Rain Dogs

Colour, 35 mm
Hong Kong, Malaysia, 2006, 93 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

When 19-year-old Tung, living with his aging mother in a small town in Malaysia, sets out to re-established ties with his elder brother in Kuala Lumpur, he soon finds himself drawn inevitably into a world where deceit, treachery, violence, and irrevocable loss are the only certainties – and where the only lesson to be learned from his sudden coming of age is just how difficult it is to ever return home. A disturbing yet tender film about people reaching maturity in an uncertain time and an uncertain place. An intimate portrait of the unspoken and sometimes inexplicable bonds that hold parents and children together.

About the director

Ho Yuhang (b. 1971, Malaysia) studied engineering at Iowa State University. After returning to Malaysia he began working in TV and directed short films as well as the award-winning documentaries Semangat Insan: Masters of Tradition (1999) and Not Far from Here (2001). His first feature film, Min (2003), won the Special Jury Prize in Nantes. His second feature, Sanctuary (2004), won the NETPAC award in Pusan. Alongside friends and fellow filmmakers, such as James Lee, Amir Muhammad or Tan Chui Mui (most of them, like himself, of Chinese nationality), Ho Yuhang is now recognised as one of the leading figures of Malaysia’s internationally acclaimed contemporary independent film movement.