The recent (and still ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface lots of anxieties, not only directly linked to our health, but also – in a more insidious way – generically about “the others”, fuelling distrust and, in the worst of cases, prejudice. It is a slippery slope and in this regard, the short film “Dear New Neighbour” by Anshul Tiwari of FilmsPositive is a gentle but assertive cautionary tale.
The story follows middle-aged taxi driver Adam (Kiah Lim Cheng) and his family. It’s February 2020 and the DORSCON (Disease Outbreak Response System Condition) in Singapore has gone from yellow to orange and the containment measures are becoming stricter. Adam has chosen to stop working and stay at home, moaning and groaning about the situation, for his wife Molly’s (Peggy Tan) distress. Being a self employed, for him it’s relatively easy having a work break, but his daughter Lilian (Eshter Leong) is a schoolteacher, a key worker, and she needs to go to work every day, causing more anxiety to Adam. He fears for his health and refuses to have any interaction or go out of the house and when new kind neighbour Josh (Fish Chaar) arrives next door, he doesn’t take it well, especially when he sees him being friendly with Lilian and exchanging welcome gifts.
One day, coming back from a quick trip to the grocer, Adam feels suddenly sick and faints. When he recovers consciousness, he learns that some kind soul has saved his life taking him to the hospital. The shock will make Adam realise that his bigotry and fear had altered his perception of reality.
Beyond the over-explored subject of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are lots of good reasons to like this 17-min educational film. First of all, it perfectly nails the little obsessions we all have recently experienced in different forms, from the confusion about what it’s really dangerous and what it’s just a construct of our fearful mind, to the well-known shortage of toilet roll. Moreover, it stresses the point that it is necessary to fight against gut-fears and maintain a rational reasoning, analysing carefully our negative perceptions. It is a concept that can be applied also to different kind of preconceptions, like genre or ethnicity, making this tale significant even out of its COVID-19 contest. Few times Adam mentions the common sense, something of an intangible notion that has been often invoked by people and governments around the globe in the last few months, but he also shows us how easy is to lose it. Last but not least, “Dear New Neighbour” is a heartfelt and very deserved homage to the key workers and health workers across the World and their community work.
The quality of the movie is crisp and luminous; it is also well acted and staged. The direction looks confident following the well-constructed narrative (also by Anshul Tiwari). “Dear New Neighbour” is a very good sample of purposeful social storytelling.
