Penguin RushSepet and Malaysian production
09 to 19 March 2005 – Went for Sepet, a local movie that has garnered international interests ; having won an award and been invited to a few international film festivals. As for me, this would be my third time of watching a Malay movie at the cinema during my adult years. I have nothing against Malay movies, not really. It’s just that for a majority of cases – the stories are so predictable and revolve around the same matter (usually about college kids who never actually study but just concentrate on their puppy love), the acting is hideous while the scrip is weak and make you want to puke since you know people don’t actually say those things in real life.
As for our dramas on tv, I notice that in almost every production, there’ll always be one character who likes to spread lies around, i.e. bad-mouthing somebody. Be it a mother in law, a neighbour or a village’s gossip queen. I mean, come on ok…everybody knows that spreading lies like that (even if there’s an element of truth inside the story) is a sin. In fact, in Islam, the sin is the same as killing/eating your own brothers and sisters. Everytime I see a drama with this character, I get all emotional and feel like slapping the person’s face (especially if the ‘victim’ is so weak). So, before I get a heart attack out of this, I might as well watch US tv series that don’t really rely on gossip kings/queens to make them big. Or, I just do something else more productive like reading or writing. What do you guys think?
Back to local movies - I don’t really mind catching a Malay movie if it’s out of the ordinary and they actually took the effort in creating a masterpiece. As for Sepet, it really deserves two thumbs up. The acting and the script are marvellous and natural (after all, these two factors need each other). Very well directed, the lives of two families are interwoven to become an interesting plot. The movie reflects the culture of Malay and Chinese people brilliantly, without the need for exaggeration. Also, for the first time, the cinema hall is packed with people from all races – Malays, Chinese, Indians and even some Westerners. Check the movie’s website at www.sepet.com.my. A word of caution though – the movie contains some rather steamy scenes that might be offensive to our local taste.
I also went for Robots. For some reasons, I could not help notice a few similarities between Robots and Monsters, Inc. For examples, the crook lady in Robots reminded me of the cop lady doing undercover job in Monsters, Inc. Also, the Boss of the robots factory in Robots reminded me of the Boss of the scare factory in Monsters, Inc. Both companies even had their commercials aired on tv in both movies. Do you have any opinions on this?
Despite of that, I think the movie gives Fox the edge to compete in the animation industry, together with Disney’s, Pixar and Dreamworks. After the successful Ice Age, Fox has done it again. The movie portrays some of the most realistic animation ever created. Go watch it as you won’t regret it.
Other movies that I watch this month – Miss Congeniality 2, White Noise and Hitch are reviewed (along with others) in my website.
Labels: Movie Reviews
posted by The Pisces Man @ 9:34 pm
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