Description

A hand turns the pages of a book, with row after row of faces staring out from the pages until finally, one in particular catches the attention and is chosen from the masses. "This one." And so young Rosa is summoned to Singapore. An eighteen-year-old orphan, Rosa leaves her home in the Philippines for the first time, taking work in a strange, foreign land to support her young brother. Her employers are Old Zhang and his wife – Chinese opera performers with a mentally disabled son – and while they are friendly and welcoming, they also give Rosa an ominous warning. It is the seventh month of the year, the month of the Hungry Ghosts, when the gates of Hell open and spirits are free to roam the earth. Offerings must be given, prayers must be said. Do not stay out after dark. If someone calls to you on the street, do not answer. Before long, Rosa is being plagued by strange, frightening visions and she can’t help but notice the neighbours reacting strangely to the sight of her…

Anchored by strong performances from the entire cast, Kelvin Tong’s The Maid is a uniquely Southeast Asian film, one that captures the collision of cultures distinct to the region. The shining, Westernized towers of modern Singapore rest side by side with slowly decaying traditional housing, modern lifestyles likewise butt into traditional beliefs and the principal characters are forced to communicate in English – a first language for precisely none of them – to be understood at all. Lead actress Alessandra De Rossi captures the sensation of being lost in a new culture effortlessly, a task no doubt made considerably easier by the constant stream of stunning images captured by director of photography Lucas Jodogne. Jodogne has a magnificent eye and he captures the details of Singapore – the burnt offerings, the slow decay, the all-consuming push for modernization – with the same sort of love Christopher Doyle and Wong Kar Wai together heap on 1930s Shanghai.

—Todd Brown

"Jodogne's immaculate compositions and pic's mix of dialects capture a recognizable Singapore" – Derek Elley, VARIETY

"A moody and mysterious piece" – JimmyO, ARROW IN THE HEAD

"Tong has captured some uniquely intelligent insights throughout. His camerawork is constantly fluid, mimicking the motions of invisible apparitions" – Chris Chew, THINK

Website

http://www.mediacorpraintree.com/themaid

Credits

Director: Kelvin Tong
Screenplay: Kelvin Tong
Cast: Alessandra De Rossi, Huifang Hong, Benny Soh, Zhenwei Guan
Producers: Titus Ho, Pui Yin Chan, Saw Yam Seah
Distributor: Tartan Films