Trapped in the safe but stultifying rural existence of Jemapoh, a young man embarks on a road journey to Manchester in search for a missing father and some harmless danger, and ultimately, discovers himself. With him from the village is a football-fan friend; along the way they meet a guy and a girl and share the ride. This directorial debut is a promising innovation in Malaysian moviemaking: the plot is as atypical as a local film gets, and the political jab in an early scene deserves mention for uncommon bravery. But Hishamuddin Rais lets his directorial intents be consciously known rather than subtly felt: the plot swerves hard to avoid conventional storytelling that it veers close to nonsense, and the political jab is such a sudden punch that it is more annoying than convincing. In one ridiculous scene, the young man discusses village life with his village friend, and suddenly philosophizes in a language more suited to a sermon than a script. The whole film feels like a patching-together of unmotivated events along a slippery storyline, but there are sweet, sentimental moments that rescue this celebration of youthful exuberance from the bits of jarring contrivance. In Malay.
Posted by lotx0001 at May 16, 2005 02:23 AM