It's been a long 6 years wait since Singapore director Anthony Chen's debut film ilo ilo, which won the Camera d'Or at Cannes and Best Film at Golden Horse Awards in 2013.
Chen's new film Wet Season has had its world premiere a few days ago at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Reviewing the film,
Screen Daily praised Chen for his "delicate handling of complex relationships", noting Chen's concerns about "the tensions between the ties that bind and the relationships that liberate."
"It is easy to see where Wet Season is heading but Chen invests so much in the needs and flaws of the central duo that you want to see how it plays out."
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, was more measured in its assessment.
Summarizing the film as "a poignantly drawn if heavily restrained affair," the
Hollywood Reporter describes the slow-burn student-teacher romance as a "skillfully observant if somewhat tepid and overwrought sophomore effort."
Nevertheless, THR also praised the film's "sharp characterizations" and its "disparaging critique of Singapore’s sexist upper-class citizenry."
Here's an excerpted clip from the film.
Wet Season will screen in local cinemas in November 2019.