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Movies coming to you in November: Lulu the Movie, Death Note: Light Up the New World, Your Name and more

Every month, we’ll tell you what upcoming movies are screening in cinemas islandwide, and which are the ones that you must watch.

Overview of November’s releases

With Halloween just around the corner, November sees a good number of horror films popping up across different languages, with almost one new horror film a week. “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” and “Death Note: Light Up the New World” also debut this month, showing us that good franchises always find a way to come back. There are two other animes to catch for otakus, “Your Name” and “Pokemon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel”, and the end of November sees the beginning of the Christmas movie avalanche - “Bad Santa 2”.


Highlights for November

Your Name (3 November)

Taki wakes from what seemed like a very important dream. But in an unfamiliar room and not in his body…but that of a girl! On the other hand, Mitsuha, a teen girl, is tired of living in a mountain village. She pleads to God “Please, let me be a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life!” The next morning, Mitsuha awakens as a high school male. Based on information around her, she learns whose body she inhabits. His name is Taki. The two have switched places! When they wake up again, they’ve returned to their former selves. But sleep brings the body swap again and again. Mysteriously, the pattern continues daily. The two fumble about, unaccustomed to each other’s bodies, but start communicating by memo. As they awkwardly overcome one challenge after another, a bond develops between the two- one that evolves into something more romantic.

However, there’s something they still don’t know… The unexpected is about to be revealed.

“Your Name” is a beautiful romantic drama that delights in the beauty of everyday things, rather than death defying acts of love. Although it sounds like it has a complicated science fiction conceit, the film focuses on the unspoken thoughts and the telling actions of the character. The contrast between a shy girl from a rural town and a brash boy from the big city also shows us how opposites attract across time and space.


Death Note: Light Up the New World (1o November)

10 years has passed since the confrontation between Kira and L. Again, Shinigami sends Death Notes to the ground, and due to this, the world soon falls into chaos. Mishima (Masahiro Higashide) is a member of the Death Note special task force with 6 other investigators including Matsuda who was involved in the Kira case 10 years ago.

Mass murders caused by the Death Notes take place in the U.S., Japan and other countries around the world. World famous private investigator Ryuzaki (Sosuke Ikematsu), who is the rightful successor of L, joins in the investigation. They discover that 6 Death Notes currently exist in the world. A computer virus called Kira soon spreads throughout the world.

A message in the Kira virus says to turn in 6 Death Notes.

Yes, it’s been almost a decade since we last saw the Death Note (in “L: Change the World”) and while both main characters have succumbed to death, their legacy lives on through three young men who want the Death Notes for various purposes. Now there 6 Death Notes, and a whole lot more Shinigami to deal with. Who will succeed? Which characters from the original will return for this film? And does Ryuk still like apples?


Lulu the Movie (24 November)

This is a story of a sweet PRC girl who comes to Singapore to meet her online lover but ends up having to deal with more than she bargained for.

Come follow Lulu’s (mis)adventures, from trying to get a job at the KTV to travelling around the world as a bona fide fashionista.

Although Lulu’s tumultuous journey is filled with mockery, discrimination and tough times, Lulu refuses to give up or compromise (particularly on wearing leopard print), because as Lulu says, “dying is easy, but staying true to oneself is hard”.

To be honest I’d much rather see “Leticia the Movie” but who’s to say she doesn’t make a cameo in this film? “Lulu the Movie” is a proud celebration of a homegrown character that we’ve grown to love, and she’s risen past her humble beginnings in the parking lots of Mediacorp to becoming a leading lady on the silver screen. Will Lulu find what she wants or will she realise that she’s had it inside her all along? Actually it doesn’t matter, we just want to hear her make her crude but honest comments about Singapore again!


3 November

Your Name
Genre: Animated romance
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryo Narita, Aoi Yuki, Nobunaga Shimazaki

Ouija: Origin of Evil
Genre: Horror
Cast: Doug Jones, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison

Trolls
Genre: Animated adventure comedy
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Russell Brand, Zooey Deschanel, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, James Corden, Kunal Nayyar, Ron Funches, Icona Pop, Quvenzhané Wallis, John Cleese, Gwen Stefani

Nessun Dorma (凶手还未睡)
Genre: Horror thriller
Cast: Gordon Lam, Andy Hui, Janice Man, Jacky Cai, Wilfred Lau, Coco Chan, Steve Chan, Candice Yu

Army of One
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Russell Brand, Wendi McLendon-Covey

Masterminds
Genre: Crime action comedy
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon


10 November

Death Note: Light Up The New World
Genre: Action adventure
Cast: Masahiro Higashide, Sosuke Ikematsu, Masaki Suda, Erika Toda, Rina Kawaei, Eiichiro Funakoshi, Sota Aoyama, Mina Fujii, Ryosuke Takei

The Menu (导火新闻线)
Genre: Drama
Cast: Gregory Wong, Catherine Chau, Kate Yeung, Richard Ng

Soulmate (七月与安生)
Genre: Drama
Cast: Zhou Dongyu, Ma Sichun, Toby Lee, Li Chengshan

Fallen
Genre: Drama
Cast: Lola Kirke, Joely Richardson, Jeremy Irvine, Harrison Gilbertson, Joely Richardson, Juliet Aubrey, Addison Timlin

The Monster
Genre: Horror
Cast: Zoe Kazan, Ella Ballentine, Scott Speedman

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Genre: Dramedy
Cast: Vin Diesel, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, Chris Tucker, Joe Alwyn, Ben Platt


11 November

Rock On 2
Genre: Musical drama
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Prachi Desai, Shashank Arora


17 November

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Genre: Fantasy adventure
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Jon Voight, Ron Periman

Shut In
Genre: Horror
Cast: Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton

I Am Not Madame Bovary (我不是潘金蓮)
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Fan Bingbing, Dong Chengpeng, Wei Fan, Zhang Jiayi, Yu Hewei

Denial
Genre: Biographical historical drama
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Andrew Scott, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson

Happy Dorm (极乐宿舍)
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Chih Tian Shih, Fion Hong, Toby Lee, Awayne Liu, Eason, Claire Lee


18 November

Hunt for The Wilderpeople
Genre: Drama
Cast: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata


24 November

Pokemon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
Genre: Animated adventure
Cast: Rica Matsumoto, Yuki Kaji, Mariya Ise, Mayuki Makiguchi

Lulu the Movie
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Michelle Chong, Chen Tianwen, Leon Jay Williams

Allied
Genre: War romantic drama
Cast: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan, Jared Harris, Matthew Goode

Moana
Genre: Animated adventure
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Auli'i Cravalho, Tommy Lee Jones, Alan Tudyk

Lion
Genre: Drama
Cast: Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham

The Whole Truth
Genre: Thriller drama
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, James Bleushi, Gabriel Basso, Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Bad Santa 2
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Christina Hendricks, Bretty Kelly, Kathy Bates, Tony Cox


Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.