Welcome to our first Roundtable Review!

SINGAPORE SLING (1990) is the story of a man searching for his lost lover, only to be kidnapped and sexually tormented by her killers, a crazed mother-daughter duo.

Joining the discussion are Bill Cooke and Ashlon Langley, in his debut here on Shameful Cinema. Both reviewers are more than qualified to examine this challenging Greek film.

Bill needs no introduction. He’s a contributing writer for Video Watchdog, a filmmaker and he writes amazing soundtrack reviews here at shamefulcinema.com. Oh, and he also teaches Film Studies at the University of South Carolina. His two feature films, CAMPFIRE TALES and FREAKSHOW both feature Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface of TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE).

Ashlon recently wrote and directed his first feature film, THE FOUR CHILDREN OF TANDER WELCH, starring Mackenzie Astin and Patty Duke. When he’s not directing TV shows, he teaches scriptwriting at the University of South Carolina.

Lets get started. (If you make it to the end you’ll be treated to a drink recipe and a trailer for the film!)

Bill: Despite the ugliness on display, this is an extremely sensual film. I haven’t seen any other films by this director, Nikos Nikolaidis, but apparently 1-man, 2-women threesomes are a part of his oeuvre.

I like the atmosphere. Not only is it perpetually night, but it is constantly raining. Curtains are always billowing, leaves are being kicked up by breezes and sent scurrying through open windows and doorways. Thunder crackles and there is the omnipresent sound of falling water. The emphasis here on weather, undulating foliage and rushing wind, coupled with the story idea of a mother and daughter committing murders and throwing their victims into a muddy hole, reminds me of the Japanese horror film ONIBABA (1964).

The juxtaposing of shocking and ugly imagery with images that are beautiful and erotic is what makes this film interesting to me. It’s a study in extremes.

Andy: Well, I think you said it last night Ashlon.. We’ll never look at kiwi fruit the same way again.

Bill: But, Andy, will you look at shrimp and oysters the same way again?

Andy: I don’t know. I don’t eat seafood …

Ashlon: I agree with your accurate assessment, Bill, of the film being a study in extremes. Even with the wonderfully constructed visuals, the picture doesn’t hold up. The breaking of the fourth wall, the misplaced jump cuts and the disjointed narrative make this a picture striving for experimental brilliance only to fall short and come off as a pretentious student film. This is not to say the film is a waste of time by any stretch of the imagination.

Andy: I found this film challenging to watch, not so much because of the disturbing imagery (which was dulled down and surrealized by the use of black and white), but simply because I didn’t understand the tone of the film. Once the actresses break the fourth wall, I feel like I’m watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off after dropping acid. The only way to experience the film is to think of it as a nightmare, and in that context, it’s very successful and open to multiple interpretations I think.

Ashlon: The imagery is a sight to behold for any purist. The purposeful black and white photography offers a sharp focus that would easily have been lost in the picture had it been in color. The visual metaphors of rain and night connote the sadness of the figurative mother and daughter so close to freedom in their sexual liberation but imprisoned by their own madness.

Bill: I, too, am fond of the film’s B&W cinematography. It’s sharp, beautiful, with the most exquisite chiaroscuro lighting effects. Having the film in B&W helps solidify the noir aspects of the storyline - that, and of course, the heavy references, both in story and in music, to Otto Preminger’s classic noir, LAURA. The set design perfectly complements the photography; the dream-like, insdistint interior spaces of the house, with their shadow-drenched areas and billowing curtains, reminds me of the Beast’s castle from Cocteau’s “La Belle et le Bete.” As in the Beast’s castle, you expect strange and magical things to happen here. Instead of living statuary, we have the ghost of “Father,” who takes the form of a silent, copulating mummy.

Andy: I think we all agree that stylistically, the noir-like production suited SINGAPORE SLING. At its core, it is a murder mystery, albeit one crafted around various sexual fetishes, torture and Freudian gender-bending twists. Even so, it never plays like pornography. The nudity is kept at a peek-a-boo level for the most part. Our minds fill in the rest, perhaps more shamefully than the film alone could have.

Bill: SINGAPORE SLING is a lingerie and “upskirt” fetishist’s dream come true. Nikolaidis’ camera is constantly glancing at his women’s anatomy as it shakes underneath lacy layers and sometimes pops free of its confines. One moment a nipple is there, the next second it’s gone. Wait, that shadow in the groin area - is it what I think it is? People who are aroused by this kind of teasing will find it a masterpiece of sorts.

Andy: Right on. For me at least, the most visually disturbing scenes involved eating and regurgitation around the dinner table.

Bill: The dinner scenes didn’t bother me that much. Maybe I’m just getting to be too jaded. The incorporation of vomiting and urinating during the sex scenes are what really made it shameful for me… Plus the phallic knife finale was pretty disturbing.

Andy: Overall, it’s a bit too artsy for my tastes. With tighter editing it could have been stunning. Instead the narrative becomes convoluted by the glacial pace, bilingual ramblings and droning dialog (”A E I O U” over and over and over…). At 110 minutes long, there’s only so much of that I can stand before I start squirming in my seat.

Bill: I think it’s much too long for such a sketchy story. The breaking of the fourth wall is annoying at first — it smacks of art-house pretension — but I can see why Nikolaidis employs it; it’s just another tactic to make us uncomfortable, plus it tends to reinforce the madness of the leading ladies. It may seem like they’re talking to us… But perhaps they’re really talking to themselves. The hero, who remains mute, only speaks to us through internal narration — another classic film noir trait.

Andy: I thought the ending was fantastic.

Bill: There was something very Japanese about that nihilistic ending. The story of Sade Abe, which has been made into multiple films in Japan, is also about lovers who become so obsessed with each other that the outside world becomes meaningless and the only sexual thrill left is death. We basically had the same vibe going on here.

Ashlon: Unfortunately most, if not all, of the merits of the film are degenerated by the unsettling imagery meant for sensuality but more rooted in shock than anything else. It’s a shame too. The similarities the film shares with ONIBABA are unmistakable but its narrative and visual likenesses stop short by going over the top. This is one example where a bit more restraint may have delivered brilliance.

Andy: Yeah, some restraint would have helped, if nothing else for brevity’s sake. The ending was shocking, raw, and brutal. It almost justified the rest of the movie, although the overacting was better suited for a silent film from the 1920s. And yes, the nihilism: It makes you wonder why you bothered watching the film at all. Then you realize the whole exercise was a study in the human condition and its various frailties, in this case sex, violence, obsession and madness. If photographer Joel-Peter Witkin — who is known for his brutal black and white portraits of pain, sex and death — ever decides to make a film, it will probably be something like this.

SINGAPORE SLING resonates with me more the day after. I want to watch it again and languish in its depravity. It gets a solid 2.5 stars from me.

Bill: A big weakness in the film is the underdevelopment of the detective. Had the story been taken seriously, we might have cared about him as he changed from helpless captive to willing participant and, finally, transvestite psycho. That actor just begged for us to not care with that same dead expression on his face no matter what was happening.

For its self-conscious mixture of art and sleaze and too-long running time, I give SINGAPORE SLING 2 stars: “It’s getting rough.”

Ashlon: SINGAPORE SLING is the type of film I wish were good. After the initial investment of time, which by the way is too long, I still find myself rooting for the little Greek indie experiment gone awry. The picture resonates the day after if only for the marvelously twisted performance by Meredyth Herold as “The Daughter.” In a cast of only three, one standout performance is usually enough to claim a cinematic victory but, regrettably, this film cannot boast such an achievement.

Bill: Say what you will about Meredyth Herold, but she gives a truly bizarre and fearless performance.

Ashlon: Beautiful lighting supported by the right choice of black and white photography, brilliant production design, an interesting likeness to the classic ONIBABA and an ending that probably deserves a second viewing are not enough to save this troubled picture. It, sadly, is lost in its excess and experimentation.

Again, I wish for this film to be good, even shamefully good, but the truth is, it’s not. 2 stars. SINGAPORE SLING is beautiful to see but painful to watch.

Andy: Consequently, a “Singapore Sling” is a gin-based cocktail. Here’s how you make one:

1 oz Gin (Sapphire)
1/2 oz Cherry Brandy
3 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Grenadine

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a Sling or Collins glass with crushed ice. Fill the rest of the glass with Club Soda. Garnish with a cherry. I suggest drinking one before watching this film!

Thanks for joining us for our Roundtable Review!

Check out a trailer of SINGAPORE SLING below: