Ms Purple (2019)
Plot: A karaoke hostess reconnects with her estranged brother, forcing them to enter a period of intense self-reflection as their single father who raised them nears death.
Rating: 4/5
Ok. Don’t let the plot fool you, this film is so much more. This film is about two adult siblings who had to grow up too fast in different ways and for different reasons. This film touches on the subject of a mother abandoning her children for what she believes is a better life without looking back once. This film touches on the subject of abuse and neglect, losing all just to gain some and it is so poignant.
Starting off there is very little monologue, but it works. It brings in the feeling of monotony, the same thing day in, day out, over and over again until you’re living on autopilot the whole time. Kasie (Tiffany Chu) played her role very well. You could see in her eyes that this was not where she wanted to be in life, that the responsibility of taking care of her dying father was dragging her down and the hostess job she works that she subconsciously might find shameful is beginning to slowly suffocate her.
There is a scene where it seems she is made to take drugs, not forced per se, but pressured by the environment. Say ‘No’ to drugs kids, you’re better than that.
When her father’s carer abruptly leaves, Kasie has no other option but to ask her estranged brother, Carey (Teddy Lee), for help as she doesn’t want to put her father into hospice care. As flashbacks have already shown us the mother who ran off when the siblings were little, and the wounds her abandonment left on the family I feel that Kasie see’s this as an opportunity for her to remember and reconnect with her brother.
One of my favourite characters is Octavio (Octavio Pizano), who worked at the same karaoke bar as Kasie as a valet parker. He is clearly interested in Kasie but he has a tendency to come across as creepy in his awkward flirting. He’s cure in a dorky way.
My least favourite on the other hand was Kasie’s boyfriend, Johnny ( Jake Choi), who is rich and entitled. To Johnny, Kasie wasn’t his girlfriend but property, a sex partner and a compliant plus-one and he shows this as much when she refuses his offer of her moving in with him and subsequently insulting her in front of his like-minded friends. His character really rubbed me the wrong way and I just wish Kasie was strong enough to stand up to him.
Carey has some lovely, impulsive moments in the film being unable to tolerate staying cooped up, trundles his father’s hospital bed around town with casual but not unkind disregard for its oblivious occupant.
Oftentimes, sibling relationships on film often ring slightly false. You rarely believe that these people grew up together, were three and four years old together but Chu and Lee are so believable as siblings that "Ms. Purple" just wouldn't work as well as it does without it. There are moments when the cares of their lives fall away, and they start laughing about something from the past, or just go out to get some ice cream.
I would’ve liked it if they had gone more in-depth as to why Carey ran away at 15 and why his relationship with his father was as strained as it was. There was very little backstory regarding that and it would’ve been nice to have that knowledge while watching the film.
There is a lot that I have glossed over in this review, simply because of spoilers and I do think people would benefit from watching this film.
Until next time, CJ signing out.
