Review - Dalam Botol

...Dalam Botol... or as it was originally titled Anu Dalam Botol... so I guess if the original title offends people, then all we gotta do is just put dots in place of the offending word ala 'Perempuan, Isteri dan ...' back in the day... although there was a movie called Jalang right? Last year? Also a movie called Bohsia... no negative connotation there?

But I digress...

Dalam Botol tells the story of Rubidin (Arja Lee), who had a sex change operation because of his lover (Wan Raja), but was later spurned by the same lover. Then, because of a family incident/emergency, he returned to his hometown and experienced a moment of normalcy when he hangs out with a girl (Diana Danielle).

That's the gist of the movie...

I thought the storylines were okay. There was substance to it. In fact, with the layering of the subplots, it was quite interesting to watch. Unfortunately, some storylines were too neatly resolved, although I know this was based on true events, but it doesn't seem realistic.

For example, the money part. Rubidin owed money to some ahlong I think and he was at his wit's end already but then he inherited a whole lot of money and all his troubles went away. Too neatly resolved there for my liking. If that really happened, then Rubidin's a lucky girl in life, although not so much with his love life.

And then some issues along the way... such as the money from the ahlong... I assumed he took the money for the operation... but then, he said he owed the guy 40K... yet he has 20K in the bank account... and the lover has squandered 20K... so how much was the operation?

And why did someone go off for a sex change operation and did not bother to get boobs? He forgot? Or he just wanted the vagina? That seemed a bit odd to me... and he was still wearing a wig... so why bother going through with cutting it off if you're basically no different from a drag queen?

Also, how come these people keep on repeating the same thing over and over again? Like when Ghaus and Ruby were talk-arguing... he kept asking Ruby where she went for a couple of months and kept talking about the surprise and what the surprise was... it's like he did not know she went and got herself a vagina or something... sigh...

Acting-wise, the cast was not too bad... the supporting characters ie the ladies are by far the better actors here... Fauziah Ahmad Daud, Normah Damanhuri and Diana Danielle. A movie about gay men and they are all upstaged by the girls? Kinda ironic... oh before I forget, one comment on Arja Lee... he doesn't seem like he can't act but there are times when it just was not right... maybe it's because he is not that pretty when he is a girl... or maybe the fact that he was pouting and did this high pitched voice when he was Ruby... I dunno... but there was something off about his performance, like he did not connect or something... and good God, his character's drag version was sooo annoying, not because she was needy but her voice was getting on my nerves and the crying without the tears thing? Come on!... I do have to point out that he was quite okay in his scenes as Din though...

Then there was my problem with the setting up of the shots... and no, I ain't talking about the metaphors that they put on throughout the movie... yes, Rubidin got his thang cut off... no need to put a severed tree trunk in the scene right? We got it already. Remember when he opened the fridge after coming back... you can see two eggs... yes, his two eggs were also chopped off... sigh... but no, I was not talking about that...

I am talking about the shots of two people talking but you don't see them talking, you see the scene partner... it worked well when Ruby was facing the mother about his financials... coz it was a delight watching the mother's reactions... now that was a necessary scene for that kind of shot... but why must a lot of other scenes shot that way as well... Dina talking to Ruby about her problems... and Din's face remained stoic... if he identified with his problem and gave facial expressions then okay lar... but nothing... should've focused on Dina and have her emote... why would you show the back of someone's head? Is it because they cannot act? Or did not really carry the scene well?

A colleague of mine said that it was done to be artistic... but I say artistic should not compromise a scene and its contents... Diana Danielle, who I think is a capable actress, especially in this movie, should've been given the chance to face the camera and emote, which would be so much better than seeing the back of her head emote...

Anyway, given the fact that we only have one other gay-themed (yes, gay-themed and not gay movie... I don't believe this would fall under the latter category), Dalam Botol, when compared to the horrors that was 2 Alam, can be considered one of the 10 Best Picture nominees come Oscar time.

But, if you watch it on its own merit and as a regular movie, I believe it's not a bad movie, but not particularly good either, but a good step for Malaysia's cinema to stop being ruled by the censorship board. And yes, I enjoyed watching the movie. :)

Review - Magika

I saw the trailer for this months back I think. Did not really care for it much, until I saw that it was gonna be a musical and there were gonna be a plethora of Malay lore legends in it.

First of, I love singing and I love musicals. So yay Magika! Also, was curious as to how they were gonna incorporate all those legends of lore into the movie. Quite a big or epic movie, this one.

So when my colleague wanted to catch this, I seized the opportunity to join her.

The story began as we see two siblings squabbling - Ayu, the older sister played by Diana Danielle and Malik, played by Fimie Don.

The news about their mother passing away was not told in details yet, but Malik threw a tantrum saying that it was all his fault and run off. Ayu was forced to go seek him out. Malik fell into a well and was transported to Magika. Unfortunately for him, he was captured by the mean Nenek Kebayan to be used for her potions making.

Ayu jumped to the rescue and wound up in Magika too. Completely lost, she tried getting some help from the locals but they were all kinda kooky.

One by one, she met up with all kinds of Malay lore legends like Puteri Bunian, or at least I think she was one (Maya Karin), Pak Pandir (Aznil), Mak Andeh (Raja Azura), Mahsuri (Vanidah Imran), Awang from the lore of Lembing Awang Pulang Ke Dayang (Norman Hakim), Hang Tuah (Saiful Apek) and the other four Hangs (the Senario crew), Badang (Mawi), who wound up helping her the most.

There are others in the movie such as Awang Kenit, Bawang Putih (Sharifah Amani), Bawang Merah (Sharifah Aleya), their mother (Adibah Noor), Puteri Gunung Ledang (Ning Baizura), Orang Minyak (Nabil) dan Penunggu Tasik Chini (M Nasir) and of course the famous Naga Tasik Cini (digital f/x).

Oh, did I mention this was a musical? Hehehe. So guess that's why most of the actors here are singers eh? Well, the ones with singing parts and meaty parts anyways...

So... did I like it? Nyeh. So-so I think. On one hand, I did kinda enjoyed it. On the other, it was kinda getting on my nerves.

As a musical, it was not bad. It sidestepped the whole Yusuf Haslam convention in the early 90s with a singing montage here and there but it had nothing to do with the storylines. Magika's songs are telling the stories so that one was a plus.

Unfortunately, some of the songs are not exactly catchy ditties and some of the songs were not even necessary. Like the ones sung by the trees. And the songs sound kinda similar to each other. And why did Diana Danielle's pronunciation of some words while she sang sounded pretentious and kinda annoying? But that's just me...

One thing I don't like about most Malay movies are the quality of the dubbing. Most of the time, the characters' expressions and mouth movements do not match the voices. Characters were screaming when they don't look like they're screaming. I mean, is it really hard to record their voices as they act? Especially since most of Magika's scenes looked like they were recorded in front of a green screen. But kudos for KRU Studios for making it look kinda real. Yup, I had to really look hard for quite a while before establishing that those were green screen shots. But I guess it's not that hard to figure out since this was an effects-laden movie.

Anyway, speaking of screaming, why is it that the siblings are always screaming. Hurt my ears larr.

In any event, the script and storylines was not too bad. Sure, some of the dialogues were kinda corny but some parts of it were funny. And the way they unfolded the backstory was quite nice as well...

The acting was not bad as well. Diana Danielle was decent in this but I did not think she could pull off the singing, except for one or two songs. Fimie Don is cute and all, but good God, stop screaming already. Both of them are good together. Quite believable as siblings.

The other people in this movie are barely cameos, except for Ziana Zain's Nenek Kebayan and Mawi's Badang.

Let me tell ya, for all the crap I hear about Mawi, and I am kinda not partial to him anyway, Mawi did a good job with Badang. But then again, Badang was not a hard character to play. Okay, okay, I should just stop at the good job he did portraying Badang. Some parts he was actually kinda funny.

Ziana Zain's Nenek Kebayan was truly annoying. That voice! Guess they were looking to make Nenek Kebayan haggardly and witchy-poo but Ziana dun look like that. And her character is the one with the most dubbing sin!

Guess the movie was aiming for over-the-top. But some over-the-top works like the Mahsuri scene. Nenek Kebayan's? Not so much. Ayu and Pak Pandir's singing/dancing extravaganza looked kinda forced and choreographed. But I get it. They're trying to emulate all those great musicals.

All in all, it's a good effort in bringing all those lore legends to life. I did not feel like I've wasted my time or my money.

Oh, before I forget... the Naga Tasik Chini... doesn't look like that right? Is it me or are the Pahang dragons of the water variety? No wings? I am a Pahang boy and remembering the stories, pretty sure they are water dragons... hehehe....

http://www.krustudios.com/magika