Monday, December 12, 2022

Wet Season(热带雨) Chinese Film Thoughts

 




    Wet Season is a 2020 film that was directed by Anthony Chen. The film stars Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler.  Most reviews for the film are positive and the film garnered six nominations at China's Film awards.  It only won a best actress nomination though. The film was also selected as Singapore's Best foreign film nominee for the Academy Awards but wasn't chosen. 




   A middle aged Chinese women lives in Singapore with her husband and works as a Chinese teacher at a local school.  Her days are always the same. They never change until she bonds with one of her students during a daily rainy day...... 






    I really enjoyed the different prospectives in this film. Most people would think that because her student is young, that he still doesn't have life figured out. However, the person who really doesn't have control of her own life is the teacher. There's a strong power dynamic in her relationship with her husband and her in laws, where she's trapped in a reoccurring cycle.  Not to mention the challenge of her wanting to get pregnant. She kinda drifts through he life until her student comes along and shows her that she can take control of her own future. She's a women that's allowed to be happy and while the Teacher/student themes were a bit uncomfortable, these emotions were important for the teacher to have her emotional break through. Whew.... The shock in the second to last scene had my mouth wide open..... 








   This is a low budget film that relies on the performances like many other indie films. The two did a fantastic job together in their scenes. Their chemistry was so real that the mix of emotional term oil  sends you over the edge a little bit. The mix of English and Chinese used in the film was like a reflection of the different cultures of China and Singapore bouncing off of each other.






   Wet Season is one of those good films that really makes you accept that there's still good films out there to watch. The director didn't have much to work with. Still, a masterpiece was created. 




No comments:

Post a Comment