Wet Season

Film description

Ling is a Chinese teacher at one of Singapore's high schools. In an English-speaking country, her subject is widely considered superfluous, so the woman does not enjoy respect among students and staff, at home she also does not find understanding. Her husband is an always absent, busy businessman. He not only ignores Ling's efforts to conceive a child, but leaves her alone looking after the bedridden father-in-law. Ling's inner sadness attracts the attention of an equally lonely and neglected student, Wei Lun. During obligatory remedial afternoon Chinese classes, the student and the teacher get to know each other and establish quite complex, multifaceted relationship...

In "Wet Season," Anthony Chen skilfully leads the narration, gradually builds tension between the characters, creates a unique, stuffy atmosphere of the film using unobtrusive metaphorics and recurring, strong visual motifs. As in his debut "Ilo Ilo", Chen takes a closer look into the Singapore's upper middle class, showing everyday hypocrisy, the disappearance of family values and the indifference to other people's needs. The director portrays main charatcer as the Other: a Chinese-speaking migrant from politically unstable Malaysia living in an English-speaking Singapore filled with strict rules and constant fear of punishment. Within the Chinese cultural context, the rain does not mean sadness, but a sexual desire that can bring liberation and unexpected happiness.

Maja Korbecka