Have you guys seen this movie?
I thought it was pretty cool, the plot is that 3 brothers from KL are going back to their hometown to bury their father who had passed.
Not spoiler free review alert
Here's a thing lah, I love the vibe of the film,you can really feel the relaxed atmosphere it’s going for with the sawah and ladang Pokok sawit setting. The socioeconomic differences between the characters are shown blatantly on screen, the big brother got businesses, so he’s rich. Yusuf (sky character) someeeewhere in the middle, like he’s a bit of a scammer, while the youngest, though sincere, just sells burgers, It’s a nice layer that adds to the story.
For the characters, their interactions are awkward but mostly sweet, which makes sense since they literally just met and have only known each other for less than a day. There’s also some occasional judgmental opinions surfacing between them, which feels transparent and adds to the dynamic, Still there’s something funny and genuine about how they click. The film manages to feel nostalgic without leaning too heavily on past memories and yet invokes modernity - I mean it is, duh, but it just feels like a good blend of the two. The way they handled death sits somewhere in the middle, it’s funny, bizarre, creepy, it stinks pftt - but it never feels pretentious. That being said, some parts of the script, overall arc could’ve been sharpened a bit more. I think Sky mentioned it was filmed in 2022 or something? So yeeee maybe it’s more of a budget thing than a lack of creative juice that could’ve made the ending land a lot stronger.
Mia is the lady who drove the van jenazah, and she didn't exactly received much closure or character development in the end, actually the ending is sorta stuck - almost like its mirroring their father's dead body??? Lol, I just realised it, Aiyooo (spoiler on that : daddy lost his ibu jari kaki)
Speaking of the father, I truly feel he deserved more flashbacks yet he got none. Perhaps this was deliberate? That heavy regret, the hollow ache of never having said goodbye, crashing down towards reality’s harshest slap, that animosity, anger, disappointment and resentment they carry for years as unyielding as glacial ice, slowly softens and melts away, like a tilted cup draining it's last drop as the story progresses.
Personally lah, I thought the way it shows you to appreciate the connections and the people that you had before it's too late is much more sincere and less performative than what many local films tried to do, but I never disliked that either lol.
Two actors in this were kiiiind of awkward, like you can sense that they didn't grew up speaking bahasa melayu much kind of way. First there was Karim who is the youngest out of the 3 brothers (played by Syazani Zikry). He sounded like, uh, I don’t know... okay? Like, OK, OK - I mean this in the nicest way possible, no shade to the actor whatesoever, but sometimes he came off like he was really high to the point that I thought that was intentional, but nope. At the same time tho, he’s so soft-spoken that it actually ends up being pretty endearing.
Then there is the actress who played their only sister, Sara. I'm sure she's trying her best and I can definitely see that, but unfortunately I could sense and feeeeeel a bit of discomfort in how some lines were delivered, even her body language and tone felt a liiiittle forced.
I also felt like there is not enough flashbacks for us to understand their situation, it is only through the characters words like, 'woah, look at this road that we used to play all day', but at the same time I can't say it's a bad thing, again, could have tightened it more.
There was also this holding back in how the characters spoke, maybe just to avoid censorship? Cause you can really tell director intended the oldest brother to be much harsher in his words and language but it feels a bit too restrictive to show his anger, maybe they're avoiding the anak derhaka label shit? 😂
Everyone else did super well in their roles, and yeah, Sky is great, like If you want to see Megat using his softer voice more often and even shedding a few tears now and then - you definitely need to watch this ahaksss
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I give it a 7/10, pretty happy I saw it, not perfect but yeeeee
