Friday January 16, 2009
Choices aplenty for local movie industry
By AZHARIAH KAMIN
Directors’ take on the local movie industry and local Malay movie highlights for the year.
This year Malay movie fans will get an eclectic mix of big screen flicks ranging from romantic comedy to feature, which boasts big names as well as newcomers.
Among the highly anticipated local movies are Maut, Muallaf, Stamp, Papadom, Talentime and Estet.
Here are some of the more interesting titles to look out for:
Liyana Jasmay (left) and Raja Farah in Bade Haji Azmi’s Maut. Maut (screening on Jan 15, directed by Bade Haji Azmi and produced by Tayangan Unggul)
The underlying theme is that there is a tree of life, and every time a leaf drops, death occurs. The Angel of Death shall be there to catch the falling leaf and to do its duty of retrieving the soul. This heavy drama features stories of three different non-related individuals and their own version of death and redemption. Cast: Que Haidar, Liyana Jasmay, Eja and Raja Farah.
Sayang (March 12; Bjarne Wong; Hock Star Entertainment Industry Bhd)
Mia is a typical daddy’s girl from a rich family who is obsessed with hip hop dancing. While she thinks it is nearly impossible to realise her dream, Remie, an outstanding dancer, comes into her life and everything changes. Together with Dafi and Robby, the enthusiastic teens train hard every day to take part in a national-level break dance competition. All goes well until Mia’s father finds out and puts a stop to it. Cast: Sharifah Amani, Samuel Rizal, Dafi AF5 and Ebi AF5.
Talentime (Yasmin Ahmad; Primeworks Studios and Chilli Pepper)
A simple tale about a school competition, the coming-of-age of the youths and the challenges they face plus lots of singing and dancing. The movie features newcomers such as Pamela Chong, Mahesh Jugal Kishore, popular singer Jaclyn Victor, Mohd Syafie Naswip and Azean Irdawaty.
Vanidah Imran and Que Haidar star in Kabir Bhatia’s Stamp. Stamp (Kabir Bhatia; Tayangan Unggul)
This is Kabir’s first attempt at comedy and the story revolves around an old stamp that is worth RM2mil. The stamp is to be displayed at Malacca Museum and there are several groups of crooks who are eyeing it. Cast: Afdlin Shauki, Vanidah Imran, Que Haidar and Bront Palarae.
Sharifah Amani and Samuel Rizal in Sayang. Pisau Cukur (Bernard Chauly; Red Films and Primeworks Studios)
Bernard Chauly takes us aboard a luxury cruise ship where two gold-digger girls – Bella (Maya Karin) and Intan (Nur Fazura) – prey on the VIPs on board. Its all about to get unravelled as prey and predator are trapped aboard the liner and anything can happen on this love boat. The film also stars Aaron Aziz, Eizlan Yusof, Datuk Rahim Razali, Khatijah Tan, Umie Aida, Liyana Jasmay and Nas-T.
Muallaf (Yasmin Ahmad; MHZ Films)
Muallaf follows two young Muslim girls (played by sisters Sharifah Amani and Sharifah Aleysha) on the run from an abusive father. The girls are more pious than most girls their age, yet the older one works in a pub. Along the way, they meet a Chinese man attracted to how they have created an island of faith and tolerance in a sea of hypocrisy.
Papadom (Afdlin Shauki; Tayangan Unggul)
After the death of his wife, Saadom devotes his life to raising his daughter Mia. As Mia grows up, she becomes a bit annoyed with her father’s endless care, which can be overwhelming at times. Cast: Afdlin Shauki, Liyana Jasmay, Noorkhiriah, Vanidah Imran and Farid Kamil.
Estet (Mamat Khalid; Naga VXS)
Director Mamat follows the filmmaking style of South Indian Kollywood films with a lot of dancing sequences. The story revolves around the plantation workers of Estet Cinta Manis and Estet Red Cobra and their families. Estate workers Farid and Sashi secretly admire Geetha and try to help her from being a victim to her father, Subramaniam, who is betting on a match. If Geetha’s father loses the game, she will be married to a clerk named, Ponniah, as payment for his debt. Cast: Farid Kamil, Shoffi Jikan, Rosyam Nor, Shashi Daran and Jasmine Michael.
Lu Pikirlah Sendiri De Movie (Aminah Raphor; SDAF Pictures)
Featuring Astro’s Raja Lawak winner Nabil in his acting debut playing the lead character, Nabil, a hard working delivery boy who falls for a rich girl, Natasya. Co-starring Putri Sarah Liyana, Amy Search, Mila AF5 and Vanidah Imran.
Cinta Terakhir (Along Kamaludin; KSG Pictures).
A romantic movie that revolves around student Firdaus who shares a platonic friendship with Tina. As time goes by, they fall for each other but go separate ways due to some misunderstandings. Cast: Zizan Nin, Intan Olivia Asriana and Emelda Rosmila.
Directors' Views
Kabir Bhatia, 28
“I have big hopes for the local film industry this year. It would be great to see Yasmin Ahmad’s movies on the big screen as she always has different and fresh approaches in her films.
“I’m also very excited about my baby Stamp. This is my first attempt at making a comedy. I have been planning to direct a comedy for a few years. In fact, I started pitching Stamp to several producers in the past few years but they weren’t interested until I met some producers from Tayangan Unggul.
“Stamp is different but it also has mainstream elements in it. You can see a bit of Ocean’s Eleven and a little bit of Snatch in it.
“I don’t know much about the suggestion to increase the price of tickets of foreign movies. But if it is true and is about to be implemented, I don’t think it will be a good move for the local movie industry.
“It (the price increase) is not the way to compensate the local film fraternity.”
Yasmin Ahmad, 50
“I don’t know what to expect from the local movie industry this year. I don’t have the faintest idea. And I don’t know anything about the suggestion for the price increase to watch foreign movie so I can’t really comment on that.
“I don’t believe in having talks and discussions on how to improve the local movie industry. As we can see, once the forums or discussion ended, we are back to square one.
“What I personally believe is that we can help improve the industry in our (producers and directors alike) ways.
“And no dear ... I don’t think they will screen Muallaf (despite being listed on Finas’s Sinema website) in the local cinemas.
“But I’m excited for Talentime that will be screened sometime in the middle of this year. I just hope for my own film to be well-received by movie fans and lots of people will go and watch it.”
Afdlin Shauki, 38
“I’m feeling bullish about the local film industry for 2009. But there is room for improvement. For instance, the Wajib Tayang scheme should be reviewed. In this scheme, local movies are given 14 days of screening in the main halls.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen during the last two months of 2008 because there were too many local films being released.
“Hence, each film had only about one week in the main hall before another local film was being slotted ,” said Afdlin who directed three new movies – Papadom, Berani Punya Budak and My Spy – scheduled for release this year.
He added that instead of allowing a fixed period of 14 days and the unfortunate one week during peak season, it should be expanded if the particular movie received great response from movie-goers.
“I am not sure that I agree with a price increase for foreign film tickets.
The price increase may have a backlash effect on the local film industry. As there is less money to go round during the economic slowdown, people will be more choosy of what they watch and will want to get maximum satisfaction from their limited resource,” he added.
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