12 STOREYS

Over a time period of 24 hours we get to follow the lives of three families in a drab housing estate in Singapore. Early one morning, a young man commits suicide, and it is his spirit that accompanies us through the film. In the apartments live Ah Gu - bullied and used by his sexy young wife Lili; San San - who had to put up with an unbearably demanding mother while growing up, and Meng - who bears sole responsibility for two rebellious and intractable young siblings.
It isn't often we are given the chance to see a film from Singapore, which, with a population of 2.8 million and a surface area of only 622 km2 , is among the smallest states in the world. Moreover, we are dealing with a film, that is considered by international critics to be one of the most impressive films ever to come out of Singapore, and was officially selected to be shown in ''Un Certain Regard'' category at this year's Cannes film festival.
To us Europeans, Singapore is often associated with order, cleanliness, and strong economical growth, and we've never had any insight into how the people there actually live. It has been, for us, an unknown spot on the world map, which makes it even more fascinating to follow the main characters in Eric Khoo's ”12 Storeys”, with it's dishwater realism and incredible humour. He bears a strong conviction that film directors should depict the reality that exists around them, rather than go in for plagiarizing all sorts of Hollywood films. In other words, there are many reasons why it is appropriate to designate him Singapore's answer to Great Britain's Mike Leigh - also the quality of his dialogue and his ability to get the most out of his actors is on a par with his better known colleague.
The shooting of ”12 Storeys” took only 15 days, and the parts were played by actors and amateurs who all had in common that none of them had never before made a feature film. The entire budget was a very modest $300,000, and yet it still represents three times the amount Eric Khoo spent on his debut film ”Mee Pok Man.” He makes up for the lack of funds by sustaining a fast pace during shooting, and a tight schedule is nothing that bothers him.
''It's a good way of preventing problems from cropping up, and it becomes difficult to go over budget'', he says.
Lotta Svedberg

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
Jack Neo, Koh Boon Pin, Chuan Yi Fong, Lum May Yee, Lucilla Teoh, Ritz Lim: Producent
Brian Hong: Manus
Eric Khoo, James Ton: Foto
Ho Yoke Weng: Musik
Kevin Mathews: Talat språk
English, Mandarin