Word: singaporeans
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...Stupid, which Neo wrote, directed and acts in, takes on one of the core frustrations of Singaporean life: the city-state's ruthless education system, which, of course, is where citizens first feel the claws digging in. The film follows the lives of three struggling boys and their stressed parents, all feeling the pressure of a society that demands a narrow type of success at all costs. The movie and its themes-including subtle criticism of the government-have resonated with local audiences, earning some $1.8 million since its release in mid-February. That makes I Not Stupid the second...
...year-old Neo credits his success to his willingness to put on the screen what his audience actually thinks, feels and even how they talk. He broke artistic ground by writing dialogue in Singlish, the island's distinctive twisting of Shakespeare's tongue, widely spoken by Singaporeans but absent from local broadcasting. "As a director, I like real," he says. "Everything in my movies is real." Singaporean director Eric Khoo, whose gritty cinematic style puts him on the opposite end of the artistic spectrum, agrees that Neo is a master at getting at what lies beneath Singapore's stolid sterility...
...born in Singapore, and knew he wanted to perform when, at 14, he wrote and acted in a comedy sketch for his secondary school. His family, as focused on Singaporean success as the characters in his film, thought it was a rotten idea. "For my generation, our parents only concentrated on normal life, making some money so you've got food to eat," Neo remembers. "Acting, performing-my parents just didn't know. I didn't know if I had talents either." First came a string of small stage roles Neo says he can barely remember. Then television beckoned. Singapore...
...most recognizable in women's dress, but in person he's closer to the Singaporean everyman persona. Dressed in a tan golf shirt and black khakis, he could be a systems analyst on his tea break; only his designer Dolce & Gabbana glasses hint that, unlike much of his core audience, he doesn't go home to a housing block at night. There's little evident ego, and when Neo finds out his interviewer has seen I Not Stupid, he begins firing questions: Was it good? Too local? In the next room, a television is showing the Academy Awards broadcast...
...with melodrama, it has an unerring sense of place. Neo's true inspiration was to present Terry's overbearing, white-wearing, all-controlling mother (Selena Tan) as an allegory for Singapore's famous Nanny State. Just as Terry's mother wants to run her kids' lives, Neo says, the Singaporean government has been slow to let its own children grow up. The buzz that Neo's adroit criticism has produced shows that it may be time for the government to give the kids the keys...