Gubra ... Aiiiiiyooooo!!!!

I am dead disappointed with Yasmin Ahmad's new film, Gubra. What a pile off toss!

Aiiiiiyyooooooo!!!

Why must they speak in that horrible (kononnya) "Malaysian" accent?? It sounds terrible! It sounds like they know how to speak English properly, but are purposely trying to mangle it wan. Aiyo! Say what you want about our atrocious accent, but nobody in real life speaks the way the Gubra cast does. Why did they put it (so fakely!) on??? Was it really necessary????!!!

Aiiiiyooooo!!!!!

Why was every scene shot like a Petronas ad? Every single scene! I mean, the Petronas ads are great and all - I look forward to them every Hari Raya, CNY and Merdeka Day - but 2 hours worth?? The 5-minute ads are brilliant, but back-to-back for 2 HOURS??!!! It's absurd, I tell you, not to mention nauseatingly mawkish.

Every scene has a "moral-of-de-story". Every scene has some higher, noble sentiment. Every scene ends in some poignant phrase, look or emotion. Every fucking scene ends in that same meaningful, intended-to-be-pregnant pause.

Aaaiiiiiyyoooooo!!!!

The plot only just barely qualifies as one. Well, there is (are?) a story/ies, it does have a beginning and an end (of sorts), but I felt cheated. The story development was succint, cliched, and ... half-baked. It was as if Yasmin Ahmad was so caught up on the minute details of each scene so fecking, heart-wrenchingly perfect that she lost sight of the bigger picture as a whole. I felt cheated.

And as for the "controversial" aspect?

Aiiiiyooooo!!!!!

I know there were some supposedly "controversial issues" in Sepet, but for this movie, Yasmin Ahmad seems to have taken whatever supposedly valid "controversial issues" (as maaaaaaany as she could get her hands on) and chucked them all into the movie merely for controversy's sake. None of them add to the value of the story as a whole whatsoever. It appears that they exist in the movie (eg. naked butts) solely for the purpose of creating waves and perhaps amusement. It would not have affected the story one iota had they been omitted.

Cliched lah. This whole movie was one tired cliche after another, scene after predictable scene, dialogue after worn dialogue, culminating in just one huge cliche of a movie as a whole. As you watch the bloody thing, you understand that she meant it to be heart-wrenching, but it is so blatant an attempt that you are inevitably left rolling your eyes instead.

And I went in wanting to like this movie! I really did! I was really looking forward to it, hoping (because I had read stellar reviews!) that this would be far better than Sepet, which I cannot honestly say I liked a great deal, but neither did I dislike. I was so disappointed!

The only reason I stayed to the end was because:-
a) I wanted to see how it would finish and I was hoping it would have a redeeming end (it didn't)
b) my feet were tired from walking around all day (Berjaya Times Square - 'nuff said)
c) we didn't have anything better to do or anywhere else to go until dinnertime, and
d) my popcorn belum habis (I ended up chucking a quarter of it out anyway. Peh.)

The only thing commendable about the whole movie was the cinematography. Very nicely shot, if trying to be a weeeee bit too artsy at times. I mean, there are only so many times you can watch a scene starting from the sky/ceiling/treetop panning down to the actors before you start wishing that sometimes it might be nice if Yasmin Ahmad could just get on with it.

Oh! Harith Iskandar, Ida Nerina & Adibah Noor. Hee hee. They are adorable. I thought they were the best part of the movie. Oh, and so was the actor who played Jason's mother.

:O)

But seeing as how I wasn't as impressed with Sepet as the rest of the world seemed to be, I guess that many might disagree with me over Gubra too.

[snip]
I've always wondered if all those people truly enjoyed Sepet, or if they only thought so because they felt compelled to agree with the reviewers who, every sheep-like one of them, touted it as the future of Malaysian movie-making. God help us all. That's the equivalent of Kiera Knightly being nominated Best Actress at the Oscars this year.
[unsnip]

The movie should have ended, just before the credits, with "This was a Community Service Message, brought to you by Yasmin Ahmad."

As "art"/independent movies go, Spinning Gasing was far better. Yasmin Ahmad should stick to ads.