NOV 7 — What I am about to say may sound harsh to some, but we have been too nice for far too long. After a terrible experience I endured last weekend, of which I will explain in the coming paragraphs, there is no time like the present for me to say this. The Malaysian film industry, to me, is now officially dead.

I offer it my deepest condolence, although if it were to be likened to a murder case, we all should be hauled in by the police. We all helped kill it, we all contributed to its death, and we shall shoulder the blame now that there are no more local movies worth watching.

For a while I blamed the filmmakers, and although to a certain extent I still do, I have also come to the realisation that we are all at fault.

Last Sunday, my husband and I went to the movies to watch a local film directed by Pierre Andre, produced by David Teo of Metrowealth International Group (MIG).

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It was a movie called Highland Tower, centred around the hauntings believed to surround the apartment complex that came crashing down in 1993.

The movie was styled in the manner of The Blair Witch Project (1999), presented to look like real events, shot like a reality documentary. We paid RM30 for our twin seats, bought snacks and went in.

The first 15 minutes of the movie showed a bunch of filmmakers trying to get MIG to fund their documentary on the apartment complex. They did not get to Highland Tower yet. I looked at my husband, he looked back at me, we got up and stormed out of the cinema.

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Bear in mind that we were only in there for 15 minutes, so some of you may say we have no right to label the movie bad since we did not stay for the entire duration.

However, that 15 minutes filled me with so much anger and rage that it made me realise how the Malaysian film industry is now truly, dead.

I did not come to this conclusion during the Anak Mami phase our filmmakers went through, not even during their hantu, rempit, gangster and bohsia phase. During those other movies, I simply cursed on Twitter or my blog, and kept a tiny light of hope in my heart that the industry could still be saved.

But 15 minutes of Highland Tower plunged the final sharp stake into the heart of our film industry. It was so badly done that I was still seething long after we left the cinema.

I understand they were trying out the raw footage, documentary method, but it felt like they hired a trigger-happy four-year-old to man their handycam. Scratch that, my four-year-old cousin is actually capable of taking better shots if he is given a handycam.

In the first 15 minutes as the filmmakers were having a meeting with the producers at MIG, we already felt like we were on a really bad roller-coaster ride. Whoever it was behind the camera could not stop from zooming in and zooming out like a monkey with a new toy.

The camerawork was shoddy, childish, and downright ridiculous. Fifteen minutes and we already felt like throwing up.

Is that what they were aiming for? Would puking indicate the movie was a success? Sad part is we did not feel like puking because we were scared.

We felt like puking because Pierre Andre felt like he was ready to venture into documentary films when he can’t even direct a normal film. I was livid and angry that night.

Angry that a movie like Highland Tower managed to see the light of day. Angry that someone like Pierre Andre was allowed the funding to direct a movie. Angry that MIG is allowed to operate. Angry that we donated RM30 to the company only to walk out of the cinema after 15 minutes.

The only thing Highland Tower achieved was to officially confirm that, what I know to be the Malaysian film industry, is officially dead.

While all the Pierre Andres and David Teos of the industry helped to kill it, we the audience were also responsible.

We allow them to make crappy, nonsensical and meaningless movies like KL Gangster 2, Hantu Rempit, Mami Jarum, Pisau Cukur, and so on, and we buy tickets and we fill the cinemas and we say, “That was okay lah for a Malaysian movie, nak apa lagi? (what else could you hope for?)”

That is why we played an even bigger role in killing the industry.

All I can say now — I’m sorry, Tan Sri Dr P. Ramlee. Sorry that we all failed in honouring you. Sorry that after all your great masterpieces, we allow trash like Highland Tower in our cinemas.

Sorry that all the effort you put into your art have not been emulated by our filmmakers. Sorry that we, the audience, stopped demanding for quality movies after you left us.

A colleague comforted me that night. He said, “It’s okay, we can always keep playing reruns of Bujang Lapok.”

* Farah Harith is assistant news editor of The Malay Mail. She can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @farahharith.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.