lims_home Review of Mei man ren sheng

Mei man ren sheng (2006)

At last, a realistic portrayal of life in Singapore

[8/10 · 3 September 2006]

I thought this was the best movie coming out of Singapore that I've seen. I define "best" not in the arty cultural way of Be With Me (which I found really boring, especially the second half). There was no pretentiousness. At the same time, the "typical Singaporean" family is shown to be multi-faceted. The stereotypes are not drawn out like in some of Jack Neo's movies. What was most impressive was the spoken language. It was absolutely authentic. Singlish and mixed languages (English, Mandarin, Hokkien) were used throughout, but not through exaggerated accents. The acting was great from all the lead actors; and there was even a guy from the funeral parlour who was a great amusement.