Cinta, the movie is right now showing in the cinemas.
At first glance, 5 stories, 10 actors, somehow it reminds me of Love Actually. But after watching it, I am glad that it was not copied. In fact, it is totally different than Love Actually, apart from the following:
Prime Minister Hugh Grant at the beginning of Love Actually said
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around."
Indeed Love, and Cinta is all around in Cinta.
An important part for me for any movies, or tv series is how it could relate to its audience. Sepet and Gubra were simple movies (not much technical brilliance) but, it captured my heart with the actors performance and script that I could easily relate to.
Cinta is that, and more. Cinta is not only about the strong acting of the casts, but the attentiveness to the editing, camera angles, artistic interpretation and of course finding the right music to suit the mood of the scene. This is what our Indonesian friends have been able to do so with much ease, but yet to be followed by our filmmakers.
I believe you will be impressed with the scenes captured on camera in Cinta. I remember watching Salon, and admiring the director’s impression of Kuala Lumpur. In Cinta, it’s done even better (borrowing some of the shots from Salon) and adding more to it. Here, the camera is not afraid to take the older (and supposedly uglier) parts of Kuala Lumpur. All with the garbage and crumbling buildings, and yet, the way the scene was captured, they made it "beautiful". And the final scene involving Pierre Andre and Amani was brilliant on its own, as I am sure that the crew took the effort to time the scene perfectly…..
And of course the music. In Malaysian movies, music has always been misused. There are still some that needs to be reviewed, but it was a good effort. I guess the song from Ebiet Ade in the petronas commercial is still the one I am most impressed with….blending the song with the scenes…
Finally, the most important portion of the movie is the strong cast.
Datuk Rahim Razali (Cikgu Elyas) and Fatimah Abu Bakar (Robiah)
They got introduced after Robiah, a divorcee opened up her laksa restaurant which used to be Wong’s watch shop. The scripting was brilliant in the sense that the audience gets to learn more of Cikgu Elyas in the following scenes (think of Gubra of the prostitute mum and son in the clinic). Brilliant because, the audience intelligence was not ridiculed. And indeed, the more important part of it all, the love of all those people whose life was touched by Cikgu Elyas.
I guess I could relate to that. My dad who was a lecturer, did help a lot of his former pupils or non pupils, and as he is treated for a rare disease, he gets a better consultation from a doctor whose life was touched by my dad. Back to Cinta, when the doctor mentioned to Amin (Elyas grandson) not to worry about the cost, the doctor mentioned that he could have not been a doctor if not because of Cikgu Elyas. I guess, sometimes you would not know how much you affect other people’s life. And like what I said in my previous posting, do not mess with karma….
But the story of Cikgu Elyas and Robiah is not just about their love (which might be a one way street). It also involves others, the people around Cikgu Elyas life and most importantly Amin, his grandson who has to take care of his Tok Ayah.
And giving without expecting anything in return….
Eizlan Yusof (Azlan) and Fasha Sandha (Azura)
Now Azlan is the most elligible bachelor in KL, falling head over heels over Azura who is an opinionated lady who gave constructive criticism of one of Azlan’s magazine. I am not too sure why Azlan fell for Azura apart from him finding an honest woman who is not chasing him for his money.
The script could have been done better, am not too sure why would they want to gossip on Azlan’s love life, but, the scene on the KLIA Ekspress between Azlan and Azura is a good laugh. Hmm, I might have to say that they kinda followed the scene between Jamie and Aurelia in Love, Actually, which hold on, seems to be similar..but not really similar….
Azlan and Azura is a story of Cinta, unexpectedly….
Nanu Baharuddin (Dyan) and Que Haidar (Dhani)
This is a story of the love of a sister to a brother. And a very protective sister too may I add. Indeed, Dyan is involved with a married man. Despite her success, she finds her life lacking. And with that, she poured her attention to her brother, Dhani, who she thinks is wasting his talents by being just a street artist painting potraits at Central Market.
Here, the question is, does happiness is measured by success? And of course, the last straw was the lies that Dyan had to go through with her lover (Kamal), and finally it is not worth to waste her time with this Kamal. After all, does she want the same thing happened to Kamal’s wife like what happened to her firm partner?
Rashidi Ishak (Haris) and Rita Rudaini (Airin)
Haris is Dyan’s partner in the thriving architect firm. He got the succesful job, a beautiful wife (Airin), a beautiful daughter, and life should be beautiful for Haris. Except, it is all just an illusion. His wife does not love him anymore, eventhough she cares for him.
Haris is the hopeless romantic, and would do anything for his wife and family. But alas, on their anniversary of some sorts, the wife confessed that she does not love him anymore. It’s not easy for him, to explain to his daughter why her mummy is no longer around. The scenes between father and daughter was believable. The part when Haris has to leave his daughter with his ex-wife would touch many hearts. Indeed, at the end of the movie, Haris learned a lot about love, cinta, from his daughter…..
Indeed, perhaps that is why Dyan decided not to continue with her affair. After all, she understand what happened to Haris….
Pierre Andre (Taufiq) and Sharifah Amani (Ariana)
This has to be the odd love story. And I do think that Amani could have been given a more challenging role, rather than her being a love strucked teenager seeking for her lover in Kuala Lumpur. And Pierre Andre plays the role of the underdog well, just like how he did in Salon. I guess, I could not capture much of the essence of their love story…
Two strangers met by chance, and Taufiq helping Ariana out in any way he can. But in the end, who will Ariana fall for? Her lover, or Taufiq who is attracted to her, but could not tell her that he likes her. Well, he did try, but, well, let’s just say he is plain unlucky….
To be honest with you, I don’t really watch Malay movies. But if Cinta is the shape to come, then be prepared for an influx of quality Malay movies. Indeed, Cinta is the product of the renaissance of Malay movies that was started by Sepet back in 2004. Two years, and we see a lot of improvement, not only in the scripting and acting, but in the cinematography. And if many Malaysians and I do mean Malaysians take the effort to go to the cinema and watch Cinta, then the future is bright for the struggling filmmakers.
Funny, the last movie from Indonesia that helped to revive the Indonesian film industry was Ada Apa Dengan Cinta. Is that a sign?
Some spoilers—
The poster of Cinta is a hint on the ending of each story.
