12 Lotus

12 Lotus charts the life of Lian Hua, a young girl with big dreams, despite her humble beginnings. Inspired by a beautiful singer playing Guan Yin (pop star Stefanie Sun in a cameo), Lian Hua resolves to become a getai singer when she grows up. Getai is a popular form of entertainment held only during the Seventh Lunar Month in Singapore. During this Ghost Festival, there are stage performances in various suburbs where singers don wildly colorful costumes and sing classic Hokkien songs, all to entertain the spirits. Lian Hua’s favorite song happens to be “12 Lotus,” which chronicles in twelve verses the tragic tale of a girl’s life.

As the film unfolds, we begin to see how that song loosely parallels Lian Hua’s own life, as the lyrics end up serving as the de facto plot structure for the film itself.