Tan Pin Pin is widely regarded as one of Singapore’s most interesting documentary filmmakers, dealing with such challenging topics like Singapore’s soundscapes in her previous film, Singapore GaGa. This does not look to change with her newest offering, Invisible City, which is about how people try to preserve their own memories and legacies. And although the end-result is poignant and fascinating, its attempt to deal with so many differing themes and personalities leaves too many questions unanswered.

As with Tan’s past documentaries, this film is made up of a whole slew of interviews with an eclectic bunch of people whose only commonalty is their individual attempts to deal with and preserve memories. Interviews with eight characters form the main crux of this documentary. Of particular interest are IvanPolunin, an 86-year-old botanist and entomologist who attempts to preserve his huge archive of footage of 1950s Singapore and Malaysia, and Han Tan Juan who talks about revising historical judgment on his student political activities in the 1960s.

The film suffers because it is trying to do too much. The personalities that abound in this film are so different that, at times, the common link drawing them together to create this film seems forced and tenuous. Furthermore, the whole cacophony of different personalities crammed into the film doesn’t do justice to them, some of whom deserve a whole film in their own right. Alongside the attempts to pass over, but not deal substantially with, other themes like memory, space, and the identity of the individual, questions just keep being left unanswered. However, in terms of tone and pace, Invisible City is a restrained number. This is not a bad thing, as the film does not need amazing cinematography and just letsthe interviewees do the talking. Alongside a lot of empty space and stillness in a lot of the shots, the film has an air of listlessness which is perfectly suited to the ethereal nature of memory which is what this film is about. Invisible City is a flawed but thought-provoking look at people’s quest to preserve their own legacies and memory.