Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sepet trailer (complete with a guide of sorts)


Yasmin Ahmad was laid to rest earlier this week. I still find myself mourning her way, way too premature death though.

As expected, the tributes have kept on pouring in. Among the most amazing I've read is what amounts to a letter to Yasmin written by Pete Teo on his blog. And it was while reading this post by ewaffle on his blog that I got to realizing that Yasmin managed to emotionally impact even those who have not (yet) viewed a single one of her feature films. Which is why I figured I might as well go ahead and post a trailer of my favorite of her works, Sepet, a tale of inter-ethnic romance told with that trademark Yasmin Ahmad dose of humanity.

Because the trailer's so multi-lingual, I previously hesitated to post it. But now... except that what I've also done is provide a guide of sorts for people who can't understand Bahasa Malaysia (i.e., the Malay language) or Cantonese down below it. Hope it helps. And in any case, I hope you'll enjoy and appreciate one more example of Yasmin the storyteller's talent, even genius...



A song by Hong Kong singer-actor Sam Hui (sung in Cantonese) plays over much of the trailer... the opening shot of which shows an ethnic Malay lass dressed for Muslim prayer who proceeds to kiss a copy of the Quran. Soon after, the words "a Yasmin Ahmad film" flash on the screen.

Then you hear the lass saying, in English "I think" before switching to Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysian -- really, Malay -- language) to complete her thought that "of all the many, many actors, he's the most handsome[? I had problems hearing the word]."

"Who?" her friend asks.

"Takeshi Kaneshiro" (The Taiwanese-Japanese actor also known as Gum Sing Mo and Aniki Jin), she replies.

Next is a scene of a typical Malaysian outdoor market.

At a VCD stall, the lass asks the vendor in Malaysian English if he's got any VCDs of films with Takeshi Kaneshiro in it.

The ethnic Chinese guy tells her in Malay: Don't call me "boss". Then switches to English to tell her: "My name is Jason." Then he switches to Cantonese to ask her: "What is your name?"

"Orked", she tells him.

Over a scene of Jason's family having dinner (incidentally, his family members are all ethnic Chinese but his mother, it gets established early in the film, is a Malay-speaking Nonya (a kind of Chinese with centuries of historical roots in what is now known as Malaysia), she says in English that "He doesn't know me well enough to like me... but he loves me."

Then, as the scene switches to a more action shot, she can be heard saying -- still in English -- that "You guys (i.e., Jason and his friend Keong) are not like what I imagined guys in this area would be like..."

Next, the scene changes again to one in which Jason can be heard asking Orked in English: "Do you trust me?"

At around the one minute mark, we are introduced to other characters in the film: first, Orked's parents and their maid (who's pretty much like family) for the first time; then Jason's friend, Keung; and then still others.

As Orked and her mother hug and cry, her father can be heard saying in Malay "I think this boy is not suitable [for you]..."

(And in case that sounds like a bad way to end, here's pointing out that in the film, Orked's mother retorts by telling her husband that that's exactly what her father had said about him...)

Again, thank you so much, Yasmin. And I really hope that your work and your very life ends up inspiring lots to do good and be more like you.

P.S. To those who didn't know, Yasmin Ahmad was a fellow blogger. A few years back, in reaction to some (Malaysian Malay) critics accusing her of dirtying the Malay culture with her multi-cultural films, she posted an impassioned blog entry entitled In Praise of Mongrels. I sincerely hope this and other parts of her blogs are allowed to remain in cyberspace for a long time to come.

8 comments:

ewaffle said...

Wow--thank you! That scene by scene synopsis was a lot of work--or it would be for someone who doesn't write for a living.

I watched the trailer twice, the second time on a separate sceen from you synopsis so I could scroll down and match the text to the action on the screen.

Two things struck me immediately: Based on the trailer there it looks as if much of what happens on screen is taken at a deliberate pace--slow but appropriately so, langorous in some places with many beautifully framed, almost static shots. Or so it seemed.

Which, if done well, can be both devastatingly beautifully and most effective in getting the point across. One of may favorite movies is "Wings of Desire" by Wim Wenders and one of my favorite scenes in that movie is one where Otto Sanders and Bruno Ganz sit in a parked convertible and talk--for a long time--unseen by the passersby around them.

Based solely on what I have seen so far, which is very little, I have decided that Yasim Ahmad is that type of director.

The second thing was the line "You guys are not like what I imagined guys in this area would be like..."
which is an a great line that carries several threads of the story. One is the surface--I don't go into this area much and when I do, do I stay within myself--.

Another is that guys from that area are Chinese most probably not Muslim and so very different from the guys she is used to. A third meaning/thread in that line opens things up--Anyone who can recall being young and in love may be able to also recall the sense of wonder and rush of feeling that it brings. Orked is trying to figure out the lovely confusion of those feelings.

Also, Orked would think--Since I thought he would be "different" in a bad or at least not good way, what will my father think?

Probably lots more--it is a great line.

A distribution/exhibition question regarding multilingual films in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc--do they get dubbed or subtitled into the language of the audience or is it assumed that enough people understand enough of at least two of the languages used that it isn't necessary?

Dubbing would ruin the effect and subtitling wouldn't be much better.

fallingstones said...

hi ytsl, thanks for putting this up. sepet is such a wonderful movie. i wish i can translate the sam hui song but the cantonese that is used in the lyrics is really quite "classical" cantonese, and is not easy to translate for someone not educated in chinese. anyways, i will try.

hi ewaffle, as far as i know, for international distribution, the dialogue list will be sent together so that it can be translated and subtitled. for sepet, as far as i know, it could not get distributed internationally due to copyright issues (music). and music is such an integral part of the movie, as in all of Yasmin's movies.

alejna said...

That looks like a beautiful film. Thanks so much for sharing this, and the synopsis of the trailer.

YTSL said...

Hi ewaffle --

You're welcome. Glad you found the scene synopsis of help. It makes the work doing it feel worthwhile! :)

"Based on the trailer there it looks as if much of what happens on screen is taken at a deliberate pace--slow but appropriately so, langorous in some places with many beautifully framed, almost static shots. Or so it seemed."

I wonder if the trailer is a bit deceptive that way. While "Sepet" is a drama that moves in at a non-action pace, I'd not call it languorous -- not in the way that, say, Ho Yuhang's "Rain Dogs" is -- or Wong Kar Wai's "Days of Being Wild" or "In the Mood for Love". OTOH, yes, a lot of the shots are quite nicely framed indeed.

"A distribution/exhibition question regarding multilingual films in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc--do they get dubbed or subtitled into the language of the audience or is it assumed that enough people understand enough of at least two of the languages used that it isn't necessary?"

Don't know about Indonesia or Singapore but in Malaysia, the norm is to subtitle, not dub, movies. Only in Malaysia, a movie can sometimes end up with three sets of subtitles - Malay, English and Chinese. (Yes, really!)

Hi "fallingstones" (i.e., Ho) --

Sorry to hear again re the difficulties of translating the Sam Hui song. You had mentioned it before but you also kept on saying how sublime the lyrics -- thereby whetting my appetite to know them!

And to add to your "Sepet" international distribution: hmmm... but it was shown in Singapore and out on home video there as well as Malaysia, right? And know it's been shown at various international film festivals around the world...

Hi Alejna --

You're welcome -- and thanks for taking the time and effort to check it out. :)

fallingstones said...

hi ytsl, if i am not mistaken, they only had the commercial rights to malaysia and singapore only. maybe things have changed. for festivals, i think there are exceptions.

YTSL said...

Hi again fallingstones (Ho) --

Too bad for the other countries if they only had the commercial rights for Malaysia and Singapore. Can't those people owning the copyright to the songs see that their inclusion in the film is good publicity for them?! :S

Bengbeng said...

thanks for sharing this Sepet. I never heard of her until her passing and only then did I discover how talented she was

YTSL said...

Hi Bengbeng --

Wow, what a pity you didn't know about Yasmin Ahmad until after her death. Hope that you'll be inspired by this post to go and seek out her works -- many of them really are sublime.