Tiger Stripes (PG13)
95 minutes, opens exclusively at The Projector on Dec 14
4 stars
The story: Twelve-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is an ordinary girl living in rural Malaysia. At school, she has a group of friends, with whom she shares happy moments chatting and dreaming. When puberty arrives, her friends and family treat her differently, though the pain of leaving her childhood behind is nothing compared with the strange physical and mental transformations to follow. Winner of the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
By now, the idea of using a monstrous transformation as a metaphor for a young person’s physical changes is commonplace. Most audiences are familiar with teen werewolves, juvenile vampires (of the sparkly and non-sparkly varieties) and lovestruck zombies.
Malaysian film-maker Amanda Nell Eu’s debut feature charts a different path. Zaffan’s coming-of-age journey is rooted in the sociology of her homeland.
The attitudes and beliefs of the rural community come into play as Zaffan, scared and alone, suffers through the worst moments of her life. She receives small acts of kindness from adults and friends, but what she gets most from them is shaming. Her body is polluted, therefore she must atone accordingly.
Eu’s fondness for lo-fi practical effects and body horror is on show throughout. And first-time actress Zafreen portrays her character’s fear and confusion with affecting clarity.
It would be poor storytelling on Eu’s part if all she did was wag a feminist finger at the patriarchal systems of unenlightened country bumpkins. Villainising the community is not on the agenda.
Instead, she frames their universe as one rich in spiritual possibilities, with attendant psychosomatic outcomes. For those who have wondered why Malaysian schools are prone to mysterious bouts of mass screaming, convulsions and fainting, this film offers some context.
Actor Shaheizy Sam’s Dr Rahim, a shamelessly self-promoting expert on demonic happenings, provides understated comic relief.
There is plenty of sweetness and nostalgia here, mostly around the lives of girls who live close to nature and who have yet to walk into the teenage wasteland that is sexual attraction and dating.
Zaffan’s innocent curiosity about sex is rendered simply and honestly, with a tinge of humour. As expected, her curiosity about bodily functions is met with yet more shaming, much of it coming from her peers in school.
Eu has spoken about her affection for Mean Girls (2004) and the influence of the American comedy is displayed in the ways Zaffan’s peers compete with one another. The girl hierarchy is real and it is brutal.
By the film’s climax, just as audiences expect Zaffan’s volcanic rage to find a target, perhaps in a cathartic burst of violence, Eu has more surprises up her sleeve. The semi-realistic study of one girl’s metamorphosis takes on a surreal edge when, in a move that feels like a deliberate attempt to break the fourth wall, it gives nods to the 1950s and 1960s heyday of Malay-language horror from the Shaw and Cathay-Keris studios.
A strange way to end a movie, but in the context of this story, it works.
Hot take: Eu’s debut feature frames a girl’s journey into womanhood as a descent into madness and monstrousness – and also joy.
