''12 Storeys'' (十二樓 or ''Shí'èr lóu'' in Mandarin) is a 1997 Singaporean

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Eric Khoo use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , nationality = Singaporean , alma_mater = Uni ...

. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

Jack Neo Jack Neo (born 24 January 1960) is a Singaporean actor, television host, comedian and film director. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1983 to 2003. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was best known for his cross-dressing roles ...

, Koh Boon Pin and

Quan Yi Fong Quan Yi Fong (, born 1 March 1974) is a Taiwanese-born Singaporean host and actress, who has since taken up Singaporean citizenship and given up her Taiwanese citizenship. Career Quan joined the SBC in 1992. In 1996, she was fired by TCS ov ...

. It was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

1997 Cannes Film Festival The 50th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1997 in film, 1997. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to ''Taste of Cherry, Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''The Eel (film), Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistre ...

Plot

The film follows a day in the lives of several households living within the same HDB block. A soup vendor called Ah Gu is having a hard time dealing with his Mainland Chinese wife, Lily. San San, an overweight loner, is haunted by her feelings of isolation and the memory of her deceased mother. Meng, Trixie and Tee are siblings left to their own devices when their parents go on holiday.

Cast

as Ah Gu * Koh Boon Pin as Meng *

(credited as Chuang Yi Fong) as Lily * Lum May Yee as Trixie * Lucilla Teoh as San San * Ritz Lim as Spirit * Roderick Lim as Tee * Ronald Toh Chee Kong as Eddy * Loy Lok Yee as Mother *

Tan Kheng Hua Tan Kheng Hua (; born 17 January 1963) is a Singaporean actress. She is best known for her supporting role in the 2018 film ''Crazy Rich Asians'' and for the martial arts television series ''Kung Fu'' in 2021. Career Tan acquired an interest ...

as Spirit's Mother *

Neo Swee Lin Neo Swee Lin (; ) is a Singaporean actress who has appeared in several Asian films and theatres, notably in TV films and drama since the 1990s. Early life Born in Singapore, Neo Swee Lin has a law degree from National University of Singapore an ...

as Rachel * Lim Kay Siu as Hawker *

Lim Kay Tong use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

as Mark

Reception

Derek Elley Derek Elley (born c. 1955) is an American film and music critic and author, best known as the resident film critic for ''Variety'' until his departure in March 2010. With over 1200 reviews to his credit as of December 2014 on ''Rotten Tomatoes'', h ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that the film's has "genuinely funny" moments, but its slow pacing "blunts the humor". '' Time Out'' called it "witty and sophisticated stuff". Singapore's

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

said that it "is widely regarded to have contributed to the revitalisation of local cinema".

References

External links

*
Zhao Wei Films
1997 films 1997 comedy-drama films Singaporean comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Eric Khoo {{1990s-comedy-drama-film-stub