Tiong Bahru Social Club

Thirty-year-old Ah Bee (Thomas Pang) has landed his dream job: becoming the new Happiness Agent at the Tiong Bahru Social Club in Singapore. The club is a community of aging people and their caregivers who have one job: to ensure that their clients spend the rest of their lives in maximum happiness. They are helped in this task by artificial intelligence that can assess what will make a person happier. Tan Bee Thiam’s directorial debut is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s films with its symmetrical, colourful visual stylisation. Beneath the welcoming visuals, however, lies a satire with sci-fi elements that reflects on society’s attitude towards lonely pensioners and the trust with which we entrust modern technology with our personal information. (Future Gate)