Red Quickie: 12 Lotus

A rare Singaporean offer from RED, 12 Lotus is a dramatic musical, and it is relentlessly bleak,.Lian Hua is an opera singer whose dreams are repeatedly crushed. She loves the wrong people, gets into the wrong things, and eventually it takes a toll on her mind and the people around her.

The songs are nice if a bit out of sync with the mood of the film. The acting is fine, although the second half of the film is ridiculous and may turn off a few viewers (a mentally off kilter protagonist takes a lot of skill to pull off; this one falls a bit short.)

The film ends rather abruptly and leaves little closure, but (in a twisted way) like the previous review of Tug of War, this film is more concerned by the excruciating journey rather than the bleak result.

Watch it if you want to get bummed out.