Synopsis:
Seven years after Jason, Orked is now married to a much older guy, Arif. Everything seems ideal in their marriage at first glance. One fateful morning, Orked is awakened by a distressing phone call from Mak Inom with news that Pak Atan has become catatonic due to diabetic complications.After some chaos, they take Pak Atan to the hospital. There, Orked bumps into Alan, Jason’s elder brother. The story then unfolds into a web of deceit and heartbreak.

Review:
One of my favorite discoveries last year was the film Sepet (a.k.a. Chinese Eye) by the tragically short-lived Malaysian writer/director Yasmin Ahmad. Sepet was a delightful but bittersweet comedy about the romance of a young Malay girl named Orked (Sharifah Amani) and a young Chinese boy named Jason (Choo Seong Ng). The film ended on an ambiguous note, leaving the future of Orked hanging in the balance. This follow-up picks up the story seven years later, and appears to resolve the open ending of the previous film. Orked is back, as is her charming family: father Atan (Harith Iskander Musa), mother Inom (Ida Nerina Hussein), maid/honorary auntie Yam (Adibah Noor) and adopted brother Anuar (Anuar Mohammad Zakri). Orked is married to Arif (Adlin Aman Ramlee), and Jason appears to be out of the picture. However, she runs into Jason’s brother Alan (Alan Yun) at the hospital after her father suffers a diabetic attack. Alan is there visiting his own parents (Mei Ling Tan, Kar Hoong Thor… both also returning from the previous film) because his mother pushed his father down the stairs.

The film also follows an apparently unrelated thread. Bilal Li (Nam Ron) is a kindly muezzin. He lives with his wife Maz (Norkhiriah) and young son. The couple also protectively looks after their neighbors, a pair of prostitutes. Temah (Rozie Rashid) has her own son and is coping with an unnamed illness (the implication seems to be HIV), while Kiah (Juliana Ibrahim) is often severely beaten by one of her regulars. Both are hounded by a desperate gambler named Ki (Khir Rahman), who steals to pay his loan sharks. Temah turns to Maz for religious guidance.

Sorry for so much plot summary, but it’s a complicated story. I also wanted to give the stellar cast their due, as the IMDb page does a rather poor job of identifying them. It’s a terrific bunch of actors. Most endearing are Orket and her family, again radiating warmth and providing the film with a lot of wonderful humor. If I didn’t already have lovely parents, I wouldn’t mind being raised by Atan and Inom, who are simply adorable together. Their relationship seems to be an ideal model of enduring love. Likewise, Li and Maz have a beautiful marriage, and their tolerance and kindness shows the expanse of their love.

But the film provides many other perspectives on love. Orket discovers Arif is having an affair, and struggles to find forgiveness in her heart. Alan’s parents are constantly bickering. Kiah’s john practices a twisted form of love. Throughout the film, we see these contrasts. It makes for a darker experience than its predecessor, though one still highlighted with warmth and comedy and compassionate human understanding. It’s a rich and rewarding work that manages to juggle two completely disconnected (except in a beautifully executed montage of intimate moments) plot threads without disorienting the viewer.

Again, there is commentary on the complex cultural makeup of Malaysia. It is not especially subtle commentary, but it is effective and progressive. Ahmad got some heat for insulting Islam and corrupting Malay Muslim culture, but (as I understand it) only from very conservative factions. Others appreciated a depiction of devout Muslims as tolerant and respectful figures in a broader community. Ahmad seems to be calling out for a peaceful harmony among all the peoples of her country, and she does not present it as a fantastic ideal, but an attainable reality. A reality that for some — perhaps most — is already occurring. The disharmonies in this film are not cultural, but interpersonal.

If you see this movie — and I urge you to do so, though it isn’t easy to get a hold of, and be sure to see Sepet first — do yourself a favor and stick around after the end credits. It’s another gorgeously ambiguous closer. Really looking forward to checking out more of Ahmad’s (sadly, very short) filmography.
— Martin Teller.

Gubra (2006) -- Yasmin Ahmad.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 49mn
Size: 	1.67 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	712x426 ~> 757x426
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	2 000 Kbps
BPP: 	0.264
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/FDE9BE35853519E/Gubra_(2006)_–_Yasmin_Ahmad.mkv

Language(s):Cantonese, English, Malay
Subtitles:English. Chinese (muxed)

The post Yasmin Ahmad – Gubra AKA Anxiety (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A Malay-mixed pianist and an Indian guitarist are partnered in a talent show competition.

Talentime.2009.VIU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-MYVi.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 55mn
Size:	1.51 GiB
Video
Codec:	h264
Resolution:	1024x576
Aspect ratio:	16:9
Frame rate:	25.000 fps
Bit rate:	1 812 kb/s
Audio
Malay 2.0ch AAC LC @ 61.4 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/0A22F38762F6DF4/Talentime.2009.VIU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-MYVi.mkv

Language(s):Malay, Tamil, English, Cantonese, Sign Language
Subtitles:English

The post Yasmin Ahmad – Talentime (2009) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
The story takes place in Sekinchan, Sabak Bernam in 1993, revolving around the first love of a 10-year-old Orked when a 12-year-old boy, Mukhsin, comes with his elder brother and aunt to spend the school holidays in her village. Around this relatively simple plotline of a blossoming young romance between the film’s two young protagonists, are interweaved scenes of Malaysian village life and the dynamics of different types of families. Most of the family scenes revolve around Orked and her mother (Mak Inom), father (Pak Atan), and the family’s close maid who is almost like a family member (Kak Yam). The other families which are given attention in the movie are Mukhsin’s family (with his elder brother who has lost his way in life and is trying desperately to find their mother who abandoned them at a young age, and their Aunty who is trying to take care of the two boys as though they were her own), and Orked’s neighbours (with the young daughter and pregnant mother who are critical of the western ways of Orked’s family, while they themselves are hurt by the father who wants to abandon them to take on a second wife).

1.44GB | 1h 34mn | 1013×548 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/DCEC7E71B109E2B/Mukhsin_(2006)_–_Yasmin_Ahmad.mkv

Language(s):Malay, English, Mandarin
Subtitles:English, Dutch (muxed)

The post Yasmin Ahmad – Mukhsin (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
A look at how two young lovers from totally [checklist][/checklist][checklist][/checklist]different background cope with family and social pressure.

19-year old Ah Loong is in charge of a street stall selling pirated vcd’s. Contrary to what you might expect someone of his social standing to be, Ah Loong is an incurable romantic with an unlikely hobby – he loves to read and write poetry. Quite contented to carry on being the Romeo of the slums, Ah Loong’s life takes a sudden turn one day when a 16-year old Malay schoolgirl arrives at his stall in search of Wong Kar-Wai’s films.

48th S.F. International Film Festival:
— Roger Garcia

It’s rare to find a woman filmmaker in Muslim society, and even rarer
when she is an outspoken talent unafraid of controversy. In her second
film, Yasmin Ahmad tells a story of interracial teenage love, between
Chinese Jason, a peddler of pirated videos, and Orked, a Malay schoolgirl
who likes Hong Kong movies. “Sepet” is Malay for “single eyelid” but
pejoratively it means “slit eyes.” From this provocative title the film
penetrates stereotypes of race and narrative to explore the complexities
of a multiracial society that has institutionalized the superiority of
the Malay race and Islamic religion. The film’s opening moves from Sam Hui’s
yearning Cantopop song to Jason reading Indian poet Tagore’s work in Chinese
translation to his Peranakan (mixed Malay-Chinese descendant) mother,
concisely framing the multi-Asian strands of Malaysian society and the
film—tradition and modernity, the Malay-Chinese-Indian pyramid, the purity
and impurity of culture—all set within a classic maternal metaphor. In this
context, Ahmad’s gentle and engaging tale of doomed love assumes both
political and personal dimensions. In its own subtle way, it stands as
a signal work both of the new Malaysian independent cinema and as a
heartfelt plea for tolerance.

1.44GB | 1h 43m | 710×432 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/3C43E5A673AB01C/Sepet.AKA.Chinese.Eye.2004.DVDRip.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language:Mandarin,Cantonese,English,Hokkien,Malay
Subtitles:English (hardcoded)

The post Yasmin Ahmad – Sepet AKA Chinese Eye (2004) first appeared on Cinema of the World.