt-enigszins-onder-eigen-ambities~bc24d8dc/
FilmhuisO42 (NL cinema)
https://www.facebook.com/filmhuiso42/posts/2210042679301399
Artforum
https://www.artforum.com/film/leo-goldsmith-at-the-71st-locarno-film-festival-76261
Asian Movie Pulse
https://asianmoviepulse.com/2018/08/film-review-a-land-imagined-2018-by-yeo-siew-hua/
Bakiniz
http://www.bakiniz.com/a-land-imagined-uzakdogudan-iyi-bir-gerilim/
CineClandestino
http://www.cineclandestino.it/a-land-imagined/
CineDivergente
http://cinedivergente.com/criticas/largometrajes/una-tierra-imaginada-a-land-imagined
CineLapsus
http://www.cinelapsus.com/a-land-imagined-2018-di-yeo-siew-hua/
CineMan
https://www.cineman.ch/movie/2018/ALandImagined/review.html
Cineuropa
http://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/358350
CNN Philippines
http://cnnphilippines.com/life/entertainment/film/2018/10/31/qcinema-2018-reviews.html
David Bordwell
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2018/10/03/vancouver-2018-landscapes-real-and-imagined/
Duels
http://duels.it/sogni-elettrici/a-land-imagined-di-yeo-siew-hua-ecco-il-pardo-doro-di-locarno-71/
Eastern Kicks
https://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/a-land-imagined
https://www.easternkicks.com/features/top-10-films-of-2018-10-1-a-land-imagined
El Mundo
http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/cine/2018/08/07/5b69bc90e2704eb74d8b468c.html
http://www.elmundo.es/cultura/cine/2018/08/11/5b6f2909e2704e91838b45e6.html
FilmEra
https://thefilmera.com/2018/11/14/ciff-day-4-closing-night-and-closing-remarks/
Filmuforia
http://www.filmuforia.co.uk/a-land-imagined-2018/
Geographies et cinema
http://geographiesenmouvement.blogs.liberation.fr/2018/08/10/locarno-10-cloner-les-lieux
laRegione
https://www.pressreader.com/switzerland/laregione/20180808/281930248803279
Le Polyester
http://www.lepolyester.com/critique-a-land-imagined
Le Temps
https://www.letemps.ch/culture/land-imagined-un-film-singapour-entre-reve-cauchemar
Libération
http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/2018/08/09/locarno-a-retors-et-a-raisons_1671809
Little White Lies
https://lwlies.com/festivals/best-films-2018-locarno-film-festival/
Locarno Festival
https://www.locarnofestival.ch/orig/pardo/pardo-live/today-at-festival/2018/day-6/A-Land-Imagined.html
https://www.locarnofestival.ch/pardo/pardo-live/today-at-festival/2018/day-10/Verdetti.html
Ma Se Domani
https://www.masedomani.com/2018/08/09/recensione-film-a-land-imagined/
Micropsia
http://www.micropsiacine.com/2018/08/festivales-critica-de-a-land-imagened-de-yeo-siew-hua-locarno/
Mubi
https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/three-east-asian-entries-at-viff-2018
Nobody Mag
https://www.nobodymag.com/journal/archives/2018/1122_1937.php
Non Solo Cinema
http://www.nonsolocinema.com/land-imagined-yeo-siew-hua.html
Nuovo Cinema Locatelli
http://nuovocinemalocatelli.com/2018/08/10/locarno-festival-2018-recensione-a-land-imagined-film-di-yeo-siew-hua-inferno-singapore/
Panorama Cinema
http://www.panorama-cinema.com/V2/article.php?categorie=2&id=610
Quinlan
https://quinlan.it/2018/08/08/a-land-imagined/
San Diego Reader
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/nov/08/movie-review-asian/
Screen Anarchy
https://screenanarchy.com/2018/08/locarno-2018-review-a-land-imagined-a-realist-drama-in-punk-neo-noir-clothing.html
Screen International
https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/a-land-imagined-locarno-review/5131452.article
Sennhauser Filmblog
https://sennhausersfilmblog.ch/2018/08/07/locarno-18-a-land-imagined-von-yeo-siew-hua-wettbewerb/
Sentieri Selvaggi
https://www.sentieriselvaggi.it/locarno71-visioni-dal-concorso-internazionale/
Sight & Sound
https://stories.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2018-full-poll/
Sindie
https://www.sindie.sg/2018/12/review-land-imagined-2018.html
Sinstra
http://www.sinistra.ch/?p=7576
Slant Magazine
https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-a-land-imagined-is-a-noir-tinged-rumination-on-identity/
Swiss Info
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/critics-academy_from-china–with-love-and-grief/44318316
The Asian Cinema Critic
https://theasiancinemacritic.com/2018/11/12/a-land-imagined/
The Film Stage
https://thefilmstage.com/reviews/locarno-review-a-land-imagined-is-a-singapore-set-lynchian-neo-noir-with-echoes-of-chinatown/
The Flickering Wall
https://medium.com/the-flickering-wall/size-does-matter-6b5db08edb5
The New Paper
https://omny.fm/shows/st-bt/diving-into-the-spider-verse-and-a-land-imagined?t=10m35s
The Upcoming
https://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2018/08/07/locarno-film-festival-2018-a-land-imagined-review/
Ticino Today
http://www.ticinotoday.ch/content/singapore-espande-i-confini-grazie-alla-sabbia-della-malesia
VC Cinema
http://www.vcinemashow.com/a-land-imagined-singapore-france-netherlands-2018-viff-2018/