''1965'' is a 2015 Singaporean

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Randy Ang and co-directed by

Daniel Yun Daniel Yun () is a Singaporean veteran film producer. He joined Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Radio as vice-president of Radio Sales in 1991 and became head of Programming in 1992. He was the head of Marketing Communications, and Programming ...

. The film was released to commemorate Singapore's fifty years of independence and was released in cinemas on 30 July 2015. It stars Qi Yuwu, Deanna Yusoff,

Joanne Peh Joanne Peh Wei Siew (; born 25 April 1983) is a Singaporean actress and host managed under The Celebrity Agency. She was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006. She is married to Singapore-based Chinese actor Qi Yuwu. Lif ...

, James Seah, Sezairi Sezali,

Mike Kasem Michael C. Kasem (born August 24, 1973) is an American television presenter, actor, and radio DJ on Mediacorp Radio's Gold 905FM ''Live with Mike & Vernetta'' with co-host Vernetta Lopez. Early life and family Born in Los Angeles County, Cal ...

, and

Lim Kay Tong use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

as Singapore's founding prime minister

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

Cast

* Qi Yuwu as Inspector Cheng * Deanna Yusoff as Khatijah *

as Zhou Jun * James Seah as Seng *

Sezairi Sezali Sezairi Sezali (born 6 August 1987), more commonly known just as Sezairi, is a Malay Singaporean musician and singer-songwriter. Sezairi rose to prominence after winning the third season of '' Singapore Idol'' in 2009. Sezairi signed with ma ...

as Adi *

as Raj *

Nicole Seah Nicole Rebecca Seah Xue Ling (; born 17 October 1986) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), she contested in the 2020 general election but lost by a close margin to the governing People's Action Party (PAP ...

as Mei * Sun Yi En as Xiao Yun * Andi Hazriel as Rafi * Benny Soh as Sgt Goh

Production

The film was conceptualised in five years. The film shooting started in November 2014, with the biggest percentage shot in Batam, at various locations, and at Infinite Studios’ sound stages there.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place ...

was initially supposed to play the role of Lee Kuan Yew. However, many Singaporeans were against this, as there was the preference of having a Singaporean actor for this role. The role was given to Lim Kay Tong. David Lee of the Singapore Film Society said that Lim "has the gravitas required of the role, and he's English-speaking as well". Lim prepared for the role for several months and visited the

National Archives of Singapore The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) ( Malay: ''Arkib Negara Singapura'', Mandarin: 新加坡国家档案馆, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய காப்பகம்) is the national archives of Singapore. It was f ...

at least five times a week to study Lee's audio and film clips.

Music

The two songs written for the film were

's "Selamat Pagi" and

Gentle Bones Joel Tan (born 23 March 1994), better known by his stage name Gentle Bones, is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. His self-titled debut EP, released in 2014, as well as the singles released from it have charted on iTunes and Spotify, making him one ...

' "Sixty Five". The latter was on the top of the iTunes Singapore song chart for four weeks.

Reception

John Lui of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...

'' gave ''1965'' a 1.5 out of 5 stars. He said "it wants to be Important, with a capital I", and "it feels only slightly more relevant to the national birthday than a chicken bun with an SG50 sticker slapped on it."

References

External links