A Mild Case of Mass Hysteria

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In 1967, a curious phenomenon has Singapore in its vice-like grip. Over 500 men end up in hospitals seeking treatment for a phantom condition—their manhood is shrinking.

Welcome to the koro epidemic, when real men go to great lengths to recover their virility—or what they thought they had lost.

Against this backdrop are three young men dealing with the mass hysteria. There is Su Tang, a newbie gangster operating in Chinatown. He falls in love with Yin, a hooker who belongs to Ang Hor Tiap, the only all-women gang known in Singapore. But she rebuffs his advances.

There is Wee Tiong, a young doctor recently returned from his medical studies in the UK. Yet to come out of his closet, he struggles to live up to his mother’s wishes for him to find a nice girl to settle down with before her death.

And there is James Yang, a young layabout conscripted into the army. Resentful of the regimented life at first, he finds his purpose in the machismo of guns and drills.

Comic and relatable, A Mild Case of Mass Hysteria explores how their lives – reflective of the different classes in Singapore – pan out in a young country which, too, has hang-ups about its shortcomings.