Lim Kay Tong steals the show in 1965

SOMEBODY give Lim Kay Tong an Oscar (or the Singapore equivalent). The veteran actor has taken on many roles in a career that spans over four decades on the big screen, television and stage but his career-defining one would probably be his latest.

As the late founding Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew in the historic thriller 1965, Lim brings nuance and depth to the part - a result of months of research despite him only appearing for a few minutes on screen.

The rest of the film doesn't fare as well and is let down largely by its tedious and overdrawn plot. It's also stuffed with way too many fringe characters - probably just so it can fill its ensemble cast with household names.

Set against the backdrop of pre-separation Singapore, the plot centres around six people whose lives become intertwined during the tumultuous years of Konfrontasi, which culminated in the bombing of MacDonald House.

The events are seen through the eyes of trainee police constable Adi (Sezairi Sezali), whose professional relationship with his superior Inspector Cheng (Qi Yuwu) becomes strained after his mother Khatijah (Deanna Yusoff) accuses the latter of failing to save her younger son from being trampled to death during a riot in Geylang Serai.

It doesn't help that Cheng's younger brother Seng (James Seah) is a Chinese extremist who's involved in the aforementioned melee. When Cheng's daughter gets kidnapped, the Malay gangs in the kampung become prime suspects as racial tension hits boiling point.

Directors Randy Ang and Daniel Yun (who double as co-writers with Andrew Ngin), steer clear of the hagiographic so those worried they might be paying to watch big-screen propaganda will be relieved to know 1965 is not an over-glorified biopic of Mr Lee even though it's a SG50 celebration film.

But to sideline a key figure in Singapore's history is also a pity and a missed opportunity because given Lim's brief but charismatic performance, he could have used more screen time.

The rest of the characters are too one-dimensional and don't get a chance to be fleshed out. Some feel so secondary they might as well be dropped - like Joanne Peh as Seah's love interest (the couple don't even get past first base) and Mike Kasem who gets the accent right as a Pakistani reporter but whose character matters so little to the plot nobody is going to miss him if he wasn't there.

Taking history and transforming it into a thriller is a bold move on the filmmakers' part but the stylised drama robs 1965 of a certain authenticity. Who knows, maybe it would have worked better as a biopic of Mr Lee instead.

Rating: C+