filmmakers from developing countries are often met with burdens of balancing artistic quality vs. commercial values, something which has not successfully been established, unlike other developed countries fully aware of the existence of filmmaking as part of the countries' potential exhibition commodity.
thus, typically we see the filmmakers from our region are greatly divided into several territories, and for both indonesia and malaysia as being set as the example above, a large number of filmmakers take path to coup greater number of box-office taking by producing films which will please a large section of filmgoing audience, sadly, happens to take the liking of simple-minded films.
i could go on and on as the above is only half-baked statements :P, but i'd like to comment a little on the two films above.
"ungu violet" certainly was made within the frame of aiming to generate good box-office taking, as clearly evident by choosing a popular band, Padi, to do the soundtrack, and putting Dian Sastro as the main lead. in terms of filmmaking, the film fills the expectation as a film in the genre of melodrama. in fact, Sastro pulls off some great performances in several scenes, although we can say that the greatness of the film altogether is gone by the time Rima Melati's character is exorcised. (gee, i must be that mean! :p)
and i couldn't agree more that the only thing that bogs down the film is the main actor who shouldn't have been cast in the first place.
anyway, i guess we could leave the notion of the film being cultural-representative, as it clearly aims for commercial value.
sadly, the noble task is what yasmin ahmad had in mind when she did "sepet", and other films previously and afterwards.
the problem of "sepet" is that it's trying too hard to achieve the intention, which in return works like a boomerang to the film itself, i.e. it fails to be worth watching, especially not with the score which is directly stolen from clint eastwood's "bridges of madison county".
"sepet" actually works like an example that what looks good on a paper does not necessarily translate well to a big screen, and watching a film with uneven pace is, well, something that keeps bothering me throughout the entire film.
my piece
filmmakers from developing countries are often met with burdens of balancing artistic quality vs. commercial values, something which has not successfully been established, unlike other developed countries fully aware of the existence of filmmaking as part of the countries' potential exhibition commodity.
thus, typically we see the filmmakers from our region are greatly divided into several territories, and for both indonesia and malaysia as being set as the example above, a large number of filmmakers take path to coup greater number of box-office taking by producing films which will please a large section of filmgoing audience, sadly, happens to take the liking of simple-minded films.
i could go on and on as the above is only half-baked statements :P, but i'd like to comment a little on the two films above.
"ungu violet" certainly was made within the frame of aiming to generate good box-office taking, as clearly evident by choosing a popular band, Padi, to do the soundtrack, and putting Dian Sastro as the main lead. in terms of filmmaking, the film fills the expectation as a film in the genre of melodrama. in fact, Sastro pulls off some great performances in several scenes, although we can say that the greatness of the film altogether is gone by the time Rima Melati's character is exorcised. (gee, i must be that mean! :p)
and i couldn't agree more that the only thing that bogs down the film is the main actor who shouldn't have been cast in the first place.
anyway, i guess we could leave the notion of the film being cultural-representative, as it clearly aims for commercial value.
sadly, the noble task is what yasmin ahmad had in mind when she did "sepet", and other films previously and afterwards.
the problem of "sepet" is that it's trying too hard to achieve the intention, which in return works like a boomerang to the film itself, i.e. it fails to be worth watching, especially not with the score which is directly stolen from clint eastwood's "bridges of madison county".
"sepet" actually works like an example that what looks good on a paper does not necessarily translate well to a big screen, and watching a film with uneven pace is, well, something that keeps bothering me throughout the entire film.
there goes my piece, mas indi :)