An immigrant schoolteacher finds solace in a relationship with one of her students in this suggestive drama from Singapore.
A beacon of Southeast Asian prosperity and a haven for the ultrarich, Singapore represents a promised land for migrant workers. In “Wet Season,” a Malaysian schoolteacher named Ling (Yann Yann Yeo) seems to enjoy comfort and stability in her adopted country, yet life in Singapore gnaws away at her dignity. This conflict sets the stage for a reckoning and rebirth by poignant, if morally objectionable, means.
When we first meet our heroine, a soft-spoken but resilient 40-something, she’s friendless and taken for granted by just about everyone, which the director Anthony Chen subtly links to her immigrant status. Ling teaches Chinese, but no one seems to take the subject seriously, while a haughty administrator lords his superiority over her by speaking exclusively in English.
Struggling to conceive through in vitro fertilization, Ling privately anguishes as her businessman husband grows conspicuously absent. The couple’s relationship screams divorce, but the two stick it out — if only because Ling is her ailing father-in-law’s caretaker.
Shot in melancholy blues and greys — and proceeding through Ling’s many small tragedies with cool, measured restraint — the film receives a jolt of teenage hormones with the entry of affable remedial student, Wei Lun (Koh Jia Ler), a competitive wushu practitioner obsessed with Jackie Chan. The two — a neglected child and childless woman — circumstantially hang out outside of class, as Chen patiently, if predictably, builds toward an abrupt and rather shocking consummation.
Wei Lun comes off as one-dimensional in his brash, immature pursuit of Ling, yet their illicit relationship is portrayed in an anti-sensationalist light, blurring the lines between maternal and romantic love. Nevertheless “Wet Season” focuses less on the scandal than what the inevitable fallout can achieve for its floundering protagonist: a bittersweet second shot at life.
Wet Season
Not rated. In Mandarin, Hokkien and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
