Showing posts with label Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem. Show all posts

20170126

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

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!).

20161009

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."

20160311

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.

20160125

Sebuah reviu filem: 'Jauh di Sudut Hati' aku rasa Z. Lokman merajuk dah. Kesian.

Asal: Malaysia · Bahasa: Melayu
Pengarah: Z. Lokman
Rilis: 1984 ·  Genre: Drama, thriller (kot?), erotika (kot?)

Pelakon: Rose Iskandar, Mokhtarudin, Yusof Haslam,
Siti Rohani Wahid, M. Rajoli

Hai! Ini merupakan reviu kedua bagi filem kedua dan terakhir bagi slot Fiksyen Pulpa Malaysia di Wayang@Budiman anjuran Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem / PKAF: Jauh di Sudut Hati arahan Z. Lokman. 

Filem di sebelah ni (poster asal filem ni, sama juga dengan Anita: Dunia Ajaib, susah untuk En. Google cari; jadi, sekali lagi hasil kerja tangan Dr. Norman Yusoff yang dibikin khas untuk slot Fiksyen Pulpa Malaysia ni aku letak sebagai penghias) aku rasa jeritan hati pengarah ni yang dibuat awal-awal lagi sebelum dia dimamah arus irrelevance. 

Aku dengar Z. Lokman ni boleh dikatakan Voldermort dalam khalayak peminat dan penggiat filem tempatan sebab sebilangan besar karya-karyanya dianggap sampah. Dr. Norman beritahu bahawa filem ni dianggap sebagai 'trash exploitation' oleh cendikiawan filem tapi secara peribadi aku tak berapa nampak aspek sampah tu. Aku rasa, filem ni agak bijak dan lebih baik daripada filem dua minggu lepas, biarpun agak tak adil perbandingan ni sebab Omar Haji Md. Said tu baru jadi pembikin filem tapi filem ni pulak merupakan filem ke-3 Z. Lokman. Ah lantaklah. Filem hang buruk, maka perbandinganlah aku akan buat antara filem hang dengan filem Z. Lokman ni.

Nasib baiklah filem ni tak terlalu bercita-cita nak buat benda yang 'orang barat nak buat, aku orang Malaysia nak buat jugak;' walaupun sentimen tu masih ada, tapi dia buat rilek je. Lepas tu macam biasalah rencah filem lama: terlalu mengeksploit sesuatu aspek dalam genre yang nak diketengahkan sampai nampak agak haram jadah tapi masih terkawal dalam filem ni. Ya, bagi aku filem ni filem eksploitasi.

AMARAN: KALAU KORANG KISAH PASAL SPOILER, JANGAN BACA!

20160109

Sebuah reviu filem: 'Anita - Dunia Ajaib' sangat... meta!

Asal: Malaysia · Bahasa: Melayu
Pengarah, penerbit, penulis: Omar Haji Md. Said
Rilis: 1981
Genre: Fiksyen sains (kot?), misteri (kot?),
drama (kot?), romantik (kot?)

Pelakon: Hail Amir, Asmah Hamid,
Aznah Hamid, Dollah Dagang

Studio: Ohms Film Company

Hai, semua! Kali ni, aku cuba untuk kurang melalut dalam reviu kali ni. Kalau tak, aku akan terikut gaya filem pembukaan untuk sesi Wayang@Budiman 2016 bagi slot Fiksyen Pulpa Malaysia. Tapi... filem ni sendiri melalut jugak secara tak sengaja. Lantaklah! Jadi, untuk itu, aku akan menggunakan semangat yang dibawa oleh filem ni dekat reviu ni! Baiklah. Mari ke mukadimah yang lebih elok.

Menurut pamplet PKAF untuk slot tayangan depa sepanjang 2016, ini dah masuk tahun kedua penganjuran sesi Wayang@Budiman. Aku tak pasti kecenderungan aku ni apa (jangan risau, orientasi seksual aku masih lagi di jalan yang lurus; aku cakap pasal kecenderungan filem tau), jadi aku cuba-cubalah benda baru macam tayangan filem sebegini sejak aku jadi pelajar di sekolah filem (bolehlah semangat filem dia) pada tahun 2009 setelah aku sedar ada filem lagi menarik selain filem arus perdana.

PKAF ni pun kebetulan serupa aku jugak; sentiasa cuba macam-macam dan tengok apa jadi lepas tu (celah kecenderungan filem jelah, sebab secara zahirnya, haram jadahnya aku nak cuba sangat benda baru). Dan bagi slot Fiksyen Pulpa Malaysia sepanjang Januari 2016, depa berjaya memfizikalkan keinginan zahir aku melalui filem pertama slot ni bertajuk Anita: Dunia Ajaib, sebuah filem yang sangat ajaib dari sudut idea dalam filem ni sendiri, di sebalik tabir filem ni, dan keadaan sekeliling filem ni di dalam filem dan di dunia sebenar, dan kewujudan filem ni! Pihak penganjur pernah cakap slot Januari ni terdiri daripada filem-filem yang dianggap gila babi teruk dalam sejarah filem Malaysia pada masa dulu; tapi yang ni aku lebih faham kenapa jadi macam apa yang terjadi dalam filem ni (tapi sebaliknya untuk filem Malaysia sekarang); kira perasaannya lebih kurang macam masa aku tergerak hati nak mengeraskan telur aku untuk pergi tonton Jaka Sembung tahun lepas ehsan KSFM. Cumanya, Jaka Sembung lagi power. Filem ni pulak... HAHAHAHAHAHA! Comel! Terima kasih sebab namakan slot ni secara tak sengaja sempena antara filem Quentin Tarantino yang disukai ramai dan poster buatan sendiri yang terlalu well-made untuk filem yang... mengelirukan ni!

20151112

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.

20150906

A film review: What the 'Tampopo' is going on here?!

Original title: タンポポ (Dandelion)
Origin:
Japan · Language: Japanese
Director & writer: Juzo Itami

Genre: Comedy · Release: November 23, 1985

Casts: Ken Watanabe, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Koji Yakusho

More info: IMDb

Ookay. The title of this post does NOT make sense at all; and so are some bits and pieces of the film I'm about to review!

See, our dear friends at Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem [Centre of Film Research and Appreciation] (one of these fellow is a lecturer of mine) on specified periods (usually in 2 months) would usually hold a screening on a variety of films from around the globe. For the entirety of these determined screening periods, a theme would be assigned.

For this September till October, they have chosen films revolving food... and boy what a starter they served as the opening!

HOW COINCIDENTAL IS THIS?! I honestly didn't even bother to check on the screenings' schedule, when suddenly... POOF! The first food movie is a Japanese movie! Which is exactly a day before the 38th edition of the Malaysian Bon Odori Festival in Shah Alam! Hot dawg! Ain't destiny's a beautiful bitch!

After lurking around the webs for some info I could use to give this review some credibility, to my surprise, this film also features Ken Watanabe, all young and noobish, in his early heyday in Japanese cinema!

It's also a no-brainer to know that I'm surprised... well, shocked to be exact, on the style of execution in both its main storyline and many unrelated subplots. Which makes this film... unmistakably Japanese!