The Journey

I was hesitate to watch this local production movie, but after a few rounds of good comment and some push from my kids and wife, I finally gave in and step into the cinema for a Malaysian movie. I must say this is a good piece of work reflecting the meaning of life in a typical Malaysian community, the importance of filial piety, treasuring friendship transcending races, "just do-it" attitude and make your own dream come true.

It is fun to see new faces across the country border in making this movie a must-see. I must say, my tears drop when they finally made the hot air balloon and release it. I must mention that the cinematography have been improved very much and the Cameron Highland scenery was superb. Although various language and dialects are used, but this is reflecting the real Malaysian life.

Double thumbs up for Director Chiu! I hope he can keep up the expectation and bring even more surprised for next Chinese New Year movie.

Before I first went to watch THE JOURNEY in the cinema, I have little knowledge about this movie at all. But to my surprise, this locally-made production has totally exceeds my expectation, at which THE JOURNEY truly deserves its recognition as one of the best Malaysian-Chinese movies ever made. And bear in mind, this is only Chiu's (his full name is actually Chiu Keng Guan) third directing effort following his back-to-back success of 2010's WOOHOO! and 2011's GREAT DAY.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

After spending a decade living with her aunt to study art in England, Bee (Joanne Yew) has finally returns home to Cameron Highlands. She also brought back her British fiancé, Benji (Ben Andrew Pfeiffer) to introduce him to her conservative father Uncle Chuan (Frankie Lee) and hoping to seek his blessing for their upcoming marriage. At first, Uncle Chuan opposes to his daughter's marriage because he doesn't get along with Benji well. However, he ends up agreeing anyway except with one condition -- their wedding ceremony has to be done in the Chinese tradition. Soon, Benji is tasked to bring along Uncle Chuan on a long motorcycle journey across the country to deliver the wedding invitations to Uncle Chuan's 11 ex-primary schoolmates.

THE GOOD STUFF

Chiu's direction is sharp and meticulous to detail, especially the way he depicts the Chinese culture and tradition with such authenticity. His regular screenwriter, Ryon Lee, successfully combined the universal themes of culture, hope, love, friendship and unity within his screenplay that everyone can relate to. Eric Yeong's cinematography, which is shot on locations across six states in Malaysia (Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, Kedah, Melaka and Johor) are wonderfully captured with such sheer beauty it's like watching a travel channel. The panoramic and idyllic view of the Cameron Highlands setting is especially worth a special mention here.

For the acting department, Chiu has certainly took a huge gamble by casting actors with little or no experience in acting at all. However, his gamble proves to be surprisingly rewarding. 73-year-old retiree Frankie Lee is perfectly cast as the conservative and stubborn father Uncle Chuan. He pairs well with Australian stage actor Ben Andrew Pfeiffer, who delivers an impressive performance as Benji. Watching the way they argue against each other because of their cultural and ideological differences are simply both entertaining and heartfelt. Miss Astro Chinese International Pageant 2007 Joanne Yew, in the meantime, is not only photogenic but also acted well as the estranged daughter Bee. As for the rest of the supporting actors, all of them have their equal share of limelight.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)

The brief but wonderful scene where Bee uses a black marker to draw caricature of her father, Uncle Chuan and her fiancé, Benji riding motorcycle together on the car window.

THE BAD STUFF

Throughout the duration, I was surprised by the mesmerizing result of this movie. In short, THE JOURNEY is pitch perfect that I hardly find a flaw within.

FINAL WORDS

Like the title itself, this is one cinematic journey worth exploring for. No doubt THE JOURNEY is a rare gem of a local movie not to be missed this Chinese New Year. By the way, make sure to stay for the end-credits music video featuring Ben Andrew Pfeiffer singing a wonderfully cheeky song that combines English and Chinese languages.

Syok ah...song ah...

The Journey is truly a heartfelt Malaysian film that is unprecedented in its overall film making. It has scenes captured around Penang and Cameron Highlands that are totally an eye opening experience even for a local like me. They are so gorgeously filmed that I was immediately being pulled into the story right from the very first scene. It's truly amazing. I'm very proud of our local talents who have demonstrated excellent cinematography to make each and every scene come to life.

This is a story about Uncle Chuan's daughter, Bee who has just come back from overseas with her fiancé, Benji and planned to have their simple marriage carried out locally. Things aren't that simple and when Uncle Chuan disagrees with almost everything Bee and Benji do, the journey begins. Believe it or not, everything plays out like our everyday's lives and I think that's what made it so real and related to us. Each character acted so naturally that I couldn't even tell that this is indeed a film. We can feel their emotion as they are very lifelike.

One thing that I should point out is that this film contains three spoken languages as well as three spoken dialects. It adds to the cultural diversity of how we actually speak in Malaysia. Sometimes, it plays around with the various languages and dialects, making fun with jokes known only to Malaysian and Singaporean. Then there are times where it tells the tale of every Malaysian's life and those are the gem of it all.

Filial piety is a virtue we Asian regard as of highest importance and this incredibly virtuous value is showcased perfectly in the story. Parents have dilemma and they ultimately have to make the difficult decision for their children. Whatever the decision may be, we have to know that they love us more than anything. Besides that, it also makes us realise that life is too short to bear regrets to the things we dare not do. Therefore, I believe that as long as you are an Asian, you will feel moved by the story.

Honestly, I've never thought that I could enjoy watching a drama at the cinema this much. The Journey seems to prove me wrong and I'm very glad to have made the trip to GSC today to watch this fantastic masterpiece. Oh, the laughs, the tears and the joy, it's definitely worth my time. I'm giving it a two-thumbs up with a score of 12/10 for my highest praise and 'more than' absolute satisfaction. Abuden?

Nonetheless, if you have a dream, go live it because time is never on our side! You can be like Uncle Chuan, pergilah!

P.S. : Let's welcome more locally produced motion picture. Malaysian Got Talents!

(v1.2)

I missed Yasmin Ahmad (Sepet) so much. With her untimely passing, I feel Malaysia cinema went backwards. Today I saw the future. This is a gem of a film and it didn't even look cheap like many locally made films. I swear I wore a smile throughout the heartwarming film, an amalgam of sights and sounds. The cinematography is stunning. At times I had to do a double-take because I have never seen Malaysia looking so beautiful. The script is sometimes so hilarious and there are times it is so emotionally poignant. I am not ashamed to say I cried.

It sounds like I am describing a perfect film. It is not. The acting is at times over-wrought, the comedy borders on slapstick (thankfully it didn't step into farce territory), the direction lacks clarity at a couple of spots, some characters are not developed to satisfaction and the editing is not seamless at times. But the emotional beats are spot-on and the acting so earnest. I enjoyed watching the mopey and grumpy father played so naturally by Lee Sai Peng. There is also hardly any emotional schmaltz forced down our throat which makes it somehow more powerful. A lot of gems came up when we were talking about it later. For example, in the first act Chuan told Benji that he cannot sleep with Bee in the same room. Later in the last act, Chuan is not at home but Benji automatically leaves Bee's bedroom. What does it mean? Benji is a different person now. He has learned respect and the Chinese way. There are many innocuous gems like these once you let the movie simmered a bit. This is a director I will definitely follow in the future - Chiu Keng Guan.

The Journey is definitely worth taking a journey into JB (I live in Singapore). When it ended, it put us in a sublime state and both of us simultaneously proclaimed "this is so good". We couldn't stop discussing about it all through dinner and even on the journey back. Ah that word again... Journey. The movie made both of our heart soared up to cloud nine (it's still there). It's the type of film that comes once in a while... It may be far from perfect but it wears it's big warm heart on its sleeve and it will make you want to hug everyone in the cinema because they are 'family', they are kindred. Don't count on this to come here. If it does it will probably be marketed as a foreign film which will be so inappropriate because The Journey feels like home.

You will surely enjoy this movie more if you understand some Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Bahasa, Mandarin,.. (a lot of humour). A good introduct It portrays: 1) differences in generation gap, believes, characters (12-zodiac represents 12 different characters), culture and how they can live along 2) a compilation of key important activities celebrated by different Chinese ethnicity. 3) there is always another side of the story for anyone. Even one of the most stubborn character who is very old fashioned can bend the rules for the love of the daughter 4) layman can be good actors and actresses. Simply natural! 5) the beauty of mother nature when taken at the correct time.