Yasmin Ahmad's a gem, Mukhsin's another gem too

I love Yasmin Ahmad, she who directed the seminal Sepet and the more mature and heavier Gubra, and now the wonderfully light and life-affirming Mukhsin. I have yet to watch her very first film, Rabun.

Mukhsin won two prizes at the recent Berlin International Film Festival. Like all her previous outings, this movie is bittersweet. It's as if life wasn't life unless it was filled with light and dark, good and bad, sweet and bitter. Balance.

What is great about all of Yasmin's movies is how it reaches out to us emotionally, everything that happens in her movies can happen to us ordinary people, and they probably do. So familiar, yet so much clearer. Yasmin has a way of scripting very taut and crisp lines, no word is wasted.

What I really liked about this movie was her use of symbolism. Especially the little boy who plays young Jason, who about thrice in the movie, just looks at Orked. A narrative tool which ties this movie to Sepet, and more importantly, a thematic tool about the nature of fate and destiny and their intersection in time.

Of course, it was great to see the original Jason and original Orked happily married, with a cute kid in tow. Talking and advising their young selves :) (Yasmin should just film another movie for all of us who just absolutely love Jason and Orked and want them to get together and live happily ever after; terrible to rob us of our dreams on the celluloid screen! I will email her :)

Also love the part where Mukhsin cries -- that was so heartwrenching, bidding farewell to Orked; and the end where Yasmin's parents play the piano and sing a traditional Malay song, along with the cast and crew. So nice.

A sweet, sweet look at first love, and the whole package that comes with love: jealousy, hurt, heartbreak, breaking up.

Read what Yasmin has to say about Mukhsin. The flavour of green tea over rice:
http://www.yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/

Kudos on another great outing Yasmin! Asia has got another gem :)

PS Also watched Meet The Robinsons, with Nana Bear the nieceling, and it turned out to be fun and funny. With all the right messages: have confidence in yourself, believe in family, everything will work out with the right effort. We also hung out, did grocery shopping, got a new pair of shoes for our date with The Phantom Of the Opera next Saturday, twas nice to just chat, keep quiet at times and just chill :)

PS2 Don't bother watching Sunshine. The good things about the movie are gorgeous Cillian Murphy, the excellent Chris Evans, and the cool cucumber of a Japanese captain ... but not enough to save the movie from the slow pace, the poor script, and the super mutant man who tries to kill them all was the most appalling part of the movie. Mutant man's appearance was of course not explained, gaping holes like that are so infuriating. Coz there is so much suspension of disbelief one can have and hold.

PS3 Reading Halftime by Bob Buford, and it's been a great learning journey. Can't wait to complete the book and learn some more, and start applying some of the key questions and his insights into life.