Abstract:

Director Yuhang Ho doesn’t shy away from truths that others might find difficult to accept. In this disturbing and startling film, Tuck Chai, an aimless 23 year old, courts Ying, a reckless high school student. They see each other as temporary distractions from the imposition of expectations, responsibilities, and their respective futures. However, when Ying’s parents find out about their fling, they threaten Tuck Chai and his mother with prosecution for statutory rape unless they pay up—the respite of young love ends in recrimination, anger, and violence. Yuhang Ho captures the complexity of familial entanglements, the consequences of corporal punishment, and the lack of class mobility through a kinetic lens that masterfully flows from heart-wrenching close-ups to sweeping action sequences.