Tion Bahru Social Club

Synopsis

For her 30th birthday, Ah Bee’s mother gives her a membership to the Tiong Bahru Social Club, a planned community of cakes and positivity dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. However, is this a realistic goal that a ready-made, algorithm-driven microcosm of society can safely achieve? While Ah Bee initially conforms to the club’s homogenized rules of conduct, genuine thoughts and emotions begin to seep through, questioning the ideal of the group. Writer-director Tan Bee Thiam’s insightful and whimsical world-building poses deep existential questions against a gleefully imaginative backdrop, where the creeping shadow of artificiality may, indeed, point to enlightenment.