NOTHING beats a good old family drama with humour and valuable lessons during Chinese New Year, and director Tunku Mona Riza does a brilliant job with Rain Town, her first Cantonese-language movie.
It's also the first local Chinese movie to be directed by a Malay filmmaker, which adds to its Bangsa Malaysia value.
The title refers to Taiping, nicknamed the rainiest town in the country, and also relates to the "tradition" of rain-betting among Taiping's senior citizens.
The plot revolves around a headstrong, lantern-making senior citizen Choo Kam Wah (Chew Kin Wah) who rules his family with an iron fist despite not being a paragon of virtue (he is a retired banker who excels in rain-betting).
Choo is married to the lovely and compassionate Eurasian Aileen (Susan Lankester), who is the "go to" person for their three children - Dr Isaac (Fabian Loo), Alex (Wilson Lee) and Ruby (Pauline Tan) - each time their father says "no" to their plans.
Dr Isaac dreams of becoming a successful singer-songwriter, but is forced to soldier on in a government hospital, while rebellious Alex plans to start a business with some friends in Kuala Lumpur.
Family sweetie Ruby, who helps her mother sell biscuits and cakes from home, gets along better with her parents but is sulking after Choo chased her "loser" boyfriend Melvin (Henley Hii) away.
Aileen tries to "talk sense" into Choo, to no avail and we soon learn that his rigid ways were a far cry from his open-minded youth.
As the "cold war" between the authoritarian patriarch and his long-suffering children goes from bad to worse, two major crises hit the family, which will change their lives forever.
Although Rain Town's plot is not new, what makes the Choos magical and relatable is the stellar performance of the credible ensemble cast, in particular Lankester and Chew.
Lankester is at her very best playing Aileen, viewers will easily root for her, as she is the only one in the family who can potentially soften Choo's hard heart.
With superb makeup that makes her look older (but still beautiful), Lankester gives the most powerful performance in her four-decade acting career which began with Mekanik in 1983, and in some "quiet" scenes her facial expressions are powerful enough to reduce viewers to tears.
Chew, whom movie-goers first encountered playing Tun HS Lee in 2007's 1957: Hati Malaya, has the role of Choo cut out for him, and even though he appears to be a tyrant most of the time, he gets to display some redeeming qualities.
Loo, a versatile actor with a macho voice, takes on the role of a reluctant doctor for the first time. He actually spent lots of time in hospitals to "get into character" and makes Dr Isaac believable.
Lee and Tan both deserve a big hand for taking on characters possessing more substance and strength than their usual "boy-and-girl-next-door" roles.
"Bad boy" Alex and "good girl" Ruby may be as different as cheese and chalk but both of them serve as the viewers' lenses to the unfolding story, and their heartfelt voiceovers serve as reassurances that one's parents will always be there for them.
Since most of the action takes place indoors, Taiping unfortunately does not get to be the star of the film. Nevertheless, Tunku Mona took every crucial scene, including close ups of rain drops, in Taiping itself, and actually waited for downpours to dominate certain pivotal scenes.
Rain Town, which opens in cinemas today (Feb 8), deserves to be watched more than once by every fan of feel good, Bangsa Malaysia movies.
It may not have a real ending, but that is great because it tells us that "life goes on", and that is as real as it gets.
NOW SHOWING
RAIN TOWN
Directed by Tunku Mona Riza
Starring Chew Kin Wah, Susan Lankester, Fabian Loo, Wilson Lee, Pauline Tan
Duration 120 minutes
Rating U