OCT 26 ― I’ve been writing about films for various publications for a few years now and last year I was invited to be part of the Majlis Pengkritik Filem Kuala Lumpur (the Kuala Lumpur Film Critics Circle?) in order to discuss and vote on our own list of awards for the local filmmaking scene. Naturally I said yes because it’s always nice to be able to talk film with fellow film lovers, writers, critics, bloggers and whatnot.
And it’s even more fun to be able to debate and make a case for a particular film or nominee as we tried to decide on both the nominations and the ultimate winners.
We were pretty much spoiled by the two standout films last year, Songlap and Bunohan, as they dominated the proceedings and came away big winners, just like they did at last year’s Festival Filem Malaysia.
This year, though, is a whole different story.
Taking the period from the beginning of September 2012 to the end of August 2013 as the time frame for films that are eligible for this year’s round of nominations and awards, we found ourselves faced with extremely slim pickings for all categories, such is the disappointing quality of the majority of the films released during this period, despite a marked increase in production (73 films in total under the Skim Wajib Tayang plus a few more not under it).
The results of our deliberation and voting have just been released and I think the biggest news is perhaps our choice of not awarding the Best Film award to any film at all. We debated long and hard on this, with everyone coming up with different reasons why a film can win Best Director or Best Screenplay but is still ultimately not good enough to deserve a Best Film award.
For me personally, a Best Film award demands overall excellence. A film with an average or merely good (but not excellent) script can always be saved by a brilliant director, which explains why there are quite a few B-movie directors like Jacques Tourneur, Edgar G. Ulmer, Seijun Suzuki or Joseph H. Lewis who are already accepted into the canon of great directors by virtue of their directing skills.
Similarly, a fantastic script can sometimes be unlucky enough to be paired with a not so great director, but that still doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a great script.
Sadly, we just didn’t manage to find a film with enough overall excellence this year to merit the Best Film award. I more or less agree with the eventual winners of the other categories (even if I didn’t vote for some of them), but I’d be even happier if Adlin Aman Ramlie won for his excellent work in the film Juvana.
So, off to the results shall we?
Best Director
Nik Amir Mustapha for KIL
Bernard Chauly for Istanbul, Aku Datang! - WINNER
Mamat Khalid for Rock Oo! Rimba Bara Kembali
M. Subash Abdullah for Misteri Bisikan Pontianak
Esma Daniel for Zaiton, Ceritaku
Best Actor
Beto Kusyairi for Istanbul, Aku Datang!
Redza Minhat for KIL
Khir Rahman for Rock Oo! Rimba Bara Kembali - WINNER
Pekin Ibrahim for Cerita Kita
Farid Kamil for Lagenda Budak Setan 2
Best Actress
Lisa Surihani for Istanbul, Aku Datang! - WINNER
Vanida Imran for Untuk Tiga Hari
Nadia Aqilah for Zaiton, Ceritaku
Ruminah Sidek for Misteri Bisikan Pontianak
Fazleena Hishamuddin for Kontradiksi
Best Cinematography
Mohd Noor Kassim for Zaiton, Ceritaku
Haris Hue Abdullah for Istanbul, Aku Datang!
Soon Yung Chong for Paper Moon
S.Y. Chong for KIL - WINNER
Norhanisham Muhamad for Sembunyi
Best Screenplay
Rafidah Abdullah for Istanbul, Aku Datang! - WINNER
Alfie Palermo for Sembunyi
Mamat Khalid for Rock Oo! Rimba Bara Kembali
Nik Amir Mustapha for KIL
Rameesh Puncharatnam for Olli
Best Supporting Actor
Adlin Aman Ramlie for Juvana
Afdlin Shauki for Untuk Tiga Hari
Sharnaaz Ahmad for Sembunyi
Hans Isaac for Langgar - WINNER
Saiful Apek for Rock Oo! Rimba Bara Kembali
Best Supporting Actress
Umie Aida for Sembunyi
Anne James for KIL - WINNER
Mislina Mustaffa for Misteri Bisikan Pontianak
Fynn Jamal for Kontradiksi
Faezah Elai for Tanda Putera
Best Film – NO WINNER
Istanbul, Aku Datang! (Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin, Lina Tan Suan Jeu as producers)
KIL (Rewan Ishak, Nik Amir Mustapha, Jeremy Little, Anizan Sarif, Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin as producers)
Rock Oo! Rimba Bara Kembali (Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin, Mamat Khalid, Jalena Rejab as producers)
Sembunyi (Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin, Frank Lewis, Kabir Bhatia, Jalena Rejab as producers)
Misteri Bisikan Pontianak (M. Suurya as producer).
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
