Discerning the Stories in 12 Storeys:

Reading its Silences, Parallels and

Implicit Stories

 A reminder that there are no tutorials this

week.

Coffee drinking scene in CKE

City space is heterogeneous
Made up of different psychological zones
Wong uses different rates of motion

Eric Khoos films

Mee Pok Man (1995)

12 Storeys (1997)
Be With Me (2005)
My Magic (2008)
Tatsumi (2011)

 Eric Khoos upcoming film:

In the Room (2015)

 Boo Junfeng Sandcastle (2010)

Anthony Chen Ilo Ilo (2013)

Approaches to 12 Storeys (a
summary slide)
The viewer is invited:
(1) To explore parallels and contrasts
between different characters
(2) To engage with Khoos use of silence in
the film the silence may contain a
complex emotional reality
(3) To discern that there are other stories
beyond what is represented

Section A: 12 Storeys
Like CKE, 12 Storeys depicts a few sets of
characters within a certain milieu

Other films which contain a few stories

Paul Thomas Anderson Magnolia (1999)
Steven Soderbergh Traffic (2000)
Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu Babel (2006)

Four stories . . . Twelve

stories . . . Innumerable stories?
The films titleis a pun intended? i.e. 12
stories? (Not exactly 12 stories but
innumerable stories)
The closing shots of an entire block of HDB
flats

 The various sets of characters:

(1) Meng, Trixie, Tee (and Eddy?)
Eddy and all of Trixies other boyfriends. . .
(2) San San, her deceased foster Mother, Rachel
(3) Lili, Ah Gu (and Lilis China boyfriend?)
(4) The Spirit man, Father, Mother

 How many stories are there?

3-4 stories?
3 stories?
3 stories?

 What is the duration of Khoos film? When

does the film begin? When does it end?
An innovative time-scheme first used in
modernist novels in the 1920s (James
Joyces Ulysses; Virginia Woolfs Mrs
Dalloway)

 As with CKE, the different sets of characters

in 12 Storeys never interact with one another
Like CKE, 12 Storeys is also about
relationships in an urban context?
How, in the city, there can be proximity
without reciprocity
Though living in the same apartment block
there is no significant interaction

 A moment of meaningful or deep

connection?
Kampung spirit?
Is there any significance in the use of the
playground as a setting?

 HDB block
Symbolizes Singapores successful
economic development
A means of critiquing Singapores
economic development

 Specifically, the urban context of the modern

city-state of Singapore
The HDB block as an icon or symbol of
Singaporean modernity
(HDB = Housing Development Board)
The film is a criticism of Singapore as having
made great progress in terms of economic
development but lacking in the area of
relationships? (and emotional development?)

 Economic progress at the cost of other

values or priorities?
The uniformity of the HDB flats
The case of Spirit who is associated with
play and creativity
Ironic juxtaposition of San San and the
HDB block

Spirit is associated with:

Toys
Comic books
Music CDs
Video camera

A loose metaphor for Khoo himself?

 One of films key concerns: the breakdown

of human relationships in urban Singapore
(in contrast to the public image of a
successful and modern Singapore, or
images propagated by the government and
the media)
All(?) the characters are alienated

 Breakdown in:
Parent-child relationships
Husband-wife relationships
Community relationships

 Even more important: an emphasis on

characters being in pain
In CKE, characters too are alienated but
emphasis is not on pain
At its close, 12 Storeys climaxes in a
crescendo of pain presents successive
characters--Meng, Lili, San San--in pain

Pain!
Mengs pain from repressing his own
desires (due to his morally upright image)
Lilys relational pain
San Sans silent pain

Section B: 3 methods Khoo uses

(1) Parallels are implied between the characters
Film constantly invites the viewer to juxtapose
and compare the characters
For example, parallels are indicated by:
The use of mise-en-scene (mirrors, in this
case)
Can you identify another prop that is common
to all the stories?
Characters doing the same thing (e.g. trying on
a dress)

 San San, Meng and Lili look into the mirror

What could be the significance of this act of
looking into the mirror?
A private moment of self-introspection?

Meng and the mirror

The external image of the model citizenhe is
the character most fully shaped by the policies
of the Singapore government?
Also, can he be read as a metaphor for the
Singapore government?
Hence, what eventually happens to him is ironic
In Meng, we find a repressed sexuality
And a double life (suggested by the mirror)

 Mengs dark sexual desires

 The dangers of pornography!

Stay clear of it completely!
Seek help if you must!

An aside: Interpreting Meng

Paternalistic, like an overbearing father:
Seeking to regulate the lives of his wards,
without respecting their individuality
(Trixie says: I am what I am.)
Has provided for his siblings but uses this
act to demand their conformity
Reflects the style of the Singapore
government?

 Is Meng a metaphor for the Singapore

government?
Does he represent its overbearing
paternalism? Its hypocrisy?

 (2) Presenting a short snippet so that the

viewer needs to read the implied story
There is another untold story.
Examples:
Spirit and his (physical?) pain
Rachel and her past marriage to an American man
Joyce and the other Filipino maid
A passing reference to parent-child separation
Resonates with the other stories
The fuller story behind this snippet is left untold
Thus, the viewer is invited to imagine the untold
story behind this snippet

 (3) The use of silence

The viewer has to read certain characters
silence makes for more ambiguity and
richness?
For example, San Sans silence (It contains
complex feelings!)
Spirits silence completely silent
throughout the film

Silence and speech

Silence relational breakdown
Further, speech ironically does not
communicate
Both silence and speech in the film indicate
the breakdown of communication
Ah Gu and Lilis relationship is loud and noisy
but still it indicates relational breakdown

Many different languages are

used in the film
Englishes (Meng [This is the Wong Residence]--and
Eddy [innocence relations])
Chineses (Lili and Ah Gu)
Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien,
Teochew)
Malay
Tamil
Tagalog
Silence

Section C More on the films

parallels and juxtapositions
As I have said, one of the films methods is to
imply parallels and juxtapositions between the
characters. Note how various parallels and
juxtapositions are implied!
San San and Meng
San San and Spirit
San San and Rachel
San San and Lili
(We can juxtapose San San with 4 characters or
even more.)

 Meng and San San

Meng and Spirit
Meng and Ah Gu
Meng and Eddy

The film may effect direct

juxtapositions within the same
shot
(1) Meng and San San
Lets comment on the use of mise-enscene in this shot
Comment on the playground (i.e. the use
of setting)

 (2) San San and the Spirit man

The wordless drama on the 12 th storey!
The scene is silentyet turbulent feelings
beneath. Also we can only guess at these
unarticulated thoughts and feelings.
(Spirits motivations?)
What is the parallel between them? What is
the difference between them?

 The use of silencea more ambiguous and

richer scene.
Silence as alienation but also
communication!

San San and Spirit

A chance encounter in the lift (like CKE!)

Spirits silent identification with San San?
Spirit kills himself to return to comfort her???
An unlikely relationship between a young man and an
older woman?
The one redemptive relationship in the film (conducted
entirely in silence)someone cares, and an unspoken
bond between them!
San San and Spirit are one story!

The film may simply suggest

implicit parallels
Viewer invited to ponder numerous other implicit
parallels
We can construct a parallel between Rachel and San
Sans mother and . . .?
Traditional versus modern version
Relationship between a maid and the child she brings
up.
Echoed in Rachels maid (Joyce) who brings up
Rachels son.

 Rachel and Lilithe film doesnt juxtapose

them directly, they will never meet each other.
The comparison between them is implicit.
What similarity do we see between them?
Is Lilis experience mirrored in Rachels?
Rachel as the Singapore bride

Lili and San San: How would you

compare them? What similarities do you
see between them?
Editing invites us to compare them
One characters concern or situation becomes mirrored in the
other
Both are victims of physical appearances (the plight of
women?)
Film ends with the pain of female existence
Both have relational and sexual needs
Both experience displacement (as a Singaporean and as a
foreigner)

 San San and Lili

San San and Rachel
Lili and Rachel

Section D The use of mise-enscene

Costumesany interesting examples?
The use of mirrors
The use of color?

Section E The films final scene

The films final shots are significant--San San at the
top of HDB block 173
Lets interpret one of the final closing shots the
extreme CU of San Sans eye opening (as she is
embraced by the Spirit Man)
Why does San Sans eye open? What does this
gesture signify?

Section F Moments where Khoo

departs from continuity editing
used in CHC
In-class exercise:
Coffee-shop sequence
San San in her flat (with mother)
echoes of Psycho? [Comment on how
mother is presented.]

 If there is time, I will screen what I think is

one of the best Singapore short films I have
ever seen
Daniel Hui Dreams of Youth (23 minutes)