The three-second review of films and performances watched this week:

1. Part I of Sherman Ong's Flooding in the Time of Drought, seen at 'The Single Screen', the CCA's Gillman Barracks beanbag cinema. A good choice (the CCA's curatorial theme for this year is Place.Labour.Capital.) I've never been so dependent on subtitles before, so lost with the languages, so acutely aware (slightly ashamed too) of how unaware I am of how our migrant population lives. Part II coming up in two weeks.

2. Indulgence, Eng Kai Er for Theatreworks, at 72-13 (light tingly pleasure each time I enter this space -- has anyone said we have a surprisingly large number of good performance spaces in this country?) Interesting and at times even clever, some truly well-executed moments technically and emotionally, but not nearly as daring or boundary-pushing as it might have been, far from it. Worth going to (it was the audience, on the other hand, I found thoroughly disappointing -- timid, somewhat passive, unable to respond freely -- q. what does one do when a performance is more sophisticated than its audience?) I'm glad I only remembered who she was on the way home after; the knowledge would have been an irrelevant distraction during.

3. All Poetry is Useless, performance poetry by Deborah Emmanuel and Marc Nair, SingJazz Club (at The Sultan). I can see at once why they, but more particularly she, is so popular (you can see her on TEDx: the bubbly charm, the light wit and sassiness, playing to the audience, the strong performative quality of her act) but I think I would have been more impressed had I been a much younger person, and not tired of overt crowdpleasers.