Sepet (2004)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Yasmin Ahmad

Writer:

Yasmin Ahmad (writer)

Release Date:

24 February 2005 (Malaysia)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

One Chinese boy, one Malay girl, one unforgettable love story

Plot:

A look at how two young lovers from totally different background cope with family and social pressure. |

Plot Keywords:

Motorcycle Accident | Schoolgirl Romance | Unplanned Pregnancy | Poetry Reading | Slum

Awards:

8 wins

Cast

Choo Seong Ng	...	Ah Loong
Sharifah Amani	...	Orked
Linus Chung	...	Keong
Mei Ling Tan	...	Mah (Ah Loong's mother)
Ida Nerina	...	Mak (Orked's mother)
Harith Iskander	...	Abah (Orked's father)
Adibah Noor	...	Kak Yam
Kar Hoong Thor	...	Pah (Ah Loong's father)
Zehan Marissa	...	Lin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edmund Tan	...	Mobile Phone seller

Also Known As:

Ah loong dan intan (Malaysia: Malay title) (working title)
Chinese Eye (International: English title)
Petaling Street (Malaysia: English title) (working title)
Slitty Eye (literal English title)

Runtime:

Singapore:104 min

Country:

Malaysia

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | English | Hokkien | Malay

Color:

Color

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Company:

MHz Film

Goofs:

Continuity: During Orked's final car ride to the airport, the view from the window passes by the same street more than once.

Movie Connections:

References Chung Hing sam lam (1994)

Sepet Makes the Audience Laugh with Joy

This is the kind of movie I always feel really lucky to see. It may play for only one week, or even one day, in a U.S. theater. But if you have the chance, you must see it. Open a window into another culture, and another place. I am living in Malaysia, and the censors were so harsh toward this movie, the director almost decided not to release it in her own country. But in the end, she said okay. Scenes were cut. If you can see it outside Malaysia, think how lucky you are to see it as the director intended, with the playfulness and the honesty left intact.

It's not some complex, artsy, literary story. It's just first love. Two kids. You know this story. We all know this story, no matter where we grew up. But what's so good about this film is that it's not dressed up in some Hollywood (or even Bollywood) fakeness and overdone. There's no stupid John Williams soundtrack telling you how you should feel. There are just the streets of Ipoh, a boy in a T-shirt, a girl in her baju kurung (and her dad in his sarong, hee hee!), and that human adventure of discovery that happens when you really, really like someone.