DEAREST SISTER (2016 - Lao)

Studio:       Raven Banner Entertainment
Director:    Mattie Do
Writer:       Christopher Larsen
Producer:  Mattie Do, Douangmany Soliphanh, Christopher Larsen, Annick Mahnert, Sten Saluveer, Helen Lohmus
Stars:     Amphaiphun Phommapunya, Vilouna Totlina’Phetmany, Tambet Tuisk, Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Manivanh Boulom, Naliphone Siviengxay, Douangmany Soliphanh, Brandon Hashimoto

Review Score:

---

Summary:

A village girl sent to become a servant discovers her wealthy relative has an extraordinary ability she can secretly exploit.

---

Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

To earn money for her poor family, village girl Nok is summoned to work as a personal servant for her wealthy relative Ana, who is gradually losing her eyesight. Nok meets Ana’s husband Jakob, an Estonian businessman running an NGO company operating in Laos, as well as the couple’s servants, a disgruntled maid and gardener who take an immediate disliking to Nok.

Ana occasionally sees visions of bloody people presumed to be ghosts of the dead. During these episodes, Ana repeats numbers whispered to her by the ghosts, although she does not remember the numbers afterward.

Acting on a hopeful hunch, Nok plays numbers heard during one of Ana’s visions in the lottery and wins 2.5 million kip. Nok buys a phone to call her boyfriend back home, but tells no one how she obtained the money.

When Ana hurts herself during another vision, Nok asks the maid and gardener for help. The servants refuse, and threaten to expose Nok’s sudden windfall, presumably obtained by stealing.

Nok plays the numbers heard during this second vision and wins five million kip. Thinking that the ghost who spoke to Ana was the mother of a local grocery vendor, Nok tries giving him the money as a sympathetic gesture after buying an expensive purse. The vendor refuses, explaining that his mother only suffered a stroke and was hospitalized, but did not die.

Nok discovers the money she hid to send back home was stolen. Nok confronts the maid over the theft, but is threatened with blackmail again. Over the phone, Nok tries telling her boyfriend that the money will be sent home soon.

Ana has a vision of her mother. Fearing the worst, Ana immediately calls her mother, but discovers she is safe. The next day, Ana’s father calls to tell Ana that her mother was hit by a truck and is dying from brain damage.

When Ana tells her father about her visions, he too has the idea to play the numbers in the lottery. Ana’s father tasks Nok with buying a ticket on his behalf, but Nok gives him a bogus ticket and keeps the winning numbers for herself.

While Ana goes to see specialist doctors in Bangkok and Jakob prepares to deal with a UNDP audit threatening to bring down his business for fraud, Nok treats herself to a makeover and a night out on the town. Misunderstanding an Australian man’s intentions at a bar, Nok is rescued by Jakob’s accountant Kenji, who safely escorts the drunk girl back home.

As Nok recovers from a hangover the following day, Ana confronts her with the discovery that Nok’s family has not received any of their money. Nok is forced to reveal the lottery scheme to explain where her cash came from. Ana banishes Nok to live outside with the servants while working to pay off her debt.

Ana leaves to receive experimental surgery that can supposedly heal her eyesight. The maid and gardener lock out Nok and host a party inside the house. When Jakob returns and discovers the mess, he fires the maid and the gardener.

Back from Bangkok with instructions to receive regular medication and bandage changes until her eyes recover, Ana has little choice but to task Nok with her care, as Jakob must tend to his site’s UNDP inspection. Ana angrily tells Nok that she will send Nok back to her village as soon as she is healed.

Nok calls her boyfriend and discovers he is cheating on her. Nok rearranges the furniture to trap Ana inside the house. Nok tells Ana that she will be released if Ana gives her another set of numbers. Nok starves Ana and holds her captive for days.

Ana eventually recovers a phone from Nok and leaves a message asking Jakob for help. Ana also manages to lock Nok inside a separate room. Ana then has a vision of Jakob, confirming that Ana’s visions are of people who are about to die. Nok hears the whispered numbers from the other side of the door.

Jakob arrives at the house, but the gardener knocks him unconscious with a violent blow to the head. The gardener and maid lock up Jakob and Ana with Nok. The former servants then loot the house. Jakob bleeds to death in Ana’s arms.

Ana blames Nok for the actions that led to Jakob’s death. Although remorseful, Nok threatens to kill Ana for not letting her go before the servants arrived. Ana reveals she is pregnant. She then has a vision of her stomach stabbed while Nok’s throat is slit. Nok asks what she sees, but Ana refuses to tell her. The two women each clutch a blade and move toward one another.

---

Review:

Nok lives the simple life of a lower class Laotian villager, though she dreams of designer purses and sleek smart phones.  Her farming family struggles for stability while remaining immersed in superstitions and herbal remedies outmoded for the 21st century.

Nok’s relative* Ana, on the other hand, married into money when she wed wealthy Estonian business contractor Jakob.  She has a maid and a gardener, but also a peculiar affliction that sees the young woman rapidly losing her eyesight.

(*Nok and Ana’s exact relationship is unclear.  Materials outside the movie identify them as cousins.  Within the film, Ana specifically says she doesn’t know how they’re related.  Regardless, they refer to each other as “sister,” hence the title, though that’s probably a cultural term of endearment.)

That’s why Ana’s husband sends for Nok.  With a disgruntled housekeeping staff prone to theft and Jakob leaving to deal with U.N. inspections, Ana requires care from a trustworthy servant.  So Nok agrees to work for Ana, with the intention of sending wages back home to support her poor family.

Nok is uncomfortable with the arrangement from the outset.  Ana hardly knows Nok at all, initially regarding her as basically a stranger.  The other servants take to her even more unfavorably, feeling slighted that Nok gets to sleep in the house simply because she shares blood with their boss.

Nok doesn’t adjust well to her big city move, and the two “sisters” have a frosty first few days.  Until Nok discovers Ana’s worsening blindness has an upside.  At least for Nok.

Ana can barely make out the men and women in front of her face.  Yet she can see bloody visages of whispering phantoms presumed to be ghosts.  Ana is occasionally frightened into self-harming trances during which she repeats messages she doesn’t remember.  Nok remembers them, however.  And Nok has a hunch she can use these otherworldly words to her benefit, provided she keeps the truth about Ana’s bizarre condition a secret.

A standard summary is insufficient for articulating the ideas behind the plot and aesthetic in the style of “Dearest Sister.”  That’s why so much of this review is mere recap.  To be more specific about the story would be a spoiler.  And to try capturing an accurate sense of the movie’s mood in text form is foolhardily futile.

I want to characterize “Dearest Sister” as a twisted take on the “City Mouse and Country Mouse” fable with an Asian frame, multicultural melodrama, and slightly supernatural twist culminating in a bloody climax.  But that doesn’t make complete sense and still doesn’t paint a precise picture of exactly what it is that filmmaker Mattie Do puts on her easel.

“Different” is a word often used in discussions of the film’s eclectic blend of drama, thriller, horror, and slow burn suspense.  Here is where I would caution ‘all audience’ readers that “Dearest Sister” has a taste tailored to specific tongues because it doesn’t fit easily into compartmentalized categories.  Except if you’re already onboard with a description-defying foreign film featuring three spoken languages, you likely understand you’ve signed up for an unusual experience with an atypically textured motion picture.

“Dearest Sister” is essentially an arthouse-flavored film with as much to its narrative as it has in its atmosphere.  It’s one part substance for every part style.

Everything from characters to tempo is built gradually, which can be an impediment to immersion for the impatient, particularly for those viewers uninterested in travelogue-type threads showcasing several strata of Laotian lifestyles.  Though for vicarious tourists, the juxtaposition of spiritualism against materialism, wealth weighed with poverty, and general snapshot of unique Asian culture evens out lulls with a different kind of intrigue.

Finely finessed performances from Amphaiphun Phommapunya and Vilouna Totlina’Phetmany take each sister on an arc of uncertain moral conflict that constantly challenges the audience’s allegiance.  Christopher Larsen’s cautious script plays out in unspoken emotion.  And director Mattie Do ties every element together through originality in her rhythm as well as in the sights and sounds onscreen.

“Dearest Sister” may not be strictly horror, but it is haunting.  It may not be typically tension-filled either, yet that doesn’t mean it isn’t thrilling.  And even though it can drag unnecessarily, “Dearest Sister” is always beautifully hypnotic and artfully affecting in a wonderfully weird way.

NOTE: The film’s Lao title is “Nong Hak.”

Review Score:  75

---