Fuck U(IP)

I am a fan of Spike Lee’s films, and so I was understandably excited to see his latest work, Inside Man. I even booked tickets online and went to the 11.50 pm sneak preview screening at GV Marina last Saturday, April 1, 2006.

Once the film started, I was appalled to discover that all the expletives had been muted. This was not done in an unobtrusive way; there was no way anyone could fail to see that, especially in all the close-ups. I had a horrible experience because this was incredibly distracting, and it completely marred my enjoyment of the film. If you don’t think this is so, just try leaving gaps in your speech when you talk and see if you can follow yourself easily.

I discovered through a search on the internet that the MDA had originally classified the film as NC-16 for language. Later, there was another version submitted, which had been edited (presumably for the expletives) and passed under PG.

It was apparent that the blame for this lies solely on the shoulders of the distributor, United International Pictures Singapore. Having had a choice between an age-limited rating and one without, they chose commit artistic rape on the the film and go for the choice that could get them more money, in their opinion.

I understand that sometimes films like these have to be toned down for general consumption. For example, it is routine that these cleaned-up versions play on national TV or on airlines. However, there is a real possibility that kids will be watching in these situations, because they are free-to-air and easily accessible.

One must stop and consider: How many kids under 16 are watching this film in theatres anyway? The stars are Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, not exactly your teenybopper idol type. It is a smart heist movie, which requires thought and analysis, something that the typical young teen doesn’t rate very highly on his list of must-haves for a movie. And true enough, at the screening that I attended, none of the audience was under 16.

Taking all these into consideration, United International Pictures Singapore has undoubtedly made a wrong decision. They decided to have an edited version play in cinemas in order to tap the under-16 demographic, when in reality that demographic doesn’t even want to see the movie in the first place.

In the process, they have rendered the film unwatchable, insulted director Spike Lee by doing this, and more importantly, insulted the entire audience. This is completely unacceptable.

I urge the company to withdraw all prints of the PG-rated version and replace them with the NC-16 rated one. I also feel strongly that UIP needs to apologize to everyone who has been subjected to this torture and issue them with replacement tickets.

Let’s hope integrity still exists in this world.

I sent this to all the papers in Singapore. Who knows if they'll publish it? But yeah, Inside Man is a damn good heist movie. A much more eloquent (sans the rant above) review here. I'm too tired to write more. Apologies to Tim for stealing.