The Film Malaysia May Never Get To See

What a day! Early in the morning, we (me, Daisy and Sanball) went for a session of badminton with some friends. We ended early, showered and set off to the Picturehouse to catch the 1.15pm screening of Muallaf.

By the time we got there, it was already 12.50pm and we were hungry; not to mention thirsty. So we chop chop grabbed something to makan at the basement. I've checked with the lady at the ticketing counter and the actual screening would begin at 1.20pm but by the time we entered the theater, it was already 1.25pm. The tiny theater was already full and as with all late comers, we had to almost climb over those sitting at the aisles to get to our seats. I remember saying sorry to a bunch of Malay girls in the darkness.

I've never done a movie review on my blog before and I won't start. But sufice to say, we enjoyed the show. It had a good story, was well paced, had slapstick scenes so crappy they you can't help laughing out loud and then there were scenes that were impactful, powerful and compelling. Being a Yasmin Ahmad movie, it obviously deals with relationships in a multi-racial, multi-religious, differing-socio-economical-political, mumbojumbo kinda setting. In a nutshell, a movie you'ld wanna watch, but Malaysia won't let you see.

Have I mentioned that I like Yeo Yann Yann? Well, she had what seemed like 5 to 6 minutes worth of screen time in a cameo appearance. Sigh. Oh and she did not appear for the screening as I had hoped.

Cos' by the time the credits rolled and the downlights came on, I looked around but did not see Yann Yann anywhere in the 'crowd' of 30 or so people in the theater. But when I looked to my right, I saw that the bunch of Malay girls we almost trampled over to get to our seats, were the stars of the show! Me, Daisy and Sanball just gasped and shared that startled look. As we looked around the room, there was Brian the lead guy at one corner at the back, and that was Brother Anthony over there.. and isn't that Yasmin Ahmad? We were really like.. Wow! The last time I went for a festival film screening, only the director showed up and nobody really bothered with him cos' the movie sucked big time. Heck, I can't even remember the title of that Japanese film.

So we adjourned to a lounge room and had a proper Q&A session with the people who made the movie.

People had so many questions for Yasmin, and she patiently answered all of the questions with eager excitedness. She even answered a few of my own questions but kinda siamed when I asked her about the prevailing theme of the inconvenient MalayMuslimGirl-NonMuslimChineseBoy love affair in her movies. Anyways, based on this one encounter with her, my impression of her is that she's this super widely read, watched and listened-to siao zharbo who has a great passion of telling stories and opinions that are close to her heart and in her mind. An amazing person.

Yasmin Ahmad

We even had the chance to take pictures with Brian Yap and Sharifah Aleysha. If I had stepped on her feet at the aisles, then she must have forgiven me cos' she was flashing her shy angelic smile the whole time.

Brian Yap and Sharifah Aleysha

Yup, even Sharifah Amani aka Rohani aka Orked was there. She looked like a little kid! It's been years since Sepet and she looked even younger than she did back then. Honestly, she's 25 but doesn't look a year older than her sister Sharifah Aleysha who is 15.

When I asked Orked, "Where's Jason?" She said "Oh, Jason* dah lama hilang la, dah kahwin dah. Now I'm with Brian. Oops!"

Sharifah Amani

Now that we've met Orked in real life, it's time to pop that Sepet DVD in the player and watched it again.


*Jason is the love interest of Orked in Sepet and I think the 'Jason' guy designed that poster for Muallaf