Catatan tentang Temasya Wayang@Budiman dan reviu 'Return to Nostalgia' / '#AntologiROTI'.

[English version]

Risalah acara Temasya Wayang@Budiman

Risalah ehsan laman Facebook PKAF

Sabtu, 21 Januari 2017 ialah satu hari yang gila. Aku rasa dah banyak kali jugak aku petik nama Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem / PKAF dalam blog aku ni. Kenapa? Sebab aku penyokong tegar depa ni. Depa ni punya hasrat memang murni; nak ketengahkan dan membincangkan serta menghargai karya-karya hebat seantero dunia dan lebih fokusnya sinema Asia yang atas sebab tertentu tak masuk dalam radar penonton filem Malaysia dalam skala kecil. Diorang ni dah lama wujud sebenarnya, sejak 2012 lagi. Tapi, diorang baru mula menonjolkan diri secara perlahan menerusi sesi tayangan filem diorang yang pertama iaitu Wayang@Budiman pada tahun 2015 dan kini telah mula melebarkan sayap depa di luar Alam Budiman serta menganjurkan pelbagai aktiviti berkaitan sinema secara kecil-kecilan mahupun besar-besaran. Siapa sangka, usaha murni depa ni dah masuk pun masuk tahun ke-2. Demi menghargai khalayak yang berterusan menyokong dan juga hangpa yang baru berjinak nak mai ke slot tayangan sebegini di samping meraikan sinema itu sendiri, depa adakan satu Temasya untuk meraikan perkara tersebut.

Ruang yang agak sempit di rumah kedai dekat Alam Budiman tu serta jaraknya yang agak hulu tu tak menghalang para pencinta sinema lokal, Asia dan antarabangsa untuk datang berdiskusi pasal filem. Acara ni bukan acara biasa-biasa. Orang-orang yang dijemput untuk slot pertama Temasya tu bukan calang-calang orang; semuanya player industri filem Malaysia yang ada kalibernya tersendiri. Lepas tu, ada pulak dokumentari pasai usaha seorang pembikin filem mencari antara filem terawal Malaysia yang dikatakan telah hilang. Kemudian, tiba-tiba dapat tetamu tak diundang yang mengejutkan! Pada malam hari, kemuncaknya pulak ialah tayangan filpen (baca: filem pendek) yang dihasilkan oleh para khalayak yang sering datang ke sesi Wayang@Budiman hampir setiap malam bertemakan roti yang kita selalu jumpa kat kedai mamak yang dinamakan #AntologiROTI (dua filpen dalam antologi ni aku tolong buat sarikata; ada jugak kerja terjemahan aku yang lain kat sini 😆). Mari selami perasaan aku pasal acara ni (amboi!).

Sebuah reviu dua filem: 'Hanyut' & 'Interchange'

"Tengok aku buat apa? Tengoklah filem aku!"

Selamat, selamat, selamat! Sebenarnya aku ada reviu filem lain, iaitu Desolasi, tengah tunggu nak keluar, tapi tak boleh nak post lagi sebabnya dah ada buat perjanjian. Masalahnya, aku gian bebenau nak post reviu tu! Nasib baiklah ada tarikh 4 Disember, aku sanggup merempit ke MidValley bersama adik tercinta untuk menonton filem yang tajuknya sungguh ironi, Hanyut arahan U-Wei Haji Saari (sebabnya sini ja yang tinggal tayangan filem ni yang paling dekat area aku; tu pun MASIH jauh) dan Interchange arahan Dain Said. Dapatlah jugak lepaskan gian nak mengulas filem-filem tempatan kita yang semakin berani kedepankan idea yang berlainan.

"We're the cool clique. Dain Said ain't nuttin' ta eff wit'!"

Ya. Filem-filem ni memang lain macam dalam liga masing-masing. Nak buat perbandingan memang langsung tak adil, sebabnya kedua-dua filem ni ada visinya yang tersendiri. Aku cuba untuk TAK BAGI SPOILER LANGSUNG dalam reviu ni, sebab nanti korang dah tau, korang tak mau tengok.

Film reviews: A Marvel Vs. DC showdown - 'Doctor Strange' Vs. 'Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders'

"Hello, DC fans! I'll annoy the hell out of you guys!"

What's up people of the world! After getting decommissioned from writing blog posts due to unforeseen circumstances (such as my new laptop getting a technical hiccup and me getting involved with a road accident), I think it's appropriate to talk about the talk of the century. The unnecessary debacle between two mighty brands in the Nerdrealm (I'm spelling this a-la Mortal Kombat style) that is... Marvel versus DC! 

Nanananananananana Batmaaan~! Aaaaaand Robin too!

With that said, during my absence from my tool of the trade, I managed to catch two films from the respective brands which are both 2016 releases: Doctor Strange, the latest addition to the long-standing Marvel Cinematic Universe / MCU cannon and Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, which is a loving tribute to the super-campy live-action 60's series with both Adam West and Burt Ward reprising their roles from that series as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dick Grayson/Robin respectively, which I may have or have not watch as a kid. Batman was watched two days ago, while Doctor Strange was viewed a day after its Malaysian premiere (and yes, I'm aware that I'm way late in the reviewing game while the hype was hot for this due to the incidents that was stated earlier). And guess what? I like them both! 

Yeah, yeah. I might have voiced my disdain over DC's sorry efforts to take a jab at Marvel's success with the DC Extended Universe / DCEU AND the underwhelming The Killing Joke which does not fall under the DCEU cannon, but thankfully DC hasn't gone too far astray from delivering yet another satisfying diversion for home releases with quality animated feature! And I think Marvel has also yet again doesn't seem to dissatisfy me with their latest offering! Let's see what I have in mind about these, shall we? Oh yeah, these reviews are SPOILER-FREE too!

KKKorean Kombo film reviews: 'Train to Busan,' The Wailing,' & 'The Housemaid (1960)'

Yo, my peeps. How's it going?

"Yeah. You best believe that I'll bust the hell out of yo' infected ass, rotten biatches!"

I really wanted to do this for a while, but now that I finally have a (hopefully) stable job, I am not as eager to write reviews as before... or maybe I was too eager, that I forgot I was so damn tired. Now that it's the weekend, it's time to blow off some steam! In the nearest periods of time, I managed to watch a few South Korean films on the big screen, all of which are horrific in their own ways.

"Oh yeah? Try and check out what we're seeing, and you'll feel bad about acting all badass and shit!"

The first two, you could say are both recent releases (well, not the most recent), while the latest one, which was watched last Friday during the good old Wayang@Budiman screenings, was an opening of a new slot which will showcase the best classic black-and-white films from around the globe, two of which I get why it was critically acclaimed while the last one... I don't quite get why. So why the heck not fit all three of those reviews in one post, right?  Let's get it on, as these reviews are totally SPOILER-FREE!

"Pfft. Sissies."

An experience of sorts: Japanese Film Festival 2016 opening ceremony & 'After the Storm' thoughts

Hello, there! This time around, I'm giving a throwback of me saying things about what happened that I think matters to me: writing a long-ass post about it! And also, why not throw in a new banner for my blog, right? Oh yeah, those are totally characters from The Boy and the Beast, one of the films that will be screened at Japanese Film Festival Malaysia 2016, and I'm keeping it! It's not just a promotional thing! NARNIA is long gone!

Fret not though. I know this is supposed to be a blog dedicated to reviewing films (and other things). It's here because a film was indeed screened after the opening ceremony attended by PRESS members for this year's edition of Japanese Film Festival organised by Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur in association with Golden Screen Cinemas. A brief review of that film, titled After the Storm, will follow suit.

My gut-feeling as one of the few guests of honour

Which begs me to this question; how the HELL did this wild invitation appear in my inbox while I was doing my job? And why, oh why, did it have to clash with the screening for a free movie which I won tickets to thanks to Movie Addict? World is cruel.

The mysterious email in question. That person in the screenshot of this screenshot is Kiki Kilin, one of the actors for the film I watched that night, and she is KILIN' it with her role! More on that later. And sorry not sorry for the lame pun.

How the heck did he get my email? And how am I a press member now? What kind of credibility do I have? Is it because of THIS article?

My review is the third one. Not lying mah!

Yeah. One of my reviews got featured at The Daily Seni - AGAIN! This time around, it's sandwiched between THE Fadli al-Akiti (a renowned film critic and owner of TontonFilem) and New Straits Times' review excerpts, and it's for a film currently showing in local cinemas right now, Pekak. And yes, this is totally a legit article.

Whatever the case is, since I already went to a few screenings with the awesome group, I decided to give up my tickets and pass it to my siblings instead, so I can take up this invitation, to see where things would go from here. The unfortunate thing was, I was stuck in traffic when the press conference was commencing. It was then I would have the chance to maybe get closer to the aforementioned veteran actress whom I think was indeed very likeable both on-screen and off-screen judging from a video tribute played before her speech during the festival's opening ceremony and the speech itself, through the way she conveyed her message.

Here she is, straight from the red carpets draped under her feet just outside the theater hall. I was too hungry munching on the finger foods to even care about her, 'cause a brother's gotta eat. Gomenasai!

Photo by Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur.

While it was awkward and all, with me being just an ordinary guy being thrown into a world of press screenings (with this one being the totally official one), I guess it was a pleasant one, even if I talked to only very few of them, introducing myself like the amateur that I am (and I rue the day that I didn't get the chance to drop my non-existent contact card!). This occurrence might seem normal to some people, but for a socially awkward human like myself who just happens to write film reviews for fun, this is a huge deal. It gives people like me, the low self-esteem guy, a high purpose. Which means people still need guidance on what is or what is not a good film, and I am stamped as that kind of guy who does just that. And me getting recognised as an ACTUAL member of the press by being invited to this kind of event was kind of something. Ookay. Not much else I can say about the event. On with the film review.

2-in-1 film review: 'You're Next' and 'The Visit'

"Crikey! Blood!"

This is initially a review of a single film. But since it's way overdue (I watched like probably weeks or months ago), I decided instead to rack up the review of the film in question, You're Next, with the most recent horror flick I just watched from the master of twist endings who managed to comeback with a twist from his streak of lame movies, The Visit, in a single review. 

"Blergh! Totally not scary!"

I'm honestly more of an in-your-face, over-the-top, and balls out funny/exaggerated kind of guy when it comes to films. These however, while these two are comedies, it felt way buried inside of a dominantly horror premise; especially the former film.

Film reviews: Wayang@Budiman presents Classic Wuxia - 'Come Drink with Me' & 'Dragon Inn'

"Shall we dance to you bitches' death?"

Ooh, wee. Look here. Another overdue ones. Good golly. Let's do a double review for yet another slot at Wayang@Budiman on February. What's wuxia you ask? A literary genre from China in which the characters wield swords to beat the crap out of each other. While both films are from the same director, the same genre, and the same starting point (both films' plot actually takes off from an inn), these films are not exactly related to each other. From what I have dug out, it seems that these films are said to be the best of all time for its genre and also one of the earliest ones made by a very influential wuxia director, where the latter had two remakes and a tribute. 

"Look ma, no balls!"

Maybe I have seen one or two wuxia films before I even knew what wuxia really is (I think I passingly watched Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero that one time) or even knew about a wuxia comic (it's the Malay translation Storm Riders' source material... but I didn't go into the details like the characters and the sword names and what not), so I was never like a follower of the genre or anything. Watching these pioneers was indeed quite the experience for me.

Film reviews/opinion pieces: Wayang@Budiman Presents 'Sinema Selera'

Official flyer for 'Sinema Selera.'

Good day ol' chaps! As you can see, I am NOT good at constantly updating my blog. Life happens, and laziness happens. And this shitty intro happens. 

Anway, this will be a collective review, short or long, of a handful of films that filled the 'Sinema Selera' slot (literally translates as Delicious Cinema or Cinema of Taste) which is held throughout September and October at Wayang@Budiman, a screening session organised by Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem (Centre of Film Research and Appreciation). More info on these screenings, I already blabbed about it on the intro in the first review of the first film in this slot, so go ahead and click that. It's right after the posters.

I got to say... I haven't really thought about food the way these filmmakers do. From Japan to Mexico, each of these countries sees food very differently, and maybe these functions would/wouldn't be discussed in each of the film's review/opinion. So let's get it on!

Posters for the films screened at Sinema Selera.

Sebuah reviu dua filem: 'Mana Mau Lari' dan 'Hantu Tok Mudim'

Hah. Inilah dia filem-filem yang aku kata aku nak reviu sebelum ni sebenarnya. Lama sangat dah aku tunda. Filem-filem ni walaupun aku dah lama tonton, tapi tak keluar lagi kat pawagam masa reviu ni ditulis. Tapi nak kata aku ni bertuah, tak juga. Sebab filem-filem ni bukannya cinema-worthy pun. Tapi sekurang-kurangnya filem yang ada hantu macam samurai tu lagi sedaplah untuk ditonton berbanding yang motorsikal satu tu. Nanti aku bagitau pasai pa, na.

Seperti yang dapat dibaca dalam poster promosi di atas, aku telah dipaksa (YA, DIPAKSA) untuk menonton filem-filem ni (sebenarnya Mana Mau Lari je yang aku terpaksa tengok disebabkan oleh kesalahan informasi yang kemungknan besar disengajakan sebab aku ingat markah aku akan dipotong kalau tak tengok; tiket dia pulak 2-dalam-1, jadi terpaksalah tengok sekali Hantu Tok Mudim!) yang dipakejkan sebagai majlis Malam Apresiasi Filem 2013 sempena hari anugerah Malam KaryaOne 2013 (aku masih tak boleh terima kehodohan nama ni!) yang katanya nak menghargai karya-karya kreatif para pelajar UiTM (dulu untuk pelajar fakulti aku je, tapi depe kasi pulak semua UiTM masuk sekali tahun ni). Maklumat pasal tayangan ni ada dalam poster kat atas.

Tanpa melengahkan masa, inilah dia pandangan aku tentang dua filem tempatan akan datang ni.

AMARAN: SPOILER ada BANYAK GILA! Serius!

Sebuah reviu filem: 'KOPI: Kumpulan Filem Pendek'

Asal: Malaysia
Bahasa: Melayu
Penerbit: Amir Muhamad
Rilis: 2012
Pengedar: Buku Fixi

Hebat. Ini macam perluasan bisnes yang sangat semulajadi, memandangkan Amir Muhamad, bos besar Buku Fixi tu sendiri pernah membikin filem. Aku mula-mula macam berminat nak dapatkan antologi cerpen Kopi ni, tapi minat aku tu datang bila baru aku tau yang versi cetaknya edisi terhad, dan masa tu dah nak habis pun cetakannya. Cis! Tapi, tak ada pula depe umumkan lagi yang versi filpen Kopi ni edisi terhad. Takut habis stok, aku pun cekuplah DVD ni daripada FiTA Fiesta tempoh hari sebelum benda ni jadi khazanah susah nak cari.

Inilah dia; ulasan aku pasal koleksi filpen yang merupakan adaptasi antologi cerpen Kopi yang dengar cerita sama ketagihnya bila dihadam dengan kopi o kaw (secara jujurnya, aku suka manis sikit kopi aku sebab aku bukan peminum kopi yang tegar; janganlah kata aku pussy pula) yang juga diterbitkan oleh Buku Fixi. Koleksi ni menampilkan 8 filpen pelbagai perisa dan komposisi (macam air kopi juga) yang telah mengadaptasi 8 daripada 19 cerpen dalam antologi Kopi. Disebabkan ini koleksi filpen, dan namanya pun filem PENDEK, aku hanya akan bagi tau apa yang aku rasa dan apa yang aku nampak secara peribadi bagi setiap filpen yang termuat, dan bukan jalan ceritanya. OK? Let's go!