A Fleeting Moment
2018 · 17m · Singapore
Directed by Jeth Heng
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Entrapped by memories of a decade lost to them, two ex-lovers meet by chance in the Taiwanese town where their relationship once began. Time seems to have stopped, granting them a brief opportunity to revisit what might have been.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's a romance that refuses the reunion climax—just two people in a mist, talking around what matters, the opposite of catharsis. Bold move to make restraint the whole point, though I'm not convinced the premise earns that much withholding.
Heng situates this squarely in the lineage of Wong Kar-wai's romantic suspense and Hou Hsiao-hsien's durational melancholy, executing the 2.35:1 widescreen like a formal argument about distance and framing—the bilingual register adds a considered complexity to what could've been sentimental.
The decision to hold the camera still and let the mist do the emotional work instead of cutting toward revelation is what transforms a premise about nostalgia into something genuinely unsettling—Heng trusts the landscape more than the actors, and it lands.
Reviews
Award winning Singaporean filmmaker Jeth Heng's short film 'A Fleeting Moment' is a heartwarming ode to everlasting love.
Festivals
- Viddsee Juree Awards Singapore 2019
- Stockholm City Film Festival 2020
- Independent Film Awards London 2021