Annette Lee is very serious about comedy

Winning over a Singaporean audience can be hard. Even a familiar face like Annette Lee – who would be instantly recognisable to any Singaporean on social media – is experiencing first-hand just how critical locals can be.

“It’s a really weird experience,” she tells me over lunch in a bustling Cantonese restaurant.

A large part of Annette’s body of work lives on social media. The 34-year-old is best known – some would say beloved – for her rotating cast of kooky characters such as Aunty Susan and Chantelle in her hyper-local skits. Then there’s The Caifan Song, a comedy duet she did with Benjamin Kheng that quickly went viral (in a good way). Her social media content has always been well-received. She’s even produced branded skits for clients like Marriott Bonvoy, the Republic of Singapore Air Force, Kerastase, and more.

When Annette graced our cover five years ago, she’d already made a name for herself as a multihyphenate: actor, singer-songwriter, social media personality. Today, she adds one more title to the mantle – filmmaker.

Back in May, her debut film Dream Stall premiered in theatres across Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. In the two and a half weeks since, Annette has been dealing with a wave of feedback: some good, some bad.

“I’m getting essays in my DMs. People are giving me a critical analysis on the film, and their thoughts about it. And then there are whole articles written about a singular piece of work [I’ve] made,” she shares candidly.

“There’s just so much discourse… that I’m still getting used to.”

A SUPPORTIVE VILLAGE

What’s striking about Annette’s road to her first feature film is just how many notable names in local cinema and entertainment have rallied behind her.

The first push came from an unlikely moment. She was at a work event when Anthony Chen – the Singapore filmmaker who took home the Camera d’Or at Cannes with his debut feature Ilo Ilo (2013) – suggested she consider directing a comedy. It planted a seed.

Then there’s Mark Lee, who in recent years has been proving his chops as a dramatic actor in films such as Wonderland and Number 1. When he heard Annette was making a movie, he reached out immediately.

“I’m eternally grateful for Mark,” she says. She recounts how he grilled her on why she wanted to embark on this project. Her answer was earnest – this is a story she wanted to tell.

“And he was like, ‘That’s good. If you’re doing this for money, I wouldn’t want to help.’” she recalls. “He feels like you have to do it for the right reasons.”

In Dream Stall, Mark plays the father of Annette’s character Enya. The story is set in motion when he decides to shut down their family-run bak kut teh stall.

Annette also held an open casting call for the film and, true to form, promoted it with a skit that cheekily called out Jack Neo in the process. “Making movies in Singapore is a loss-making venture… unless you’re Jack Neo,” went one punchline. “I kind of want to beat Jack Neo at the box office,” she quipped, with characteristic audacity. Annette is quick to point out that it was all in good fun.

As luck would have it, Jack saw it – and responded. “I’m willing to help you to support you. In anywhere except money,” he replied in a reaction video. In the same breath, the Cultural Medallion recipient also lamented the lack of new talent in local filmmaking, and said he was glad to see someone who was willing to try. His support eventually materialised in the form of a brief but memorable cameo as a greedy landlord angling to replace the bak kut teh stall with a mala hotpot restaurant.

Which brings us back to today. During the film’s opening week, Annette famously offered moviegoers a refund if they felt it had “wasted their time”. At the time of our interview, only one person had taken her up on it. Annette confesses that some of the feedback she’s received has caused her to shed tears – though not always for the reasons you’d expect.

One viewer wrote to say that they understood how much courage it took to make the film, and that they hoped it would inspire their children to pursue their own dreams just as boldly, in a place like Singapore. “That was one long message that really got me,” she recalls.

Another response that hit close to home came from fellow filmmaker Chai Yee Wei, director of Wonderland. After reading a particularly harsh review of Dream Stall, he took to Facebook with a lengthy post imploring Singaporeans to stop “sh*tting on each other”, and to stop measuring local films against foreign ones as a way of deciding whether they’re “good”.

He wrote that while it isn’t Citizen Kane, it is the “best Singaporean-made film in this sliver of Singaporean history. It is the best Singaporean film made this month. This week. Today”.

It was a take that Annette really appreciated. “It was very moving, the fact that he stood up for me when he really didn’t have to,” she adds.

THE JOY OF CREATING

I bring up the casting call skit and jokingly ask if she has done the two things she set out to do: Turn a profit, and beat Jack Neo at the box office.

“When the movie first came out, journalists would ask if I had a box office number in mind. And I’m always like ‘No, I’m not even thinking about that’,” she says, almost bemused by the question. Given that the film is still in theatres, she doesn’t have figures to share. What she will say is that Dream Stall was made on a budget of almost $1 million, cobbled together from government funding, investors, sponsors and her own pocket.

“We’re so obsessed with winning in this country, like top box office, top this, top that,” she continues. “And we forget that the biggest win is being able to just enjoy what we do.”

It’s a sentiment that feels very Annette – and one that becomes even clearer when she talks about the experience of making the film. She visibly lights up.

One of the best parts, she says, was getting to work with actors. For most of her career, she’s been a one-woman show – writing, performing, and switching between characters that are all played by her. I ask if it feels like she’s just talking to herself all the time.

She nods vigorously. “Yes! I don’t like it, and I can’t do complicated shots or blocking because of that.”

Dream Stall was, in that sense, a long-overdue creative exhale. As a writer, director and actor, she finally had a full crew around her, and she found herself constantly in awe of them. Watching her director of photography frame a shot. Hearing her film scorer shift the emotional temperature of an entire scene.

“I love watching creative people do creative things, and be good at it. It’s very beautiful to watch,” she gushes.

THE SHOW GOES ON

At this point in the conversation, I bring up Annette’s wedding anniversary, which falls during the week of our interview. Her husband, 36-year-old hedge fund manager Raphael Foo, is seated right beside her. I ask how they’re celebrating nine years of marriage. The two of them exchange a look, a sheepish expression creeping across both their faces as they slowly realise they haven’t actually made plans – their schedules have been too packed since the film’s opening.

“We were thinking of a really short trip... We’ll figure it out,” Annette concedes, Raphael nodding in agreement. It’s a rare quiet moment for a couple juggling careers, a film’s aftermath, and a 3.5-year-old son at home.

In July, Annette begins filming a new project that’s still firmly under wraps. All she’ll say is that it’s in English, and set across Singapore and Jakarta. She’s also writing an on-screen adaptation of a book by a local author. For someone who just made her directorial debut and is still in the thick of processing its reception, she doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

So for those rooting for Annette: No, the noise hasn’t scared her off. If anything, she seems to have made her peace with it. “I feel like I’m fully letting go of the film now,” she reflects. “I always try to remind myself that a piece of work is just a piece of work. It’s not my whole life.”

It’s a remarkably grounded thing to say for someone who put nearly everything into making it. But then again – that’s very Annette.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ZANTZ HAN
CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING: LENA KAMARUDIN ASSISTED BY: CHARIS GAN
ART DIRECTION: RAY TICSAY
HAIR: GREGO
GROOMING: LASALLE LEE, USING DIOR BEAUTY
MANICURE: REBECCA ZHUANG/ FLUTTERY TIPS