Title: Songlap
Type: Movie
Genre: Malay Social Half-Action Drama
Year: 2011
Length: 1 hour 40++ minutes
Writer: Fariza Azlina Isahak
Producers: Grand Brilliance & Red Films
Directors: Effendee Mazlan & Fariza Azlina Isahak
Main Casts: Shaheizy Sam, Syafie Naswip & Sara Ali
I thought with the demise of Yasmin Ahmad, no such quality films/scripts will ever be produced by Malaysians. Songlap has proven me wrong. Thank God
ONGLAP is an awesome non-typical Malay movie. One of those that deserves to be nominated at International Film Awards. The problem with such quality film is that, people in general cannot appreciate its aesthetic values. This is what we call quality movie; quality Malay movie. But no, most Malaysians, Malays typically, prefers the typical horror stories or religious oriented romantic drama. No offence to the producers of those typical movies but it is a compelling fact that something has to be done with the local (Malaysian) film industry especially the story telling and script writing bits. In my opinion, all these compelling needs have been addressed in Songlap. I thought with the demise of Yasmin Ahmad, no such quality films/scripts will ever be produced by Malaysians. Songlap has proven me wrong. Thank God. Two thumbs up for Effendee Mazlan & Fariza Azlina Isahak for the fantastic directing and scripts..... prostitution, gambling, gangsterism, sexual abuse of children by parents, human trafficking, unwanted pregnancy and illegal trading of unwanted new born bastards
So what is Songlap all about? Songlap is about two brothers, two bastards of a prostitute, whose life is full of moral battle against multiple ill activities that have become cancerous social plague in the modern society we are living in today. We are talking about prostitution, gambling, gangsterism, sexual abuse of children by their own parents, human trafficking, unwanted pregnancy and the most apparent one in the movie, illegal trading of unwanted new born babies (bastards). Imagine that! all those disturbing aspects of society all in one movie. The two brothers, Am and Ad, fantastically acted by Shaheizy and Syafie, grew up in such ill society. They became part of it and were involved in those activities to earn their living. Eventually they reached a realisation that they had to get out of it all... well, at least only one of the brothers did.Hawa, acted by Sara, is fortunate to be in the middle of this (realisation). She and her new born baby become the victim that captured the heart of the two brothers. So, as you had already anticipated, she (and her baby) is saved from being sold in the illegal market (both baby and the mother). This is the main story line but there are a lot more to it, including some fighting scenes. There are also humorous parts (although not meant to be) where one of the brothers actually tracked down their prostitute mother.... and the mother of course couldn't recognise him and treated him like any other prostitutes would with their customers. Never mind that, what is important is that the message that it is trying to sell to our society. Like I said, this movie carries with it so many messages, moral messages to almost all of the ill activities we have in this country.
.... the combination of all five (Story Line, Directing, Script Writing, Casting and Cinematography) makes Songlap the best Malay movie so far...
So, back to the title of this blog post "Songlap, The Best Malay Movie So Far". Why? Well, really this has to be explained from various angle. First, the story line is superb. Whilst my blog post seems to suggest that it is a simple story line, it is not. As mentioned earlier, there were a host of illegal activities going on in this movie. Trying to link all that into a single story line requires skills. A skill obviously shown by Effendee Mazlan & Fariza Azlina Isahak. That in itself, tells a lot about the quality of the directing (2nd point). Thirdly, the scripts are not the typical book-literature scripts. They are straight forward, meaningful and natural as natural as what you can hear from the real life out there. This actually relates the viewers back to reality. Not like some movies where you (viewers) are related to some fantasy mumbo jumbo.
Forth, the casting. The actors and actresses are superb. They probably did their best in their careers so far. A combination of Shaheizy Sam, Syafie Naswip & Sara Ali as the main characters adds quality to the entire production. Fifth, the cinematography is appropriate. In certain parts of the movie, you do see some artistic shots, especially under the LRT flyovers where two youngsters were doing some drugs. In most parts of the movie, the cinematography was done quite effectively to deliver the ambience of what the movie is trying to tell. So there you go, the combination of all five (Story Line, Directing, Script Writing, Casting and Cinematography) makes Songlap, in my opinion, the best Malay movie so far. Even better than those artistic movies by the late Yasmin Ahmad. Songlap offers both aesthetic and commercial values, if only Malaysian can open their eyes to such quality. In addition, Songlap also offers moral values that touch our hearts on some of the sick headlines we see in our newspapers nowadays, .. or everyday for that matter. So all you viewers out there, please support the local movie industry by watching Songlap at the cinemas while it is still on. If not, DVDs should soon be available (make sure you buy the originals). Nothing is more satisfying than seeing Malaysians producing materials that manifest quality comparable to other nations in this world. Even if you think Songlap is no where close to the foreign movies, the fact that Songlap is the best Malay movie so far (in my mind), it is a very good start. Well done to the production crew of Songlap!
So all you viewers out there, please support the local movie industry by watching Songlap at the cinemas while it is still on
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