Angsty Potter

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is without a doubt the best Potter movie of the 5 released thus far.

David Yates directed this one, and it’s his first time helming a Harry Potter flick. i havent seen any of his work prior to this, and because the directors of previous Potter movies were highly disappointing (sigh yes even Cuaron), i didnt expect too much out of this one.

but i was won over within the first minute of the movie! Yates’ style is clearly quite different from those of the previous movies, and it was lovely to indulge in that gorgeous indie mood at the beginning of the movie. i was just so wowed by the playground scene and the Dursley’s living room scene; they were shot in such a down-to-earth and simplistic manner, and really showed how bleak and uncolorful the Muggle world is compared to the wizarding world.

and then when the movie phased into Hogwarts and the wizarding world! oh my god! what is not to love about those broomstick scenes where they flew across London in the night! and when Mr Weasley brought Harry to the Ministry of Magic via the phonebooth! they were totally fabulous displays of cinematography and special effects, and a fantastic segueing into the grandiosity of the sets and scenes to come.

i thought the screenplay was actually not bad. it is only to be expected that many things will be omitted from the book, and i think they did a pretty good job of compressing a 700something-page book into a 2hr 20minute movie. the plot was intact and easy to follow, without making the audience feel like they were being led by the hand. key events like Ron and Hermione being made prefect (and thus alienating Harry even further) were plucked out, but the point to get across here was that Harry felt alone, and they tied up that loose end nicely with the conversation between him and Luna.

ooh, Luna! the girl who played her got the loopy airyness down to a perfect 10. i’ve been hearing so much about how she’s fantastic and born to play Luna Lovegood, but i didnt believe it till i watched the movie. she is really that good. cant say the same for Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, though. the former was never good to begin with, and the latter’s talent is slowly fading. it’s as if they are being swallowed by the movie; as the stars of the show, they do absolutely nothing to command the movie and make their presence felt.

and let’s not even talk about Michael Gambon who plays Dumbledore. i have never liked him and i dont understand why they still keep him around. why does he have to hunch like that! and is it just me or does he always stand tilted to the left! but Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge was awesome. you really did feel like you wanted to slap her.

besides the Weasley twins’ exit, i also really liked the final battle scene at the Department of Mysteries. it was exactly how i pictured it when i read the book! but i wish it had been longer. the battle was over way too quickly, and although i thought Sirius’ death could have been hammed up a little more, he left us suddenly and unexpectedly, just like how it was in the book. totally didnt see it coming and i thought that was great. though i must say the relationship between Harry and Sirius wasnt developed too well in the movie due to book-to-movie constraints, and thus the emotional magnitude of Sirius’ death would have been lost on audience members who havent read the book. but for those of us who have, it was a total SIIIIIGH moment :(

hmm what else. i liked the flying aeroplanes. and even though Draco Malfoy was totally ke le feh, that didnt stop me from sighing lustfully everytime he came onscreen! we also started singing ‘I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt’ and whispering lines from Potter Puppet Pals when Snape made his appearance. hahahaha! Severus Snape, we do love you! we can still quote Bothering Snape verbatim.

and omg the Cho/Harry kiss! EVERYONE started groaning, not just us okay. sieutheng wanted to throw popcorn at the screen hahaha. noise we made during the kiss scene :

Cho : oh harry! you’re such a good teacher!
Us : oh harry! you’re such a good teacher! spank me!
Us : hahahahaha

Cho : *conjures up mistletoe* look, mistletoe!
Us : shut up lah it’s not even christmas!

and many other silly things. haha why are we so like that. and actually i have to go pack for my weekend trip now, so sampai sinilah coretanku untuk tatapan saudara-saudari. bottom line is that this movie was actually quite good! worth the watch, most definitely. and thou shalt all wear black to watch the flick like we did :

i’ll be heading to Kuching in a couple of hours for the Rainforest Festival that’s taking place this weekend. who’s going? gimme a ring if you will be there, or drop me a line at my email addy. then we can all partay together :) and take lots of photos, but of course.

edit : i missed my flight grrrrrrr. thank goodness the next flight still has seats. i swear i need to stop doing this being late thing.

Comments July 12th, 2007

Hajime Is Fabulous

you know the local Japanese dining-out scene is getting bad when you think Isetan’s unagi don tastes a lot better than the stuff you can get out there.

on one hand, we have the ubiquitous Sushi Kings and Genki Sushis that spit out these soulless kaiten-belt platters that are overpriced and taste mass-produced. then on the other hand, we have the all-you-can-eat Japanese buffets of high volume but shockingly low quality. presented with such hopeless circumstances, what’s a person to do when she wants a spanking good bowl of udon, or sushi that doesnt taste like the fish died 20 years ago in a nearby sewer?

hehe easy peasy. she goes to Hajime :D

Hajime is a Japanese bungalow-cum-restaurant that recently opened on Jalan Damai. a black-and-white pufferfish is its eyecatching brand, and not misleadingly so; because come the right season, Hajime indulges its customers by serving the coveted delicacy fugu. fugu, which is the meat of the highly poisonous pufferfish, takes great skill to prepare and can only be done so by licensed chefs. so yeah, definitely something to try at least once in your life! besides Hajime, the only place in KL that i know serves fugu is Iketeru at the KL Hilton.

warm yellow lighting and elegant wooden finishes give Hajime that comforting yet classy ambience. patrons can choose to be seated at the usual tables, the more chill-out ‘tatami’-style area, or at the sushi bar if you fancy a good chat with the well-traveled and well-read chefs who really know their cuisine!

the very first time i went to Hajime, it was newly-opened and about 4 days old. yet service and expertise were already top-notch. i was so surprised, because you know how new establishments are usually a little awkward at the start, but there was none of that discomfort here. all the waiting staff knew exactly what to recommend, knew their chef specialties, had customer service down pat, moved like well-oiled machinery. wowzers, eh :D

food here is excellent, i dont have to say anymore! here are some of my favourites :

cold Inaniwa udon OR cold so-men thin noodles served with dashi sauce, RM 26.
a must-try for sure! mix everything up in the dashi sauce, dip your noodles in and SLURP! yum yum. the noodle in the picture is the so-men, but i prefer the inaniwa udon much more.

california cheese and unagi maki, RM 24.
totally orgasmic; the sauce that goes with this is just so fantastic. my fav in Hajime.

crispy soft shell crab makimono with caviar, RM 18.
the addition of caviar is genius!

special salmon miso soup, RM 16.
seriously, give the normal miso soup on their menu a pass and go for this one. it’s so wonderfully fragrant and the taste of the soup just spreads out over your tongue like silk! you’d be hard-pressed to find a better miso than this one in KL.

grilled mackerel with teriyaki sauce, RM 20.
bliss is servings of this fish atop fluffy white japanese rice! sigh :D

Hajime special unajyu, RM 42.
comes with a bowl of miso and a side of pickled vegetables. the cool thing about this unajyu is that not only does it taste damn good, but the rice below it is lightly coated in a special sauce, AND there’s MORE unagi underneath the shredded egg! damn good value eh. unajyu forever!

the desserts are mostly their homemade ice-cream, with my favourite being the sesame ice-cream with red bean topping. Hajime also serves their patrons little complimentary dishes of starters upon seating. the starters are always different each business day, and they’re always damn yummy!!! very good gauge of the excellent standard of food here. also gotta love their portion sizes that are just about perfect.

ah. with places like Hajime, who needs to go anywhere else for a yummy Japanese meal :) this place is ultimate customer satisfaction in one beautiful restaurant. they own my ass now. i so cant wait to try the fugu when it’s here!!!

Hajime (map!)
64, Jalan Damai
Off Jalan Ampang
55000 KL
Tel : 03-2143 0073

Comments April 28th, 2007

Screwed

so yesterday i went to catch the preview of Screwed, the latest production by The Oral Stage. Screwed, like its predecessors eight, Rojak! and fiftynineminutes, is a series of several short plays and monologues that bring to the stage both the unconventional and the familiar, all with a good story to tell.

perhaps the most impressive thing about The Oral Stage’s shows are that they’re all completely directed, produced, written and performed by the notorious young ones (i say this like i’m really old) at The Oral Stage. to act out a character in a piece with conviction and talent is challenging enough, let alone writing an original piece that promises to titillate, or successfully jigsawing together an entire production! some adults cant even do this right. ahh, power to the young. i love it!

Screwed is comprised of 10 performances, and imma attempt to summarise them here (without spoiling too much) for your benefit, coz i want everyone to go watch Screwed, because not only is it totally worth it, MY BEST FRIEND IS ALSO IN IT!!!!!!!!!!

*beams with pride*

okay okay seriousness, seriousness.

the first piece is The Colour Green, which explores jealousy and unconditional love. written by Davina Goh, we’re shown a story of two characters in love, but what happens when one of them has conditions for what is thought to be an unconditional love? is unconditional love a universal absolute or does it have its varied stages and versions?

The Tortoise and The Hare is an insight into the backstabbing and cruelty of the dog-eat-dog career world. Tortoise is the socially-inept office recluse who eats lunch alone in her cubicle, and Hare is the pencilskirt-wearing power woman who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Emily Yoon (aka KL’s Sandra Oh) who plays the Tortoise completely steals the show with her stellar performance as a stuttering and shy introvert who’s trying hard to make herself heard above her oppressive colleagues.

Lam Wai Yee and Lee Wai Min both star in The Silent Piece, an eerie and sympathetic short that brings us into the depths of a girl’s trauma. this piece i felt had by far the best acting of the entire Screwed series, and i’m not just saying this coz waimin is my best friend, haha. waimin is as usual, effortlessly wonderful and i love that at many points in The Silent Piece, she wasnt afraid to let loose and really free herself from her inhibitions and self consciousness in order to really bring out her character. she was so good, that you could NOT tell she was only casted for this piece less than 4 days prior to the show. as for Wai Yee, she was the one who did the monologue of an actress transiting flawlessly between 3 different accents in TOS’s previous production fiftynineminutes. i remember being totally in awe when i watched her show last year! with Wai Yee, it’s all about the little things that she brings to her performances that makes them so amazing. in this particular piece, it’s all in her eyes, the slight shuddering of the shoulders, the tensing of the toes; pure genius.

my beautiful regret is a monologue so dark and disturbing, that i wasnt too surprised when i was told it was written by Gavin Yap. presented by Brananannanana (Branavan Aruljothi, last seen in The Breakfast Club) in his boxers, this piece is an expose of vulnerability and heartbreak and of times long gone. i really do feel that Branavan brought a sense of reality to the piece, i loved that it wasnt over-the-top like a lot of people would have done it. it was a beautiful, subtle performance that successfully captured the defeatedness and sadness of the script.

Rauf Fadzilla, my fellow Ampang brethren, wrote the next short entitled The Big Joke. i heartily apologise, but i missed what the big joke is here. i’m apparently too stupid for Rauf’s writing :P nevertheless, it was a brilliant juxtapose of live and death, quiet and noise, questions and answers. there is a part in this short where Emily flips through a book of memories (made by waimin, haha it’s so cool, make sure to look closely at it coz she put in so much effort) and she reminds herself of things that have happened. soooo poignant and touching. it’s the little things that mean most.

How I Lost My Identity In 10 Minutes And Other Matters That Don’t Really Matter is awesome writing and i could totally relate!!!!!!!!! keywords : ‘xiang jiao ren’ and banana person =( Nick D is the banana person here, lamenting the lack of communication between himself and his Chinese-speaking friends and family. it’s a pretty good commentary on english-speaking people who consider themselves above their mother tongue, and how westernized our youth are becoming these days. “funny how we sign up for French classes when Mandarin classes are just next door”, says Nick’s best friend. Nick also has a professor, played by none other than the fabulous GARY OOI!!!!! muahahahhaa all of us just burst out laughing when he came onstage in typical flamboyant and manic Gary fashion. oh Gary! you will always be my Adam! twice!

next up is The Murukku Conspiracy, that is centred around traditional Indian values, love, family and neighbourly ties. i thought the use of murukku in this script was absolutely brilliant; as audience, you find yourself either agreeing with the daughter and thinking murukku is just another snack and is insignificant in the grand scheme of things, or you find yourself siding her mother who believes that murukku MUST be present at the wedding because of its role in Indian culture.

a toilet is then placed in the middle of the stage, and we are presented with Toilet Talk, written and performed by Doreen Loo. i have no words for how effortlessly Doreen pulled off this monologue. i totally loved it. it was SO entertaining and so authentic; there is not one moment your attention strays from the piece.

M for Magenta is a piece written by Gary and features himself alongside Christine Ellis and Wai Min the Awesome. what can i say, the original script was 10000 times better than what i saw onstage yesterday. a lot of the wow factor was robbed from the script after the drastic change in plot, nevertheless all 3 actors did a good job.

the final performance is called The Untitled Choral Piece and features six actors in a commentary about Malaysian driving and road safety. utterly hilarious, i LOVE it when satire on Malaysian culture and lifestyle are presented onstage, heeheehee. it was very well-written, by Kelvin Wong if i’m not wrong, and was the perfect closing to the series!

my favourite pieces : Silent Piece and Toilet Talk for the acting; How I Lost My Identity In 10 Minutes and the Untitled Choral Piece for the writing. best performances : Lam Wai Yee, Emily Yoon, Gary Ooi.

hats off to the folks at TOS. you did it again!

Screwed is showing at KLPac from today the 19th of April to Sunday the 22nd of April, at 8.30pm, with additional 3pm matinee shows on Saturday and Sunday. Ticket prices are RM27 for adults and RM17 for students. To purchase tickets, call KLPac at 03-4047 9000. folks at Penang, fret not, Screwed will be coming to Greenhall Penang from the 4th - 6th of May!

next up, Gavin Yap’s Tell-Tale Heart at the end of this month. i’m quite excited! will be there on opening night - is anyone else going?

Comments April 19th, 2007

The Bird House

i recently went to watch The Bird House, a local film directed and written by Khoo Eng Yow.

set in Malacca, The Bird House explores a disagreement between two brothers over what is to become of their home, a quaint and small Peranakan-style house that sits on a quiet Malaccan street. the older brother Keat (played by Lee Kiat Lee), who moved to Singapore to work, is now back home in Malacca and is appalled at the indifference and recklessness of his younger brother Hua in maintaining their relic house. Keat strongly believes that their old house, with its beautiful pre-war architecture and antiquated elements, should be prized and treated with respect; hence he wants to turn their old house into an antique shop (yes exactly like those you see along Jonker’s Walk) to preserve its history and novelty.

his brother Hua (played by Loh Bok Lai) on the other hand, a lowly mechanic, is not concerned with old-fashioned ideas of preserving heritage. all he wants to do is take advantage of what he has (ie the heritage house) and turn that into a money-making opportunity. so not only has he already rented out his living room to a stranger who uses the space as a driving school, he also harbours ideas of breaking down the walls in the house so he can rent out rooms for quick cash. his schemes dont end there - after witnessing the financial success of a friend who turned his own heritage house into a swallow-breeding ground to collect valuable birdnests that are highly-priced in the market, Hua is enthralled with the prospect of doing the same with his house.

this is the platform for the movie - two brothers who have different ideas of what to do with one house. but amidst all the dinner table quarrels and petty arguments, sits a quiet and docile old man who seems oblivious to all the animosity going on around him. frail and white-singleted, Keat and Hua’s aging father (played wonderfully by Lim Eng Beng) is a blur thing who seems to accept his fading and obsolete presence, as his two grown-up sons wrestle to become the decision-makers now.

it is obvious to the audience that the old father loves his two sons (perhaps one more than the other) very much and just wants them to be happy. he doesnt give any input or take any sides in the brothers’ argument, but he pleads with them to stop fighting, especially at the dinner table, where families typically get together and put behind all differences. it’s also clear that the brothers arent going to ask their father what HE wants to do with the house anytime soon, even though he’s very much a part of the house.

i like the issue addressed by The Bird House; this whole debate on cultural preservation versus economical development. however, The Bird House takes no side in this matter. instead, it highlights the world’s fixation on making money at the expense of wiping out history and culture, as well as the hypocrisy of heritage-touting preservation advocates. in regards to the latter, one might think this movie’s good guy is big brother Keat, who is very noble in his intent to preserve the heritage house by turning it into an antique shop. but herein lies the hypocrisy - while Keat berates his brother for being greedy enough to turn their home into a birdnest farm, he doesnt realize that his own choice of converting the house into an antique shop to do business isnt very different from his brother’s idea after all. it’s ultimately money-making as well, but hidden behind the valiant guise of heritage conservation.

and isnt this what a lot of preservation programmes are all about? there is all this hoohah about not demolishing old buildings and gazetting historical sites, so much fervor and love for heritage and all; but let’s face it, a lot of the time the reason behind this is to boost tourism figures. at the end of the day, tourists bring in money, and if we can all sound like virtuous pro-preservation heritage cherishers while collecting their US dollars and euros, why the hell not eh.

at one point, two caucasian tourists walk into the house to have a looksee. they spot a traditional mortar and pestle in the kitchen, and so the elderly father eagerly shows them how he uses it to mash food. both tourists ooh and ahh and are thrilled that little malaysian people still use such archaic things in their everyday life! the tourists then take their token photographs with the mortar and pestle. but as they leave, the old man goes back to mashing his food using an electric blender. this goes to show that people need a little bit of progress in today’s world. we cant all be stuck using mortars and pestles when our neighbours are using electric blenders. ladies and gents, development is not a bad thing. also, balance between preservation and progress is not inevitable.

i loved that such a macro debate is captured so beautifully in the microcosm of Keat and Hua’s family. in this big bad world of skyscrapers and million-dollar apartments with views, we dont think about what we had to give up in order to get such things. in fact, when things like Kampung Berembang happen, we go, “aiyah those people are illegal squatters wat”. we dont even spare a thought for the people who used to live on that land and called it home. where will they go? where will they sleep? but we dont care.. all we’re interested in is the hip and happening new club or high-rise condo that will be built on that plot of land. you know, any structure that actually has something to do with ‘actual people’. so it was nice to see this issue addressed by The Bird House, and brought to a more personal and individual level that everyone can relate to.

there is also an underlying theme of irony throughout the whole movie. Keat when returning home from Singapore, brings his father a box of birdnest as a gift, while later we are introduced to Hua’s idea of turning their home into a birdnest farm. Keat tells his brother off for not consulting their sister about demolishing her room’s walls, but he doesnt inform his sister either about his plans of turning her room into a storeroom or something like that in the event that his antique shop materializes. he also constantly makes digs at his brother for ‘knowing nothing about heritage’, but who is the one who left his family behind for money? also, for malaysian chinese, where are your real roots; Malaysia or China?

the idea of turning a house into a birdnest farm where swallows will come in and build nests is perhaps one of the most creative metaphors i’ve seen in malaysian cinema. it was the coolest part of the whole movie, i thought. as for the movie’s aesthetics, nothing short of beautiful; a lot of the time, the scenes looked like they would make some very breathtaking photographs. the opening sequence of stills were simply amazing. the use of some very beautiful piano music was a perfect supplement. oh and the sets and props were all so REAL! i mean, when i was young, the refridgerator in my home was propped up on bricks as well, haha. loved the fact that the house in the movie was so typically Malaccan - air hole in the ceiling and all.

as for pace, yup i’m sorry to disappoint, but The Bird House moves at a painfully slow pace. they are guilty of long static takes as well (surprise surprise), something that unfortunately seems to be fast defining Malaysian indie cinema. but the difference between The Bird House and most of our local indie flicks is that there is actually lot of dialogue in TBH. i’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, because i feel that subtlety is always good when it comes to cinematic messages, but then again a lot of our indie filmmakers tend to get a bit too caught up in the supposed complexity and mysteriousness of their scripts, and that’s when they end up saying too little. so at least TBH managed to keep their audience involved and attentive.

the best part of TBH besides the metaphorical birdnest is most definitely the execution of dialogue. while it was difficult to connect with the characters in the movie (mostly due to bad lighting and lack of close ups), i absolutely loved how naturally they spoke. no fake accents anywhere or apparent memorization. it was all very fluid and lovingly colloquial. props to the actors!

all in all, i would say that this is one of the better written works we’ve seen lately in local cinema. the budget for this film was fairly small, and i’m always amazed at how people with so little money for production can make such good films, compared to those who have a few million dollars behind them but come up with such crappy ass horror shit.

please go and watch The Bird House! it’s worth it. i’m so proud that Malaysia has filmmakers capable of making touching films like these.

The Bird House is showing at GSC International Screens at Mid Valley, 1 Utama and Gurney Plaza Penang. no i dont understand either why our own movies are screened under the international screens.

Comments April 13th, 2007

Mukhsin

The first time we were introduced to Orked in Sepet, she was a spunky 17 year old on the edges of a starcrossed relationship with a Chinese DVD peddler. Then we saw her in Gubra, all grown up and married, but to a person she didn’t love.

In Yasmin Ahmad’s latest film, Mukhsin, we see Orked again, but this time we are brought back to her childhood. In this third movie, we are whisked away from Orked’s problems with her husband, distracted from her fleeting encounter with aforementioned DVD peddler’s brother, and lifted gently away from her timeless love with Jason.

In Mukhsin, we are narrated the story of Orked’s first ever love. Because, as the tagline of the movie goes, everyone has a first love story to tell.

Orked is 10 when she meets Mukhsin, who is 2 years older than her. After trying and failing yet again to fit in with the village girls who spend all their time playing brides and grooms and other saccharide girly games, she goes to the field to watch the boys play ball. ‘Pick Orked to play with us,’ say the boys to newcomer Mukhsin, who is in town only to visit his aunt over the school holidays. ‘She can play like a boy’. Not believing this, Mukhsin throws a ball at Orked in an attempt to suss her out. In true Orked spirit, she flings it back at him defiantly. From that brief interaction, the simplest and most innocent of loves unfolds.

To adults, young children’s puppy loves are always a small and negligible speck in the grand scheme of things, but Mukhsin succeeds in taking this small speck and magnifying it into an all-consuming emotion that spills into infinity. We are drawn into the believability of Orked’s and Mukhsin’s nervousness as they toe the fine line between friendship and love, and their little displays of warmth towards each other remind us that sincerity still exists in this real world of cynicism and ulterior motives. From the screen, these two children reach into our hearts and push us backward into our own experiences of a time when we knew nothing but blissful innocence.

As audience, we can’t help but be moved as we watch their adolescent relationship blossom. It is a bud that blossoms into another bud, never becoming a flower, yet you know that things have changed and will never be the same again.

Besides the main theme of young love, the movie also deals with secondary issues. One of them is the duality of human nature. Mukhsin has an older brother, who in any society would be dubbed the ’sampah masyarakat’ individual who is beyond change and does not deserve help. But we later see that he has deep-rooted issues he doesnt have the capacity to control, and at the very core of his being is simply a childlike yearning to be loved.

We also have Orked’s neighbour, who is a typical gossipy ‘kampung aunty’ who hurls caustic remarks at her neighbours. However, she cuts a sorry figure by the end of the movie, having her own problems to face as well. After witnessing the length of her sad tale, we simply cannot find it in ourselves to go on disliking her. Instead, we symphatize and we finally understand why she is the way she is. In the words of Yasmin Ahmad who wrote and directed this movie : “I don’t want anyone to hate any character in Mukhsin. In the end, even the bad neighbours can be worthy of love. God wants us to forgive.”

On the other hand, her good guys aren’t perfect either. Just as the bad guys have their hidden redeeming qualities, her protagonists have flaws as well; as seen in Orked’s family who rake up debts so big that their furniture is repossessed. Even the kind and jolly Kak Yam, always friendly and comforting, has a tendency of harbouring narrow-minded thoughts.

Mukhsin is also a film about second chances. Subtle events in the movie such as the return of Orked’s cat and the arrival of new furniture at the end underscore the beauty and unexpectedness of God’s grace. Just when we think we should stop hoping, He gives us another shot at making things right.

As always, there are feel-good messages in Mukhsin about racial harmony, this time analogized in the form of melted chocolate and cow’s milk. When asked about her strange method of making ice cream, Kak Yam replies : “I do it like this so that there is the bitter taste of chocolate, then the separate sweet taste of milk, but ultimately also the bittersweet taste of chocolate mixed with milk. That is when ice cream tastes the best.”

The chalk message on the blackboard in little Orked’s room reads, “I prefer playing with boys”. But while her little declaration is seemingly displayed for all to see; she writes it in Chinese, so that all may not understand. The movie, however, is nothing like that. It lays everything out so honestly, that even a deaf person watching it can immediately discern the humanism in each and every scene. While I was watching the movie, I thought it was pretty amazing that Mukhsin won over the judges at the recent Berlin International Film Festival, seeing how the setting of the movie is so quintessentially Malaysian and the subtitles don’t really reflect the dimension of the scenes. But then I realized that the messages in Mukhsin - love, forgiveness, communion, hope and sacrifice - are universal. One doesn’t have to be Malaysian to appreciate the inspiration behind Mukhsin.

If Sepet was onde-onde and Gubra was kuih lapis, then Mukhsin is white rice. Freshly cooked, fluffy, white rice put on a plate and disantap with clean fingers. Yes… that would be Mukhsin.

————-

okay that’s my poorly-written review. sorry ah very long winded. some other blahblahblah that did not fit in : Sharifah Aryana who plays the young Orked is an excellent child actress that i cannot wait to see more work from. Mohd Syafie carried his role of Mukhsin well enough - his shyness and awkwardness came together nicely to produce a very sincere and real 12 year old. the keroncong music was such a special touch! and i loved the cameo scenes with you-know-who and you-know-who! it was so beautifully dreamlike and surreal … now i want to ride bikes and fly kites in Kuala Selangor paddy fields. sigh!

(note : i wish the pictures were mine but they are not. photos courtesy of Grand Brilliance and Media Prima)

and i oso want to put up this pic of Yasmin Ahmad coz it’s very funny :

Comments March 15th, 2007