Singapore Sling

Shot in contrasty black-and-white, this is film noir à la grecque: the tale of a displaced shamus caught up in a bizarre sexual charade ritualistically enacted by a mother and daughter, both evidently deranged. It is not a pretty sight. With galling pretentiousness, writer-director Nicolaidis pays homage to various movies, most notably Otto Preminger's Laura, from which he 'borrows' not only the missing heroine, but also snatches of David Raksin's score and even lines of dialogue. But the real story here is Nicolaidis' obsession with sex and violence, or more specifically, violent sex and sexual violence. No taboo is left unbroken as the film contorts itself into an explicit orgiastic nightmare of role-playing, degradation and fetishism. The director claims he meant it as a black comedy, but the acridly misogynous tone isn't funny, just boring.