Ah Girl Review: A Beautiful, Devastating Story Of Coming Of Age Too Soon [TIFF]

Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla draws on her experiences to craft a beautiful and devastating slice-of-life coming-of-age tale.

Published Sep 11, 2026, 10:35 PM EDT

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People who have spent sustained time being and speaking with children will know that they understand far more than the average adult realizes. If they're particularly observant, comprehending an adult world with a child’s mind can lead them to reach conclusions far beyond their years, and deprive them of being seen, heard, and treated in the way they deserve. In filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla’s beautiful and devastating feature debut Ah Girl, audiences are given the opportunity to experience the harsh realities of the world through the eyes of a young girl with profound emotion, endearment, and humor.

Making its North American premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, Ah Girl takes place in 1990s Singapore and follows its titular character (Ong Xuan Jing), who, at the formative age of seven, enjoys bickering and playing with her little sister Ah Tian (Sydney Wong); selling gum at school behind the teachers’ backs; and catching spiders to impress her little crush. Amid these age-appropriate endeavors, however, are a trio of unreliable and unfeeling caregivers.

Ah Girl’s father (James Seah) and mother (Carrie Wong) are separated, and both appear more absorbed in their respective romantic pursuits than their children. Meanwhile, their grandmother (Doreen Toh) is the antithesis of warm grandmotherly figures like Fa in Mulan or Helga in The Witches. All of this leaves Ah Girl and her brilliantly outspoken personality to try to make sense of difficult familial dynamics without the emotion regulation tools to do so.

Ah Girl Beautifully Captures The Joys Of Childhood

Ah Girl can be best characterized as a slice-of-life coming-of-age tale, both specific in its era and universal in its themes. Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla draws on her experiences growing up to craft a film that authentically captures the confused medley of joy, anxiety, and frustration that defines many a child's upbringing, while existing firmly as a period piece deeply attuned to its cultural context.

Over the course of a year, the precocious Ah Girl experiences the beautiful highs and devastating lows of being a child, taking the audience along for the ride. Geck beautifully conveys the prevailing joy of life that children have: the propensity to, despite instability and hardship all around them, still extract joy from the most unremarkable of situations. It is blissful to witness Ah Girl experience childhood in its purest form, which will hopefully tap into audience members’ own memories of being a kid and having fun figuring out the world.

Those with siblings will find Ah Girl to be particularly moving. The lead character navigates life alongside Ah Tian, her boyish, five-year-old sister, who she is annoyed by and adores in equal measure. The film comes alive and is exceedingly wholesome in depicting how the two young girls support, play with, squabble, and joke around with one another. By the end of the film, viewers will want to hold their sibling tight and not let go, such is the heart Geck and her young performers pack into this relationship.

Ah Girl Tragically Depicts How Children Often Understand Far More Than Adults Realize

Juxtaposing the warmth and sweetness of Ah Girl is an unflinching portrayal of an observant child trying to make sense of a world they can’t fully come to terms with. Thanks to a superb, emotive, and uncannily natural performance from Ong Xuan Jing, Ah Girl deftly conveys just how much its lead character is picking up on through non-verbal cues and body language alone.

She notices when her dad brings yet another woman to the apartment. She notices when her mother doesn’t pay attention to her on family outings. She notices when her grandmother appears fatigued by the responsibilities placed on her shoulders. Xuan Jing has grand shows of emotion in the film, which accurately depict a real-life seven-year-old’s meltdowns, but she equally excels with a quieter form of anguish as she steadily realizes that she is not a priority for any of the adults in her life.

In being anchored by such an organic, stirring lead performance, Ah Girl delivers a number of palpable emotional blows over the course of its 99-minute runtime. Certain developments in her life are particularly gut-wrenching, and even difficult to watch, which reflects the emotional investment both Geck and Xuan Jing earn in the young protagonist’s journey.

Ah Girl Offers A Healing Messaging All Need To Hear

Geck embeds touching messages parents need to hear. The former are likely to benefit from seeing a movie that does not sensationalize bad caregivers by depicting overt displays of physical abuse and neglect. One does not need to engage in such behaviors to let their children down; Geck shines a spotlight on how, even if a child is provided for, goes to school, has a roof over their head, is given toys to play with, and has food on the table, there is far more to parenting.

Even more poignant, however, is her ability to directly address adults still reckoning with their troubled childhoods. Despite the challenges and confusion facing Ah Girl throughout the film, Geck ultimately converges on a message championing that all children deserve to be seen and loved. There is something strangely healing about the film in its validation of the deleterious effects of upbringings not traditionally classified as abusive. Self-love, self-worth, and self-efficacy resonate strongly in this raw and exceedingly endearing coming-of-age journey.

Ah Girl screened at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.

Cast

• 

  Xuan Jing Ong

  Ah Girl / Ang Swee Swee Eileen

• Sydney Wong

  Ah Tian / Adelene