52 Films by Women Vol 10. 25. AMOEBA (Director: Siyou Tan)
Pictured: New student Choo Xin Yu (Ranice Tay) playacts rebellion before forming a gang of her own in the Singapore set adolescent saga, 'Amoeba', written and directed by Siyou Tan. Still courtesy of Anticipate Pictures (Singapore)
The Singapore-born
writer-director Siyou Tan looks back on her teenage school days in her feature
debut, Amoeba, a film set somewhere between 2005 and 2012,
back when camcorders (customised with plastic jewels) rather than mobile phones
were a thing and you could purchase a bra in school for ten dollars (until your
size ran out). In those days, parents administered corporal punishment and people
talked about Triad gangs in hushed tones. Maybe things haven’t changed that
much on corporal punishment and triads in Singapore, a country 60 years young
(proudly independent since 9 August 1965) but camcorder culture is yesters (if
that’s a word); it’s yeast. Tan’s protagonist is Choo Xin Yu (Ranice Tay) whom
we first meet being filmed in the dark by her best friend Vanessa (Nicole Lee
Wen). Or rather Vanessa is trying to capture paranormal activity on digital
video. Choo has complained of a presence in her bed, lights flickering and her
computer being switched on while she’s trying to sleep. She has a younger
sister but somehow this isn’t the obvious explanation. Vanessa records no
evidence of abnormal disturbance. Indeed, in the ‘non-night vision’ version of
this scene, shown later, Choo’s mother opens the bedroom door to ask if Choo’s
friend is staying for dinner.
Singaporean films
are rarely screened in the west, the Ah Boys To Men
series (2012 to 2017) being a local rather than international hit. Tan’s film
is a co-production between five countries – Singapore, Spain, France, the
Netherlands and South Korea. It is ‘arthouse’ rather than commercial in tone.
It articulates the pressure young Singaporean women face to conform, to
dedicate their lives to the state. Tan herself opted out; she later studied in
the United States. The film has an ‘insider-outsider’ vibe. This is partially
attributable to Choo’s social status, lower than some of the girls in her new
class, in particular Sofia Tay (Lim Shi-An) who has a personal driver, Phoon
(Jack Kao), who buys her bubble tea, but not with alcohol. ‘Where is the
alcohol?’ Sofia asks. She also has a skateboard.
We are first
properly introduced to Choo when she is shown dragging a desk down the corridor
of Confucian Girls School (the badge reads ‘CGSS’ – presumably the middle
initials ‘GS’ represent girls. She is angry, having been moved from another
class owing to ‘system error’. Like her classmates, she speaks English, though
as if under sufferance. Tan places the camera at the back of the class so we
don’t feel her new classmates’ judgment; at least one of them at the back is
eating. However, class 4/10 takes to their new addition. They all approve of
her nomination as Class Monitor, pledging to replace Good Citizen classes with
nap time. However, she is not elected, instead assigned to run the class’s
theatre production. This becomes a very small part of the film; Tan isn’t
interested in ‘Theatre Camp’.
‘We all voted for
you,’ Vanessa tells her by way of introduction, even though Choo’s skirt is too
high and her hair touches her collar, both of which are prohibited. When all
the girls leave the room, Choo rifles through the teacher’s waste paper basket.
Every scrunched vote has her name on it. This scene constitutes an attack on
the school’s values – and by extension those of Singapore itself. Democracy is
not observed in practice. By contrast, Choo mentions in her speech that she has
a ghost in her room; Vanessa tells her that she believes her.
How do teenage girls
at a private school entertain themselves in their break? They visit a building
site. Choo – called ‘nap time’ by one of the girls – joins Sofia, Vanessa and Gina
(Genevieve Tan) to explore. They find a plastic effigy of a demon. ‘What’s it
doing here?’ one of the girls asks. They take it with them but then bury it. It’s
not the sort of thing you can bring home and introduce to your parents.
Construction has paused on the site owing to the discovery of a cave. The girls
investigate. It becomes their de facto hideout, where they will later
light tapers and pledge solidarity with one another.
The girls make short
videos. Sofia shows off her skateboarding skills – she can progress in a
straight line. Choo demonstrates kung fu. The class is required to put on a
show entitled ‘Our Nation’s Origin’, but so much of what they have been taught
– Singapore meaning ‘island of the lion’ after the animals discovered there –
is British propaganda. Singapore’s official symbol is the Merlion (as opposed
to Merlot) – a creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Why not
the other way around, someone asks. We see a statue of the Merlion squirt water
into the air. Shouldn’t its image be on every drinking fountain?
The girls cajole
Phoon into talking about male gang culture. Its values aren’t far removed from
those of the school: ‘Loyalty, Righteousness, Brotherhood and Truth’. Nothing
about the environment, but the film is set almost 20 years ago. They ask Phoon
if he was ever a member of the infamous 153 gang. Phoon says no. Personally, I
thought 153 was a London bus route. Choo fixates on being in a gang; her new
friends are game.
Before that is the
class play, in which fish – girls wearing plastic fish helmets – surround a
fisherman. The parents are amused. The teachers, in particular Adeline Lim (Jo
Tan) less so. The production values are impressive, but the scene demonstrates
the girls’ scepticism towards the Merlion. The British are not represented.
Friendship is tested
on two occasions. First, when Choo loses the video camera. ‘Sofia will be so
angry with me,’ she cries. ‘She doesn’t care,’ Vanessa reassures her, ‘it
belongs to her brother’. However, the camera contains footage of the girls’
cursing their teacher. The girls and their parents are summoned for a
disciplinary hearing. Fortunately, none of them are expelled. ‘Why should you
blight their future?’ one parent asks. Choo is caned at home and asked to face
the wall. The second test occurs when they pledge to apply for the same junior
college. Sofia wants to go to Marymount, which requires straight As. The others
suggest another junior college, which has a lower grade requirement. Sofia
can’t bring herself to give up Marymount; she later tells the group she has an
offer.
When we see the city
through Choo’s camera lens, we immediately think of the filmmaker that Tan became.
However, there is a poignant scene in which Choo’s camera discovers Phoon’s funeral
ceremony. Four men who knew him invite Choo to join them. One of them is
Sofia’s father. He had not told her that Phoon died, rather that he went to
Taiwan. Choo reflects on a real set of friends who are not cemented by the
formality of a gang.
The film ends with
the girls taking an exam. Choo is given a video with the answers on it.
However, when she is asked about what she sees in a picture, she describes it
on face value, rather than parrots the symbolism or a ‘fun fact’ as her friends
do. She expresses her anger. At the end of the film, she walks slowly down the
school corridor, a scene that echoes her introduction, scraping the desk. Amoeba does not only represent the Tan’s insider-outsider perspective, both
also love-hate.
Reviewed at SXSW
London, Rich Mix Cinema Screen Three, East London, Friday 5 June 2026, 17:45
screening
NB: This review lists names in the western style; Asian names ordinarily read ‘surname forename’, example, Tan Siyou.
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