He is married to Siew Luan (Alice Lim), a housewife who likes to brew liang teh (herbal tea) for the family.

Poh Huat has a habit of buying lottery tickets in hope of winning and enjoying a better life.

To fund his overseas studies, he had to borrow extra money from his fiancée, Irene (Serene Chen), who stays with Seng's parents.

Her husband, Chin Keong (Lim Yu-Beng), quit his job in the Singapore Armed Forces a month before and is now selling insurance, though unsuccessfully.

Mei vents her anger on Chin Keong, who shows his displeasure by throwing the carton of drinks on the floor and storming off.

Back at the funeral, Mei realizes that S$500 has gone missing from the pek kim,[c] and wrongly accuses her Filipino maid, Pinky, of stealing the money.

A beer girl from Mainland China approaches him at his table to talk to him, and Chin Keong ends up confiding his worries about life.

It is revealed that Poh Huat's will has been found (made before either of them are born): he had left all his assets to his wife Siew Luan.

At the movie's end, Siew Luan hands some money over to Poh Huat's mistress and illegitimate son in a show of benevolence, and leaves Seng.

In a podcast with mrbrown, Woo explained the typical reader response was "How is it that I now have a house, I now have a car, a job, why I am still unhappy?"

[12] It was also the first collaboration between Singaporean and New York film-makers; the Director of photography Martina Radwan, editor Rachel Kittner and sound designer Paul Hsu were based in New York, along with the production staff, while composer Sydney Tan was based in Singapore.

[2][5] Filming began in August 2005,[13] with the scenes in the house shot in an actual 3-room HDB flat in a bid for authenticity.

The team also had to endure heat and stuffy conditions, especially during the scene in which the family shared steamboat in the living room.

[2] In an attempt at authenticity and realism, the producers allowed the characters speak in a mix of Hokkien, English and Mandarin, in the typical Singaporean manner.

The film would later be subtitled in English and Mandarin during post-production so that the audience would be able to understand the characters' lexicon without knowing how the average Singaporean speaks.

Colin Goh and Steven Chin, the assistant director, also had to take the unusual step of staging a fight to distract curious passers-by and prevent them from gathering round when they were shooting a certain scene.

[15] Among the guests were public figures including president Sellapan Ramanathan and wife, Foreign Minister George Yeo and Opposition Member of Parliament Chiam See Tong.

[19] The producers were initially concerned about the small independent film lasting in the cinemas with the influx of American blockbusters.

The last print advertisement appeared in local newspapers on 16 September 2006, the tenth day after the release of the film.

[21][22][23] The producers also appeared on 6 September 2006 release of the mrbrown show and, in a 31-minute podcast, shared with the audience the production of the film.

The "specialized" tag means that, as The Straits Times explains, "they focus on a particular aspect of film or film-making".

[38] From the fourth week onwards to the end of the film's theatrical run, it ceased to appear in Singapore's top ten charts.

According to Lin, unlike the excessively preachy Singaporean film I Not Stupid, Singapore Dreaming was impressive in its ability to weave life lessons into the plot and cinematography.

[43] It comprises various songs and tunes that were featured in the movie, most of which were composed by the music director for the film, Sydney Tan.

Lin Wenqi points out that the song's last phrase, "I was fooled, for it was just the wind", paralleled the characters Poh Huat and Seng's fruitless pursuit of material wealth.

[41] The song was later adopted as the opening theme, and the character Siew Luan would hum it again as the film concludes, this time more wistfully as she would recount the days when she was young.

As Moviexclusive describes Sydney Tan's score, "the […] use of pianos and strings is complemented by the occasional wistful accompaniments of the traditional erhu, adding the essential 'Asian touch' to the music.

"[43] According to Woo, during auditions for the film, several young actors wept upon hearing the song, which reminded them of their youth and parents.

[41] The film's soundtrack also includes two songs by the local band Ronin, "Black Maria" and "Memories".

The tune was rearranged by Sydney Tan and performed by Nicole Lai, with lyrics in Chinese by Ng King Kang.