Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you’re Singaporean.
Secret ending? No.
I’m going to be honest here – I have no idea what to make of Wet Season (热带雨) . On one hand, I like how sincerely it portrays Singapore and the experiences that are common to us all. On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure that its subject matter is one of such significance that a cinematic statement has to be made about it. It’s a good film, for sure, but it certainly leaves a Joker-esque aftertaste (YMMV on whether that’s something you prefer).
Wet Season (热带雨) is a film about the relationship between a Chinese teacher and her teenage student. As personal problems mount in the teacher’s life, she slowly starts to seek solace in the most unlikely of persons. However, that relationship soon develops in unacceptable ways, culminating in painful consequences for all involved.
There’s no denying the haunting visuals of Wet Season, especially since Singapore is rarely portrayed in such an honest but beautiful way. There’s a definite authenticity to how it depicts the Singaporean way of life, such that anyone of any age can relate to. It manages to tap into the Singaporean zeitgeist in such a way as to ring true, without demeaning it like certain army-related films do.
In this respect, the set design supports this theme very well, adding flavour to Singapore without resorting to pointless angst and moodiness (that some art films do). It’s especially heartening to see the deftness with which Anthony Chen creates a cinematic Singapore that we can be proud of, neither making it clownish nor brooding. It’s refreshing to see a Singaporean film that steers clear of cliches.
The scripting is tight, with virtually every line having great significance and being paid off in some form in the film. The dialogue feels genuine and there’s almost no filler or redundancy to the scenes, which I greatly respect. The plot, however, is another issue.
While the execution (scripting) is wonderful, the actual premise and story (the plot) is… incredibly uncomfortable. It bears a lot of implications and surfaces issues that few would talk about – student-teacher relationships. There’s some comedy and light-heartedness that undercuts this, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s rather disturbing. Perhaps it was meant to stir discussions about this in a public sphere, but this begs the question – is this a prevalent enough issue that open dialogue is needed about it? In a society where we fear for the welfare of our children so much, do we really need another issue to be concerned about? I personally don’t think so.
The editing is also questionable, in the sense that you can see the seams between the edits in many scenes. Too many scenes feel like they were brutally chopped into their current truncated forms, and it speaks to the skills of the editor that this is so obvious. There were probably (time) constraints that led to this, but nevertheless, it doesn’t flow as smoothly as it should have. It’s especially egregious when the first half of the film takes its time with lingering shots and extended scenes to set the mood, and the second half of the film goes into overdrive with purely functional scenes as it hurtles towards the finishing line.
Wet Season (热带雨) is a film that’s full of symbolism and meaning, and one of the truly Singaporean films that we can all be proud of (sans the subject matter). The love for durians is a wonderful touch too, because what’s more polarising to Singaporeans than the king of the fruits? Although I am still ambivalent in whether I like the premise, I’m pretty glad to have caught it.
Score: 3.7/5
Running time: 103 min
Wet Season (热带雨) is a Singaporean drama in English and Mandarin.
It is directed and written by Anthony Chen. It stars Yeo Yann Yann (Ling), Koh Jia Ler (Wei Lun), Christopher Lee (Andrew), and Yang Shi Bin (Ling’s father-in-law). It is rated M-18.
Wet Season (热带雨) opened in cinemas:
– 28 November, 2019 (Singapore)
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com.
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I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
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