Friday, 11 January 2008

Recommended: KALA MALAM BULAN MENGAMBANG

Just got back from this!



This exuberant and cheeky comedy (in black and white!) is Mamat Khalid's best work yet. It's a kind of spoof noir, it's wonderful to look at (courtesy of the DP Raja Mukhriz), and Rosyam Nor is at his most relaxed and charismatic as a 1950s newspaper hack who stumbles across the strangest town – and strangest story. There are in-jokes and deliberate anachronisms, and the game cast (colourful despite being monochromatic) lets you in on the fun.

It has the highest number of quotable quotes of any Malay film since ... maybe since Bukak Api. An Italian film critic who saw it said it "has more cinema in one minute than [he mentions a certain big-budget Malay film] in two hours" – and here's the thing: he saw it without subtitles.

A baik punya start to the movie-going year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Amir,

How do we go about if we want you to write a collumn for our college's ( Taylor's College) newspaper? Do let me know. My email is cheryl_1031@hotmail.com.

thank you

Anonymous said...

Saw the trailer; nampak sangat menarik (but so did the trailer for Jarum Halus). Must go see :)