A Land Imagined

A LAND IMAGINED takes place in Singapore where the literal physical size of the country is expanding by reclaiming land from surrounding waters at great expense and necessitating an immense labor force. The reclamation area teems with equipment, laborers, and intense productivity. When a Chinese worker, Wang (Liu Xiaoyi), goes missing, a local police officer, Lok (Peter Yu), is tasked with finding him. Lok, whose trials with insomnia compromise his investigative strengths, is intrigued both by the young man's disappearance and the culture of the reclamation effort. Intercut with Lok's attempts to find Wang is the story of the last days before Wang vanished. Like Lok, Wang suffers from insomnia, and he, too, is searching for someone, in this case, a missing coworker. For both men, sleeplessness leads to an all-night cyber establishment where porn and action-packed video games are equally accessible, as is Mindy (Luna Kwak), the mysterious proprietor. It is there that the two stories ultimately merge and both Lok and Wang find themselves in a mystery of exploited immigrants and unscrupulous business practices that may never be solved.