Beyond Social Barriers...
hi...
we gals are just romantic at heart...and denial is one thing...actually experiencing one that touches one's heart..is another thing. Like Orked in the film Sepet, she wasn't ur typical romantic-movie loving girl but one who fancies the moralities behind the movies she liked such as 'honour among friends'..which later ironically, became the 'theme of the day'...when her boyfriend's good friend Keong was beaten up while he was left behind by them both. It led to a minor confrontation later at the hospital of which the 'honour among friends' issue was brought up when Keong had to face the gangsters, who later went after them, all alone.
But Jason convinced Keong that he had not forgotten about his friend's plight. When he showed true concern over Keong's worriness that his mother would be out of job having worked in the head gangster's favourite nightclub, who might face jail time if he reported the case, he still uphold his commitment to help his friend. He told Keong not to worry over his mum because at the very least, if Jimmy the head gangster, wanted him, he wanted him alone and not the family. After all, as ruthless as Jimmy was, he was still a family man having taken care of his sister when their father died. You see this movie proved yet another point...that there is still some kind hearted soul within everyone, no matter how seemingly cold hearted they are to people that are not close to them.
Anyway back to the leading gal. Right up towards the ending of the movie, Orked hadn't really told Jason in words that she loved him. Apparently, before this, she was still sceptical over the whole 'love' thing contrary to Jason who again, and again, expressed his romantic side through his gestures and the poems that he enjoyed reading. Then Orked, having experienced the ugly side of love with her previous boyfriend, still had her doubts and the confession from Jason in a letter which made her sick to the stomach, convinced her that romance is dead.
Still, contrary to other mainstream movies, although the love story was doomed (or was it?) in the end, she finally believed in the magic of romance expressed merely through words in a letter. But was her love declaration put to waste with Jason lying motionless on the ground? But if then, who was the one who answered her phonecall when she called Jason for the last time before she left for England? Was it just a figment of her imagination? Did Jason answered her in his last breath? Or were we made to believe that love never dies and doesn't necessarily be expressed in words? After all, love is a universal language. You don't need to understand someone to like them...as like other romantic one liners expressed in the movie. After all, when Orked expressed her true feelings through the phone, 'Jason' replied 'I know'. In fact, he knew all this time. But with the hard hitting truth about his pregnant ex girlfriend affecting their relationship, he was doubtful that Orked was still in love with him. But no matter what the outcome, he would still love her till the end. He wasn't about to let go of her again having said once that his destiny was with her.
Therefore, when the movie was basically promoted as a love story crossing all social barriers in the multi-ethnic and multi-racial Malaysia, it went far beyond there. Infact, this social barrier issue was only touched upon on the surface. The underlying message was about how two people, living in modern times, proved to us that modernity doesn't necessarily kill the respect and sincerity of one's love to another, even if it takes less than a minute to fall in love at the first sight. Everything that was supposed to go wrong as in any cross cultural relationships, did not go wrong. The only thing that drove them apart for awhile, or perhaps forever, was one's mistake made in a hurried attempt in a moment of foolishness. So guys, if you want to fool around, please think about ur future k? And I am not talking about spawning a breed of ur own..I am talking about the people u are gonna hurt after that.
Anyway, I know I know...this is like the third or fourth posts I had on this movie and I don't even know if this is the last. Wateva it is, besides the deep impact the romantic bits had on me, even the brilliantly delivered funny moments had me in stitches! There were a few but I shall mention two. One was how Orked attempted to explain to her bestfriend the complexities behind a book she was reading about the psychological effect the colonisers had on the colonised..like how the people of the lands they conquered were made to believe that these colonisers were the most superior. Ultimately, that led to an entire 'upset' of the social behaviour of these people as they began to marry people out of their own skin colour.
Anyway, all of these sound yawn-worthy, especially to people like me who don't quite bother much over the 'science' of CSI in CSI:Miami. All I know is that they're blabbering chemistry equations, yadah yadah...and then they get the fingerprints. Bingo! It's whose fingerprints that i am concerned over...not the process in obtaining the fingerprints.
Therefore, I guess Mdm Director knows that in order for people to follow the storyline and not fall asleep through complex explanations, she cleverly intertwined humour which 'break' the monotiny. Like I said, as Orked went all over her house to find her hairbrush while explaining about how inter-racial marriages came about in the past, we saw her mother sprawled all over their couch in her sarong, with her mouth slightly opened and her lying front down with one leg up and the other leg down with the cushions all messed up. Then as Orked went back to her room, still talking, her mother was still sleeping and sprawled on the couch yet again, onlie this time in a different position upfront.
Oh, and in another scene, as Jason and his bestfriend Keong were about to go into a talking mode on some serious issue, on why Keong wasn't too keen on meeting Jason's Malay girlfriend. Another friend of theirs, had his handphone blasting in a majorly irritating ringtone which had him staring at the phone in admiration before being tolf off by the other two to pick the bloody phone up. Actually it happened again in another scene at the hospital, just as the two friends were in their awkward moments and then the phone...had to ring. In that some bloody ringtone again..bwahahaha! It sorta broke up the silent moment the two bestfriends had. It's so real...like how often do you get in real life..like just as the crucial moment was about to be unravelled in the movie, and then someone's handphone HAD to ring?! And the person HAD to answer with an equally loud 'hello'?!!!
Okaylah, but what is a movie without the flaws? I know I know..I have been very lenient to the film...given the originality and the writer's bravery in portraying the different facets of Malaysia. But hey..I can be a critic too! Bwahahaha...but it's true! Just that I am being very nice lah..(as I always am..)...
Well...the movie tried to portray how Malaysians truly converse in...mixing up different parts of their multi languages into the official bahasa melayu or official language. I mean..it's a good enough effort..as u can see from how the actors tried to breathe some 'life' into their characters by interpreting what needed to be said in their own ways. Still! I think when it comes to talking in English, they still sounded stiff or scripted lah...like it's so 'flawless'....grammatically correct, wth verbs in the right places...and with second degree vocabulary? for e.g. 'shall we go?' when Jason prompted Orked to make a move in the rain to their fav fastfood joint. I mean, do we really say that? Er..I mean I do lah..but onlie in Orchard Road with angmohs aplenty. I expected him to say like 'we go now?' Then Keong is yet another character, which I am quite baffled his ah-beng (chinese hoodlum)ness don't quite show it when he is conversing in English. His pronunciations...his sentence constructions...saved for a few injections of cantonese and hokkien phrases, it sounds mostly like he is reading from some script, yet again flawlessly, which sorta killed a bit the motive behind showing how diversified Malaysian languages are.
Then, Jason attempting to speed on the road in a bid to catch up with Orked in the airport, it's so cliche he's gonna be in some accident or something. Just like in any other dramas, movies....yawns...K, Orked didnt have to go through the trouble of reading the letter as I know he's not gonna make it anyway and the movie would end on a tragic note. Oh yeah, the sheer mention of Orked leaving...is also the biggest cliche...as it would mean it's now or never to declare their love for each other. Can't it be other things for example...them hanging by the edge of the cliff facing death...because their harness was breaking, as they attempt to shout out 'i love you' in the most ridiculous way..by bungee jumping? So..............okay, that one is not so good. but airport? going away for a long time? speeding...and then later accident?...hrm, still i like the mind boggling conclusion twds the very end.
Okay, in case u thought I'm talking over a non existent movie but a love story of my own..the movie is called Sepet, as if I have not mentioned before. And this is the poster and pics in case u wanna rent the dvd or something...
the poster which won an award. apparently, the poster was such a hot fav that it was apparently stolen at some film award show which got the director smirk in delight instead of being horrified.
By the way, both were first time actors, but especially so for the male lead who had no acting experience nor the interest in the first place. But he was cajoled into being part of the production by the director of whom he was colleagues with.
Both of them were lauded for their brilliant performance and got the rewards for Most Promising Actor And Most Promising Actress respectively.
See, u'll never know what kind of hidden talents u have. See me in my next record deal.
Anyway, the dvd costs onlie 19.90 as it is worth buying as it shows the true uncut version of the movie Sepet. Fyi, it was heavily slammed by both critics and 'amatuerish' film makers who should probably spend their time 'thinking out of the box'.
we gals are just romantic at heart...and denial is one thing...actually experiencing one that touches one's heart..is another thing. Like Orked in the film Sepet, she wasn't ur typical romantic-movie loving girl but one who fancies the moralities behind the movies she liked such as 'honour among friends'..which later ironically, became the 'theme of the day'...when her boyfriend's good friend Keong was beaten up while he was left behind by them both. It led to a minor confrontation later at the hospital of which the 'honour among friends' issue was brought up when Keong had to face the gangsters, who later went after them, all alone.
But Jason convinced Keong that he had not forgotten about his friend's plight. When he showed true concern over Keong's worriness that his mother would be out of job having worked in the head gangster's favourite nightclub, who might face jail time if he reported the case, he still uphold his commitment to help his friend. He told Keong not to worry over his mum because at the very least, if Jimmy the head gangster, wanted him, he wanted him alone and not the family. After all, as ruthless as Jimmy was, he was still a family man having taken care of his sister when their father died. You see this movie proved yet another point...that there is still some kind hearted soul within everyone, no matter how seemingly cold hearted they are to people that are not close to them.
Anyway back to the leading gal. Right up towards the ending of the movie, Orked hadn't really told Jason in words that she loved him. Apparently, before this, she was still sceptical over the whole 'love' thing contrary to Jason who again, and again, expressed his romantic side through his gestures and the poems that he enjoyed reading. Then Orked, having experienced the ugly side of love with her previous boyfriend, still had her doubts and the confession from Jason in a letter which made her sick to the stomach, convinced her that romance is dead.
Still, contrary to other mainstream movies, although the love story was doomed (or was it?) in the end, she finally believed in the magic of romance expressed merely through words in a letter. But was her love declaration put to waste with Jason lying motionless on the ground? But if then, who was the one who answered her phonecall when she called Jason for the last time before she left for England? Was it just a figment of her imagination? Did Jason answered her in his last breath? Or were we made to believe that love never dies and doesn't necessarily be expressed in words? After all, love is a universal language. You don't need to understand someone to like them...as like other romantic one liners expressed in the movie. After all, when Orked expressed her true feelings through the phone, 'Jason' replied 'I know'. In fact, he knew all this time. But with the hard hitting truth about his pregnant ex girlfriend affecting their relationship, he was doubtful that Orked was still in love with him. But no matter what the outcome, he would still love her till the end. He wasn't about to let go of her again having said once that his destiny was with her.
Therefore, when the movie was basically promoted as a love story crossing all social barriers in the multi-ethnic and multi-racial Malaysia, it went far beyond there. Infact, this social barrier issue was only touched upon on the surface. The underlying message was about how two people, living in modern times, proved to us that modernity doesn't necessarily kill the respect and sincerity of one's love to another, even if it takes less than a minute to fall in love at the first sight. Everything that was supposed to go wrong as in any cross cultural relationships, did not go wrong. The only thing that drove them apart for awhile, or perhaps forever, was one's mistake made in a hurried attempt in a moment of foolishness. So guys, if you want to fool around, please think about ur future k? And I am not talking about spawning a breed of ur own..I am talking about the people u are gonna hurt after that.
Anyway, I know I know...this is like the third or fourth posts I had on this movie and I don't even know if this is the last. Wateva it is, besides the deep impact the romantic bits had on me, even the brilliantly delivered funny moments had me in stitches! There were a few but I shall mention two. One was how Orked attempted to explain to her bestfriend the complexities behind a book she was reading about the psychological effect the colonisers had on the colonised..like how the people of the lands they conquered were made to believe that these colonisers were the most superior. Ultimately, that led to an entire 'upset' of the social behaviour of these people as they began to marry people out of their own skin colour.
Anyway, all of these sound yawn-worthy, especially to people like me who don't quite bother much over the 'science' of CSI in CSI:Miami. All I know is that they're blabbering chemistry equations, yadah yadah...and then they get the fingerprints. Bingo! It's whose fingerprints that i am concerned over...not the process in obtaining the fingerprints.
Therefore, I guess Mdm Director knows that in order for people to follow the storyline and not fall asleep through complex explanations, she cleverly intertwined humour which 'break' the monotiny. Like I said, as Orked went all over her house to find her hairbrush while explaining about how inter-racial marriages came about in the past, we saw her mother sprawled all over their couch in her sarong, with her mouth slightly opened and her lying front down with one leg up and the other leg down with the cushions all messed up. Then as Orked went back to her room, still talking, her mother was still sleeping and sprawled on the couch yet again, onlie this time in a different position upfront.
Oh, and in another scene, as Jason and his bestfriend Keong were about to go into a talking mode on some serious issue, on why Keong wasn't too keen on meeting Jason's Malay girlfriend. Another friend of theirs, had his handphone blasting in a majorly irritating ringtone which had him staring at the phone in admiration before being tolf off by the other two to pick the bloody phone up. Actually it happened again in another scene at the hospital, just as the two friends were in their awkward moments and then the phone...had to ring. In that some bloody ringtone again..bwahahaha! It sorta broke up the silent moment the two bestfriends had. It's so real...like how often do you get in real life..like just as the crucial moment was about to be unravelled in the movie, and then someone's handphone HAD to ring?! And the person HAD to answer with an equally loud 'hello'?!!!
Okaylah, but what is a movie without the flaws? I know I know..I have been very lenient to the film...given the originality and the writer's bravery in portraying the different facets of Malaysia. But hey..I can be a critic too! Bwahahaha...but it's true! Just that I am being very nice lah..(as I always am..)...
Well...the movie tried to portray how Malaysians truly converse in...mixing up different parts of their multi languages into the official bahasa melayu or official language. I mean..it's a good enough effort..as u can see from how the actors tried to breathe some 'life' into their characters by interpreting what needed to be said in their own ways. Still! I think when it comes to talking in English, they still sounded stiff or scripted lah...like it's so 'flawless'....grammatically correct, wth verbs in the right places...and with second degree vocabulary? for e.g. 'shall we go?' when Jason prompted Orked to make a move in the rain to their fav fastfood joint. I mean, do we really say that? Er..I mean I do lah..but onlie in Orchard Road with angmohs aplenty. I expected him to say like 'we go now?' Then Keong is yet another character, which I am quite baffled his ah-beng (chinese hoodlum)ness don't quite show it when he is conversing in English. His pronunciations...his sentence constructions...saved for a few injections of cantonese and hokkien phrases, it sounds mostly like he is reading from some script, yet again flawlessly, which sorta killed a bit the motive behind showing how diversified Malaysian languages are.
Then, Jason attempting to speed on the road in a bid to catch up with Orked in the airport, it's so cliche he's gonna be in some accident or something. Just like in any other dramas, movies....yawns...K, Orked didnt have to go through the trouble of reading the letter as I know he's not gonna make it anyway and the movie would end on a tragic note. Oh yeah, the sheer mention of Orked leaving...is also the biggest cliche...as it would mean it's now or never to declare their love for each other. Can't it be other things for example...them hanging by the edge of the cliff facing death...because their harness was breaking, as they attempt to shout out 'i love you' in the most ridiculous way..by bungee jumping? So..............okay, that one is not so good. but airport? going away for a long time? speeding...and then later accident?...hrm, still i like the mind boggling conclusion twds the very end.
Okay, in case u thought I'm talking over a non existent movie but a love story of my own..the movie is called Sepet, as if I have not mentioned before. And this is the poster and pics in case u wanna rent the dvd or something...
the poster which won an award. apparently, the poster was such a hot fav that it was apparently stolen at some film award show which got the director smirk in delight instead of being horrified.
By the way, both were first time actors, but especially so for the male lead who had no acting experience nor the interest in the first place. But he was cajoled into being part of the production by the director of whom he was colleagues with.
Both of them were lauded for their brilliant performance and got the rewards for Most Promising Actor And Most Promising Actress respectively.
See, u'll never know what kind of hidden talents u have. See me in my next record deal.
Anyway, the dvd costs onlie 19.90 as it is worth buying as it shows the true uncut version of the movie Sepet. Fyi, it was heavily slammed by both critics and 'amatuerish' film makers who should probably spend their time 'thinking out of the box'.
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