Reviews

2003
Time magazine, 1 September.
Check out the review


Quotes

"15 is the best film to come out of Singapore in years"
Bryan Walsh, TIME


Clarissa Oon, The Straits Times
Wong Kim Hoh, The New Paper
Whang Yee Ling, 8 Days
I Weekly

"Tan is one of Asia's most promising talents ..."
Derek Malcolm, The Guardian

"The result is in many ways stonger and more disturbing than Larry Clark's equivalent portraits of US teen skateboarders"
Tony Rayns

"... the direction is efficacious and focused "
"... a movie not to forget"
Eista Lee, Lianhe Zao Bao

"15 is a revelation"
Geoffrey Eu, The Business Times

“Royston Tan shows us a dark side of Singapore with his dazzling slice into the psyches of frustrated schoolboys in the punkish feature 15!"
David J. Lamble, Bay Area Reporter

Electrifying!
Ken Fox, Tv Guide

"A chilling insight into the degradation of overlooked fringes in a wealthy Westernized society."
Ziad Semaan, Firecracker Magazine

"Tan's weaving of tenderness and sexuality is homoerotic, providing a window onto the homosexual bonding that takes place in adolescence - the first needs and touches before sexuality becomes more fixed. The result is an astonishing if at times gut wrenching experience."
Jonathan Keane,
London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

"15 is a harrowing picture by the rebellious young Royston Tan about the nihilistic lives of five teenagers in his native Singapore."
Philip French, The Observer

"A frenetic and hyper-stylized portrait of a quintet of profoundly disaffected suburban Singaporean teenagers."
Tom Dawson, BBC

"Visually the film is lush and vibrant, both overwhelmingly brutal and surprisingly tender at the same time."
Rich Cline, Shadows On The Wall

"A confrontational film that demands to be seen!"
Jamie Russell, Channel 4

"A real ass-kicker! Like Larry Clark's 'KIDS' but crazier!"
Martin Wong, Giant Robot

"15 carries echoes of Larry Clark’s Kids in its fearless depiction of truanting, bullying, body-piercing, self-harming, porn-watching, drug-smuggling, prostitution, and HIV-infection."
Tom Dawson, BBC

"Amazingly realistic performances…15 isn't easy to sit through, but there are ample rewards."
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

"A collision of neo-realist casting with in-your-face visual pyrotechnics."
David NG, Village Voice

"Director Tan's visually exciting hyper-modern sensibility elevates the film far above the grittiness of its subjects' lives, capturing the youth in the artificial glow of an electronic Asian city. "
Chicago Filmmakers