Sunday 22 June 2008

sepi



i missed watching teong hin's APA KATA HATI, really knocked my head very hard for that as i'd been procrastinating for the longest time as my mind was on P.Ramlee - last thursday when noren, ida, chedd and i finally got together, we found out "apa kata hati" had closed the day before. dang...

we were already so geared up to watch a movie, we went ahead and watched a movie anyway, noren chose "Made Of Honour" - good choice! i SO heart patrick dempsey... never mind that it was like a male version of My Best Friend's Wedding cos Dempsey is dem-sex-ay! *palpitations* phew. (now what movie is this about again? oh...)

was invited to Alternate Studio's premiere of Sepi last night, that would make it 2 movie nights in a row. i must say it exceeded my expectations in many ways.

for a start, i loved afdlin's portrayal of Adam the chef who specializes in making wedding cakes. he made what wd have been rather clunky dialogue very, very comfortable and natural. i laughed so, so much.

loved Nasha as the andartu Suzie - so unexpected of nasha and she did amazingly well, i couldn't tell she was just acting, she played ditsy so well. whod've thought she'd be cut out for comedy like that man.

pacai's music score was fun and featured many beautiful songs (ok including my all-time favorite, anuar zain's "mungkin", so that's cheating a bit i guess) but sometimes it felt as though the songs and the score were a bit overwhelming at times. still, i think it's refreshing to have ppl like pacai in the business to give the others a run for their money.

tony yusoff put on a very commendable performance as Sufi, and he managed to overcome the rather uncomfortably clunky dialogue by having less words to say and more acting instead. funny how you can tell the "real" actors who have been stage-exposed and trained vs the "pop" stars especially when they're laid out next to each other like that.

the story had 3 parts to it, "adam", "sufi" and "imaan". the "imaan" section, to me was the weak link of what would have been an otherwise completely enjoyable movie. was contrived in parts, sometimes i felt it tried too much to be an "arthouse" film, trying to be poetic and theatrical and all. no harm done really, when the actors can pull it off successfully. the actress who played imaan, baizura kahar, might need a few more lessons in serious acting, maybe try her hand at seriously reading poetry aloud, before attempting such a role. another thing that really distracts me in a film that really annoys me, is when an actor wears a wig that LOOKS like a wig. in LOVE, kabir's previous movie, i didn't mind and couldn't tell that acha was wearing a wig, and it turns out later that her character wore a wig to hide her falling hair and not just for vanity. wait a minute if imaan wore the wig for vanity she was ill advised man.. someone shoot the hairstylist. quick. i was ready to be a little moved by the scene of her in a coma in hospital but kept being distracted by that silly wig that was off centre too for some reason, sigh. enuf said about imaan and the wig.

some beautifully executed bits of acting throughout the film though. i found the afdlin - vanidah scenes to be most enjoyable, and found myself smiling, laughing and tearing here and there. i liked eja as marya most when she played makcik marya who came back to look for sufi at their usual rendezvous spot but found out he had died. didnt like her character as the young marya vey much though.

in conclusion, i think it's worth a watch for sure. the film was held together by time-tested actors who proved they are dependable and can deliver the goods. the younger actors will have to pay their dues just as the ejas and nashas and tiara jacquelinas of the world did, i guess, and come back in another 5 years. minus the wigs.

5 comments:

Tuan Senang Besar said...

always good to read from someone in the industry. i cannot agree more with you on imaan's wig. altho, i feel that baizura has more to offer given the right directions. i have my own 2 cents on sepi here - http://lebigeasy.blogspot.com/2008/06/sepi-review.html

Anfaal Ridhuan said...

cant wait to watch SEPI.love the new era of malaysian filming.
fresh and creative.
keep up the good work.
i support malaysian films!

tiara jacquelina said...

i dropped in on big easy's blog today and decided i'd copy and paste the comments i posted on his blog to share here, just to give baizura kahar the benefit of the doubt!

hi big easy, thought i at least owe you a return pop-by... tks for sharing your comments on my blog on that stranger than fiction piece. and on sepi. yes i agree with you baizura may have a few good years ahead yet if she's guided well and is more selective of her roles. i wouldnt have cast her in that role though, or directed her that way. maybe if she had played bubbly or young rather than trying to be mysterious and "deep". my personal opinion, i guess. she didnt come across as someone who had read kahlil gibran actually, i thought it was just a by-the-way hand prop. anyhoo, we all start somewhere and the journey is always long and full of adventure, eh? cheers, have a great day...

Tuan Senang Besar said...

i think the khalil gibran 'prop' is more of kabir's statement ;)

and so is tony eusoff's character named 'sufi'

thanks for dropping by my blog and commenting!

;)

[YeOp] said...

quoting from big easy, "always good to read from someone in the industry."

suddenly i stumble at ur blog today. i don't even know that u also have a blog of ur own.

i couldn't agree more with your opinion about Sepi.

but i believe that Sepi brings out the best of Baizura Kahar so far. for sure, there are room of improvements for her in the future.

poor me. i didn't realize about imaan's wig. too occupied watching the movie i think. hehe..