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azarimy
Reviews
Semum (2008)
It tries too hard...
This is the first film from Turkey I've ever watched. I'm not familiar with the language, the film scene or Turkish life. But as a Muslim from South-East Asia with a culture heavily embedded with mystical elements, I'm very familiar with the premise of the story. I'd have to applaud the director's vision to bring the supernatural (excuse the lack of a better term) element in Islam to the audience.
However...
There are things that should be left unsaid or unseen. The film tries to hard to shove everything down the audience's collective throats. More CGIs doesn't always produce better end product. There are lots of scary moments in this film that send chills down your spine, but it always cuts off with unnecessary CGI. Why spoil a movie with bad CGI when you can substitute it with a continuous sense of threat that looms in the background. People fear more of things they can't see. That's why scary stories are scarier than a movie. When you can't see the threat, you start imagining things, and that's when you convinced yourself that the fear is bigger than what the film can show.
This film could have been much more. Poor execution, loose plot, sloppy editings ... these are some of the major flaws of the film.
Salon (2005)
good clean fun, but a little shallow
frankly, i have not heard a single thing about salon before i stepped into the cinema. i didn't even see the trailer in local TV. basically, i had no preconception on the movie at all, and was very prepared to accept it as it is.
good points: this film definitely goes into the same category as gol&gincu as the contemporary teen movie, although the characters of the movie mostly aren't teens, but the appeal was definitely there. in a way, it was a fun movie, with a lot of refreshing funny bits, straight and simple comedy.
the acting is quite good despite some who are just above average. having fresh faces on the silver screen is always risky, but i applaud the producers of having the balls to do it. the film's visuals are quite good also, but i seriously think they have to lay off the close shots. too many close shots made the film more like a soap drama, where they focus exactly on the face of the characters.
bad points: seriously, i have no idea what's the story about. what was the main conflict/turning point of the movie? the story seems to drift from one scene to the other, without apparent direction. it made me very conscious of my presence in the cinema, as the movie did not manage to immerse me (not sure about other audience) into the story.
then there's the plot. a lot of the plots were just left hanging. what happened to zora towards the second half of the movie? what was the significance ezra's "home business"? what about the salon? what happened to emma eventually? a whole lot is left hanging, and i don't suppose they're planning a sequel.
all in all, a good attempt at adding variety to the Malaysian film scene, but i wish they could've spent another 2-3 months on the script/screenplay and concentrate on telling the story.