One of many terrible phrases coined in Britain during its long, foundational Victorian era was “too clever by half.” The term originally described a person whose intelligence was their downfall (think: a classic Greek god). In the years since its creation, it’s been more widely used to describe a person whose sheer smarts mean they ought not to be trusted (think: Scar from “The Lion King”). The term, and its problematic use, certainly apply to the star of “Tiger Stripes”: Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal), a 12-year-old girl whose rural Malaysian village seems far too small and parochial for the scale of her wild wit and personality.
In Amanda Nell Eu’s film, Zaffan soon becomes the ringleader of a band of unlikely rebels, including Farah (Deena Ezral) and introvert Piqa (Mariam), just as changes in her body remind her she won’t just be one of the kids that much longer. That makes her something of a trendsetter at her small religious school; it also means she’s alone in what she’s going through. Her anxious mom (Jun Lojong) and emotionally absent dad (Khairunazwan Rodzy) are not much help. And her teachers are actively unhelpful: Zaffan is told to “hold it in” during one difficult moment, leading to a public embarrassment that only worsens her sense of isolation — and challenges the “innocence” that her school deems so important.
Writer-director Nell Eu has talked about her own fears while confronting puberty without proper sex education — who could possibly think that’s a good idea? — and that she wanted to illustrate the “monster” that Zaffan is led to believe she is. “Tiger Stripes” does just that. As the pressures of home and school continue to pile up, Zaffan’s biological changes ramp up. She grows whiskers and claws. (Her feistiness, mind you, needs no reinforcement.) Cue what “Tiger Stripes” is really about, and we’re in for quite a ride.
It’s a slight shame that it takes us so long to get there, which limits just how long Zaffan gets to do the fun stuff. That elongated first act might be because Nell Eu feels she has to show us what preteen life in rural Malaysia is like, or that she wants “Tiger Stripes” to seem like less of a B-movie. Neither particularly matter. In fact, her premise is pretty close to ideal for a Gen Z-friendly B-movie (Z-movie?). And “Tiger Stripes” is certainly in touch with what girls like Zaffan, Farah, and Piqa are going through. They spend recess filming each other doing TikTok dances, of course. That also taps into what the girls’ Malay parents and teachers fear is happening to their country, particularly as secular Chinese pupils seem to be hogging the highest grades, the school headmistress (Fatimah Abu Bakar) complains.
Nell Eu’s use of TikTok isn’t just a metaphor. Much of “Tiger Stripes” is shot on phones, a conceit that’s used cleverly when the girls are hanging out or when we’re supposed to see members of the public filming Zaffan during a violent outburst. (We journalists call that sort of thing user-generated content, and it’s never used for good reasons.) The phone footage is a handy way for Nell Eu and Spanish cinematographer Jimmy Gimferrer to be creative on a tight budget.
That challenge becomes a little more apparent once Zaffan’s bloodlust begins: the practical effects in “Tiger Stripes” aren’t exactly “American Werewolf in London,” but its cute visual trickery does work pretty well. In full tiger mode, Zaffan bounds up trees (something the rest of her species admittedly isn’t known to do) with an almost stop-motion quality. That sort of thing might go down really well at TIFF’s Midnight Madness, for example, but higher-brow audiences in Cannes could be a little fussier.
Despite those shortcomings, “Tiger Stripes” is a well-made, eminently watchable illustration of the “monster” that so many young girls are told to see themselves as. And with a crackdown on education now taking place in many parts of America, it’s rage-inducingly timely for an unlikely audience, too. Farah’s own journey, from a pal who has plenty to learn from Zaffan’s bravery and smarts, to a zealot and bully who leads a “kill the beast!” movement among her classmates, is a pretty striking allegory for how oppressive social conservatives can, and do, go on to run the world.
But with its use of body horror taking a backseat just when it might have worked best, Nell Eu is seemingly reluctant to make a B-movie, having written a script that could make for a fantastic one. That makes “Tiger Stripes” good, rather than great. It just might just be too clever by half.
Grade: C+
“Tiger Stripes” premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
