15Malaysia is quite obviously deeply rooted to the Malaysian way of life, circa 2000s. Nonetheless, I genuinely believe these shorts crafted by talented filmmakers ought to deserve more hype and recognition today; because the stories featured still reflect our diverse society.
‘potong saga’ - hillarious. never thought i’d put islamic loan application, male circumsicion and vivid dreams as part of a single narrative!
‘chocolate’ - was a typical (but very delightful) yasmin ahmad staple, also featuring sharifah amani
‘the tree’ - i think the concept the PAS politician was trying to get across was surprisingly very interesting
‘house’ - easily the most heartbreaking short film i have ever had the pleasure of viewing; there’s so much to unpack. especially when the indian schoolteacher started picking on the boy; perpetuating the ‘other-ing’ that elite/middle class malaysia indians are very guilty of.
‘halal’ - i really enjoyed the message, the style and the way adibah noor was presenting the notion of halal....but honestly toward the end; the 3 in 1 man & the chinese man playing (singh, with the wrong kind of turban and a fake beard) rlly just put me off. dare i say, incredibly racist.
‘the son’ - i felt had a great story, especially considering how ordinary the son is setup to be; only to reveal the horrendous act right at the end.
‘tanah’ - i loved the individual responses from malaysians of various background; how responses evolved from describing tanah/soil to nation, country.
‘one future’ - a very EPIC short with a sci-fi flair; with tian chua at the helm. i think the commentary the filmmaker is trying to unpack is probably worth an entire philopsophy class. i’m sure theres alot of subtext. bonus: always a pleasure to see ida nerina on screen!
‘slovak sling’ - the level of satire on this one is phenomenal! patrick teo & harith iskandar nailed it!
‘gerhana’ - the tone of this short is drastically different from the rest, it’s certainly alot darker, understated and heavily charged with the malaysian sociocpolitical context. It’s insane how the issues discussed in the voice-overs (which include Nam Rom btw) are still super relevant in 2020. it’s kinda depressing.
‘meter’ - meter by far is the most bizzare (ans longest) short because we have khairy jamaluddin (a BN politican) sharing screen time with Namewee (most epic Malaysian dissident), random Malaysian personalities like Jason Lo (gets into a hissy fit about Chelsea) and Amber Chia (cameos as a taxi driver) lol.
The intro made by Khairy’s character, I’m not even sure if it was a joke but it goes along the lines of “i’m a taxi driver.not that smart. never went to uni. back in the day i was active politics. i was even a youth leader”. This was such a gag. His character then goes off by calling professional male athelets in local football as “bodoh”..oddly enough khairy then become youth and sports minister in 2013 & basically doesnt significantly transform the scene. There’s even a comedic scene where he justifies party hopping lol. To be fair, Khairy does seemto try his best in delivering lines but his “taxi driver” enunciations feel too posh.
“duit kecil” - cheapskate john (played by nam rom) starts off by arguining with sex workers for small change post coitus but they all end up dissing how shitty the Malaysian economy ie, wage stagnation, inflation. very epic!
“healthy paranoia” - this short is perhaps the most impressive, as they’ve basically Borat their way into a an awkward presentation with the Health Miniser on warning labels; criminally underrated! no idea how much of it is scripted but its hillarious!
“lollipop” -had the mood of an unedited public service announcement but with the weighted reality of the cycle of abuse. for some reason, we have a blank starting, shirtless bront palare with a hand in his suspiciously low hanging boxers (in an effort to insinuate endless, perverted masterbation). A for Effort!
“rojak!” - the most beautiful, chaotic depiction of the malaysian condition via animation/graphic work. the only short to do so.
15Malaysia is quite obviously deeply rooted to the Malaysian way of life, circa 2000s. Nonetheless, I genuinely believe these shorts crafted by talented filmmakers ought to deserve more hype and recognition today; because the stories featured still reflect our diverse society.
‘potong saga’ - hillarious. never thought i’d put islamic loan application, male circumsicion and vivid dreams as part of a single narrative!
‘chocolate’ - was a typical (but very delightful) yasmin ahmad staple, also featuring sharifah amani
‘the tree’ - i think the concept the PAS politician was trying to get across was surprisingly very interesting
‘house’ - easily the most heartbreaking short film i have ever had the pleasure of viewing; there’s so much to unpack. especially when the indian schoolteacher started picking on the boy; perpetuating the ‘other-ing’ that elite/middle class malaysia indians are very guilty of.
‘halal’ - i really enjoyed the message, the style and the way adibah noor was presenting the notion of halal....but honestly toward the end; the 3 in 1 man & the chinese man playing (singh, with the wrong kind of turban and a fake beard) rlly just put me off. dare i say, incredibly racist.
‘the son’ - i felt had a great story, especially considering how ordinary the son is setup to be; only to reveal the horrendous act right at the end.
‘tanah’ - i loved the individual responses from malaysians of various background; how responses evolved from describing tanah/soil to nation, country.
‘one future’ - a very EPIC short with a sci-fi flair; with tian chua at the helm. i think the commentary the filmmaker is trying to unpack is probably worth an entire philopsophy class. i’m sure theres alot of subtext. bonus: always a pleasure to see ida nerina on screen!
‘slovak sling’ - the level of satire on this one is phenomenal! patrick teo & harith iskandar nailed it!
‘gerhana’ - the tone of this short is drastically different from the rest, it’s certainly alot darker, understated and heavily charged with the malaysian sociocpolitical context. It’s insane how the issues discussed in the voice-overs (which include Nam Rom btw) are still super relevant in 2020. it’s kinda depressing.
‘meter’ - meter by far is the most bizzare (ans longest) short because we have khairy jamaluddin (a BN politican) sharing screen time with Namewee (most epic Malaysian dissident), random Malaysian personalities like Jason Lo (gets into a hissy fit about Chelsea) and Amber Chia (cameos as a taxi driver) lol.
The intro made by Khairy’s character, I’m not even sure if it was a joke but it goes along the lines of “i’m a taxi driver.not that smart. never went to uni. back in the day i was active politics. i was even a youth leader”. This was such a gag. His character then goes off by calling professional male athelets in local football as “bodoh”..oddly enough khairy then become youth and sports minister in 2013 & basically doesnt significantly transform the scene. There’s even a comedic scene where he justifies party hopping lol. To be fair, Khairy does seemto try his best in delivering lines but his “taxi driver” enunciations feel too posh.
“duit kecil” - cheapskate john (played by nam rom) starts off by arguining with sex workers for small change post coitus but they all end up dissing how shitty the Malaysian economy ie, wage stagnation, inflation. very epic!
“healthy paranoia” - this short is perhaps the most impressive, as they’ve basically Borat their way into a an awkward presentation with the Health Miniser on warning labels; criminally underrated! no idea how much of it is scripted but its hillarious!
“lollipop” -had the mood of an unedited public service announcement but with the weighted reality of the cycle of abuse. for some reason, we have a blank starting, shirtless bront palare with a hand in his suspiciously low hanging boxers (in an effort to insinuate endless, perverted masterbation). A for Effort!
“rojak!” - the most beautiful, chaotic depiction of the malaysian condition via animation/graphic work. the only short to do so.
