My Review on 3 Chinese New Year Holiday Movies

Tiger Wohoo! (大日子)
Rating: *** (Out of 4)

Few gave it a chance initially. The first locally (Malaysian) produced Chinese New Year themed movie failed to get a cinema release slot during the all-important Chinese New Year (CNY) 2010 season, ironic for a CNY-themed movie. It was only given a limited release on selected cinemas, one month before the actual CNY festival.

And then there was miracle.

Good word of mouth spread. The movie played to sold-out crowd for a good 3-4 weeks. Fans were screaming on facebook saying that it was hard to purchase tickets. The film eventually chalked up an estimated RM 4 million in ticket sales, a terrific figure in the context of the Malaysian market, a phenomenal achievement for a locally produced Chinese language film.

Is the film good?

Story wise, it resembles that of the Taiwanese film 'Cape No. 7 (海角七号)', a tried-and-tested coming-of-age story. 'Tiger Woohoo!' is not the most exquisite piece of film making. Nevertheless, it does have its charm, and that was important. It is charming to the point of making itself a winning crowd pleaser, despite its flaws.

The cast as a whole are new-comers, so do not expect Oscar-calibre performances here. Still, one of them stood out. Chen Keat Yoke as village girl Ah Lian. That was an astonishingly good acting performance for a first-timer.


True Legend (苏乞儿)
Rating: **1/2 (Out of 4)

Cliched and formulaic, 'True Legend' is a recycling exercise of many familiar martial art genre devices. One can easily spot the resemblance to films like 'Fearless (霍元甲)', 'Ip Man (叶问)', 'Fist of Fury (精武门)' and many more.

Still, as a whole, 'True Legend' is a descent pop corn movie. It is good enough if you have nothing to do for your holidays, though it is not something spectacular or memorable. The movie has a great villain, and that saves the day. I guess a cliched revenge drama like this needs a great villain. A great villain somehow compensates for all the glaring flaws, and it pumps up your blood during the climatic fight sequence.

In 'True Legend', we are given a villain so creepy and bizarre that it seems like something you expect to see in a Hollywood superhero movies like Spiderman or Batman.

That, really is the saving grace for this film. The fight sequence is uneven, good and exciting only when it is staged organically without the annoying 3D visual effects. Leading man Zhao Wenzhuo is capable of putting up a good fight, but slumped into embarrassingly bad acting when the script requires his character to go through some emotional upheaval.


Little Big Soldier (大兵小将)
Rating: ** (Out of 4)

Subject matter has potential. In fact, it is probably the only film during this 2010 CNY season that offers a dash of originality with its subject matter.

Unfortunately, it remains just that, a potential. The potential was not developed, and the film falls flat. This promising material was not given justice with the kind of writing and directing it deserves. This is a prime example of originality alone do not make a good film. It has to go hand-in-hand with good craftsmanship.

There is so much unfulfilled potential in it. It could be made into an anti-war drama that is upbeat in its tone. But the filmmakers shows little ambition towards that end, focusing instead on staging Jacky Chan's trademark (and tired) comedic action sequence.

The film lacks suspense, and it is barely funny. More importantly, it lacks charm. In a film with only 2 main characters, one has to wonder why they came about as so plain and uninteresting despite given so much screen time. Whereas a film with an ensemble cast like 'Tiger Woohoo!' was able to create interesting characters that charmed us, with much less screen time per character.

Surely writing and directing had made all the difference.

American Beauty

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Chris Cooper
Director: Sam Mendez
Year of Release: 1999

To most of us, there will come a time when you become disillusioned with your repetitive life existence. It wouldn't help when people around you, and society at large, constantly putting pressure on what you should do, and what you shouldn't do. 'There are rules in life, you need to have structure and discipline!' said Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), while disciplining his son, Ricky.

Combined with insecurity over perception of lack of success, you are bound to yearn for flashes of freedom, to do what your heart tells you.

If you are in this situation, known as mid-life crisis, I supposed there are two ways you can respond to it. Either you just shrugged, and accept it as part of life, or you snap, and spiral down to self destructive rebellion.

Miles Davis (Paul Giamatti), the hero from Alexander Payne's comedy masterpiece 'Sideways', took the former approach, just as most of us will do in real life. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), took the latter approach.

The result is one of rebellious fantasy, an anti-conformation fable that starts off funnily, but by half way turns dark, and ended with a tragedy.

Lester impulsively quit his job, and took on a lowly paid job grilling burgers in a fast food joint. 'I am looking for a job with least amount of responsibility', he said, going head-on against his family's demand on him as a family bread winner. He began to work out, lifting weights, smoking pot and listening to Pink Floyd rock music that he once loved, to rediscover young adulthood. He even lust again his daughter's underage teenage friend, Angela (Mena Suvari).

Morally wrong? Lester wouldn't care. In his own words, 'This is the high point of my day'.

The ultimate freedom came at a price, as Lester shall learn, but we suspect it is all well worth it for Lester, trading brief, complete freedom for years of future repetitive existence, a life which he proclaimed as 'In a way, I'm dead already'.

Lester Burnham is a complex character to play, and Kevin Spacey carried it to perfection. Annette Bening's acting, as his wife Carolyn, is theatrical and farcical, perhaps intentionally so, as director Sam Mendez is a theater veteran. 'American Beauty' was his feature film debut, a fairy tale debut which won him 5 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Due to its fantasy nature, 'American Beauty' is not as emotionally moving as Alexander Payne's 'Sideways'. Nevertheless, it is on its own league, questioning the way we live our life, how rules and structures have made us forget about the joy of living the life. It's a pity, because, to quote from the film, 'There's so much beauty in life'.

* 'American Beauty' won 5 Oscars in the 2000 Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Actress, Best Editing and Best Original Score

Paranormal Activity

Rating: ***1/2 (Out of 4)
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Director: Oren Peli



'Don't see it alone'

That's the tag line of 'Paranormal Activity'. For the faint-hearted, do take it seriously. I kid you not. This is a very scary horror movie, I haven't had a horror experience this scary at the cinema for years. In recent times, the horror genre have always seen more disappointment than excitement. In the obsession for expensive looking special effects, true horror fans can't help but to lament that the film industry seems to have lose the touch to evoke genuine fear.

Here we are, there's this little film made with a shoestring budget of USD 15,000, with only 2 actors (and a third actor with very minor presence), and set entirely in a residential home, and with absence of any special effect. It is amazing that it effectively evokes genuine fear with such minimalist feature.

It uses a mockementary narrative style to tell a haunted house story, to surprisingly good effect. I was somewhat sceptical when I first heard about the hype over 'Paranormal Activity'. Based on my experience of watching the other mockementary styled horror films, such as 'Blair Witch Project' and 'Cloverfield', I thought this method, while lending realism to the story, seems to suffer from difficulties in shaping characters, constraint by its need to present the events in the story as footage discovered after the events took place. As a result, we often knew little about the characters to make the whole viewing experience an absorbing one. That was what I felt about 'Blair Witch Project'. While I admire it as a landmark film, the horror experience was a muted one.

The story revolves around only Micah and Katie, a young couple. 'Paranormal Activity' cleverly arranged a self-introduction sequence by Katie during a consultation session with a psychic, so we knew enough about her as a person to sustain our interest throughout the film. Katie Featherston is an important element which make the film works. She is vulnerable, scared as hell, and helpless. We felt that.

The same could not be said to the Micah character. In fact, it is the weak link of this film, preventing it from achieving greatness. Micah is like a stubborn, mischievous boy who just wouldn't listen., and some of his behavior is just not very plausible. Despite being warned by the phychic not to communicate with the demon with a Ouija board, that's exactly what he did. There is also this difficulties to justify his obsession with his camera. At times, the camera seemed to be present when it shouldn't have been. Although it had to be acknowledged that this is a pretty common problem with other mockumentary horror films.

Despite its flaws, 'Paranormal Activity' scores in what it intend to do, which is to scare. It is a horror experience most of us can relate to. I just know that when end of the year comes, when it is time to compile my favourite films for 2010, 'Paranormal Activity' will be there in the list.

Best films of 2009‏

This is not an authoritative list, it is simply my 10 favorites based on only the films I have seen in 2009. Every year, there are a good number of critically acclaimed films which do not get released in Malaysia, so I wouldn't be able to consider them in this list.

Best films in 2009

1. Departures (Okuribito)
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. District 9
4. Avatar
5. Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)
6. Vengeance (復仇)
7. Forever Enthralled (梅兰芳)
8. Shinjuku Incident (新宿事件)
9. Drag Me to Hell
10. Red Cliff (Pt 1 & 2) 赤壁

Worst films in 2009

1. Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen
2. 2012

Avatar

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver
Director: James Cameron

James Cameron has a taste for risky projects. He goes for mind-boggling budgeted projects. His 'Titanic' broke record as the most expensive film ever made in its time. Here he is again, after a more than 10 years hiatus from making feature film, 'Avatar' reportedly cost USD 300 million to make.

Hollywood directors are increasingly adept at burning money for special effects, often seemed like a massive waste. James Cameron is not one of them. In fact, he is a rare breed. He spends big money, giving the audience the kind of visual effects feast that they expect, and yet keeps his feet firmly on the ground and not get carried away. He is aware of his essential duty as a filmmaker to tell a story well, by establishing characters that connect to the audience, so that the expensive special effects are there with a purpose, in the context of the story. It matters to the audience what happened to the characters, who win, who lose, who died and who survived.

It was a USD 300 million well spent.

At 163 minutes, it doesn't feel long. It is absorbing, although not right from the beginning. It grows on you. It took its time to establish and develop its characters, and succeeded in sucking the audience into the story. When the final battle is staged, we were absorbed, and we were heartbroken when somebody got killed, we rejoiced with the final victory. (not a spoiler I supposed, a big-budgeted Hollywood production always end with the good guy winning)

Story wise, it isn't new. It is similar to 'The Last Samurai' and 'Dances with Wolves'. It is a tried-and-tested formula, but having said that, it is not probable to expect the studio who invested USD 300 million to experiment with an innovative untested story arc. Formula get re-used again and again simply because it works, so long as the film is well-crafted.

'Avatar' sure works, it is a crowd-pleaser, the kind of blockbuster that pulls in even the indifferent movie-goer who seldom visit the cinema, because the people around them are saying, 'You have got to watch 'Avatar''. And, it will not disappoint. Audience who attended the screening will feel satisfied, and fulfilling. It is not just a rousing entertainment. It is an effective entertainment with substance. It sends its green message, and it plays as a parable of human world conflict, such as the middle east conflict and the war against terrorism, or the exploitation of the native people by foreign intruder, or the relentless human greed under capitalism.

'Avatar' is a perfect example of how a mega film budget should be spent. We have been seeing too many awful special effects extravaganza in 2009, 'Transformers 2' and '2012' being some of the worst. 'Avatar' gave me a new hope; Hollywood still has someone who knows how to craft a good, expensive blockbuster.

If only we have more James Cameron.

Muallaf

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Sharifah Amani, Sharifah Aleysha, Brian Yap
Director: Yasmin Ahmad
Language: In English, Malay with English subtitle



‘Muallaf’ from the late Yasmin Ahmad, who past away on July 2009, was actually made before her final film ‘Talentime’. It was not released until now due to its problem with the Malaysian censorship authorities. In any case, it is strangely fitting as a final release, because the film represents Yasmin’s voice, her belief, her views and her philosophy. This is true for all her other films as well, but never had it been as explicit as in ‘Muallaf’.

It tells the story of 2 Muslim sisters, Rohani (Sharifah Amani) and Rohana (Sharifah Aleysha), who ran away from their wealthy but abusive father, and reside in a vacant bungalow in Ipoh. Rohana has a peculiar habit of reciting some strange random numbers when confronted by others. Others were disturbed by that strange habit. What the numbers actually meant, I’ll not disclose in this review. Anyway, the sisters befriended Brian Goh (Brian Yap), a young teacher in a Catholic school, whom the sisters nicknamed ‘Mr. Miserable’, because he never smiled in class. It tuned out that all 3 of them are in a similar predicament; they were traumatized by mistreatment by their loved ones, their family. Brian, who was raised in a Christian family, had drifted away from his religious faith due to that. The sisters, however, were more positive and forgiving.

‘Muallaf’, as a film, certainly has depth. At its surface layer, it is touching as a human drama, about 3 traumatized souls who met and console each other. Yasmin’s films always give us characters that engage us. Watching it, we care for them. Sharifah Amani, in particular, shines as Rohani. She has come a long way. Her debut in ‘Sepet’ was a discovery, and she has progressed steadily ever since, growing in maturity and grace.

But ‘Muallaf’ is not just a human drama, it is much more ambitious than that. Yasmin wanted to make a statement about what religious faith is all about. I happened to read some articles about her personal life, and one of her friend recalled that he saw Yasmin weeping at one quiet corner of her office, while praying to God to forgive the soul who had hurt her. That was what got portrayed here in ‘Muallaf’, through the sisters Rohani and Rohana. I also happened to watch a TV interview with Yasmin’s mother, who recalled that Yasmin was such a loving child that she will immediately apologized to her mother if she happened to raise her voice a little bit against her mother. That was also what got portrayed here in the film, when Brian raised his voice while talking to his mother on the phone, Rohani who was besides him, asked him never to talk to his mother like that again.

It’s about compassion, it’s about forgiveness, and it’s about not taking your loved ones for granted. You can’t fault a noble theme like that, but as I judge a movie not based on its subject matter, but based on how effectively it presents its subject matter, I felt that while ‘Muallaf’ works commendably as a touching human drama, but in its more ambitious thematic preoccupation of social commentary, it is ok but not great. My little problem with it is that, it feels preachy. It is as if Yasmin was trying too hard to tell us her message. The cinema language is at its most powerful when it indirectly awakens viewers to its message, without explicitly telling them. Yasmin’s own ‘Gubra’, is one such film. In ‘Gubra’, it ends with scenes of people from different religions praying in their respective place of worship, and we realize that everyone is looking for God in their own ways. How powerful.

In ‘Muallaf’, the same message is told, but explicitly in words, told by the character Brother Anthony. The film also quotes direct words from the scriptures in a number of occasions, this is again explicit; and Rohani explicitly tells Brian not to raise his voice against his mother.

This is all noble indeed, but when you try too hard, it came across as preachy and it diminishes the power of the cinema language. ‘Muallaf’ is fairly good, but ‘Gubra’ remains the best Yasmin Ahmad film, in my opinion, followed closely by ‘Sepet.

* ‘Muallaf’ won the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award (special mention) in the 2008 Tokyo International Film Festival

Zombieland

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Director: Ruben Fleischer

If zombie movie is a sub genre of the broader horror genre, then zombie comedies like ‘Zombieland’ and ‘Shaun of the dead’ (2004) had been gradually claiming a place as a ‘sub sub genre’ under the zombie movies sub genre.

Zombie movie, was of course pioneered by the genre master George A. Romero, the man behind the ‘Dead’ series; ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968), ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1979), ‘Day of the Dead’ (1985), ‘Land of the Dead’ (2005) and ‘Diary of the Dead’ (2008). His ‘Dead’ series are considerable films, using zombies as instruments for social commentary.

In more recent times, zombie comedies have sustained zombies’ place in modern pop culture, thanks to movies like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and now ‘Zombieland’.

‘Zombieland’ is a funny movie. It tells the story of 4 reluctant partners who stick together to survive post apocalyptic United States of Zombieland. The plot took the form of a road movie,and to a lesser extend a love comedy. There are 4 main characters; the cowardly nerd Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), the cool zombie slayer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), the con sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). The characterization is fairly rich which is a good thing.

There is a hilarious cameo role by Bill Murray playing himself, nice one.

‘Zombieland’ isn’t a spectacular movie. It works in what it intend to do, which is to be a funny zombie comedy with fairly likable characters, their story together while undergoing a road trip to a reputedly zombie-free California amusement park. The motive behind the journey probably doesn’t make much sense. It doesn’t matter, it is a little bit dumb but fun.

2046

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Tony Leung, Gong Li, Faye Wong, Zhang Ziyi, Carina Lau
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Year of Release: 2005



This is a film that I'll suggest you to give it a second try, if you feel that you don't get it after your first viewing, like I did. I was less than impressed on my first viewing. I thought to myself, if '2046', like so many of Wong Kar Wai's films, is about loneliness and loss, how can I empathize with Chow Mo Wan (Tony Leung), a womanizer who seemed to be having hell of a time having a series of affairs with 4 different gorgeously beautiful women? Besides, its almost chaotic, non-linear narrative structure certainly did not help, and I can't quite get the whole futuristic idea. Well, at least not in my first viewing.

I gave it another try, and boy it was quite a difference on second viewing.

Roger Ebert said in his review of '2046':
'All of these relationship are seen in carefully composed shots that seem to be remembering the characters more than seeing them'.

That, I think, is the key to understand what '2046' is all about. It is primarily a meditation on memory and regret over unrequited love. Wong's movies are about tone and mod. He uses light, colors, sumptuous visuals, and music to evoke the the tone and mood he desires. Story, plot and narrative are secondary in Wong's films. So, the fact that you would have known what happened in the story on your second viewing actually helps. It frees up your sensors to feel the tone and mood, along with your heart.

And who is to say that a womanizer does not have room for feeling and serious love? In '2046', Chow struggled to get over the loss of Su Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung), his love interest from 'In the Mood for Love'. So much so that when he met a mysterious woman (Gong Li) with the same name, he subconsciously take a emotional relationship with her in order to compensate for his longing for the first Su Li Zhen. He had a chance for a serious relationship with Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi), who genuinely liked him. Instead he rejected her but remained a good friend and a close confidant of Bai Ling. Chow then took on a liking on Wang Jing Wen (Faye Wong), daughter of his landlord, Mr. Wang, but that ended up as another unrequited love in Chow's memory.

The futuristic idea, I understand it better on my second viewing, though may be not entirely. It is a metaphor on Chow's memory of his experience lodging in Mr. Wang's hotel in Hong Kong, and the women he met there and had relationship with. How do I know that? The hotel manager and the train captain is the same person, and the waitress on the train look like the same women he had true feeling on, while lodging in Mr. Wang's hotel. There was the rejection by the train waitress (the Wang Jing Wen look-alike), representing the sting of rejection on Chow's part over an unrequited love. So, the train to 2046 is a metaphor on Chow's longing on his past memory. The fact that nothing changes on the train is a manifestation on Chow's regret over his unrequited love, and how he wanted to recapture the past and suspend the memory. But he later found that, you may be able to re-capture the past in the train, but you can't change it. The past he re-captured is still one of rejection and regret.

Wider in scope and ambition, '2046' may not be as accessible as 'In the Mood for Love'. It is easy to empathize with the protagonists' memory and regret, when it is about 2 person set in single space and time, as in 'In the Mood for Love'. '2046' spans multiple time space, 4 different women, and 2 cities (HK and Singapore), told in a non-linear narration structure. It is understandable if it overwhelmed its viewers. To those who is willing to give it a second viewing, try to feel it with your heart and you shall be well rewarded.

* '2046' was an official selection (in competition) for the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It also won 6 awards in the 2005 Hong Kong Film Award for best actor, best actress, best art direction, best cinematography, best costume design and make up and best original film score.

2012

Rating: * (out of 4)
Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton
Director: Roland Emmerich


Dear Mr. Roland Emmerich,

Sorry, I have nothing against you, but I think your '2012' sucks. This is regrettable as I actually like some of your earlier works. I enjoyed your 'Independence Day', and I also quite like your 'The Day After Tomorrow'. I hated your '3000 BC', I wished it was just one of your off-day, but your '2012' is just as bad.

What's going on with you? You are certainly capable of making decently entertaining commercial blockbusters, but you seemed to have got carried away showing off your expertise in destrucive show piece. You see, earth-shattering special effects alone don't make a disaster movie works. It needs to be accompanied by the right mood and tone (tension, intrigue, suspense), but '2012' evokes none of it. Hey, your 'Independence Day' did alright on that account, with the giant alien spaceship hovering on the sky, it was tensed as hell.

Instead, in '2012', you gave us a goofy premise, and plenty of cheesy moments. The core of the earth is heating up? Come on, if you can't come out with a more believable premise, just leave it unexplained. Our own imagination would take care of that, and dare I say it, to better effect.

Your set-up scene in '2012' just fails to connect. There was no tension, no intrigue, no suspense. It shouldn't be because strange events were happening, cracks were appearing on Earth's surface. When your President (Danny Glover) announced that the Earth is coming to an end, it didn't resonate. Woo...the end of the world huh, so what?

Why is that? I have said it and will say it again: you got so carried away with your destructive show piece till you neglect the basic elements of film making.

When the destruction started, the whole 2 hour of it, it doesn't save the film. It's so over-the-top that it looks, dare I say it, fake. You are matching Michael Bay's expertise in sensory overkill, and that's not a good role model to follow.

Dear Mr. Roland Emmerich,

When I was watching your '2012' in my local cinema, I was surrounded by kids (school holidays, you see), and they are restless throughout the screening, clearly bored. When the show ended, they cheered. 'Yeah...mummy, it's the end!'

'Of course, the are just kids', you may want to say.

But I'll remind you that something's not right. You are making a mainstream blockbusters that should appeal to the mass, including the kids. You are not making a deep films that kids cannot understand. I still remember the screenings I attended for 'Jurassic Park', and even your 'Independence Day'. Boy, the kids were glued to their seats. See, don't underestimate the kids.

And...when the show ended and the credits rolled, I saw adults yawning besides me.

This is it

Rating: ** (out of 4)
Director: Kenny Ortega

The media had not been kind to Michael Jackson (MJ).

MJ's later stage of his career had seen the media focusing on his troubled personal life, his looks, his lawsuits, to an extend that a non-fan like me thought that that was more or less what MJ was all about. There had been so much images on the media showing his pale skin, his plastic face and nose, someone once said that MJ was one of the creepiest being on earth.

Or was it?

Here in 'This is it', we see a immensely talented artist in full command of his shows, a master in dance movement with boundless energy. There is not a trace of a man rumored to be too weak to tour. He was on top of everything. Conceiving, directing, producing, singing, dancing; he was the ultimate captain behind the creative aspects of the London concert that never took place. He was the boss.

MJ was surprisingly soft-spoken, always well-mannered to his working crew. There was no sign of any spoilt celebrity tantrum when something went wrong during the rehearsal. 'That's what rehearsals are for', he will say politely to the crew who made the mistake, never raising his voice. Here's a man working tirelessly for the love of his art, while maintaining his humility.

What did he do to deserve such harsh media bashing, I will never quite comprehend. Although 'This is it' could have been 'polished' to certain degree, viewing it I do not think that what we see is a fabricated deception. These are, after all, real documentary video footage.

The greatest joy of the film, is to see how MJ interacted with his working crew. This as close a source we have to gain some insights into his mysterious personality. I wish Kenny Ortega, the director, could have given us more of those, and trim down on the lengthy rehearsal music sequence.

I mean, of course the music is a big part of any musical documentary, and fans will no doubt value it. But for a non-fan, we really wish to know MJ better as a person, we wish to have more insights.

After all, MJ was half-singing for the bulk of the rehearsal, in order to conserve his voice for the actual show.

If there's one thing that struck me, it is how I realized that a negative celebrity image could be result of a one-sided portrayal by the media (to sell more papers I presumed). There are 2 sides to everything, and 'This is it' gave us the professional side of MJ that has been unjustifiably side-stepped by the media for so long.

Walk The Line

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon
Director: James Mangold
Year of Release: 2005







Studio Exec: What's with the black? Looks as if you are going for a funereal'
Cash: 'May be I am'

That sums up the character of the legendary 'Man in black' Johnny Cash. His is one of defiance, determination and boldness.

Musical biopics more or less follow the same story arc. The dream, the initial struggle, the breakthrough, the rise to stardom, the setback, the drugs and booze, and finally picking themselves up again. 'Walk The Line' is very much in that formula, hence this is no inventive film making. But then again most story about musical stars does follow such patterns, so it would be unfair to criticize it just because it is formulaic. What does matter is the execution, how effectively the movie engage us emotionally in its story. In that regard, 'Walk The Line' scores.

'Walk The Line' succeed due to its acting and music. Reese Witherspoon's Oscar winning performance as June Carter is not exactly the kind of eye-catching performance often expected of an award-winning performance. This is a performance that looks ordinary on the surface, but it grows on you. It grows on you because of the emotional subtleties it carries to good effect. June's feeling on Cash, her hesitation to marry him, her sympathy towards him, and her own personal problem with her negative public image (back then, societies are not too kind with women like her who divorced), this is a substantial acting performance by Witherspoon.

Phoenix's Oscar nominated performance as Johnny Cash brings the otherwise ordinary story to a personal level, lending crucial emotional connection to the viewers. We admire his courage, we sympathized with his traumatized life background, his emotional upheaval and his subsequent problems with drug addiction. More so, Phoenix's Cash painted a haunting portrait of a soul threatened by the dark side of fame.

Oh, and the music. It is now a well-known fact that Phoenix and Witherspoon did their own singing in the film. Energetic and lovely, that's what make 'Walk The Line' such a crowd pleasing offering.


* 'Walk The Line' was nominated 5 Oscars in the 2005 Academy Awards, for best actor, best actress, best costume design, best editing and best sound mixing. It won the best actress award for Reese Witherspoon's performance as June Carter.

Inglourious Basterds

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Eli Roth, Micheal Fassbender, Diane Kruger
Director: Quentin Tarantino



Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' is a dazzling piece of film making, a further testament to Tarantino's reputation as one of the most inventive filmmaker in business. He has a knack of tackling violent, risky subject matter. He understands, and crafts it into a substantial piece of art. This is in striking contrast to a lot of his lesser peers who merely exploit the violence in making mediocre films.

His works also always comes with a strong sense of auteur; that sharp, delicious dialogue, abundance of film references, delightful musical score accompaniment, all that are trademark Tarantino.

'Inglourious Basterds' is full of all that. The film opens with the first chapter 'Once Upon a Time in Nazi-occupied France', with its title, music and scenery all evoke a reference to Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns. In come Christoph Waltz, terrific throughout the film as the cunning yet charming 'the Jew Hunter' Col. Hans Landa. He confronted a farmer suspected of hiding Jews. The whole sequence is a tensed cat-and-mouse game, not by action but by Tarantino sharp dialogue. He leisurely takes his time to let his brilliant dialogue build up its momentum, starting from the Col.'s friendly request for farm milk to an eventual reference to rats. That is vintage Tarantino. One of the hiding Jews, Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) narrowly escaped from the massacre, only to feature later in the film.

The second chapter introduces 'The Basterds', a group of Jewish American on a mission to 'kill the Nazi'. They are headed by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Here, Tarantino's trademark stylized violence make its first appearance in the film.

Subsequent chapters shapes up the revenge plot, which is itself a ultimate revenge fantasy only a true film buff like Tarantino is able to come out with. Film reference galore, the basterds was involved in a assassination plot with a German movie star, Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) as a British spy. They also teamed up with a British soldier who is a film critic(!), sent by the British military authority because the mission requires his German film knowledge.

Meanwhile, Shosanna was plotting her own vengeance at a movie theater she operates, using the highly flammable nitrate film prints as a secret weapon. In the run up to the climax, there are more tensed cat-and-mouse espionage sequence, again driven by sharp Tarantino's dialogue. One of which involved Shosanna's nervous encounter with her old nemesis, Col. Hans Landa in a French restaurant, another involved Beidget and the basterds trying to outwit the Nazi in a pub, which eventually ended with a bloody shoot-up.

As for the climax, the two revenge plot converged at Shasanna's movie theater, at an exclusive premier of a new German propaganda film, 'The Nation Pride', attended by all the Nazi top official, and by Hitler himself. Of course, none of this is historically accurate. This is all wild fantasy that is strangely satisfying to watch, especially to the true film buffs.

I was having a hard time deciding whether to give 'Inglourius Basterds' a four star or a three-and-a-half. I finally decided on a three-and-a-half. I usually reserve my four star rating to films which I think, are flawless. 'Inglourius Basterds' is undeniably a very good Tarantino film, I only had some minor problem, particularly with the sequence involving Bridget the movie star, the basterds, and a bunch of Nazi at a pub, which I think is a little overlong and loses some momentum as a result. But there's so much in the film that I suspect I will like the film even more on a second viewing.


* In the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, 'Inglourius Basterds' was an official selection (in competition). It also won the Best Actor award for Christoph Waltz's performance as Col. Hans Landa

Papadom

Rating: **1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Afdlin Shauki, Liyana Jasmay, Noorkhiriah, Vanidah Imran, Farid Kamil
Director: Afdlin Shauki
Language: In Malay with English subtitle




A best film winner at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival, Afdlin Shauki's 'Papadom' is a family oriented comedy-drama that tells the story of Saadom (Afdlin Shauki), a successful 'nasi kandar' business man in Penang who lost his wife (played by Noorkhiriah) in a traffic accident. Regretting that he had not spent enough time with his wife and daughter when his wife was still alive, Saadom vowed to take care of his daughter, Miasara (Liyana Jasmay) to the best of his ability. So protective is he that when Miasara is moving into a university for her undergraduate study, he is willing to leave his successful 'nasi kandar' business behind and goes undercover as a gardener in the university campus, so that he can watch over Miasara.

It is a problematic premise. Problematic, because it is just not that believable, and it felt cheesy. Well, may be such obsessively protective parents do exist, but it is still problematic if majority of the viewers find it to be bizarre. 'Do you see any other parents who follow his kids to a high school party?' Miasara asked Saadom.

Nevertheless, despite the problematic premise, the film is sustained largely due to Afdlin Shauki's comedic talent. There's no denying of his ability to induce laughter with his witty one-liner and hilarious situation. Yes, 'Papadom' is genuinely funny in its moments but felt somewhat incoherent as a whole, probably because at times it tends to drag on too long on its slapstick comedic moments, thus diluting its core story arc.

But Afdlin deserves his best actor award, he is able switch seamlessly from a comedian to a thoughtful father when the story requires it. Vanidah Imran has a supporting role as Professor Balqis, and hers is a delight to watch, we wish to see her longer in the film. Noorkhiriah, too is effective as Saadom's wife, sensitive and funny at the right moment. However, I am not too impressed with the teenage cast whose tendency to burst into theatrical over-acting borders on the edge of being annoying.

I suspect that the panel jury at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival might have been won over by the film's climatic moment, which took place in a screening session of the student's film works. It is brilliant in a way, emotionally wrenching and suddenly we realize about the significance of the film's title, 'Papadom'. So, despite its problematic premise and uneven journey, there's no denying the redemptive power of a well-conceived climatic ending.


* 'Papadom' was a best film winner at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival. It also won 4 other awards in the same festival for best actor, best actress, best original story and best musical score.

Sideways

Rating: **** (out of 4)
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh
Director: Alexander Payne
Year of release: 2004

Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) is a middle-aged man who is stuck in a stagnant job teaching English in high school. His true ambition, which is to become a writer, is going nowhere with his novel struggling to get published. His marriage too, failed 2 years ago. Everyday, after work, he comes back to a empty, lonely home. He has a habit of dining alone in quiet corners of restaurants.

Romantic life? Miles has more or less gave up on that prospect. With a balding hair, bulging tummy and fading youth, Miles runs low on confidence on how he looks and his own perceived career failure, and he thinks that no women will find him attractive for that. So dejected is he that when an attractive waitress Maya (Virginia Madsen) whom he had secretly taken a liking on asked him what is he doing for the night, he dully said to her 'You know, I am kind of tired by the day's traveling so I guess I will just go back to the Motel room to sleep'.

No, he's not a homo. But he sometimes gets so sicked of his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church)'s persistence on setting him up for dates that he will say 'Alright, alright, I am a homo. Give me a gay confession letter and I'll sign it. Just don't push me any further!'

Thank God, he has a way to light up his depressed life with his whole-hearted passion on wine. A passion like this may seems like a trivial hobby to others, but writer-director Alexander Payne knows that to someone like Miles, it is by no way just a hobby. It is in fact, a critical element that keeps him going with his life.

That shows incredibly sharp observation on human nature by the writer-director. That quality is also what makes 'Sideways' such a heartfelt, moving and wonderful film. It is road movie at its most inspiring. Payne understands that people like Miles is quite common among us. Hell, it can even be you or me. Majority of us, like it or not, lives an ordinary life. Many of us goes on with our monotonous life routine with ideals and dreams unfulfilled, and there comes a time when we start questioning the whole meaning of our lives and grow insecure over it. A classic case of mid life crisis and Payne (and his co-writer Jim Taylor) made a hero out of it, unconventional in every sense and devoid of any screen stereotype. Brilliant.

Mile's best friend Jack is getting married in a week's time. To celebrate Jack's last week of bachelor-hood, Miles treats him to a wine tasting road trip across California wine countryside. But Jack, a wine dummy, is not having it. He has his own plan of playboy adventure and dragged the reluctant Miles along in his adventure. So, the wine-tasting road trip turned sideways into something else, a delightful journey of life and tentatitve tender romance.

The romance between Miles and Maya (Virginia Madsen) is masterfully executed. Haunted by past marriage failures, they have both turned into passive mode in their respective romantic life. It was Jack who set them up and in their first gathering, there is this unavoidable awkwardness to start a topic. It helps that they both share a passion in wine and conveniently they launched into conversation sharing their passion on wines. The conversation gradually turned into something more personal and there comes the indecisiveness in Miles' part to 'make the move', and When he finally made it, they both turned unsure about what they are doing and calls it a day. All these are masterful sequence that we want to see it again and again to savor it, because it felt so personal. Alexander Payne understands how two lonely souls like Miles and Maya will progress on their relationship, and he filmed it in near perfection, not a false note, just all the right tone.

Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen all gave performances that when we view it, we can't think of any other actors who can substitute them to better effect.


'Sideways' could just turn up to be one of my all time favourite. It's the kind of film you want to see it again, even though you would have known its story and plot after the first viewing. You want to see it to savor the human experience, not to comprehend what happens in the plot. I have seen 2 films by Alexander Payne prior to this, 'Election' and 'About Schmidt'. They are both intelligent, great films. 'Sideways' topped them all, it is a wonderful, wonderful film.

Watch out for Alexander Payne for more great films.


* 'Sideways' was nominated for 5 Oscars in the 2005 Academy Awards, for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best supporting actor and best supporting actress. It won the best adapted screenplay Oscar for Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor's excellent screenplay.

Vengeance (復仇)

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Simon Yam
Director: Johnnie To
Language: In English and Cantonese with English Subtitle



A Cannes 2009's official selection, Johnnie To's Vengeance is a stylish revenge thriller. Stylish, because it is filmed in noir-ish style, with atmospheric, moody locations in Macau and Hong Kong. The visual, especially the night images in Macau, is breathtakingly beautiful. This is a quality rarely seen in mediocre HK productions. For that matter, 'Vengeance' is a French-HK co-production, a refreshingly crafted genre piece.

The film opens with a brutal massacre; a french woman with her Chinese husband and children were gunned down in their Macau home.

Johnny Hallyday, a french rock legend, played the woman's father, Costello. He came hurriedly to Macau, in time to listen to his dying daughter's last words. She begged to her father for revenge.

Johnny Hallyday's Costello is one of the more memorable leading man's performance I have seen this year. Charismatic and assuring, he brings to the screen the kind of seen-it-all, done-it-all world-weariness. Costello was in fact, a weathered professional hitman who last used a gun 20 years ago. In the presence of dangerous men, Costello showed cool calmness.

But, he is after all, a stranger in a foreign land. So, he hired a trio of professional hitmen, played by Anthony Wong, Lam Suet and Lam Ka-tung. The trio were initally vowed by the attractive compensation offered by Costello, but eventually developed a sympathy and bonding with Costello, and sets out on a dangerous adventure to help him in his vengeance.

What I like about this film, apart from its stylish visuals and memorable acting performances, is the poignancy amidst the blood-splattering violence. The hitmen in this film, despite their profession, are professionals who operate with a code of honour. They will get the job done, doing their best to spare innocent lives. When the trio (Anthony Wong, Lam Suet and Lam Ka-tung) were finishing of a unfaithful mistress of their employer, they unexpectedly bumped into a stranger (Costello) at the Hotel aisle. They hesitated on what to do, although they all knew that they should kill Costello, because Costello had seen their face.

Or consider the other trio of hitmen, when they were executing their job to finish off Costello's daughter and family. There were children hiding in the cupboard, and one of the hitman is about to open it. 'Don't open!' his leader said to him. If the cupboard's door is not opened, the children would not have seen the hitman's face and thus their innocent lives would have been spared.

Consider also when Costello with his 3 buddies came confronting the 3 hitmen who have killed his family. A BBQ party was taking place with wives and children present. Costello and gang sat patiently waiting for the party to end and the wives and children to leave the scene. 'They don't have to see this', one of them said.

* Johnnie To's 'Vengeance' is an official selection (in competition) for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival

Up

Rating: ** (out of 4)
Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

This year edition of the Cannes Film Festival made a history, it was the frst time the film festival opened with an animated feature in its opening night. Critical acclaim has been tremendously good since then for 'Up', with a near unanimous praise from critics. It scores 97% at the tomato meter.

Due to this, my expectation was sky high, I was expecting a rousing good time as I did with 'Ratatouille'.

Yet, I felt underwhelmed throughout the screening, and remained so after the end of the screening.

Something's wrong with me?

I admit that I had not had a extensive viewing experience of animated features. My adult cynicism sometimes prevent me from enjoying a pure children fantasy, thus I found Robert Zemeckis's 'The Polar Express' to be boring. Yet, I did thoroughly enjoyed 'The Lion King', 'Monster Inc', 'Shrek', and above all, 'Ratatouille', which I counted as one of the top films of the year.

In 'Up', there are undeniably brilliant moments. The silent montage narrating the life story of Carl and Ellie Fredriksen from their marriage till the old age is inspirational, by far the film's most memorable moment for me.

The rest of the film, sorry to say, it's too much of a children fable that I struggled to believe in. The moment when Carl lifted his house by helium balloons, just when he was about to surrender himself to social welfare officials, is supposed to be a big, triumphal moment. Yet, strangely, it came about so muted in terms of emotional pay-off. Surely, it could have been better told.

Characterization is not great. The chubby boy Russell is more annoying than lovable to me, his adoration towards the Kevin the bird is hardly convincing and this dragged the second half Indiana Jones-like action adventure to be workman-like. Speaking of which, I would also note that while I appreciated the filmmakers' meticulous details on old Carl's physical constraint at the beginning of the film, the filmmakers seems got carried away when staging the action adventure, making old Carl turning into an all-action Indiana Jones-like figure.

'Up' is a meditation on childlike state of innocence, of unrealized childhood dream. I am somewhat doubtful if it appeals to the adult viewers. 'Ratatouille', on the other hand, works on a higher realm with weighty commentary on what art means in real life, and it did it brilliantly all within a package both adult and children can enjoy.

Curious to find out if I am the odd one who is disappointed with 'Up', I went to rottentomatoes.com and did find 2 prominent critics, Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal, and Stephanie Zacharek of salon.com, who were disappointed with it.

Still, we are the minority. This review is just my honest, personal opinion.

District 9

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copely, Jason Cope, David James

After my thrashing of 'Transformers 2', I have been looking forward to a perfect counterpart to that, something that works within similar subject matter and aim to achieve the same goal, that is, to entertain, and yet did it with flying colours. Here it is, 'District 9' is one such movie.

A giant space ship hovered over Johannesburgh. Inside the space ship, close to a million of aliens were starving to death. Sympathetic South African decided to relocate the aliens to 'District 9', a slum-like location not unlike a refugee camp.

The aliens are called 'prawns' by the human, because that's what they resemble. The residents of Johannesburgh eventually grew wary of the aliens who live like gangsters, and they want them out. The goverment decides to relocate the aliens to District 10, a concerntration camp out of town. The dangerous relocation operation is outsourced to a private security firm called Multinational United (MNU).

Despite the intriguing sci-fi premise that evokes parallel to our treatment of human refugee and the racial segregation policy under apartheid, the movie is really more interested about being a standard fugitive action thrill ride. The relocation operation is handed by a dedicated and honest agent named Vikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copely). Considerting the hostility of the aliens towards the eviction order, the operation is hardly lucrative business to MNU. What draws MNU to the job, is the prospect of harnessing the secret of the biological based alien weaponary, which is not operatable by human, only the aliens are able to operate them.

Something went wrong during the operation, and Vikus is turning into a prawn, and find himself able to operate the alien weapons. Both MNU and Nigerian gangsters set out to hunt him down as a key asset to uncover the secret of the alien weapons. Vikus turned fugitive and took refugee in District 9, and foud an unlikely ally in a prawn named Christopher Johnson and his son.

'District 9' isn't exactly a philosophical science fiction. It has an intelligent sci-fi premise that serves as a parable for some social commentary, but ultimately it is a formulaic mad-operation-goes-wrong-and-good-guy-turns-fugitive type of standard piece, as in Michael Bay's 'The Island'. It is also meant to be an action-packed entertainment with special effect as the centre piece, as in 'Transformers 2', but what a huge difference in terms of quality. 'District 9' has an intelligent sci-fi premise, a documentary-like narrative style that lends realism to the film, a protagonist in Vikus whom we believe in and care for, an emotional core in Vikus's relationship with Christopher the alien and his son, and awesome special effects. It is quite a complete package, scoring in each of the departments. A special mention to the special effects, that's what special effects ought to be; visually fascinating and felt necessary in the context of the story, a striking contrast as compared to Transformers 2's excessive, noisy, incomprehensible, seonsors-numbing special effects.

The plot may be formulaic, and the material may be mostly standard genre piece. That's the kind of film producer Peter Jackson and director Neil Blomkamp want to make and have made to very good effect. The lightness in its substance is hardly a problem in view of the skillful execution. Throughly entertaining and a rare commercial gem.

Overheard (窃听风云)

Rating: **1/2 (out of 4)
Cast: Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu
Director: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Language: Cantonese with English subtitle

From the screenwriting partnership that brought us 'Infernal Affairs' (无间道), 'Overheard' tells the story of an operation by the Hong Kong Police Force Commercial Crime Bureau to infiltrate internal communication of a listed corporation, Feng Hua International, whose directors were suspected of being involved in insider trading. The operation, led by a trio of seasoned policemen, Inspector Leung (Lau Ching Wan), Yeung (Louis Koo) and Lam (Daniel Wu) , installed cutting-edge interception devices within office premise of Feng Hua International to monitor its internal communication.

The terminally ill Yeung is short of money. When he and Lam came across an insider information during their monitoring routine, the temptation of making some quick bucks proves to strong to be resisted. The alert team lead, Leung, spot his subordinates' action and tried to stop them, but even his value of integrity wavered in the moment filled with temptation and dilemma.

They crossed the line, seemingly innocent at the beginning. However, each subsequent action to cover up their crime brought them deeper and deeper into trouble, until it is no longer possible to turn back and say 'I did it'. In Inspector Leung own words, 'If we want to cheat, cheat until the very end'.

The filmmakers, Alan Mak and Felix Chong, tried to tell the story with a heart. The private life of the main protagonists, particularly Leung and Yeung, is given substantial treatment, this is a film who cares about its characters.

All these are commendable. I, however, have a thing or two to say about some of the film's flaws.

Firstly, the love triangle involving Inspector Leung is distracting, and unnecessarily complicates the story. Secondly, the plot, fairly convincing in the beginning, starts to fall apart towards the 4th quarter of the film, descending into a series of implausible twist and turn of events, leading to a finale that is overly sensationalized, it felt contrived.

Why, isn't that the very same flaws that prevented Neil Jordan and Jodie Foster's 'The Brave One' to become a memorable film that it ought to be?

The story arc, where it all began as a fairly innocent criminal act which subsequently spiralled deeper and deeper with each subsequent act to conceal the criminal deed, has been told far more effectively in a couple of outstanding films I have watched, I recommend Sam Raimi's 'A Simple Plan' and Sidney Lumet's 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'.

Public Enemies

Rating: *** (out of 4)
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
Director: Michael Mann

John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) made a very interesting gangster. He robbed banks, lots of banks, and revealed his occupation straight to the girl he was trying to court on their first encounter. A criminal who doesn't lie? Interesting.

He is a man of principle, living by his code of ethics. He took the bankers money but turned away a frightened bank customer who handed him his money. 'I hate kidnapping, the public hate kidnapping'. A bank robber who cares about his public image? Interesting.

He is a man of his words, especially to his lady. He promised Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) that he will take care of her, and kept his words, even if that meant he had to come right into a troop of federal agents led by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in order to get her away. A romantic gangster? Interesting.

All the above, are apparently based on facts, not sensationalized. Yes, Michael Mann's 'Public Enemies' is a faithful adaptation of the book 'Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34' by Bryab Burrough, which chronicles the 13 months between the day Dillinger escaped from the prison and the day he was shot dead, a period he mainly spent robbing banks. So faithful that Mann did not try to pretend that he knows what was driving Dillinger to his bank-robbing spree. The fact is, nobody knows, and probably nobody ever will.

Mann stubbornly stayed true to that, refusing to dramatize Dillinger's criminal life by providing an explanation on why he did that.

Being honest and sincere is often seen as a virtue in film making. But for once, it felt like a handicap in Mann's 'Public Enemies'. I tried to understand why; perhaps it is because an incredible feat like a 13-year bank robbing spree does need a subtext in order to be convincingly told.

In Mann's 'Collateral', a much better film, Mann too gave us something similar; a cold-blooded professional hit man played by Tom Cruise, who get the job done with no remorse. In that film too, little subtext was given to explain what's driving the hit man all along. However, the lack of subtext was hardly a problem in that film, because the film basically told what happened within that night, a much limited time scope as compare to a 13-year period, so we just ride along witnessing the event unfold on that night.

For once, I wish for the filmmaker to embrace the artistic liberty to dramatize actual fact in order to provide an emotional core to the film, even if that means hypothesizing a theory on what's driving Dillinger all along.

So, ironically, Mann's deliberate choice to stay faithful and honest has somewhat limit this otherwise technically impressive gangster flick. It lacks an emotional core.

Other than that, Mann's 'Public Enemies' is a great-looking period piece. Impressively shot by Mann, with awesome shoot-up scenes, and a stellar casts who gave fine acting performances, all set amidst a stunning art direction that brought depression era America back to life.

It may lack a heart, but visually and technically, it is worth the time and ticket price.

My Tribute to Yasmin Ahmad

It is with deep sorrow that, when I was writing this, acclaimed Malaysian film director, Yasmin Ahmad, had left us forever. She suffered a stroke and passed away on 11.25 pm Saturday, 25th July 2009

Yasmin was one of the finest filmmakers Malaysia has ever produced. Her films include Rabun (2003), Sepet (2004), Gubra (2006), Mukhsin (2006), Muallaf (2008) and Talentime (2009). She won a couple of international awards for her films.

Yasmin's films are a delight to watch. She was arguably the first Malaysian filmmaker who is bold enough to paint a honest and sincere portrayal of the multi-racial Malaysian society, something which had been deemed too sensitive all this while.

She exhibited a sharp observation on humanity, the way human talk and interact. In her films, her characters will talk and interact just in a way they will talk in real life, a level of honesty and sincerity that is rarely seen in Malaysian films. She also injected a sense of humour that is heart warming to watch, and made her characters extremely likable and believable.

Her films are often exquisite portraits of love and sentimentality. Her films reminded us that true religious faith is about compassion and tolerance, rather than deviating religious faith to a level of hypocrisy, as certain quarters have done.

Her 'Gubra' is one of my all time favourite, one of the best film I have seen.

On May 2009, much to my surprise and honour, Yasmin joined this blog as a follower.

Losing her is painful.

Always cheerful and optimistic, Yasmin would not be happy to see us grieved over her departures. Yasmin loves films, let's move on and continue making, watching, supporting and discussing about films, we would be continuing and championing her passion in that way.

Kak Yasmin, your spirit will live on!