CLAUSTROPHOBIA

• fcxs

  13 Apr 09, 18:16

  CLAUSTROPHOBIA

  

  Love is a virus. It incubates silently. It strikes suddenly. It's favourite breeding ground is small, crowded, claustrophobic spaces such as an office.
  
  Pearl (Karena Lam), a marketing executive in her twenties, found herself being drawn closer and closer to Tom (Ekin Cheng), her married-with-kids boss. She has been working for him for quite some time and Tom is ever so gentle and kind. Is this love? Pearl ponders. If so, is the feeling mutual? How and when did a normal working relationship gradually evolve into something romantic? What should she do now? The anxiety is becoming unbearable...

  Rating: TBA

  Official Website: http://www.festivefilms.com/claustrophobia/

  Opens 23 April 2009.

• kunitada

  6 May 09, 18:31

  http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/reviews/view/427277/1/.html

  Happily trapped
  By Mayo Martin, TODAY | Posted: 06 May 2009 1243 hrs

  	Photos 1 of 1

  RATING:

   

  SINGAPORE : On the surface, "Claustrophobia" can be summed up as a light-hearted story about an illicit office romance between secretary Pearl (played by the lovely Karena Lam) and boss Tom (Ekin Cheng).
  
  But in the assured, calculated hands of Hong Kong director and writer Ivy Ho, all the possible dramatic moments are skimmed off and what we’re left with is the mundane - and it’s an approach that’s disarmingly effective.
  
  The narrative unravels in reverse episodic moments, giving you a glimpse into how this relationship came about and grew, while at the same time introducing you to their colourful colleagues in a tightly cramped office environment - or inside Tom’s small car during carpool.
  
  But you won’t be rewarded with an earth-shaking revelation in the end and there are no full-blown scenes anywhere.
  
  This is more of a grower that leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination - Lam plays a darling looking lost, but you barely get to know her. In fact, the movie hardly scratches the surface of all its characters, but Ho does it so even-handedly and consistently that it’s almost a challenge for the audience to piece together the story.
  
  Impatient viewers may feel a sensation of panic or being trapped watching a film that seemingly goes nowhere and provides no singular pivotal reward at the end. But we were left feeling a sense of giddiness that only small, charming day-to-day life incidents can offer. - TODAY