The Three Idiots Strike Back

3 Idiots (2009) an Indian film directed by Rajkumar Hirani started with the point of view of the narrator, Farhan Qureshi, telling a story of him and also a great friend he and Raju knew from university.  Farhan and Raju have been searching so hard for their best friend Rancho who has disappeared after the graduation. When they received clues of his whereabouts, they start a road trip to get their best buddy back. For this film, I am going to discuss about the aesthetic of Indian cinema by selecting a few examples from the film, '3 Idiots'. The aesthetics of Indian cinema are mostly the singing and dancing part, the Indian traditional costumes, the traditional ritual ceremony, the typical plot of rich meets poor, distinct dominance, and etc.

First, let’s talk about the performance art. In “3 Idiots”, there are scenes of songs and dancings, which are significant in Indian cinema, no matter what genre or story plot it is. According to David Courtney (2012), no Bollywood film would be complete without a song and dance between the hero and heroine. When Pia falls for Ranchoo, she imagines herself singing “Zoobie Doobie” and dancing in duet with Rancho. Meanwhile, having a group of dancers dancing the classical or folk dance with the main character(s) is also a signature part of Indian films.

Secondly, the Indian costumes are also the important part of Indian films. In India, even though western style of contemporary clothing like gowns, jeans, shirts tops can be seen in most Indian films, due to the influential of western culture, Indian film producers still maintain their traditional clothing for some scenes, and contemporary film like ‘3 Idiots’ is no exception. Indian traditional clothing is essential as different types of clothing represent the status and ethnicity of a person. Traditional clothing is also essential for different types of rituals, like wedding ceremony or funeral. For example, when the real Rancho is mourning the death of his father together with his family members and friends, they all wear pale white clothing during the funeral. Another example would be, when Pia is getting married, she wears traditional Indian wedding dress instead of western style of wedding gown.

Thirdly, the plot structure of Indian films is very much different from other foreign films that follow the Three Act Structure. Most films have their climax somewhere at the second half of Act two or Act three in Three Act Structure. But for Indian films, they divide the story into few parts, and each part with its own climax. So the whole structure of Indian film is like continuously up and down until the ending. For the story of ‘3 Idiots’, it is divided into few parts telling different stories of each characters and how the three best friends get into one trouble into another one, and they solve them one by one.

In nutshell, the whole film gave me a huge impact when it brings up the topic of suicide and critiques the Indian educational system and also common society thinking, as I did not expect to see these in Indian films. Instead of family drama, Indian action movie, typical rich meets poor romance plot, “3 Idiot” presents a story which is very much different from other Bollywood films by putting the “problems” on the screen. So, no more escapist genre of films that gives three hours of brightly colored fantasy to some people (Redlich. M, 2012), “3 Idiot” presents the “cruel” side of the reality on how people lost their enthusiasm, freedom or even their lives for something, just because of the social norms, educational system and also the economy.  For example, Farhan’s father insists Farhan to study Engineering while Raju as the eldest son in the family has to bear the responsibility of taking care of the family by study hard and earn a lot of money for the family, which make the whole film very close to reality.

Reference:

Ciecko, A.T. (2006) Contemporary Asian Cinema. New York: Berg, Oxford International Printing Ltd.

Courtney, D. (2012). Bollywood Dance. Retrieved August 19, 2014, from http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/nritya/bollywood.html

Goswami, N. (n.d.). The Empire Sings Back: Asthetics, Politics, and Postcolonial Whimsy. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=545

Lovgren, S. (2004). Bollywood: Indian Films Splice Bombay, Hollywood. Retrieved August 19, 2014, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0121_040121_bollywoodfilms.html

Three-Act Narrative Structure(n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2014, from http://www.indiana.edu/~audioweb/T206/three-act.html

The Love of a Sepet

The word “Sepet “in Malay language means “slit eyes” of the Chinese, a film title that contains a bit of stereotype, which I think the director trying to highlight this in the film.  Sepet, a multiculturalism film directed by Malaysian female director, Yasmin Ahmad in the year of 2004, which it is about a romance blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl in Malaysia society. The aspects I would like to highlight are the issues of multiculturalism and hybridity, besides, there are also important issues highlighted by Yasmin Ahmad about the multiracial society in Malaysia, such as Stereotype, skin color and racial issues.

At the beginning of the film, multiculturalism is shown when Jason reads a Chinese translated poem written by a poet from India to his Nyonya mother. Later on, Jason uses Cantonese to communicate with his mother, while her replies him in Malay. Furthermore, the overall film uses variety of languages like English, Melay, Chinese, Cantonese and etc., as daily communication, which is a very common phenomenon in Malaysia society, because of Malaysian culture and education system.

As for the issue of hybridity, it can be seen from Jason’s family. Jason’s mother is a nyonya (Peranakan Chinese), a member of the community where Chinese practices Malay culture. She married to a pure Chinese man, but still remains the way she talks and dresses. Besides, the localization of foreign culture becomes significant in Malaysia due to the presence of global mass media (Ishak, 2011). For example, there are some scenes that shows Malaysians are exposed to other cultures like Orked’s maid Kak Yam listens to Thai songs and she watches Chinese drama with Orked’s mother. Even though they might not understand the language but they are still attract to it. From here, it metaphors how people still fall in love without knowing how it means.

Stereotype issues are found in the film where Chinese are said to have sepet eyes (slit eyes), Malays are lazy and etc. Take Jason (Ah Long) as another example, although he looks like a gangster, whom his job as a pirated DVDs seller also makes him like one, but he is actually not, he appreciates poetry and sometimes he writes poems. Another example would be Jason’s friend, Keong who seems like one of the gangsters but quite good in piano. From the examples given, most people judges someone based on the way they look or their job, which is very much stereotype. Sensitive issues like racial issue is also highlighted by Yasmin Ahmad when Kak Yam and Orked’s mother raise the issue of Malaysian education system giving different treats to different races. Other than that, Jason’s friends also mentioned that if Jason married to Orked, he can no longer consume pork and he needs to change his religion to Islam and also to go under bersunat(circumcision) which are very much concern and unacceptable by most Chinese.  Lastly, skin color issue is also highlighted in Sepet when Orked read about a book that is written by a black man who married a white woman that somehow “upgraded” his society level and also Orked’s friend, Lin who likes white man actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, which gives a feeling of white is always superior among all other races.

I love most of the films and advertisements that directed by Yasmin Ahmad. I love the way she produced local films and advertisements that contains rich local cultures which can be related to the audience and touches the heart of the audience. Even though most of her films highlighted some sensitive issues that might be unacceptable to some people, but she means no provoke. She just raises the topic and talks about it by using storytelling, which not much people able to do so.

Reference:

Blaetz, R. (2007) Women’s Experimental Cinema. United States: Duke University Press

Ciecko, A.T. ( 2006) Contemporary Asian Cinema. New York: Berg, Oxford International Printing Ltd.

Ishak, S (2011) Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering Popular Culture in Malaysia. Retrieved August 10, 2014 from source: http://jpmm.um.edu.my/filebank/articles/2953/01_JPMM%202011_No_1.pdf           

Lenos,M., & Ryan,M. (2012) An Introduction to Film Analysis. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.

The Women in Shuhaimi Baba’s First Film

Shuhaimi Baba is one of the most famous female filmmakers in Malaysia who strives to give Malaysian cinema a more unique, artistic and commercial identity- an identity that would reflect Malaysia’s place with global modernity.(Levitin, 2003) And the film I am going to mention here is Selubung (1992), her first directed local film. Selubung is about a modern Malay young lady, Matsura who returns from studies abroad at Perth, Australia, feels bad for unable to help her friend E.J, who has chosen to follow the path of the religious extremist group led by Brother Musa. When she comes back to Malaysia, she joins a voluntary organization, “Rescaid” to help the children refugees from Palestine and there she meets Kamal, who is married but divorce to be Mastura. The nation-wide charity campaign that promoted by Matsura and the “Rescaid” team are quite successful, but tragedy strikes when a bomb planted by the terrorist explodes and caused Mastura falls in coma. When Matsura awake from coma, she still has the determination of protecting the unfortunate ones. As for the aspect of the film analysis, is to discuss the issue of women representation in film, and also focusing on Islam and modernity.    

First, let’s discuss about woman representation in the film. In Selubung, the leading roles are the female characters, not the male characters. Besides that, unlike female roles in other films, which are usually weak and follow the lead of the male lead, Matsura, the main character in Selubung shows another way round. She represents as modern, independent and highly educated woman during the 90s, who has the freedom to do things she likes and things she thinks that are right. While her best friend, E.J represents another type of female role that gives a contrast between her and Matsura. Although E.J and Matsura study aboard together, but her mindset is different from Matsura’s, she is much conservative and very religious kind of woman compare to Matsura. After E.J married to Brother Musa, she is like a traditional woman who follows and listens to her husband, which Matsura cannot stand of.

Secondly, according to Islamic rules, Muslim men are allowed to have more than one wife. But some modern Muslim women like Matsura refuse to take it. One of the example in Selubung is, even though Matsura is a Muslim, she does not like the decision of E.J marrying Brother Musa, as he has already has a wife, Hani. Another example would be, when Matsura finds out that Kamal actually married, she refuses to see him again until he divorced.   

Another thing in the film which is related to Islamic rule and modernity, is the issue of modern female representative in Malaysian Cinema do not wear tudung (head covering). This is might because of the influential of global modernity or to attract larger audience, since Malay cinema’s roots are more towards to entertainment rather than artistic expression. (Levitin, 2003)

In my opinion, the film Selubung is like an experimental film which the director tries to create film emotions by using different kind of techniques, which is kind of special. The overall film is sort of about feminist, Islamic and modernity in the 90s in Malaysia. And in Selubung, Shuhaimi Baba also shows her concern of the unfortunate Muslims from around the world.

Reference:

Blaetz, R. (2007) Women’s Experimental Cinema. United States: Duke University Press

Ciecko, A.T. ( 2006) Contemporary Asian Cinema. New York: Berg, Oxford International Printing Ltd.

Jarr, A., Malek, M.Z. (2005) Malaysian Films: The Beginning. Malaysia: Perbandanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS).

Lenos,M., & Ryan,M. (2012) An Introduction to Film Analysis. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.

Levitin, J., Pleasis, J. & Raoul, V. (2003) Women Filmamkers: Refocussing. United Kingdom: UBC Press

My View On Seniman Bujang Lapok

Seniman Bujang Lapok (The Three Worn out Actor Bachelors) is one of the installments in “Bujang Lapok” series, a Malay comedy film directed by P. Ramlee in 1961. The film features the main trio of actors, which are P. Ramlee as Ramli, S. Shamsudin as Sudin, and Aziz Sattar as Ajis. This film is a self-referential spoof of the Malay film industry during the late 50s and early 60s, which centers the main trio who try to become film stars and get themselves involve in film business. Moreover, the film also present fictionalized look of the behind-the-scenes process of Malay film making during that time, in the real film studio, which creates a blur line between reality and fiction. Not only that, real sets are used in the film to create the concept of film-within-film and also, the featured actors use their real life name in the film, which even blurred the line of reality and fiction.  Despite the comedy and the wonderful songs and music in Seniman Bujang Lapok, the main aspect of the film is to highlight social issues found in 'Seniman Bujang Lapok' (Dir. P.Ramlee, 1961) in relation to the Malay society during the 60s.

In his significant achievements, P Ramlee broke the established Indian style of which was a characteristic of Malay film making during the period due to Indian directors who directing most of the films. Instead, Ramlee turned Malay film style into contemporary social drama with Neorealist flavor which reflected more accurately the lifestyle and everyday concern of the Malay society.  

As mentioned above, Ramlee applied Neorealism into most of his films, so some characteristics of Italian Neorealism can be seen in the film Seniman Bujang Lapok such as available sound and light, which most of the scenes are filmed using natural light or artificial indoor lighting; the use of actual locations, where most locations are filmed outdoor, except for the behind-the-scene scenes which taken place in the real film studio and the room they rent; documentary visual style which filming the lifestyle of the Malay society and the film industry during 60s; and lastly, downbeat subject matters in the film which are shown when Ramli, Sudin and Ajis has difficulty looking for a job, the place they rent, and when Ramli has no money to wed Salmah. And last but not least, it reflects the life of post invention of Japan and the current British colonial during that time. One of the examples of post invention of Japan is when the trio having tea, one of the wheels of the truck that passed by in front of them punctured, and one of them thought it is the bomb explosion from the Japanese. Another example is, when three of them being asked about their education level, Ramli said his English education level was until four quarters, due to the invention of Japan.  As for the examples of people that time under colonial of British, the beginning of the film shows a white man statute standing in front of the western style of building with columns which slightly explains the colonial of British. Other than that, from the dialogues the actors and actresses speak, they mixed English and Bahasa together in their daily life conversation, which also shows the influence of British colonial during that time.  For example, the word: screen test, film stars and etc. 

Lastly, according to Malaysian Films: The Beginning, a documentary book about early Malaysian cinema, one of the reasons that brings Malay films to the highest peak during the 60s, is because the Malay society loves entertainment and they take this as an escapism from the sufferings at the hands of colonial government. Which this is also explained why Seniman Bujang Lapok is famous among the society during that time, as it reflects the reality and current situations that create synchronization between the film and the audience.  

After watching Seniman Bujang Lapok, the overall film is very entertaining and relaxing. I am impressed with the work of P Ramlee and enjoy watching it. And because the film reflects the society during the 60s, I get to learn more about the history of the nation and Malaysian cinema.

Reference:
Ciecko, A.T. ( 2006) Contemporary Asian Cinema. New York: Berg, Oxford International Printing Ltd.

Jarr, A., Malek, M.Z. (2005) Malaysian Films: The Beginning. Malaysia: Perbandanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS).

Lenos,M., & Ryan,M. (2012) An Introduction to Film Analysis. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.

Get To Know Georges Melies Through Hugo

Hugo (2011) is totally different from any films that Martin Scorsese has ever made, and yet possibly closest to Scorsese’s heart, the passionate towards film history and preservation of old films for the future generations. The film Hugo is not just telling the story of an orphan who lives behind the walls of the Paris train station, but also telling a story of a filmmaker’s life, George Melies. The film started with a boy named Hugo Cabret, who searched so hard to find a secret message from his father and how that message lit his way to George Melies. The aspect of the film is like a movie within a movie. Instead of making a documentary film for George Melies, Scorsese create this movie based on the book- The Invention of Hugo Cabret, letting Hugo take the lead to Melies, make Melies accept and remember his past as a talented filmmaker. This also shows the intention of Scorsese, bringing young generations to the history of early film.  According to Chris Tookey, an award-winning English film critic, he said: “Unlike most 3D movies, Hugo was shot using 3D not as a money-making gimmick but as a storytelling device, to add height, depth, humor and intensity.” (Tookey, 2011) 

The mise-en-scene of the film constructs and enhances the narration by applying the right elements- setting, props, costume and make up, lighting and performance, to the film. 
The first element of the mise-en-scene is setting, where the background of the film is set at Paris and the Parisian train station covered most of the scenes in the film, where Hugo lives a secret life like the Phantom of the Opera, and it is also where he meets people like George Melies and Isabelle. 

Secondly, props that are used in the film. The story begins with the automaton that Hugo’s father brought home. After Hugo’s father died, Hugo tries so hard to fix the automaton, hoping to know the secret message from his father. Because of that automaton, it leads Hugo to Melies and also brings him a home in the end. At the end of the film, it ends with the automaton sitting on a desk. Besides that, props that are used for George Melies films, enhances the storytelling about Melies. For example, Melies’s camera that created from the extra parts from the automaton. 

Thirdly, the costume and make up in the film. For the costume, other than white, brown and black color which are common during that era, they use autochrome colors (red-orange, green and blue) on the characters’ clothes, which the idea comes from the colored films of George Melies’s that were painted with autochrome colors. For example, the blue and red-orange stripes on Hugo’s clothes. Other than the colors on the character’s clothes, the stripes on the Hugo and Isabelle’s clothes are like the prisoner’s clothes, showing how much freedom they have. Hugo has the fewer stripes than Isabelle, although he lives is like rat in the train station but he has more exciting experience than Isabelle who likes adventures but never once participated, until she met Hugo.        

The fourth one is the lighting that is used in the film. Hard lighting is used to produce an appearance of clarity and sharpness of the characters and sets. To present better storytelling about George Melies and to get inspiration of translating the book’s images into color and put them into the 3D film, the Oscar-winning cinematographer Bob Richardsont who took part in the production of Hugo, studied the films of George Melies and his contemporaries of both in cinema and still photography to get the best color correction for the film. In the end, cold colors like blue or blue-violet are mostly used in the film. 

The last element of mise-en-scene is the performance. 3D actually enhances the performance, as it brings the audience closer to the characters and it also influences the audience’s emotion and the direction of the performance. 

As for the cinematography part, it includes editing, sound, and camera movement and shots. Editing is not just to create continuity, but also convey meaning of the scenes. For example, at the beginning of the film, mechanical parts of a clock are shown and it then the scene slowly dissolves to the center of Paris. This is to ask the audience to imagine the whole world is like a big machine, perhaps a big clock, built with important parts to make it keep ticking and as time goes by, things will change. Other than that, shallow effect is used for most of the scenes in the train station, as the place always crowded with passengers. For example, the scene when Isabelle is chasing for Hugo, she is in the middle of the crowd, and the crowd is blurred out. As for the sound of the film, instrumental music is used, as during that time, only opera songs and instrumental music are available. Exciting instrumental music is played as the background sound, when there is a scene which the train running towards Hugo.  Other than music, the language spoken in the film is mixed with a little bit of French like “Monsieur”, “Madame” and so on. And the usage of words is very much abstruse, which are often found in Isabelle’s talk. For the camera shots, one of the scenes, medium shot is used to show the action and emotion of anger and disappointment of Hugo when he thought the Automaton break down. Close up shot on Melies, when his eyes look unbelievable when Hugo able to fix the toy mouse.

The overall film shows a fascinating history of early cinema, which is joyful and infectious. The performance, props and setting are used effectively to tell the story of the filmmaker, George Melies. The editing part, camera movements and angles are also done perfectly as the scenes are linked nicely, giving the continuity of the storytelling. Lastly, there are some scenes that Scorsese paid tributes to the work of the Lumiere brothers and George Melies. For example the train scene in Hugo, able to link to the first film of Lumiere brothers which people were amazed when the train running towards the screen. 

Reference:
Lenos,M., & Ryan,M. (2012) An Introduction to Film Analysis. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
Dargis, M. (2011). Inventing a World, Just Like Clockwork. Retrieved July 16, 2014 from source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/movies/martin-scorseses-hugo-with-ben-kingsley-and-sacha-baron-cohen-review.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Denby, D. (2011). Fantastic Voyages. Retrieved July 16, 2014 from source: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2011/11/28/111128crci_cinema_denby?currentPage=all
Seymoure, M.(2011). Hugo: a study of modern inventive visual effects. Retrieved July 16, 2014 from source: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/hugo-a-study-of-modern-inventive-visual-effects/
Tookey, C. (2011). Scorsese’s First Family Movie is pure 3D Magic. Retrieved July 16, 2014 from source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2067415/Hugo-film-review-Martin-Scorseses-family-movie-pure-3D-magic.html

A Warm Hello From Sue

Welcome to Sue's Film Studies II blog :)

My name is Leong Shu Man, you can also call me Sue.

I'm currently doing degree in Digital Animation at University Tunku Abdul Rahman

and

Film Studies II is one of my majors.

Here I will be making reviews of several films that I have watched during my Film Studies II class.

So stay tuned :)