Wet Season

Filmmaker Anthony Chen’s sophomore effort, Wet Season details the bond that forms between a lonely teacher (Yeo Yann Yann’s Ling) and one of her students (Koh Jia Ler’s Wei Lun). There’s little doubt that Wet Season fares best in its deliberately-paced yet thoroughly engaging first half, as writer/director Chen spends much of the picture’s opening hour focused on the less-than-lively day-to-day exploits of Yann’s withdrawn character – with Ling’s inability to reach the majority of her students compounded by a depressing home life consisting of a dying father-and-law and mostly absent husband. It’s compelling stuff that’s heightened by an impressively nuanced turn from star Yann, and it’s clear, too, that the degree to which Ling becomes a wholeheartedly sympathetic figure plays an instrumental role in confirming the movie’s early success. And although Koh Jia Ler delivers as solid a turn as the equally intriguing Wei Lun, Wet Season eventually progresses into a conventional (and fairly predictable) final third that diminishes the film’s overall impact – which ultimately confirms its place as a decent drama that almost (but not quite) squanders the potential of its truly promising opening stretch.

**1/2 out of ****