Estação das Chuvas

This movie really close to reality I believe happening to many people. We have sad side in our life and lots of problems need us to deal with that we are unwilling. It's a story of a teacher and a student, using a female perspective to view the Singapore society. I play a lot of attention when watching most of the time. The cinematography is very good as well as the actress performance. It's a drama and feel the background and story fits so well, from rainy season til the last scene seeing the sun, it's a depression storyline but just so real and I believe the reason I love it because it echo with me.... No wonder it's nominated as one of the best movie. Will watch this director production for sure next. After a week of watching, just make me want to watch again.. it's so charming

She has a lot to handle, father-in-law, failed fertilisation throughout 8 years, cheating husband and more than student relationship.

There are some mocking details I like such as bad female driver prejudice and chinese education not important in Singapore.

Although chinese is really difficult to learn. A fresh start after everything happened during wet season.

A movie that forcus more on the main character.every detail is so exquisite that u can't find flaw in movie. Super performance by the actress that had to restraint her feeling which is so hard to perform but she manage to make it. And the dad act so natural that I think he's really a stroke patient. It could be better if jump between scene will be more smoother and more focus on the rain drop transform as this is the main root of the movie. Every performance is so natural that there's is no sign of acting in this movie.

A Malaysian-born woman is married to a Singaporean man, and living in Singapore. She is busy. She is trying to get pregnant, and when her husband is not in the mood during her fertile period, resorts to using her husband's frozen product. She is the evening caretaker of her stroke-ridden father-in-law, who spends much time watching martial arts movies on TV. She is also a high school teacher in Mandarin, whose ethnic Chinese students are not motivated to learn their heritage language. When she tries to run a remedial class, it rapidly dwindles down to one student - who happens to be a martial arts artistic competitor. As the time for her duties overlap, the student develops a case of Hots for Teacher.

Seeing this at the Toronto International Film Festival with Q+A, the director mentioned that the wet monsoon season (and the time period of the film) lasts 6-8 weeks. The rain serves as an indication of the teacher's mental state, as well as acting as the soundtrack of the film. The backbone of the story is that Singapore kids are far more interested in English, the language of commerce, than their heritage. (Interestingly, the lone student interested in Mandarin suggests he might want to do business with China.)

Overall, a good film.

In the grain of Taiwanese New Wave director Edward Yang and Hou-Hsiao Hsian, Anthony Chen's sophomore feature after Ilo Ilo establishes himself as a keen observer of unconventional relationships and Singapore realism. While the social commentary about Singapore's pragmatism and middle-class life was humorously played out with meticulous attention to the settings in the 90s during the Asian Financial Crisis in Ilo Ilo, the critique here is less layered, fleshed out more explicitly by how Chinese Language is sidelined and pursued only for economic interests, how the interaction between Ling the teacher and her principal centres on success and promotion, and how marital relations are reduced to discussions on surgical IVF treatments. Still, the themes of isolation and displacement are woven intricately through a monochromatic palette and sensitive characterization, anchored particularly by delicate performances from Yeo Yann Yann and Simon Yong, the Father-in-law who unwittingly assumes the role of a surrogate child who keeps the loveless couple together. For a local production, it is a bold take on a forbidden teacher-student relationship and Anthony's compassionate gaze carries the sombre, but predictable story with beautiful sensitivity. The wet season may mask our tears and the disillusionment from the Singapore dream, but it could also signal a fresh start to find the connections that make us human again.