Bursts of warped creativity punctuate this rather inscrutable Singaporean experimental drama about the discomfiting nature of personal fantasies and quiet acceptance in matters of life and death.
Review #2,730
Dir. Nelson Yeo
2023 | Singapore | Drama | 77 min | 1.37:1 | Mandarin & English
NC16 (passed clean) for some mature content
Cast: Kelvin Ho, Doreen Toh, Peter Yu
Plot: Three middle-aged individuals are forced to confront their inner demons as a long buried love triangle between them resurfaces.
Awards: Won Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present (Locarno)
International Sales: Lights On
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Mortality; Affection & Memory
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex/Experimental
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: General Arthouse
Viewed: The Projector Cineleisure
Spoilers: No
Nelson Yeo makes his feature debut with Dreaming & Dying, an extension of his 2021 short, Dreaming.
Despite winning Best First Feature at the Locarno Film Festival, it is hard to see this title being naturally attractive enough for arthouse audiences in Singapore, let alone more mainstream moviegoers. But if you are up for a discovery, albeit a rather challenging one, then Yeo’s film might offer something new.
A married couple encounters a middle-aged man whom they have not seen for a long time, a schoolmate whom they would go down memory lane with as they reside in a chalet and take dips in the pool.
This part of the film reminds me of Baxter, Vera Baxter (1977) in its intimate ‘interiorised’ sharing, but without the wall-to-wall music that permeated Maguerite Duras’ work.
Dreaming & Dying later goes into much more natural, perhaps even metaphysical, environments where Yeo is seen expressing bursts of warped creativity as he takes his camera into forested areas, underground caves and to the seaside.
“Hurry, otherwise we’ll miss the auspicious hour.”
The film is about immortality, the desire to sustain, adapt, and possibly, change, to prolong that which is not indefinite—that’s my takeaway from this narratively inscrutable work about the discomfiting nature of personal fantasies and quiet acceptance in matters of life and death.
One of the characters is in poor health and a ritual involving releasing a fish must be performed for good karma. Fishes and the ‘merman’ become symbols of intertwining half-fates, of ‘what-ifs’ that are neither present nor past.
Some may read Yeo’s film as a take on unrequited love among the trio of characters, with very subtle queer undertones.
Ultimately, Dreaming & Dying can’t escape its niche, detached experimental mode; I don’t find it engaging enough to like it but I recognise the alternative path that it is trying to carve for Singaporean arthouse cinema.
Grade: B-
Promo Clip:
Eternality Tan 