Budi the leap year idiot baby

29 Februari
My rating:




It isn't too often that I review a Malay film in English. This is because - and here's a glimpse behind the scenes here at TMBF - I get my highest number of hits whenever I do a local film review in BM. (Which really behooves me to do them more often, but with shit like Salam Cinta and Halim Munan in cinemas, I just can't be arsed.) But when I do write an English review of a Malay movie, it's for a variety of reasons; one of which is because I need the language I am most fluent in to express my extremely strong opinions of that movie. Or maybe I'm just feeling a little too lazy to take the extra effort to write in BM.

And in this case, it's because I have no idea how to say "twee" and "precious" in BM.

Budi (Remy Ishak) was born on the 29th of February in 1896, which gives him the magical ability to age only one year for every four years. In 1941, he is orphaned when the Japanese invade Malaya, and becomes a resident of an orphanage where he becomes best friends with Razak (Izzue Islam), who is blind. In 1957, just after the Merdeka declaration, he meets and falls for a Chinese girl named Lily (Jojo Goh) - but her father's (Chew Kin Wah) objections to their interracial relationship forces them apart. Though he spends the next decades searching for her, Budi will not see her again - until 2012, when he is living in Penang and runs a florist shop with two employees, Johan (Fizz Fairuz) and Arif (Muniff Isa).

It's right there on the poster - the first 3D Malaysian-made movie. Which... why? There's nothing about this film that seems to need 3D. It's not an action movie, nor does it have spectacular visuals or special effects. It doesn't even have shots of things flying at the screen, which is far from the best use of 3D but would at least justify having it. I saw it in good ol' 2D and didn't think it ever needed any 3D at all. (Which, to be fair, is how I feel about almost every 3D film anyway.) And I think this is symptomatic of what's wrong with 29 Februari - namely, it doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be.

It's clearly reminiscent of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump (there's even a scene where Remy Ishak is digitally inserted into footage of Tun Dr. Mahathir from 1985), although the premise is different enough to stand on its own. The thing is, both those films were made for adults. Both were rated PG-13, both dealt with adult subject matter, and both had an adult sensibility. 29 Februari is not and does not, on all counts. The characters, the dialogue, the humour, are all juvenile and shallow and one-dimensional. Characters like Razak and Lily's sister (whose actress' name I can't find) are positively annoying; the former does nothing but whine and complain about his blindness, the latter is downright evil in how she keeps sabotaging her sister's and Budi's relationship. Even that central romance does nothing to make us root for them. This is a couple whose conversations involve such deeply insightful topics as, "Kalau Budi jadi kelip-kelip, ke mana Budi nak terbang?"

And for a film that traverses 116 years, there's nothing epic about it; it hardly ever truly examines this grand sweep of Malaysian history. We see Budi's parents killed when the Japanese invade, but we don't know how he actually lived during the occupation; we see him at Stadium Merdeka during Tunku Abdul Rahman's declaration, but after that he never seems to care that he is now a citizen of an independent nation. There's also a scene that takes place during the May 13 riots in 1969, but again, it's more interested in talking about his lost love Lily than in what's happening to the country at the time. But what really sinks this story is the fact that Budi can live over a hundred years, yet still be so dumb.

Seriously, does he mentally age 4 times as slow as other people too? In 1941, physically he is 11 and he looks as such. But he's also been alive for 45 years, and he sure doesn't act like a 45-year-old. And in 1957 when he meets Lily, he is 61 years old but he should look 15 (which makes it a boo-boo that Remy plays him at this point), and yet he behaves just like a lovesick teenage boy. Worst of all is when he encounters Lily again in 2012, yet appears shocked that she is now an old woman. Dude! You did not know that you age slower than everyone else?? It took you 116 years to find that out?? This is a guy who should have accumulated over a century's worth of experience, maturity and wisdom - qualities that, incidentally, this very movie lacks utterly.

Oh, and it's also a musical. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but is 6 song sequences - and only 4 songs, since one is repeated twice - a little, well, little for a musical film? I'm not too fond of musicals, and this movie is just the reason why: because musicals always have this artificiality about it, hence why people tend to break out into song and dance. 29 Februari has that artificial, contrived feel in spades; it tries so hard to be sweet and romantic and epic but just turns out far too twee and precious. Like it thinks a pretty tune set to some grand orchestral arrangement is all it takes to evoke soaring emotion. Oh, did I say song and dance? No - there are song sequences but no song-and-dance sequences. There is no dancing in this musical film. See what I mean about not knowing what kind of movie it wants to be?

I'll give it credit for being ambitious. I'll give KRU Studios credit just for attempting a magical-realist-fantasy-historical-drama-musical-romance. I'll give Remy props for an effective, impressively nuanced performance, and Jojo Goh for a charming presence; I'll even admit they both had some nice chemistry despite their dumb-as-rocks dialogue. (Although I'm sick of seeing Chew Kin Wah as the Designated Chinese Villain in Malay Movies.) But I don't think Edry Abdul Halim, who directed Magika, is a good director yet - nor Amir Hafizi, who wrote Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, a good writer. Aside from Remy and Goh, everything good about this movie is in what it tried to be. Maybe Edry's and Amir's problem isn't that they don't know what kind of movie they're trying to make. Maybe their problem is that they're just not good enough to make it.

NEXT REVIEW: Kepong Gangster
Expectations: ohhh boy - no idea how this one's gonna turn out

Sorakan yang ringan

Hoore! Hoore!
My rating:




TMBF dah nak givap dengan mengulas setiap filem tempatan yang keluar di panggung. Dulu boleh, tapi sekarang makin susah - tambahan pula kini bukan hanya satu tapi dua filem tempatan keluar setiap minggu. (Tak hairan kalau kebanyakannya dari kilang filem Metrowealth, yang pernah cakap nak tingkatkan produktiviti tapi senyap tentang kualiti.) Jangan salah faham, saya tetap akan cuba sebaik mungkin untuk menonton dan merebiu filem Melayu, tetapi mungkin hanya pilih yang menarik perhatian saya sahaja. Filem Hoore! Hoore! berjaya menarik perhatian saya, kerana filem muzikal yang menggunakan lagu-lagu klasik nyanyian Allahyarham Sudirman Haji Arshad nyata sesuatu yang berbeza dari filem-filem Melayu biasa.

Beza memang ada, dan ini antara kekuatannya. Tetapi kelemahan dan kekurangan juga ada.

Nurul Aiman (Nurfarah Nazirah), atau lebih dikenali sebagai Iman, adalah seorang gadis remaja yang sering dipersendakan kerana tubuhnya yang gempal - terutamanya oleh alpha bitch di sekolahnya iaitu Rita (Kilafairy), malah juga dari kawan-kawan Iman iaitu Lana (Shana Razman) dan Azadan (Afi Yamin). Iman amat disayangi oleh ibubapanya (Harun Salim Bachik dan Adibah Noor) dan juga neneknya (Fauziah Nawi) yang pernah menjadi ratu cantik zaman '60an. Neneknya mendorong Iman supaya menyertai pertanding Ratu Idola yang juga ditanding oleh Rita bagi membina keyakinan dirinya - walaupun ibu Iman kurang senang dengan pertandingan ratu cantik sebegitu. Iman juga dibantu oleh Johari (Akim), ketua pengawas sekolahnya yang menjadi jejaka idaman semua gadis, tapi sebenarnya menyimpan perasaan terhadap Iman; namun Johari juga menghadapi tentangan dari bapanya Cikgu Mursyid (Shahronizam Noor).

Banyak yang saya suka tentang filem ini. Saya suka dialog tulisan Shariman Wahab bersama pengarah Saw Teong Hin yang kerap bijak dan kelakar. ("Moto tu mak kau ke aku mak kau?") Saya suka lakonan yang hampir flawless, terutamanya dari pelakon veteran seperti Fauziah Nawi, Harun Salim Bachik dan Adibah Noor manakala bakat baru seperti Nurfarah Nazirah dan Akim juga berkesan. Saya suka paparan hubungan antara watak-watak yang berkonflik, namun penuh kasih sayang. Saya suka ia sebuah cerita orang muda lawan orang tua yang memihak kepada orang muda. Dan saya suka tema ceritanya, iaitu kebaikan tidak mengenal rupa dan hati yang murni lebih penting dari pandangan orang, semuanya berlandaskan pandangan dari seri agama Islam yang lebih terbuka dan bukan hanya melarang-larang. Semua ini amat baru dan segar bagi filem Melayu, dan ianya ubat penawar yang mujarab kepada filem-filem lain yang kononnya Islam sangat.

Tapi sebagai sebuah muzikal, ia kurang memuaskan. Berbanding filem Mamma Mia! (yang mengadaptasikan pementasan Broadway) dimana ceritanya dibina berdasarkan lirik lagu-lagu ABBA, plot Hoore! Hoore! tidak berkaitan dengan lagu-lagu Allahyarham Sudirman yang dipilih. Adegan muzikal dalam filem muzikal perlu diintegrasikan dengan cerita, supaya muzik dan liriknyalah yang menjadi penggerak cerita - tapi disini, walaupun lagunya sedap, tapi kesannya ibarat garam yang ditambah, bukan ramuan utama. Bagi saya - yang jujur kata, bukan minat sangat genre muzikal - kelemahan yang paling besar adalah dari segi penceritaan. Watak-watak tidak dibina dengan teliti dan konflik antara mereka kabur; akibatnya, yang mengecam dan melarang penyertaan Iman dalam Ratu Idola pada mula-mula, tiba-tiba ubah pendirian tanpa sebab yang jelas.

Disini saya terpaksa membandingkan filem ini dengan filem Hairspray (yang pernah difilemkan dua kali - satu tahun 1988, satu lagi remake tahun 2007). Dalam filem itu, bakat yang ditonjolkan oleh heroinnya Tracy Turnblad ialah tarian, bukan ratu cantik; Tracy juga seorang yang penuh keyakinan diri dari mula, bukan pemalu. Perubahan ini melemahkan Hoore! Hoore! kerana kita boleh lihat sendiri kebolehan Tracy menari, jadi kita faham bagaimana dia boleh menjadi popular walaupun gemuk. Iman pula segan dan kekok, jadi popularitinya sebagai petanding ratu cantik sukar dipercayai. Masalah utamanya ialah ini menjejaskan mesejnya tentang gadis gemuk yang ingin membuktikan diri - kerana apa sebenarnya yang Iman nak buktikan? Apa sebenarnya kejayaan yang dicapainya? Saw dan Shariman seolah-olah takut hendak menjadikan Iman terlalu berani atau kasar, dan akibatnya mesej ini kurang bergigi.

Yang saya ingin lihat dari filem ini ialah gigi. Contohnya babak awal dimana Iman bergaduh dengan Rita selepas Rita memperlinya; lagi sedap kalau Iman memberi satu penumbuk ke hidung Rita dengan bunyi dusshhh! yang kuat. Watak nenek Iman lakonan Fauziah Nawi memang hebat, tapi lagi hebat jika dia ada semasa Rita dengan entourage-nya menyindir Iman lagi; bolehlah dia balas balik dengan sindiran yang lagi power. Dan kan lagi syok kalau persembahan Iman di pusingan akhir pertandingan itu ialah babak tarian dan nyanyian yang rancak dan bertenaga? Ini kan filem muzikal. Ini kan filem girl power, ke tidak? Kalau ada babak-babak macam ni, baru lagi seronok.

Tapi saya agak suka jugaklah filem ini. Nyata ia sesuatu yang baru dan segar, serta menunjukkan pendirian yang amat ingin saya lihat dalam filem tempatan. Filem seperti inilah yang perlu diperbanyakkan lagi di panggung wayang kita - bukan hanya kerana ia memberi ajaran yang sihat dan berharga kepada penonton, khususnya penonton muda dan remaja yang disasarkan. Juga kerana lagi banyak filem seperti ini yang dibikin, lagi mahirlah pembikin-pembikin filem tempatan mengolah dan menggarap cerita sebegini supaya kelemahan yang ada disini dapat diperbaiki.

NEXT REVIEW: Snow White and the Huntsman
Expectations: hoping K-Stew isn't as bad as they say

The Muppets are as sweet and earnest - and magical - as ever

The Muppets
My rating:




It was either this or Arthur Christmas for my next review. I'm missing out on a lot of big movies in an (increasingly desperate) attempt to catch up on current cinema releases; although the Aardman Studios animated film has been garnering great reviews, I ultimately chose The Muppets due to its greater, um, shall we say, "cultural significance." (Even though its cultural significance here in Malaysia is somewhat suspect.) Boy, I'm glad I did! I'd forgotten that the new Toy Story short from Pixar, Small Fry, is attached to it, and I would've hated myself for missing it. Although it feels like a massively shortened version of the first movie (Buzz gets left behind again), the hilarious spoofs of cheesy fast-food kid's meal toys make up for it. And of course, it's a pleasure just to see Woody and Buzz and the rest of the gang on the big screen again.

And The Muppets? Glad I caught it too.

Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (voice of Peter Linz) are adopted brothers and lifelong fans of the Muppets - especially Walter, who is clearly a Muppet himself but apparently no one ever comments on this fact. On the 10th anniversary of Gary's and his girlfriend Mary's (Amy Adams) relationship, they go on a trip to Los Angeles and bring Walter with them, who is especially excited to visit the famed Muppet Studios. But upon arrival, they find it run down and the Muppets disbanded, having lost their popularity. Worse, an evil oil baron named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is planning to buy the property, tear it down and drill for oil. Thus, Gary, Walter and a slightly reluctant Mary must gather the old Muppet gang - Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Miss Piggy, Swedish Chef, Rowlf, Camilla the Chicken and all the others - and save the day the only way they know how: by putting on a show. But first, they must convince hard-nosed TV executive Veronica (Rashida Jones) to give them a slot, then get Jack Black (Jack Black) to be their celebrity host - and finally, defeat the machinations of Richman, who mean to ruin them at any cost.

Did The Muppet Show ever air in Malaysia? TMBF was a bona fide TV addict throughout the '80s, and I don't recall ever seeing it. (And I recall Fraggle Rock.) There's a great deal of love and nostalgia for the Muppets amongst the pop-culture-geek websites I hang out on, none of which I or anyone I personally know feel; sure, I've heard of Kermit and Miss Piggy through cultural osmosis, but that's about it. So I came to this movie with none of the pop-cultural baggage that it seems to be deliberately addressing - such as the basic storyline about how they've fallen in popularity and need to convince the world, both in the film and in real life, that they're still relevant. I also came to this movie with a somewhat removed impression of the Muppets' appeal, i.e. I know people like them because they're charming and funny and cute, but I haven't really experienced it myself. Now that I have, I can sum it up in one word: sweetness.

Which is a difficult thing to aim for, since it can so very easily end up as cloying sentimentality. It's also very easy for most people to adopt a cynical, cooler-than-thou hipness that looks down on something as unfalteringly clean and cheery as the Muppets. But I see now that what makes them so beloved - and what this movie succeeds at capturing - is their ability to make sweetness sweet, and not cloying or corny. This is a delightfully candy-coated confection of a film, one that knocks down every wall of cynicism to put a gleeful, child-like smile on your face that you can't wipe off - to paraphrase a lyric from one of its songs. And yes, it has songs; it's a musical, which I've said before is my least favourite genre, but this movie shows that there's nothing like a showstopping, intricately-choreographed song-and-dance number to convey effervescent joy. That's what The Muppets offers - effervescent joy.

How does it accomplish that? First, by being very very cute. In this day and age when there's a multi-billion-dollar corporation that does nothing but create marketable icons of cute, it's enlightening to consider what Jim Henson created 35 years ago through the old-school art of puppeteering. Second, by investing each and every one of those creations with personality - something Sanrio has never bothered to do - via voice acting, puppetry, and plain ol' good storytelling. Third, by adopting an ironic sense of humour that pokes fun at itself more than anything, which therefore gives it license to also poke fun at everything. The funniest jokes in this movie come from its gleefully fourth-wall-breaking moments - like when an entire chorus line collapses in exhaustion after the principal characters leave the scene, or even offhand bits like when Kermit first balks at Walter's plea to reunite the Muppets and Mary says, "This is going to be a very short movie."

But where it resolutely refuses to descend into irony is in the emotional subplots - Gary's and Mary's relationship issues, Walter's identity crisis, even Kermit's and Miss Piggy's on-again off-again romance. Which tend to bog the movie down in its midsection; none of them have any real dramatic weight for the amount of screentime they take up. Albeit the Kermit-Miss Piggy one works better, since the Muppets' brand of earnest sentiment works better when it's played by Muppets instead of flesh-and-blood actors. Because if there's another word that best describes the Muppets, it's earnestness. It's there not only in the sentimental scenes, but also in its entire approach to entertainment at its cheesiest. It's what accounts for Camilla and gang clucking their way through an all-chicken rendition of Cee Lo Green's Forget You (the clean version of the song, of course), as well as the bit where Chris Cooper starts rapping. The former is fun - the latter is a little cringe-inducing. Just as well that neither goes on for too long.

But I feel guilty just for saying the slightest uncomplimentary thing about it. A Muppet movie isn't supposed to be dramatically weighty, after all. It's not a great film, as my rating indicates, and I wouldn't even place it among the year's best. It's just a highly entertaining little movie that kids will enjoy, that'll turn hardened adults into kids again, and that'll leave a smile on your face that'll last a lot longer than most empty-headed kids' movies. (Despicable Me, I'm still looking at you.) Still, I wouldn't put it past some people (Malaysians in particular, if only because we never grew up watching The Muppet Show) to be immune to the Muppets' charms - to think of a movie starring old-school, non-CGI-animated puppets to be uncool. Just look at Walter, the one new Muppet character created for this movie, and see how the same piece of inanimate felt can convey heartbreaking sadness, overwhelming joy, and the entire gamut of emotions in between. There's a magic in that - magic that Jim Henson discovered and that his successors carry on. For those on whom that magic doesn't work, you clearly live in a colder and bleaker world than the rest of us.

NEXT REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Expectations: wow, AV Club, really?

Namewee is angry no more

Nasi Lemak 2.0
My rating:




Let's get one thing straight off the bat: Wee Meng Chee, a.k.a. Namewee, did not disrespect our national anthem. The sheer love he has for "Negaraku" is audible in every note he sings on his Negarakuku video, and if his lyrics are less than circumspect, it would still take a tin ear - or an agenda - to say he "menghina lagu kebangsaan". In any case, I respect the hell out of the guy; though I do think he could stand to be a bit more tactful, he speaks his mind and his heart - even when it is full of rage. An artist has no other obligation than to be honest with himself, and what Namewee has to say echoes a lot of the same things the average Malaysian Chinese thinks and feels. So yes, count me a fan, despite the fact that Chinese rap is nowhere near my favourite musical genre. And since music isn't my favourite artistic medium, I was majorly keen on catching his first directorial effort on film. I really, really wanted it to be good.

And it is. It's just not as good as it could've been.

A power struggle has broken out over ownership of a Chinese restaurant chain, between its disgraced owner Gong Xi Fa and his conniving sister Gong Xi Ni - who, with her Chinese-trained chef toyboy Lan Qiao (Dennis Lau), has wrested control. Gong Xi Fa's daughter Xiao K (Karen Kong) wants to help, and she seeks it in Chef Huang (Namewee), who has problems of his own. A hero to his neighbours, Huang aids them in everything from university placements to nude pictures on Facebook, but his restaurant isn't doing too well due to his refusal to adapt his Chinese cuisine to local tastes. But attempting to help Xiao K forces him to swallow his pride and ask the local nasi lemak stall owner Kak Noor (Adibah Noor) to teach him how to make her very popular nasi lemak. In turn, she sends him on an odyssey across the peninsula, where he will meet a Baba Nyonya couple (Kenny and Chee), an Indian curry master (David Arumugam) and his beauty queen-in-the-making daughter (Nadine Ann Thomas), and a Malay polygamist (Afdlin Shauki) - and learn from them how to make the perfect nasi lemak.

(Apologies for being unable to name a couple of cast members. The producers are doing that annoying thing of puffing up the most famous names at the expense of others who play far more prominent roles. Reshmonu gets mentioned everywhere despite having barely 2 minutes of screentime, yet I can't even find the names of Gong Xi Fa's and Gong Xi Ni's actors on the movie's official website.)

As a film that celebrates the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural diversity and plurality of Malaysia, it succeeds. As a wildly funny and cleverly satirical comedy, it succeeds. But it is as a debut of a first-time filmmaker, and a sticking-it to his many detractors, that Nasi Lemak 2.0 succeeds most handily. This is a pretty damn polished product for a local film, displaying production values that far exceed many Malay movies with a good deal more than its under-RM1 million budget. And it turns out Namewee is a pretty damn solid director, not only with stuff like song-and-dance sequences and CGI, but also with crack comic timing and a whole grab bag of visual gags. And yes, it's also a musical; the songs are a lot of fun, and he wrote them all himself. Rest assured you'll be getting quality entertainment for your cinema ticket here.

Most of its entertainment comes from the satire part. Namewee pokes fun at a lot of things, most of which you'd recognize if you've been reading the papers or are at least aware of what's been going on in our country in the past few years - or, for that matter, if you've been following his own viral videos, which he is self-aware enough to also make fun of. And he can be remarkably subtle with it; he likes to toss a joke in at the very end of a scene, almost as an afterthought. This is a movie that rewards multiple viewings, so as to get all its jokes (of which there are a lot), and I wonder if it was deliberately made so. But I hasten to mention that its satire isn't particularly sharp, seeing as it's only in the form of jokes and not weaved into the story itself. As a fan of Namewee's Angry Malaysian Chinese Everyman persona, I was a little disappointed.

Y'see, my fellow audience members - in a full-house cinema hall, no less - were already digging the movie. They were sold, they were having fun, and towards the ending they were noticeably waiting for a big crowd-pleasing climax that, unfortunately, never came. (And "Curry Neh" is a much more rousing musical number than "Rasa Sayang 2.0", the one on which the movie ends.) It's largely because the storytelling is kinda messy, and doesn't deliver on the necessary emotional resolutions. The romantic subplot between him and Xiao K comes out of nowhere, and the brother-sister relationship between Gong Xi Fa and Gong Xi Ni had some nice depth to it but doesn't resolve satisfyingly. More importantly, Huang's journey from a Chinese chauvinist to a true-blue pluralist Malaysian, conveyed via the metaphor of learning to make nasi lemak, skips a few vital steps and ultimately fails to convince. (Did he actually learn anything from Baba and Nyonya?)

But messy storytelling aside, this points to a much kinder and gentler Namewee than, say, the guy who wrote and performed an angry, obscenity-laden song about the headmistress who called her students racist epithets. (An apt response to that bitch, IMNSHO.) He depicts the Malay, Indian and Baba Nyonya characters in glowing terms, and many of them are a lot more 1Malaysia than his protagonist; Kak Noor is a Tai Chi expert, and one of the polygamist's wives recites classical Chinese poetry. It seemed for a moment that he'd saved his sharpest barbs for the Chinese cultural purists that Huang seems to represent, since most of the time Huang is a pretty unlikable character; not just a racial zealot, but also self-pitying, dense and boorish. But no, Namewee pulls his punches there too. Maybe he didn't want to bite the hand of the Chinese fanbase that feeds him, but I'd've admired his courage if he did.

Still, my admiration for him is undimmed. He's come a long way from controversial and (undeservedly!) hated figure to having his directorial debut on local cinema screens nationwide, and if he had to dial down on the anger and vitriol to get there, I can hardly blame him. He has a ways to go before his message of love and inclusiveness gets out to the whole nation, particularly the Malays whom he had earlier offended - I am particularly saddened by this insanely jealous and self-absorbed screed by a fellow filmmaker - but Nasi Lemak 2.0 is a good start. And as a first effort by a first-time filmmaker, Nasi Lemak 2.0 is a damn good start.

NEXT REVIEW: Raya Tak Jadi
Expectations: bilalaaaa Razak Mohaideen ni nak bersara

Another crowning glory for the Disney formula

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale
My rating:




I gave The Princess and the Frog 4 stars, but rereading what I wrote a year ago, I find the tone of my review incongruously lukewarm. Did I over-rate it, or was I too harsh on it once the time came to sit butt on chair and pound out another review? Hmm, 'tis a quandary. In any case, here is the next Walt Disney animated movie - their 50th, incidentally - and it is in many ways as much a return to the old-school Disney formula as the last one. Spunky heroine, cute animal sidekicks, dashing hero, romance, songs, scary villain, and all based on yet another classic fairy tale. Didn't I say a year ago that I had doubts how much more could be wrung out of this same old same old?

O me of little faith. I never should've doubted Disney - not now that they have John Lasseter at their helm.

A baby girl with beautiful golden hair was born to a king and queen. Her hair had the magical ability to heal all illnesses - and so a witch named Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) kidnapped her, craving her youth-giving magic. The girl, now named Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), grew up believing that Gothel is her mother and has lived in a lonely tower all her life, with no friends except a pet chameleon named Pascal. About to turn 18, she yearns to leave her home-cum-prison, and one day her chance arrives in the form of a thief and rogue named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi). She strikes a bargain with him to be her guide to the outside world, not knowing that he is wanted by the kingdom's palace guard - and a palace guard horse named Maximus - as well as the Stabbington Brothers (Ron Perlman), his cohorts in crime. And Gothel herself is not about to let her golden-haired goose get away.

It's even more formulaically Disney than The Princess and the Frog. That one at least took place in a more-or-less real-world period New Orleans, and had an ordinary working-class heroine. This one has an actual princess of a generic nameless fairytale kingdom, the kind that films like Enchanted and the Shrek series had a field day parodying; yet it all seems comforting and familiar instead of tired and clichéd. And it's funny, thrilling, heartwarming, poignant, beautifully animated, and terrifically entertaining - everything a Disney animated film should be and has always been.

It does do a couple of new things with the formula though. Chief amongst them is its updating of the Rapunzel story and making it about a domineering mother and an overprotected daughter - which is an obvious approach for a story about a girl who's lived her entire life locked up in a tower. A lot of the Rapunzel-Gothel scenes are uncomfortably close to real-life accounts of child abuse; you get the impression that Gothel's emotional manipulation and passive-aggressive putdowns are things that many a young girl has received from her mother. Perhaps the movie oversimplifies the issue by turning Gothel into an irredeemable villain who thoroughly deserves her eventual comeuppance - but she was a uniquely, deliciously twisted villain while it lasted.

And then there are the numerous little jokes that seem to poke fun at the formula. Am I the only one who thinks the "I've Got a Dream" song sequence is a parody of the typical "I want" song found in pretty much every single Disney animated film? Yes, there's an "I want" song in this one too ("When Will My Life Begin"), as well as a villain song and a falling-in-love song, but if the movie doesn't subvert clichés, as least it makes efforts to cleverly hang lampshades on them. It's also neat that its hero is a none-too-goody Han Solo-type rogue instead of a bland prince, and that its cute animal sidekicks have personalities on top of just being cute. (And funny. Both Pascal and Maximus get some killer gags.)

But what makes it better than even The Princess and the Frog - which it is, even though they share the same 4-star rating - is how emotionally affecting it is. Halfway through I was beginning to think the Rapunzel-Flynn romance isn't going anywhere, and that they'd have to resort to a montage (an easy shortcut for, well, basically anything) or something. Then the ending came around, and damned if I didn't get more than a little teary-eyed. I think it's because the characters are so well-established, that even if their relationships are broad and formulaic, it still works. Rapunzel is recognizably a teenage girl - gawky, excitable, and full of wonder at being able to finally explore the outside world. I'd put her up there amongst the most lovable of the Disney heroines.

Did you know this is the 2nd most expensive film ever made? It cost $260 million, but every dollar is up there in stunning visual design and animation. And it looks like the gamble paid off; it did very well at the box office even against Harry Potter. I was sorry to hear that The Princess and the Frog was financially disappointing, and that this film was radically reworked because of that. Hence the puzzling title (which gives the impression that it's meant to kick off a whole Rapunzel film franchise) - in the U.S. it's called Tangled, to make it sound less girly. No matter. They can market their movies however they like, as long as they keep making 'em - although sadly, they have announced that this will be the last of their fairy tale-based films. They needn't worry. The formula still works.

NEXT REVIEW: Ngangkung
Expectations: Shaheizy Sam FTW?

Shaolin Soccer versi 1Malaysia yang jauh lebih kecundang

Estet
My rating:




Mamat Khalid has been building a reputation as Malaysia's most idiosyncratic filmmaker. He made Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang, which is a surreal noir pastiche filmed in black-and-white. He made Zombi Kampung Pisang, which is, well, a kampung zombie movie. He made Rock, which is a tribute to the Malay rock scene of the '80s. And he's in the midst of making Apokalips, which appears to be Malaysia's first anime-inspired post-apocalyptic sci-fi action movie. All of which sound leaps and bounds more imaginative than the typical Malay flicks of today - and none of which I've actually seen. So I went into my first Mamat Khalid movie with high hopes, having heard that it's a Kollywood-inspired musical set in the Malaysian Indian community.

Malangnya, Estet amat menghampakan.

Farid (Farid Kamil) and Shashi (Shashi Tharan) are happy-go-lucky best friends who live and work in the Estet Cinta Manis rubber plantation, and frequently lock horns with the evil estate manager Pooniah (S. Veerasingam), who for some reason wants to ruin his own plantation. He gets his chance with an upcoming football match against Estet Red Cobra, whose team is led by the even-more-evil Junna (Soffi Jikan). Pooniah blackmails Cinta Manis' football coach Subra (K.S. Maniam) - if Cinta Manis loses, Subra's daughter Geetha (Jasmine Michael), who loves Farid, must marry Pooniah. Meanwhile, Shashi's alcoholic father Gandhi (T. Gandhi Nathan), who was once Cinta Manis' star striker, must sober up long enough to help Subra train the team. Also a mysterious stranger named Kublai Khan (Rajinikanth Vijayakumar Rosyam Nor) shows up to offer his own brand of aid.

Okey, memang saya tak tahu-menahu tentang filem Tamil. Tak pernah saya tengok sebuah filem Tamil dari mula sampai akhir. Jadi mula-mula saya khuatir, kerana Estet jelas meng-homage-kan konvensyen filem Tamil, dari segi jalan cerita, garapan, mahupun lakonan. Saya takde frame of reference; takde apa-apa yang boleh dibandingkan untuk menilai filem ini. Tapi after a while, makin ketara bahawa Estet juga meng-ripoff-kan filem Shaolin Soccer arahan Stephen Chow; ada perlawanan bola, ada kemahiran bola yang luarbiasa, ada goalkeeper peniru Michael Jackson mengganti Bruce Lee, dan ada adegan dimana bola tetiba jadi CGI. Saya suka giler Shaolin Soccer. Saya amat arif tentang filem itu. Dan yang jelas ketara ialah, dari segala aspek dimana Shaolin Soccer berjaya, Estet gagal sama sekali.

Komedi tak kelakar. Drama tak menyayat hati. Jalan cerita tak bersambung. Perwatakan tak masuk akal. Muzikal, hanya ada tiga babak nyanyian - dua masa mula dan akhir, satu kat tetengah tapi sekejap je macam kena censored. Aksi... okaylah, it does have a somewhat impressively acrobatic stunt team. Tapi setakat itu saja kelebihan Estet dari mana-mana filem tempatan lain. Lakonan pun susah nak kata bagus atau tidak, because Mamat's screenplay gives little for the actors to work with. Contohnya kisah cinta Geetha dan Farid, dimana dialog mereka lebih seakan budak belasan tahun daripada orang dewasa - dan pada suatu ketika, Farid macam cemburukan Shashi entah sebab apa.

Dan pada suatu ketika, ada seorang anggota pasukan bola Estet Cinta Manis yang tetiba nak jadi pelacur mak nyah. Apekebende?? Ini sebuah adegan yang penuh dengan WTF gred A1. Is this supposed to be funny? Kemudian dia dipukul dan dirompak oleh customernya, dan you nak kita ketawa masa ni ke, Tuan Pengarah? Ada satu lagi babak dimana seorang watak cuba membunuh diri, dan ini juga dipersembahkan sebagai bahan lawak. Susah aku nak percaya Mamat Khalid terkenal sebagai pengarah komedi, jika beginilah kepekaan komedinya. Watak Kublai Khan pula, who is clearly a parody of a typical Tamil movie hero - but he's played by Rosyam Nor, who, tabley laa. Watak ini antara idea Mamat yang berpotensi, tapi garapannya gagal. Rosyam langsung tak dapat meniru gaya hero filem Tamil. Dia kayu.

Antara para pelakonnya, hanya Soffi Jikan saja yang berjaya membawa wataknya. Like Shaolin Soccer's Team Evil, Junna is so bad he can make it rain out of sheer desire to ruin everyone's day. Bes kalau ada lebih elemen over-the-top macam ni, tapi yang ada tak cukup. Jasmine Michael hanya sekadar gula-gula mata. S. Veerasingam is mostly annoying. Shashi Tharan ada bakat, tapi skrip tidak memberinya peluang untuk menyerlahkannya. (What's sad is that he's not likely to ever get another lead role in a local film.) Samalah dengan K.S. Maniam dan T. Gandhi Nathan. And by the way, aku betul-betul frust bila sebuah filem memberi nama kepada watak yang sama dengan nama pelakonnya. Rajin la sket woi!

Jujurnya, antara unsur Estet yang paling memuaskan ialah paparan kaum India yang tinggal di ladang getah, serta pelakon-pelakon India yang jarang kita lihat dalam filem tempatan. Kalau Mamat nak mengalu-alukannya sebagai filem 1Malaysia, memang layak lah. Tapi rungutan dia selepas gagal memenangi Filem Terbaik mahupun Pengarah Terbaik FFM23 membuat saya syak; macam dia bikin filem ni sebab saja nak menang award. Baru ingat, sebenarnya saya pernah juga menonton sebuah filem Mamat Khalid: Puteri Gunung Ledang, dimana skrip di-co-written olehnya. Dan itu sebuah filem dimana segala masalahnya terletak dalam skrip. Saya masih gian nak tengok Apokalips, tapi toksahlah merengek, Mamat Khalid. Awak kalah kepada Magika memang adil.

NEXT REVIEW: Skyline
Expectations: doesn't look good

Sebuah filem KRU Studios yang teramat okey

Magika
My rating:




Fantasy adventure-comedy that parodies a whole bunch of characters from Malay folklore? That's actually a great idea. That's what I thought when I saw the trailer for this. It's a concept that lends itself to a lot of imagination, and if it can live up to that potential, we might have a decent local film here. ('Cos even a decent local film is such a rarity.) But the thing about that trailer that gave me pause is that it's also a musical. Aiyaa, why laa? As I have previously mentioned, musicals are perhaps my least favourite genre. I couldn't help but think this movie simply didn't need to break out into song every ten minutes or so.

Turns out I was right, on both counts.

Ayu (Diana Danielle) and Malik (Fimie Don) are brother and sister who have just buried their deceased mother at her rural kampung. After a childish argument, Malik runs off into the jungle, Ayu goes after him... and they both tumble through a gateway into the land of Magika. Malik is quickly kidnapped by Nenek Kebayan (Ziana Zain), who plans to use him to make her youth potion for an eager clientele that includes the Puteri Gunung Ledang (Ning Baizura). Ayu, on the other hand, runs into Pak Pandir (Aznil Nawawi) and Mak Andeh (Raja Azura), sees Mahsuri (Vanidah Imran) get run through by Awang's (Norman Hakim) spear, is briefly accompanied by Hang Tuah (Saiful Apek), and finally finds a friend in Badang (Mawi), who helps her rescue Malik. And they'll have more wacky hijinks to get into before they find their way home.

I'm beginning to think that KRU Studios may be the most competent local film studio working today. They made My Spy, which wasn't a very good movie but at least had some solid production values. They made Jin Notti, which was an awful awful movie but at least it had some original ideas. And they made the two Cicakman films, which I haven't seen but at least deserve points for ambition (if they're better than Kapoww, they're good enough already). Such low standards is where our industri filem tempatan is currently at, but hey, baby steps. What makes Magika stand out from the typical local film is that it is overall a perfectly competent film.

Of course, you come to TMBF to hear more than just "citer nie kira okeylah", so here goes my usual rebiu yang panjang lebar. The writing is pretty solid; the dialogue largely avoids on-the-nose exposition, and can occasionally be pretty witty. Especially the parts where they fool around with their source material of Malay folk legends. The funniest scene was Sabri Yunus playing a hilariously droll Bendahara chastising the Puteri Gunung Ledang for being a drama queen with the Sultan Melaka. (And hey, kenapa Sabri jarang buat filem? Dude is funny.) Also, I may have heard my first honest-to-God instance of sexual innuendo in a Malay film ("tadi kecik, sekarang dah besar"). It's too bad they don't go as far with the spoofery as, say, the Shrek movies, but the bits we get are welcome.

But as I suspected, the musical parts are what dragged the movie down. Yes yes, I'm no fan of musicals, I am clearly biased, I'm just a mean ol' meanyhead being mean. But the thing is that the movie uses its musical numbers as a substitute for genuine emotional scenes. Ayu and Badang have a romance, Malik has survivor's guilt over his mum's death, and the two bickering siblings must learn to love each other. How are these character arcs conveyed and resolved? They sing about it. Now, maklumlah dalam genre muzikal ni, itulah fungsi adegan nyanyian - to provide emotional resonance as well as advance the plot. But I just ain't feelin' it, guys. It's like, no matter what deep emotional trauma you suffer from, nyanyi lagu je semuanya baik.

Or maybe it's just the way the musical scenes are executed here. The thing about musicals that I can never quite get is the tonality; what kind of world is this where people sukati je bernyanyi dan berdansa? It would've worked better if only the denizens of Magika do the singing and dancing, but noooo, Diana Danielle just had to show off her pipes. Musicals operate in a kind of heightened reality, and not everyone has the acting chops for that. Most of the cast do fine by just hamming it up, although some try too hard to make too much of their screentime. (Raja Azura, ngkolah tu.) But although Diana is pretty good when she's not singing, she never seems comfortable with her musical scenes; during her reconciliation song with Malik, dia macam bermiang dengan adiknya sendiri. (Um, yes. Ewww.) Mawi also never quite gets the tone right. Dashing hero, dia boleh buat. Dashing hero yang bernyanyi dan berdansa, dia kayu.

The thing about Magika is that it's ambitious for a local film, but that's a low standard - it's not really ambitious enough. Making it a musical seems obligatory, like they did it just because Hotel Mania is a hit on TV3 and they're hopping on the bandwagon. (Macamlah Hotel Mania tu original sangat.) But as much as I've been carping about it, citer nie kira okey jugaklah. You'll probably like it more than I did if you like musicals. There's a singing-and-dancing fight scene between Badang and Nenek Kebayan that's gloriously silly, and the climactic action scene involving a CGI dragon is... okay, it's not a very well-staged action scene, but points for effort. I'm feeling good about KRU Studios right now, enough to even forgive them for Jin Notti; if they keep aiming as high as this, I reckon eventually they'll make a genuinely good movie. (Hell, maybe this could be it.)

NEXT REVIEW: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Expectations: dammit that title is just so lame

2D is still groovy

The Princess and the Frog
My rating:




I watched Aladdin only about a year ago. That'd be the 1992 Disney animated version, the one that came between Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Yes, I'm quite the slow poke, but I have to say I didn't much like it. Beauty was gorgeous and sweeping, Lion King was epic, but I found Aladdin kiddish and cliched. I've watched only a couple more Disney traditionally-animated films since then, and while I enjoyed them, I wasn't too upset when they announced that 2004's Home on the Range (which I didn't catch) would be their last movie to employ hand-drawn animation. Of course it was dumb of them to blame an entire medium for their last few movies' lack of success, but it wasn't just the medium; Disney's entire approach to animated storytelling had just become too tired and formulaic.

The Princess and the Frog proves there's still life, not just in the medium, but in the formula itself.

It is 1920s New Orleans, and Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) is a waitress who cares only about working hard and saving up to fulfill her late father's dream - opening her own restaurant. When Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) visits the city, her wealthy friend Charlotte (Jennifer Cody) is excited at the prospect of becoming his princess, but Tiana couldn't care less. Unfortunately, the fun-loving and irresponsible prince runs afoul of Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a voodoo witch doctor who turns him into a frog while Naveen's servant Lawrence (Peter Bartlett) impersonates him as part of Facilier's plot to take over the city. And when the frog prince meets Tiana and persuades her to kiss him... she too turns into a frog. Now they must travel together through the bayou to meet voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis) who can help remove the curse, aided by jazz-loving alligator Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) and lovesick firefly Ray (Jim Cummings).

Credits to Ed Catmull and John Lasseter - president and chief creative officer, respectively, of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar - for reviving the hand-drawn animated film. And especially to Lasseter, who acts as producer here and whose experience making some of the best 3D-animated films of all time for Pixar must have surely influenced this movie. For those who saw the mid-'90s Disney renaissance come to an ignominous end, the improvements are obvious: a strong and independent heroine, no cute animal sidekicks (Louis and Ray are characters, not cliches shoehorned in for the cute factor), a decent dramatic conflict, an engaging plot, likable characters, and an emphasis on telling a story instead of simply throwing things at the screen to keep the kiddies in their seats.

But it's not like all that is anything new. This is very much the Disney formula through and through, right down to the Broadway musical-style songs (penned by Randy Newman) - it's just executed well. And as my viewing of Aladdin proved, I'm not a big fan of the formula. Frankly, I found the opening scene cloying and sappy, with an oh-so-cute young Tiana and her oh-so-loving family and their oh-so-heartwarming dream. Pixar would never be this corny. And I think I've confirmed once and for all that musicals are my least favourite film genre. I dunno, I just can never suspend my disbelief whenever the characters break into song and start cutting the rug.

So it helps a lot that the song-and-dance sequences are lively and filled with lots of funny sight gags. Which is one thing the Disney formula has always been good at, and this time credits go to directors John Musker and Ron Clements, veterans of Disney traditionally-animated films. The film improves greatly once the plot gets into gear, and Musker and Clements steer it with sure hands and keep the proceedings fun and fast-paced. It's too bad that none of the music is especially memorable; two hours after leaving the cinema, I couldn't remember any of the songs anymore. Randy Newman does a solid job, incorporating jazz, gospel, zydeco and other native New Orleans music - but if you ask me, the last really good soundtrack and score for a Disney animated film was Beauty and the Beast.

But another thing this film gets right is the casting - as in, not getting carried away with stunt casting or letting any particular actor's performance overpower the movie (*coughRobinWilliamsEddieMurphycough*). All the actors do fine work, in both the acting and singing departments. I bet it was tempting to cast some A-list comedians in the comic-relief roles of Louis and Ray, but Michael-Leon Wooley and Jim Cummings are great; Cummings' Cajun accent especially is a hoot. And there's been much ado about the fact that Tiana is Disney's first African-American "princess" - which is apparently some marketing label that targets young girls - but it makes no never mind to us Asians.

So yes, welcome back Walt Disney Animation Studios' hand-drawn animation unit. It's good to know you haven't lost the knack for making films that are funny, thrilling, heartwarming, romantic, and greatly entertaining - in other words, the Disney formula. But even though they've breathed new life into it, I wonder how long they can keep it going. Even if this starts a new Disney renaissance, how long can they make it last before another Treasure Planet or Brother Bear or Home on the Range brings it to an end again? 'Cos after all, it's not the medium that's the problem, it's the stories. And you can't keep telling the same story over and over again.

NEXT REVIEW: Avatar
Expectations: James freakin' Cameron wooo

Ya gotta be true... but ya also gotta be competent

Sell Out!
My rating:




Sigh. I wanted to like this movie, I really did.

Sell Out! chronicles the parallel lives of Rafflesia Pong, a TV host, and Eric Tan, a young inventor. Both are employees of the FONY megacorporation, led by two cheerfully unethical CEOs. When her arts-based show falters at the ratings, Rafflesia hits upon the idea to film dying people in their final moments and capturing their death on film. Meanwhile, Eric's invention of a 10-in-1 Super Soyamaker (that makes 10 different soybean-based products, including a mean cup of soya milk) is rejected by his bosses until he installs a "built-in breakdown mechanism". Both struggle to maintain their integrity - although Rafflesia never had much to begin with.

The film is primarily a comedy, and what enjoyment you'll get out of it will be in how much you laugh. Call me a curmudgeon, but while the rest of the audience were whooping with laughter, I was pretty much stony-faced most of the time. Its idea of comic timing is to drag a joke out long past the point where it's funny. Two big comic setpieces - a CEO chasing a sales assistant who doesn't want to actually assist, and two old ladies fighting for a taxi - are more tiresome than funny. (I suspect people were laughing more at the pointed jabs it makes at Malaysian society, rather than any actual comedy value). The more subtle sight gags work better.

The story, such as it is, simply doesn't work. At one point, Eric's personality is split into his practical side and his idealistic side, which pushes the film into the realm of fantasy. But there just isn't enough conflict between them for this subplot to have any point. Nor is it very consistent in showing the two sides - sometimes there's two of him, sometimes only one. Rafflesia is fun to watch, but after 90 minutes of her shameless tastelessness, we're asked to believe she has a last-minute change of heart. Nope. Not buying it. At all. Too little time is spent on developing their stories, and too much on comic scenes that have no relevance to the plot whatsoever (and aren't very funny).

Oh, and I should probably mention that it's also a musical. Yes, people do break into song for no reason, and hanging a lampshade on that is good for at least one funny gag (during the CEOs' song). The songs aren't bad - you won't be humming any of them as you leave the theatre, but the lyrics are clever, the tunes are melodic, and they're an effective way to hit an emotional cue. And if the actors are doing their own singing, then some of them are surprisingly good at it.

The actual acting, though... haiyoo. One big heap of fail. Peter Davis is awful. He's completely expressionless, and he reads every line in the same nasal monotone. Calling what he does here 'acting' would be an insult to actors. Kee Thuan Chye and Lim Teik Leong (the CEOs) may be veterans, but their performances are artificial and stilted. Hannah Lo (as Hannah Edwards Leong, a rival TV celebrity to Rafflesia) isn't much better than Davis, but at least she gets some entertainingly bitchy dialogue. Only Jerrica Lai really shines. She has the juiciest scenes, and makes Rafflesia likeable despite her repugnant personality. And she totally rocks that impish grin.

The direction is uninspired, and the camerawork is dodgy. The whole film opts for a hand-held 'shaky' look, and it's distracting from the very first shot. There's one part where we pan across a number of posters featuring the various divisions of the FONY company - they're clearly meant to be funny and we're clearly meant to see them, but we can't because the goddamn camera can't stay still. And during Eric and Rafflesia's big musical duet scene, every time Lai is singing her parts the camera is inexplicably pointing at the back of her head. Aiyoo, movie, what laa??

The movie also has plenty of satirical jabs at the culture of our times, and boy is the satire ever dark. Cynical does not even begin to describe its view of Malaysian society - except for Eric, everyone is venal, shallow, self-centred, apathetic and stupid. And yet it's all played for laughs. It seems as though in aiming for the funny bone, the movie doesn't realize how pitch-black its vision actually is. The ending is equally bleak. (Or at least, what passes for an ending. Talk about abrupt; it doesn't so much end as it just stops.)

What works about this movie? The humour (some of it). Jerrica Lai. The satire. The songs. The dialogue - I was pleasantly surprised by the intelligence and wit of it. The sheer ambition of attempting a Malaysian musical comedy satire with an actual message. Props to director Yeo Joon Han, whose next work I'm looking forward to. I hope he won't sell out his vision, but I'm hoping even harder that he gets better at realizing it.

NEXT REVIEW: Angels and Demons
Anticipation level: meh