AMOEBA Discovery

U.S. Premiere

Rising Singaporean filmmaker Siyou Tan (AFI DWW Class of 2019) dissects her native country’s repressive society in this sharp-witted, subversive debut. 16-year-old Choo (Ranice Tay), an audacious new student at an elite all-girls Chinese school, makes a splash of defiance on her first day that catches the attention of three kindred misfits. The rambunctious teens — filled with angst and discontent — become fast friends, filming their mischief on a shared camcorder and even forming a girl gang (in jest) to solidify their unbreakable bond. Youthful rebellion catches up to them when the camcorder, last used to film a suspected ghost at Choo’s residence, is confiscated by the school’s authoritarian faculty — threatening to reveal much more than an apparition. As the girls navigate their last term before junior college, Choo’s brazen individuality clashes head-on with her peers’ willingness to bow their heads and fall in line. With infectious performances from an endearing cast and biting social commentary that challenges Singapore’s use of myths to glorify its colonial past, Siyou Tan epitomizes cinema as an act of revolt in her impressive feature debut. –Julia Kipnis