Dick Su on Singapore Dreaming

Lee Meixian | meixian@nus.edu.sg
the ridge transmedia
A NUSSU Publication

 

Picture credit: www.singaporedreaming.com

As part of an annual celebration of In-Fusion 2008, a programme that aims to highlight cultural diversity, an international film screening was held last Thursday in Theatrette 1 of the Central Library.

One of the two movies screened was the internationally acclaimed Singapore Dreaming.

For this occasion, actor Dick Su, who played the role of Seng, the Loh family’s only son who has just returned from the US with a university degree, came down personally to NUS to talk with students, both local and international, about the Singapore culture reflected in the film.

A typical Singaporean family in the movie, Singapore Dreaming,
torn between middle class dreams and working class reality.
Picture credit: www.singaporedreaming.com

For the uninitiated, Singapore Dreaming is a local production about a family of four, frustrated by the gulf between their middle class dreams and their working class reality, and tackles issues that Singaporeans are very familiar with – ranging from the overseas degrees, the arduous wait for a lottery win, the difficult and unpleasant life of an insurance agent, stereotypes about China girls and domestic maids, etc.

The directors, Colin Goh and his wife Woo Yen Yen, call Singapore Dreaming a “poignant, yet darkly humorous story about a typical Singaporean family coming to grips with their aspirations”. Starkly different from Jack Neo’s satirical comedies, this one is not as easy to watch because the issues in it are so relevant to our lives that they tend to get under our skin and hit some raw nerves. As this family deals with loss, ambition and the search for things that really matter in life, the audience are also forced to reexamine their preconceived notions of happiness and success.

Without exaggerating, I have nothing but praise for this movie. From the fantastic cinematography to the brilliant performances by the cast, nothing disappoints, and I think this film possibly paints a far more wholesome picture of Singapore than Jack Neo could. You will surely identify with many of its settings, e.g. every driver’s nightmare – the summon ticket under the wiper of his windshield.

Su called it a “real achievement” that they managed to beat other films from Hong Kong and Korea in clinching the Best New Screenwriter Award in the San Sebastian International Film Festival last year. It even successfully reached out to a Spanish audience at an international movie screening in Spain.

Said Su, several members of the Spanish audience came up to them after the screening and said they empathized and identified with the patriarchal treatment and gender bias portrayed in the film. For the crew, this was an unexpected and most encouraging reaction. Also, when this film was screened at a local home for the aged, because the language used predominantly in it is dialect, many of the elderly could relate especially to the story of the mother who came from Muar to Singapore to work, and it actually brought tears to their eyes.

During an open discussion after the film screening, several Caucasian members of the audience raised pertinent questions like “Can’t you do anything about [the gender bias]?”, how come “people [in Singapore] don’t express emotions like tenderness and care”, much less talk over their problems, and how come it seems to hard to say those three words (“Just practise in front of the mirror!”).

Fostering affection, one mug a day.
Picture credit: www.singaporedreaming.com

Dealing with the questions one by one, Su said when he was younger, he had vowed never to grow up so traditionally patriarchal, but as he got older, he found himself developing similarities to his father. He called it a “family thing”, and said that roots are what we hold onto as we grow up and it is never easy breaking away. He was quick to add though that this phenomenon is definitely changing today with westernization.

With regards to the second and third question, he explained that throughout his growing years, he had never witnessed his parents kissing or holding hands nor received any hugs from anyone at home. There appears to be a “fear of intimacy” among Chinese, but this seems to be changing as well, then tongue-in-cheek, he added, “A few beers will help”.

The Chinese, he said, do have their own ways of showing love nevertheless, like brewing herbal tea for family members, big dinners, eating durians as a family, etc. He also shared his aversion to durians, even up till today: when he was younger, his father would buy durians home to atone for what mistakes he had committed but found difficulty in apologizing for. Su disapproved of it and would rather his father apologize than beat about the bush in this manner.

There was also a discussion on how characters in this film give up their idealistic dreams of, for instance, a musical career, for a more stable and pragmatic job that they are inept at anyway (Lim Yu Beng as an insurance agent).

While the West often has a “follow your heart!” philosophy, Singaporeans tend to feel that we cannot afford to be idealistic in this pragmatic society. Su said a lot of his peers gave up what they wanted to do after they went to university, owing to parental and societal pressures and the lure of financial rewards. He also said that if one were to choose the idealistic route, he/she cannot expect to attain monetary rewards.

Actor Dick Su with his on-screen father, Richard Low.
Picture credit: www.singaporedreaming.com

Often, many of our Singaporean artistes come from above average family backgrounds because then, they can afford to pursue their ideal artistic careers and not worry about not earning enough for a living. He hesitated to say that the government does not support art enough, because this would be so simplified an excuse. But he does advise us to do a reality check and ask if we know what we really want.

Su also said that having been in this industry for fifteen years, he is doing what he really loves and feels truly satisfied with it. He chose this route because “there is nothing else I know how to do, except write, direct and act”.

There were more questions than time would permit, and it had to be cut short because it was getting late, so it was with a grateful smile and a sincere plea to support local productions that Su bade the audience a goodbye and goodnight and left amidst applause.