This review of Tiger Stripes is thanks to an exclusive invitation from Modern Films for Voice ESEA to watch the film at HOME in Manchester. If you have a show, event, book or film coming out that you’d like a unique review on from my perspective, please don’t hesitate to contact me for details.
While Turning Red addressed the topics of female teenage puberty in a very light PG way masked by double meanings, Tiger Stripes takes no shame in being very upfront in its tackling of the often taboo subject. Both films are similar in that their leading characters struggle to come to terms with their changing and growing bodies, but Tiger Stripes polarises the caricaturistic cuteness of the red panda with that of the animalistic tiger, full of rage and fervour.
Amanda Nell Eu’s directorial debut won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And it’s easy to see why. The film, set in rural Malaysia, tells the tale of rebellious 12-year-old Zaffan who is the first pupil in her class to reach puberty. Alongside some universally common symptoms like acne and mood swings and those of periods such as menstrual cramps and bleeding, she also starts to experience rashes all over her body, her hair falling out, fingernails coming off, heightened senses, and… whiskers.
Zaffan’s schoolmates, including her supposedly best friends Farah and Mariam, begin to ostracise her as they fear what could happen to her by reading about “experiences” on the internet. They also make fun of Zaffan for peeing herself in class and “smelling bad”. At home, her mother is also worried, wondering why Zaffan is so angry and has started covering up her body more – including her hands and feet – rather than completely derobing her conservative Muslim attire as she used to prefer to.
But in slowly more sinister turns of events, Zaffan becomes more animal-like as time goes on, which interferes with her daily and school life and she soon begins to isolate herself from the school bullies. As her behaviour and outbursts of violence soon draw attention from the other girls, teachers, her family and the other villagers, there is concern that she needs exorcising and a “specialist doctor” is called in to try and help. Ultimately, it is not so much about a curse Zaffan must endure for what’s happening to her, but her change into a “monster” is reflective of other people’s perceptions of her, says Eu. Her “friends” consider her “dirty” and a “slut” and her parents start growing afraid of her too.
Tiger Stripes is a fierce and fearless coming-of-age film that retells the stories of people uncontrollably becoming animals – often triggered by emotions – and in this case, a were-tiger, and is also based on Malaysian and Southeast Asian folklore. But although much of the characters’ behaviours and mindsets stem from a very traditional Asian – and specifically Malay – society, the film itself is relatable and appealing to all audiences on several levels. From the feeling of reaching an age where your body changes and you don’t know what’s happening to the unexplainable times of erratic vexation, and from the experiences of being made to feel like you don’t belong to those when you want to fit in, Tiger Stripes’ story about alienation should alienate no-one who loves a good suspenseful, dramatic horror-thriller. For example, as someone whose family hail from Malaysia but doesn’t identify as Malaysian and is not of Malay ethnicity, nor identifies as female, does the film alienate me? Absolutely not. We have all been through puberty and many have been through times like the aforementioned, therefore can all at least empathise with Zaffan’s story; the pressure, the fear, and the acceptance of ourselves and our beings.
And despite being award-winning and critically-acclaimed, the film was ironically but unsurprisingly heavily censored in Malaysia due to its depictions and mentions of periods, sex, and “shameful” actions of Zaffan, who consistently defies the Muslim idea of female modesty. Thankfully though, Tiger Stripes can be watched in its full glory and gory in the UK at cinemas listed here.
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