A Good Child (M18)

Starring Richie Koh, Hong Huifang, Johnny Lu, Charlie Goh, Cheryl Chou

Directed by Ong Kuo Sin

Small story. Big performance.

Sums up this pic which is sort of a domestic-drama companion piece to writer-director Ong Kuo Sin's bawdier drag-queen comedies, Number 1 and 2.

But boy, what a performance by Richie Koh (The Diam Diam Era) who's so good here with his big hair and bigger movements — he’s nominated for Best Actor at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards — you[‘d think he’s a real Adele-impersonator ah qua. That Hokkien description is dropped freely here, so no offence meant, okay?

Here's the verdict — this dude’s better than both Mark Lee’s similarly costumed character in Number 1 and 2 and the plot here as haughty, flamboyant burlesque queen, Jiahao. Who’s suddenly forced to look after, in abject exasperation, his unpredictable dementia-stricken mum, Juhua (go-to senior citizen Hong Huifang), in her HDB flat after his estranged gay-hating father dies.

The filial duty drives Jiahao nuts as his memory-muddled mother goes from recognising him to attacking him. Actually, despite this, you'd still wanna care-give the quite amenable mummy cos this looks like dementia dabbled with a light touch.