My Wonderful Life

The last thing my mother said to me before I boarded a 23-hour flight to the States was, ‘Make a film about me when you are there’,” shared Koh, who created My Wonderful Life to explore the complexities of wanting to be cared for in a world that often takes caregiving for granted, as experienced by the working mothers who often go unseen and unappreciated both at homes and in cinemas.

Even though I’ve been building up a consistent vibe for my films, I believe that each production’s style should be tailored to the story and theme of each film. For My Wonderful Life, it follows the story of a middle-aged Chinese mother in Singapore – just like my own mother – and I wanted to capture the authenticity of that demographic. I took a lot of inspiration from my mom and her friends’ social media pages like the way these aunties edit their photos with Meitu and their love for posting those gaudy stock photo looking “Good Morning” posters.

I also wanted to capture Singapore in its most authentic way, the way I would see it walking home from taking the MRT after a long day at work. With how much of a god-complex over your art the medium of animation gives you, I think there is a tendency for local artists to over beautify Singapore. But the Singapore I know is not aesthetic, it is very utilitarian and full of mismatched corporate-sque, religious or cultural aesthetics – it doesn’t have the same visual coherence as somewhere else like for example Japan where even their manhole covers are embossed with sakura patterns. Instead of shying away from these visual quirks, I wanted to embrace it fully in my film so it feels like home.