Singapore Sling (1990)

Nikos Nikolaidis’ 1990 film Singapore Sling is a challenging noir film that infuses its pulpy source material with elements of horror and grotesque eroticism to create something wholly unlike anything you’ve seen before. It recently received a beautiful new Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome, and I couldn’t wait to dig into it again.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:

A burned-out detective searches for the love of his life, a woman he’s never met, A woman who might be dead. A woman named… Laura. The only thing that stands between him and the truth is the temptations of a (different) beautiful woman, her mother, their nipple clamps, and some light electroshock and water torture.

Singapore Sling uses, subverts, and perverts familiar noir tropes—even lifting music and plot points from Preminger’s classic, Laura— to create an uncanny world and brooding, nightmarish atmosphere. Where a conventional noir might use a flashback to give expository information about a murder, here, this backstory is re-enacted as a macabre sex game. Instead of disembodied narration, characters break the fourth wall telling the story directly. These things allow for a lean cast, and I’d assume a substantial reduction in expenses—but they also warp the narrative, obscuring characters’ identities and forcing us to reconsider if what we see should be taken at face value.

Because the cast is lean, the film demands them, and the cast selection is absolutely perfect. Daughter, played by Meredyth Herold, alternates between sultry seductress and damaged child—often glitching and delivering lines in a stutter-step fashion. Michele Valley, a native French speaker, switches between French and English—sometimes repeating lines. It’s not intentional—she admits as much in the accompanying interview—but it’s so well-edited and fits the film’s tone so well it just works.

That sums up what I like most about this film. So many things about it fly in the face of conventional storytelling, and yet Nikolaidis embraces them and uses them to create something that feels uncanny, even otherworldly. It starts (and ends) just as you’d expect it to, but the bits in the middle are so chaotic that they leave you with so many things to think about along the way.

That said, it’s not going to be for everyone. Like the films of David Lynch, Shinya Tsukamoto, or Julia Ducournau—nothing is handed to you, save for the general plot—which may or may not be what it seems. There’s also a ton of sex—the kinkiness of which will be well outside the comfort zone of most sensible folks (at the risk of kink-shaming, it gets pretty nasty)—and a fair amount of gore. You must be willing to be engaged with some uncomfortable themes to get to the heart of it, but it’s a rewarding watch that touches on themes of obsession, loneliness, abuse, and the damaged psyche, all with a tinge of pitch-black humor.

This was recently released, for the first time on Blu-ray, by Vinegar Syndrome, and it’s a fantastic release. In addition to the exceptional audio and video quality, restored from the 35mm, you expect from Vinegar Syndrome, the disc also includes Directing Hell, a documentary on the life and work of Niko Nikolaides, brand new interviews with his wife, Marie-Louise Bartholomew, stars Michelle Valley and Panos Thanasoulis and cinematographer Aris Stavrou. There’s also a 2-page booklet from the film Scholar David Church. This one is also available for streamers on Criterion Channel.