Plot: Malaysia-born Ling (Yann Yann Yeo) teaches Mandarin at a Singapore high school where her subject is regarded as low priority. Ling's home life offers scant consolation: for eight years, she and her husband have been trying to conceive a child, and the process has eroded much of the tenderness they once shared. What's more, with her husband increasingly out of the house at all hours, Ling is left on her own to care for her ailing father-in-law. An unexpected source of alleviation arrives in Ling's friendship with Wei Lun (Jia Ler Koh), the only student in her class to show real interest. Like Ling, Wei Lun feels neglected at home and, though he participates in competitive Wushu, he seems alienated by kids his own age. Wei Lun's youthful enthusiasm - accompanied by what appears to be an endearing crush - helps Ling weather a seemingly endless torrent of frustrations and disappointments, but the time will come when even this alliance will reach its inevitable limit.
Alternative Plot: As Mandarin-language teacher Ling continues with fruitless IVF treatment while taking care of her ailing father-in-law, she finds herself slowly drawn towards a promising student who seems to have been abandoned by his parents. Outside it's monsoon season, but Ling's inner turmoil looks set to get her into a heap of trouble. Director Anthony Chen brings this simmering Singapore-set drama to boiling point, whilst using an associative and poetic editing rhythm, repeating colors and shapes to highlight the small parallels that link people, and reveal the profound in lovely and subtle ways. With uniformly sensitive performances from the returning cast of Ilo Ilo, Chen's Wet Season is the classy and well-measured teacher-student drama that will get you weeping this autumn.
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