A Broken Wok

A Broken Wok, a Malaysian family drama by Bruce Allsman

Freelance writer, Lim Siew Bee, a single mother with her eight-year-old son, Jason, lives next door to Madam Ong, an octogenarian living alone in single story link house. One morning, upon returning home from sending her son to school, Siew Bee hears a cry for help next door and she goes over to check. She finds the old lady, clad in a sarong lying on the floor just outside the bathroom, groaning in pain, unable to get up. The incident marks the beginning of her relationship with the octogenarian that lasts until the old lady's inevitable demise several weeks later. During the wake, Siew Bee learns the cause of the old lady's unfortunate circumstances and realizes that for this dysfunctional family, filial piety is dead in the age of consumerism.