Sepet

Two months ago, I must have watched the best Malaysian film ever made. Since P. Ramlee's Bujang Lapok films. It's called "Sepet", not referring to the slit eyes that most Chinese have but a metaphor to most people on their views on interracial relationships and marriages.

The story is generally about Orked an obedient daughter of a pair of very open minded Malay parents. Jason a.k.a. Ah Loong is a Chinese pirated VCD seller who likes poems and romance movies. He is a good son to his mother of a Peranakan origin. One day, when Orked was out looking for Takeshi Kaneshiro movies, she happened to visit Jason's stall. Eye contact was made between the both of them and there it was - love at first sight. He made the first move by giving her his phone number, cleverly placed in a complimentary VCD given to her. She decided to call him and they started to go out on dates. Dates in places like Chicken King. Their relationship blooms but not without the obstacles that in ways, hinder their relationship to a certain degree. The more common obstacle, being a Malaysian is that having to let your parents know that you are dating someone who is not of the same race as you are.

A later point in the movie, Jason, being a pirated VCD seller, gets into trouble with a triad boss's younger sister by getting her pregnant. This was not received too well by Orked and so decided to break off their relationship. Will they get back together? That's for the viewer to find out.

The plot sounds like a very simple story that happens in everyday life. That's the beauty of it and in my opinion, only a director like Yasmin Ahmad can execute such a brilliant simplicity in story-telling. The ambience used in the movie is well-balanced between meaningful silent moments as well as necessary loudness, but not always in sound. In a scene where Jason was looking at the television motionlessly gave me a good concentration to reflect on the mood of his feelings.

The entire movie was shot in a beautiful quite town of Ipoh, Perak. The locations were used creatively to bring out the essence of the scenes of the storyline. Yasmin was bold enough to bring out sensitive topics that are mostly talked about by people in mamak stalls. One instance was when Jason's best friend told Orked that "Not all Chinese are pirated VCD sellers and not all Malays are lazy, right?", she replied "You're wrong. All Malays are lazy." However, this scene was not spared by the censorship board, it was cut along with seven other scenes deemed "unsuitable" for public viewing.

The screenplay is imaginatively fantastic. I just could not think of how one could come up with a scene like Jason, when his friends arranging and packaging the pirated VCDs, was dancing rhythmically in Malay style to a Malay song like he has done for years. Or where the part when Orked was having wrapped in sarong, having a chat with her best friend in a room in the position of kneeling down looking for clothes.

Another thing that this movie achieved in where many other local movies fail to is to have dialogues done seamlessly in different languages and dialects. It was just so natural watching Jason's mother speak to him in Malay and he just replies in Cantonese without batting an eyelid. Why do other local movies fail in that aspect just beats me. Maybe they aren't trying hard enough. Maybe they aren't trying at all.

Orked and Jason, played by Syarifah Amani and Ng Choo Seong respectively are newcomers but their individual performances are enough to outshine a lot of local actors. Even if two newcomers can make produce such an effective outcome, imagine if Yasmin gets to use local veteran acts? The supporting cast gave a very good performance as they fill up the colours of the corners of the whole picture.

The ending is one of the most unique I have ever seen. It does not give you a definitive end to the story. It will keep you guessing and discussing with other people who have watched it. What I think the director wants is for us to decide the ending ourselves and to have a long afterthought after stepping out of the cinema. As I have mentioned in the first paragraph, this is a Malaysian movie, not a Malay movie.

Last updated: 2009-08-12 01:15:11 by joekhor