This debut feature by Singapore director Han Yew Kwang is a sweet-tempered
and genuinely funny heartland comedy. Its cast of mostly unknown
actors does not detract from the film's virtues one bit, and it
is easily the most enjoyable new film to open this week.

Johnny Ng plays a laundry shop towkay who is feared by his soft-spoken,
obedient wife (the underrated actress Catherine Sng). Things start
to change when Johnny signs his wife up for an arm-wrestling competition
for women. Out of love and devotion, Catherine trains up for it.
But her newfound physical strength greatly boosts her self-confidence,
and the once-submissive wife has now turned into a bitchy dominatrix
who'll never be bullied by her husband again...

Yew Kwang, who bagged the Best Short Film award at the Singapore
International Film Festival a few years ago, proves that he does
have enough talent to sustain a feature-length film. Unarmed Combat
is a well-paced and quietly assured comedy that surprises with its
gentle humor and spot-on observations of marital dysfunction.

If you love Jack Neo's comedies, you would undoubtedly enjoy this
too. Yew Kwang comes across as a younger Jack whose instincts need
to be sharpened a little more before he can really fly. The film
is on a limited run, so check out www.cine.sg/unarmed.html for its
specific screentimes and locations.