Having made an impact with the overrated 15, Singaporean maverick Royston Tan returns with a fascinating two-hander that chronicles the unconventional relationship between 11-year-old Xiao Li-yuan and Kim Young-jun, the Korean ’uncle’ who is babysitting him.
Centred on repetitive acts, such as Xiao’s disruption of a Tai Chi group and his rifling through the drunken Kim’s belongings, this is a deceptively minimalist piece, in which Xiao’s curiosity about Kim’s nocturnal activities contrasts with the boredom of his own daily routine.
Less abrasive than its predecessor and recalling Tsai Ming-Liang and early Wong Kar-Wai, it’s a melancholic treatise on isolation and our failure to connect with those closest to us.
