TIFF 09: AT THE END OF DAYBREAK Review

If it seems like the sort of story that could happen in real life, that's because it is. Pulled from actual headlines, Rain Dogs director Ho Yuhang returns with At The End Of Daybreak, a story of class division and aimless youth leading ultimately to large scale tragedy. Filled with the sort of attention to detail and character that made Rain Dogs such a favourite Daybreak also expands Ho's palette, the film taking the first steps into the crime genre that the director loves.

Twenty three year old Tuck Chai is a likable enough sort. The only child of a lower class single mother, Tuck Chai has settled into a bland sort of existence. Education is not an option on their budget, his prospects for advancement non-existent, and rather than railing against his circumstances, Tuck Chai has simply embraced the status quo. He spends his days helping out in his mother's shop, his nights riding his motorcycle and shooting pool with his like-minded friends. He may move along eventually but for now, this is enough. Though he may chafe somewhat at his mother's constant attention and over-fondness for alcohol, Tuck Chai is basically content to simply drift along the path of least resistance.

The one exception to this rule of Tuck Chai's life is Ying, the teenage daughter of a wealthy high school principal who Tuck Chai is secretly dating. Much like Tuck Chai, Ying is also mostly just drifting along through her life although the waters she drifts in are considerably more affluent.

Life is fine. Life is good. Until the day comes that Ying's parents find the birth control pills she has hidden in her bedroom and realize that their daughter - only fifteen years old - is sexually active. And not active with just anyone, not with a boy of her own age and class, but with a lower class boy eight years her senior. Things are about to turn very bleak indeed ...

Filled with characters both immediately recognizable and deeply flawed - Tuck Chai's mother, beautifully played by Shaw Brothers veteran Kara Hui, is arguably the purest soul of the lot despite being a serious alcoholic - At The End Of Daybreak captures these people in all of their fragility and self-absorption. Had Tuck Chai has nobody but himself and his lack fo good sense to blame for his situation but, of course, he instead looks to everyone else. Ying, for her part, proves to be as callow as most fifteen year olds of any gender, her attraction to Tuck Chai based almost purely on the fact that the relationship was hidden and forbidden, the appeal quickly wearing off once the going gets tough. And Ying's parents? Perhaps the most heartless of them all.

Opening with a truly shocking piece of foreshadowing sure to get any and all friends of PETA up in arms, At The End Of The Day proves once again why fans of arthouse film have been looking to Malaysia for the past several years. Director Ho Yuhang is one of the Malaysian indie film movement's brightest lights, blessed with a keen eye and an uncanny sense for human nature. Though At The End Of Daybreak doesn't seem to have quite the same lingering resonance as did Rain Dogs it is, nevertheless, one very fine piece of work.