MARCH 15 ― 2013 was a very lukewarm year for local films, both in terms of box-office and quality. There just wasn’t that much to talk about last year.
We had no standout box-office champs like KL Gangster or Ombak Rindu and we also didn’t have any artistic standouts like Bunohan or Songlap, to quote recent examples. It was just a year of dwindling interest in the local film scene for most people.
It didn’t look like things were going to change that much this year, but we have quite a surprising number of positive talking points already, and it’s only the middle of March.
The biggest talking point so far is of course the remarkable success of The Journey, which so far has taken in RM15.2 million at the local box-office as of March 4, making it the highest grossing local film of all time. At the time of writing, it’s still playing in local cinemas, more than 30 days after its release and with a healthy number of screenings per day still.
The best thing about the film’s surprise commercial success is that it goes against every single piece of pre-conceived wisdom that we’ve been force-fed about what sort of films the Malaysian public wants and what they don’t want.
Our previous champs KL Gangster and Ombak Rindu have strongly solidified the belief that for a local film to be a huge hit, it has to pander to what local producers think the Malaysian public wants, which is dumbed down rempit or gangster films, super-dumb comedies (aka komedi bangang) or melodramatic love stories.
Because films like Adnan Sempit and Hantu Bonceng have also been huge hits, all we can do is shut up and simply accept the fact that the audience-pandering camp may just be right all along.
But now that The Journey has made its mark, a film that isn’t dumbed down, is more or less a family drama (albeit quite a melodramatic one), with no recognisable stars (at least the Ah Beng films have stars in the Chinese-speaking Malaysian entertainment scene), what is “right” anymore?
Will we be seeing something called The Rempit/Gangster/Hantu Journey soon? If the movie reaches the mind-boggling figure of RM20 million, which it still could, I wouldn’t discount that happening. In fact, I wouldn’t discount that happening even now at RM15.2 million!
In addition to that piece of good news, there’s also some nice piece of quality film-making provided by the indie movie Cuak. Playing at select TGV cinemas across the country, and now on Astro First, it is a highly (and wonderfully) candid take on the anxieties of getting married, even without taking into consideration that it’s an interracial marriage.
An omnibus film involving five different directors, the movie plays a bit differently from most omnibus films by actually meshing together all the different segments into one satisfying whole.
Instead of feeling like we’ve just watched five short films in a row, watching Cuak feels just like watching a feature film directed by one director.
Aside from the mostly solid and naturalistic acting and dialogue, the film can boast what’s probably the first ever head-on argument/discussion on the Malaysian big screen of the issue of converting to Islam in order to marry a Muslim.
The late Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet may have been about interracial love, but the tricky issue of them being of different religions was sidestepped because the star-crossed lovers never even got to the point where they could talk about it.
And watching that happen in Cuak gave me goosebumps, because it was not only honest, but smart enough not to suffer the wrath of the local censors.
The same gang that made Cuak ― Garang Pictures ― have also just released another indie flick called Take Me To Dinner. And if indie flicks are getting released at this rate throughout the year, it will surely be an interesting year at the Malaysian movies this year.
Even the commercial films that have graced our screens so far this year have provided a few glimpses of hope. Kami Histeria may be a bit awkward (and painfully unfunny) in parts, especially when it’s just the five girls who make up the band that is the subject of the movie interacting with each other, but once Nur Fazura walks in as Cik Lang (that’s Lang for Langsuir aka vampire) and Afdlin Shauki invades the film as himself, the film is quite a hoot.
And technically, the film boasts production values and visual treats that will shame most Malaysian mainstream films.
Sejoli, a rom-com by Ombak Rindu director Osman Ali, also deserves a mention, because it’s armed with the kind of effortless chemistry (and surprising rom-com wisdom) that can elevate even the most routine and formulaic plot into something that still touches the heart.
And I’ve yet to find the time to see Laga, whose trailer will remind viewers of macho male examinations by the likes of U-Wei Saari and Rahim Razali, and the Tamil film Vennira Iravuggal, which looks interesting and is championed in some quarters as being pretty good.
So that makes it about seven or eight interesting movies out of the 23 or so that has played in local cinemas so far this year. Not a bad ratio at all, right? Here’s to the rest of the year being similarly interesting and exciting!
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
