'Scoop' Mukhsin Press Preview

(mode : read a la gossip column in local papers kay)

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[Dialog di atas adalah rekaan semata-mata, tiada dalam filem sebenar]

Semalam (27 Februari 2007) di panggung 12, GSC Midvalley telah diadakan tayangan pratonton filem Mukhsin kepada pihak media, rakan-rakan produksi, penaja dan beberapa pihak lain.

Yasmin Ahmad dalam ucapan beliau sebelum tayangan mengungkapkan rasa syukur ke hadrat Ilahi atas kemenangan berganda Mukhsin (anugerah Grand Prix kategori juri profesional dan anugerah Special Mention kategori juri kanak-kanak) dalam festival filem antarabangsa Berlinale baru-baru ini serta terima kasih tidak terhingga kepada semua pihak yang telah menyokong filem-filem beliau dari mula.

Jika dulu filem Sepet hanya ada sepuluh salinan untuk diputarkan jadi jumlah pawagam yg dapat menayangkannya adalah sangat terhad serta tempoh masa singkat untuk memberi peluang tayangan kepada pawagam lain pula, bagi Mukhsin beliau memaklumkan dengan gembiranya terdapat TIGA PULUH salinan, bermakna lebih banyak pawagam dapat menayangkan filem ini pada satu-satu sama, "which is a luxury", ujar beliau dgn penuh rendah diri.

Antara yang menarik lagi adalah apabila beliau menyatakan 'dewan pawagam ini dipenuhi oleh kawan-kawan dan orang-orang yang memang menyukai saya, kecuali dua orang'.

Mahukah anda tahu siapa dua orang yang dimaksudkan itu?

Jeng jeng jeng.... mereka adalah pengarah/penerbit filem tempatan iaitu Puan Raja Azmi dan Encik David Teoh. Memang tak sangka. Well, begitulah sepatutnya dalam industri filem tempatan yang tidak seberapa saiznya ini... pusing-pusing orang itu juga kan, hari ini kawan bertepuk tampar cium-cium pipi silap-silap esok jadi musuh, hari ini bertikam lidah esok-lusa mungkin duduk makan semeja. Tak ada salahnya untuk memberi sokongan moral hasil usaha orang lain walaupun mungkin kita tak setuju dengan idea-idea mereka atau mempunyai pendapat yang saling berbeza.

Bagaimanapun kedua-dua mereka meninggalkan dewan tayangan sejurus tamat filem Mukhsin, jadi Miss Ted tak sempat nak tanya pendapat mereka tentang buah tangan terbaru Yasmin Ahmad ini.

Mukhsin mungkin tiada CGI, tiada aksi letup lompat bot, jetski atau kereta kebal, tiada perlanggaran pile-up lapanbelas buah kenderaan, tiada siapa mandi berkemban, tiada rambut yang basah dan tiada dengusan nafas berahi (aksi 'terganas' dalam Mukhsin adalah lagak samseng seorang budak yg memukul seseorang dgn kayu di kepala, aksi 'terpanas' adalah si Mukhsin dengan teragak-agak menepuk tangan Orked yang sedang kesedihan). But for me (the second time around watching Mukhsin, dulu on small projector screen and now on big screen) - it just gets better. Tontonlah dengan penuh rasa. RASA. 'Rasa'nya sahaja sudah cukup untuk memenuhkan ruang deria anda bagi kepuasan menonton filem ini.

Jadi pastikan anda tidak melepaskan peluang menonton tayangan Mukhsin di pawagam berdekatan mulai 8 Mac 2007 nanti.


P.S - Yasmin pesan jangan lupa memerhatikan lukisan dan tulisan berbahasa Cina di papan hitam dalam babak-babak di bilik Orked. Miss Ted harap kawan-kawan yang memahami tulisan tersebut boleh menerangkan maksudnya. Sayang, Miss Ted belajar bahasa Malaysia, bahasa Inggeris dan bahasa Arab saja masa di sekolah dulu.

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Previous post : Mukhsin mini review

Mukhsin's winnings at Berlinale

• Press release from Berlin International Film Festival official site here.
• My mini review on Mukhsin here.

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Note the pluralism in the above title ?

(1)

The Generation’s eleven-member Children’s Jury of the Kplus competition programme of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival awards the Crystal Bear for Best Feature Film as well as the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film and Special Mentions to the following films:

The Crystal Bear for Best Feature Film
DEK HOR (Dorm)
by Songyos Sugmakanan, Thailand


A Special Mention
MUKHSIN

by Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysia

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(2)

The five-member International Jury of the Generation of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival Berlin awards the Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, endowed with 7,500 euros, as well as the Special Prize of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, endowed with 2,500 euros, to the following films:

The Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk
MUKHSIN
by Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysia

“A wonderful, almost magical atmosphere, enhanced by a striking soundtrack.
Poetic images of the closeness of a family and community.
A witty script combined with well-rounded and humorous characters: All this in a story of a friendship that daren’t cross into love, and a love for which friendship is no longer enough.”

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P.S - Mukhsin will be screened in cinemas nationwide starting 8 March 2007.

P.P.S - While typing this post, suddenly I saw Mukhsin trailer being aired on TV3. Pergh. Made me went goosebumps (of the feel-good kind lah). Alhamdulillah & congratulations, Kak Min.

Mukhsin teaser trailer / mini review

Update : 'Scoop' Mukhsin Press Preview (27 Feb 2007)

Scheduled for national release in March (08/03/2007), Yasmin Ahmad's latest film, Mukhsin, has been selected by the 57th Berlin International Film Festival as well as nominated for Best Asian Film at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Not bad for a movie about two young kids befriending each other during a school holiday. Not bad at all, ma'am.

Having had the opportunity to watch the movie sometime ago courtesy of the director, for me Mukhsin feels a bit like a mix of the feelings that Yasmin's earlier works - Rabun and Sepet - a match of the lighter comedic notes and nostalgics of Rabun (although actually there's dark unpleasantness in it) peppered within the very much Malaysian-ness (for some quarters like though others beg to differ - it's a FREE country after all) feel of Sepet, compared to the darker Gubra with its more blatant and louder dish of ideologies (sufism, HIV-positive awareness and girl power feminism).

(very mild spoilers ahead)

Mukhsin revolves around the idea of a first love - bringing various firsts in a young person's life - first boyfriend / girlfriend, first moment of an adult voice, talks about first period and first bra, experiencing first death of the immediate family and first heartbreak. It's an interesting note that the actor who played Mukhsin's character, Syafie Naswip actually 'broke' his voice during the filming, and in one of the scenes you can detect it quite clearly ("You look ve-ry nice today!).

Sharifah Aryana is Orked this time (her big sister, Sharifah Amani played the teenager & adult Orked characters in Yasmin's earlier films Sepet and Gubra), and she totally rocked as the tomboy-ish gutsy girl who's being brought up differently from her counterparts and knows the fact very well. Adibah Noor reprises her role as Yam the orang-gaji-yang-tak-macam-orang-gaji while Sharifah Aleya (bigger sister of both S.Amani and S.Aryana) is Mak Inom. For those who have seen her previous movies, Yasmin Ahmad challenges the audience to recast the face-name relation of Pak Atan : in Rabun it was M. Rajoli; in Sepet and Gubra it was Harith Iskander; and this time around it's more 'unsettling' as the younger Pak Atan is Irwan Iskandar - the perasan and backdealing Yem character in Rabun. Other notable role-shuffles in Yasmin's films would involve Noorkhiriah (Orked in Rabun, Mas in Gubra, extra in Mukhsin) and Rozie Rashid (Cik Nor in Rabun, Temah in Gubra, Orked's neighbor in Mukhsin).

But fret not, Mukhsin is far from mind-boggles of any kind. The only time one might go 'HUhhh??' would probably be at a weird scene which is actually a dream, so it's okay since everyone is very much allowed to have weird dreams from time to time (or even all the time, come to think of it). As usual Yasmin Ahmad-style, Mukhsin may not answer all the questions that you'd have at the end and again it'll be up to the audience to lay down their interpretation or two themselves.

With Mukhsin's simple and ordinary subject matters of growing up, friendships and family ties, the general feeling throughout the movie is one of melancholy and nostalgia - 'ahem, we'll go inside ourselves, been there, done that'. The beautiful shots taken at a serene and idyllic rural location (Kuala Selangor) evokes a wistful yearning to be there. Mozart strains adorns a kite-flying scene, and Nina Simone's rendition of the French song Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me) is just so heart-wrenching that I dare say there's nobody who won't be touched by its respective scenes. I also loved the bonus footage after the end credits where Yasmin and the crew got together with the theme keroncong song, Hujan being sang by Yasmin's mother - it'll put a smile on your face.

And seeing the young stars - makes me want to be kids like them again. To have that innocence, that ignorance, to own a fresh canvas of perceptions that's still being painted and added on with new colors and patterns everyday. Sigh.

And to experience something like this again.