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Art and Life

In Sepet, Orked says, "Every Malay is lazy."

hahaha.Who couldn't agree more? Is it because they embrace the fact that makes it so much harder to change their mindset?

I know it's a tad bit old. I just started watching Yasmin Ahmad's films. Well, in my house you don't get much Malay movies. I've seen a few Malay movies and not many are worth my money nor to be deemed watchable, sadly. However, for a local film, Yasmin Ahmad's movies are a class of their own.

There is a sense of 'art' in which each scene is captured. It feels a lot more 'real' than other Malay movies. It is not superficial like other Malay movies, where they always capture KL life, polished homes, even some of the rumah papan looks so fake. The diversity in language and culture portrayed as well as the use of music from different ethnicities, it makes it all the more interesting. Another fact that I liked it is a lot of use of English. ngee~

Orked's character is engaging. There was one scene in Sepet she was at a party, but she was wearing baju kurung, I mean, seriously la, who goes to late night parties wearing baju kurung? But with a touch of Yasmin Ahmad, it seems acceptable. Orked pulled it off. Her character's personality is convincing, and she's far from the streotypical Malay movies characters. She's got SPUNK. She breathes life into the story. Sharifah Amani is to Yasmin Ahmad like Johnny Depp is to Tim Burton.

The characters are interesting and well-developed and very colorful. A troubled Chinese guy who comes from a broken family and gets into all sorts of messy situations, but writes poetry. A Malay-speaking Nyonya in a Mandarin-speaking household. I still don't get how Yam the supposedly orang gaji have so much 'authority' over her employers. So far I've only watched Gubra and Sepet. The plots are very simple. They are just a story about life, but the execution was unconventional, for a local film lah. It's not a cutboard cutout, and although you can sometimes predict what is going to happen, but you are still entertained and you just let the movie take you for the ride. I have yet to watch Muhsin, Talentime and Muallaf. Well, they're available on DVD, I haven't bought them yet.
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Unknown said…
talentime best!
5:56 AM
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