Children are more observant than we give them credit for, especially when daily routines and relationships shift. This is depicted with frank honesty in Ah Girl, the feature directorial debut of Ang Geck Geck Priscilla.
Set in Singapore in 1994, Ang uses her charmingly awkward protagonist, a seven-year-old child, to navigate the complicated realities of being caught between two separated parents who sometimes act more immaturely than the child at the center of the film. In its simplicity, Ah Girl gives a well-deserved voice to the children of divorce.
The film focuses on seven-year-old Eileen Ang Swee Swee (Ong Xuan Jing), who is incredibly strong-willed and unafraid to be herself, even rejecting the English name her tour guide mother (Carrie Wong) gave her at the beginning of the film. She has a crush on a boy in her class and illegally sells gum on campus, and things seem pretty normal.
Ah Girl offers an honest, subtly uncomfortable portrayal of divorce and its impact on children.
However, her home life is complicated. Swee Swee and her little sister, Ah Tian (Sydney Wong), find themselves in a battle of sorts between their divorced parents, with neither person wholly available emotionally or physically to play the parental role.
More often than not, their grandmother (Doreen Toh) has to step in to care for the children, and rather than explain what’s happening during this transitional period in everyone’s lives, the adults in Swee Swee’s life are more comfortable lying and talking around things than meeting the child head-on.
This almost leisurely paced glimpse into this child’s world is refreshing in how it handles the delicate balancing act of its subject matter. Close-up shots of Ong Xuan Jing’s face invite intimacy, putting the viewer at eye level with her. By contrast, the adults are shot in an almost towering way, emphasizing the distance between child and adult and the feeling of being looked down on. As Swee Swee becomes more aware of the changing dynamics in her life, this distance becomes even more oppressive.
Ong Xuan Jing shines as Swee Swee in Ah Girl.
This does not mean that the adults in Ah Girl are painted in an entirely poor light. They are imperfect, yes, but Ang Geck Geck Priscilla preserves the good as well through effective direction on the page and performances by Carrie Wong and James Seah.
However, a bittersweetness forms as Swee Swee’s parents try to move on with their lives, with the children becoming a hindrance. As Swee Swee slowly realizes things will never truly be the same again, Ong Xuan Jing’s performance makes it hard not to empathize.
Ah Girl is truly a tableau of Ong Xuan Jing’s potential. A pitfall that child actors often fall into is a stilted, unnatural delivery of dialogue and movement. Through Ang’s capable handling of both child actors here, there is never a doubt about what’s going on, and Ong Xuan Jing, in particular, shines.
These are normal kids reacting to an abnormal situation. As the observant Swee Swee, Ong Xuan Jing perfectly portrays a child who is just trying to figure out what’s going on while adults continue to try to pretend everything is okay and fail at it.
For those families who no longer fit an ideal, it can be an isolating experience.
What emerges is a loneliness that steadily changes Swee Swee. Even as she maintains a sense of hope and childlike joy, parading around the living room or trying to impress her crush at school, no one she can talk to about her home life.
That’s what makes the film’s final moments so startling. Not just in its subtle ambiguity, but in how much Swee Swee has changed herself. It’s a slow, creeping tide until suddenly, she’s not the Swee Swee we were introduced to at the beginning of Ah Girl.
As a feature directorial debut, Ah Girl is a strong outing for Ang Geck Geck Priscilla. The storytelling speaks volumes in its subtle attention to detail and handling of complicated subject matter.
Rather than focusing on the parents, Ang’s decision to focus on the children caught in the middle shines a light on the most vulnerable people affected, who might otherwise be hushed out of conversation. Ong Xuan Jing’s performance brings it all together, delivering a performance that will be talked about for quite some time.
Ah Girl played as part of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. It has no theatrical release date yet.
Ah Girl
9/10
TL;DR
As a feature directorial debut, Ah Girl is a strong outing for Ang Geck Geck Priscilla. The storytelling speaks volumes in its subtle attention to detail and handling of complicated subject matter.