When we think of films about dementia, we normally think ‘heavy-hearted’.
But the short film What Day Is It? – written by local acting couple Andie Chen and Kate Pang – wants to give a different take.
Andie, who made his directorial debut with the film, explained: “There are a lot of films that fall into melodrama or just really sad stories. I think there are many sides to everything and my intention was, ‘Can we actually tell a story about love and hope?’
“It’s like a romantic comedy based on the theme of dementia. That was the initial idea my wife and I had when we started on this project.”
Sponsored by Lien Foundation in partnership with Dementia Singapore, A Singapore Dementia Story is an anthology of five short films by Singaporean filmmakers that aims to spotlight the emotional labour of dementia caregiving, challenge perceptions of the condition, and amplify the voices of families who live with dementia every day.
Actors Alaric Tay and Oon Shu An play John and Sophia, a loving couple forced to confront the former’s slow decline caused by early onset dementia.
Alaric told AsiaOne in a recent interview his late uncle had suffered from the condition. The 46-year-old recalled: “In the last seven years of his life when we saw him every Chinese New Year, we’d see this annual deterioration in his physical being.
“But seeing him in that state was vastly different from hearing the stories from his caretakers like my cousin. The first outset was him wandering around and getting lost, until it began to get more dramatic towards the end where he would hallucinate sometimes.”
The breaking point came when Alaric’s uncle attempted to jump out the second-floor window, leaving his family to install new grilles in the house.
He continued: “That’s my closest experience [with dementia], so I don’t know whether I’m lucky that it wasn’t too close to home. But after playing someone living with dementia, it actually felt really close to my heart.”
This is Shu An’s first project dealing with dementia and her main takeaway was to embrace imperfection in caregiving. The 39-year-old lamented: “I realised part of me had to let go of trying to be the perfect caregiver as Sophia, because she always makes mistakes and doesn’t always say the right thing, nor does she have the softest personality…
“But when you think about it, it’s a new situation for both of them, as John’s also a first-time care-receiver and that’s not an easy position either. To suddenly realise that the life you thought you were going to have is no longer happening, you’re losing your memory and you’re not in control of your body the way you thought you were – it’s terrifying.”
With a short two-month period for scriptwriting to production, it frustrated Kate, 42, and Andie, 40, when Alaric took two weeks to confirm his participation. As he was their first and only option for John, the couple anxiously awaited his response, with Kate even personally threatening to cancel the whole production without his involvement.
Alaric explained that as this was the first time he was offered to play a person with dementia, he wanted to carefully review the script before agreeing to it.
“It’s a topic that needs a lot of awareness. Even for myself, I don’t think I know fully about it, having played only one particular type of character that has dementia – there’s so many different types of the disease,” explained Alaric.
“In terms of acting, we always want to challenge ourselves as creatives and artistes. So that’s why I took a long time to read the script before taking the job.”
‘I was sincere in my whole process’
In his first rodeo as a director, Andie approached the role by recalling bad experiences with directors in his own acting career, being mindful not to repeat them on set.
“Since I was new, I knew not to prepare like I’m super experienced at directing. I thought to myself, ‘Let’s write a story that is very contained and simple, no fancy stuff’ – all that can wait three to five years down my directorial career,” he elaborated.
With no lofty goals, he stuck to creating a “safe space” for his cast to “do their magic”, and also sought to work with the cinematographer to curate an environment where the crew felt invisible on set.
When asked to rate his own performance as a director, Andie gave himself a humble six out of 10: “I feel like I’ve done what I set out to do. It’s not perfect, but I was sincere in my whole process, and so were the cast in their performance.
“And honestly, nobody made money from this as a non-profit project, so everything was just frankly token. I felt like I transferred the energy of everyone being on set and trying to do the whole thing earnestly into the final film. So to me, I’m good for this project.”
Protesting the score he had given, Shu An felt that Andie was “selling himself short”.
Commending him as a “fantastic” director, she said: “I think especially when it comes to dealing with characters and the way that he deals with the story, he creates space for us to play.
“And maybe although the technical details might be what’s ‘simple’, I think there’s a lot in the relationship and dynamic between John and Sophia and even in the office that is very nuanced, which Andie addresses.”
While Andie tried to step in and return the credit back to his cast and crew, Alaric backed up Shu An’s points: “We had this conversation where I told Andie that I think because of his acting experience, he becomes an actor’s director, so the technicalities come through in our performance.
“A lot of what we’ve done in this film should actually be credited to him. It’s the feedback he gives and the environment he creates for us to improvise and play as an actor.”
Shu An, who immediately responded to Kate and Andie’s casting call, was drawn to What Day Is It? from the beginning due to its authentic story, coupled with an unsentimental script.
“There’s so much love and care, but it’s not sentimental about it – nothing wrong with that. I just love the approach and optimism, [seen in] the fight that John and Sophia have for a future together,” she explained.
What Day Is It? also marks her third time collaborating with Andie in film and television projects, and she joined the project as she wanted a chance to work with him again. “I remember our conversations in between and I really enjoyed them, because I feel like he just says things – he’s very no-filter.
“We always end up going into really long debates, but I love engaging in things with him that way because otherwise, life would be so boring. So I knew coming on board this project, it would not take on a surface-level approach.”
Husband and wife’s creative clashes
In Kate’s 15-year-long career as an actress in Taiwan and Singapore, What Day Is It? marks her debut as a narrative film screenwriter. Being Taiwanese, she initially wrote the script in Chinese and that draft impressed Andie.
“When I first read it, I was like, ‘Wow, she has something for it,'” he recalled. “Throughout the whole script-reading process, she was very clear-headed and even immediately named the characters.
“For instance, when I’d initially changed the lines for Shrey (Bhargava)’s character to become an a**hole, she was very persuasive and argued, ‘No, he’s not like that – he’s actually a very fun guy! He’s not doing anything out of malice, he’s a fun guy. If he were in your office, you would love him.'”
Commending her ability to flesh out characters and relationships, he added that Kate was able to contain the whole story in her mind without translating it to paper, which made it necessary for her to come to Singapore from their home in Taiwan for the script-read.
Inevitably, the duo butted heads occasionally in the early stages of the film. Things started off civil when Andie controlled his temper, allowing Kate to completely absorb herself in the writing process.
When she flew to Singapore for the script-read, their peace blew over when Andie had to stop her from interrupting the reading to make a change to the script.
“Halfway through the script-read, she was like, ‘Um, this one…’ and I was like, ‘Not now!’ and after that, I watched her facial expression change and I was like, ‘Sh*t. We’d better finish the reading. Continue, continue.’ Because I knew there would be trouble otherwise,” he regaled humorously.
Their creative clashes culminated in a big fight the same night, where Andie ultimately cleared the changes in the script with Kate. He quipped that following their conflict, he has no plans to work with his wife in future film projects.
However, after working on a project dealing with dementia, what thoughts did the couple have about their future together in sickness and good health?
“I think the only discussion we had was the question of whether we think we would stay in the marriage if one party had dementia. We need to do lots of research, like watching and reading different case studies,” said Andie.
“Would you send your partner to a daycare centre, or would you even stay married and at home with them? And honestly, I don’t think either of us can confidently agree to it, because it’s easy to say now.
“For me, I like to think that I will stay in the marriage, but will I be able to do the primary caregiving every day of my life, sacrificing everything else? I don’t think I can. But then, would I be okay to put Kate in a daycare?”
He ended up concluding that they would both be fine with the latter if the situation arose.
What Day Is It? also stars local actor-comedian Shrey Bhargava and Andie in a cameo. Other short films in the anthology include cast members Bernard Lim, Suhaimi Yusof, Peter Yu, Tan Kheng Hua and her daughter Lim Shi-An.
Tickets for public screenings of A Singapore Dementia Story on Jan 31 are available at this link, where booking for an additional showing at 11am will be released on Jan 28.
The full short films will be available for viewing on the Dementia Singapore and Lien Foundation YouTube channels in late February.
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