It's not often that one sees a Singaporean movie and a complete one too in Youtube, I suppose; and when I came across the critically acclaimed Jack Neo directed 2016 Singaporean period film Long Long Time Ago 我们的故事, I decided to sacrifice an evening doing nothing else but watch it. The story of Long Long Time Ago spans from 1965 to the early 1970s and starts with Zhao Di, the second wife of an older man being chased out by the first wife after the husband passes away at a time when she is heavily pregnant. She thus went home to her own unwelcoming family to begin a new life. The dialogue in the movie is mainly in Hokkien with a little Teochew and Malay thrown in; more realistic in the Singapore and Malaysia context where the Chinese society consists of people speaking various Chinese dialects among themselves and speaking Malay to the Malays and Indians. While life back then cannot be fully depicted, it is pleasant enough to see whatever there is; like the use of kerosene pressure lamps at night and the warming of a traditional remedy for health, the Essence of Chicken by immersing the bottle in hot water; and be reminded too that it was common back then that children got infected easily with roundworm. The movie does look a bit ambitious too; with too much history like the 1967 separation of Singapore from Malaysia and the 1969 race riots and Singapore flood thrown in that it dilutes the story of Zhao Di. Her story after being thrown out from her marital home is just one incident after another which doesn't really develop her character and when the 1969 Singapore flood occurs, one would be forgiven for mistaking it for another Anaconda movie. Maybe, I could more appreciate the story if I watch the sequels. There are supposed to be three more: Long Long Time Ago 2 (2016), The Diam Diam Era (2020) and The Diam Diam Era 2 (2021).
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