Dari Jemapoh ke Manchestee

"Jemapohh!!.... Bodooooohh!!!!" That was the first line from the film 'Dari Jemapoh ke Manchestee' directed by Hishamuddin Rais, a long-awaited movie by independent filmgoers in Malaysia. Well, it's true. Jemapoh was a real bodoh.The script was weak, the impressive cinematography was only lasted for the first half an hour of the movie, the actors was trying to be natural but they ain't, and foley, editing and soundtrack was a disaster! I know that we should give it a break because it's one of the first low-budget independent movies in Malaysia film industry. However, I can't give it a thumb up comment on a stupid movie just because it comes from pioneer generation.

In the nutshell, Jemapoh is about two friends, Yadi and Mafiz who were sick and tired of staying in the same village for many years want to break the tradition and go to Manchester. Both have different objectives. Yadi wants to meet Manchester United team, and Mafiz wants to find his sailor father who hasn't returned from Liverpool.

The sound effect (foley) was awful! I can easily detect these mistakes especially the scene where the motorcycle gangs ride in front of the camera. The sound was okey, but not until it cut to a car scene which the car doesn't even make a sound except for the same motorcycle sound. Another stupid sound editing is when the last scene where the same motorcycle gangs walk to the car. We can hear the footsteps were made by a synthetic repetition sound that has tempo! When the gangs arrived, the footsteps volume were turned down, slowly. Forty percent of the script is repetition and emphasizing the same point, mostly in every scene. Most repeated line is, "Cool brader, cool...".

Unnecessary scenes are annoying and that is what happen in this movie. Just to slip a female role in this movie, one of the leading roles, Yadi or Georgie, suddenly enter a nearly empty bar, where the girl and a bad guy were talking, and this 'hero' go to the jukebox and listen to a song, dancing, and singing with no particular reason. He buy no drinks, look for no girls, and suddenly a fight broke between the girl and the bad guy, and Badabing! This hero saves the day! One thing I realised that the movie explains everything in one scene. To show Mila's affection towards Mafiz, it explains only in one scene where the girl put her hand on the guy's thigh. After that, she acted like nothing had happened. To explain why Mafiz wants to leave the village because his mom always nag, the mom's nagging scene only shown once. To show Georgie's affection towards football (or George Best to be precise), he explained about Manchester United to his friend, Mafiz in this one particular scene and he only explained about how gorgeous George Best looks, not how good Man.U. play!

The two leading actors (Yadi and Mafiz) also show too much 'touching' towards each other than most guys do. Leaning towards each other by the river, holding his chest in the dark room, showing Georgie's jealousy between Mafiz and Mila, these elements really make me doubtly think that these guys are just 'friends'. Whatever it is, this movie is trying to break the commercial barrier in Malaysia industry and I respect that. However, please take the concentrate details seriously because these small things that can really make a difference in a low-budgeted movie.

I have bought this title on Video-CD. Reason for purchase is to look at the product of Hishamudin Rais.

Storyline was acceptable to normal standard but the ending could be improved. The story ends with the kids continuing with their journey away from their laidback shanty village. Will they make it to England? Hisham should have a better ending prepared. Maybe he wanted to have a sequel?

Acting was above average.

Never knew if this movie made it to the theaters or not, Hishamudin's (always being on the wrong side of the ruling governments since his student days) production, may not be acceptable to the bureaucrats. Pity!

A non-cliche Malay movie. Hishamudin Rais tried too hard to make this movie too extraordinary in a genre on its own. Though it fails to present itself as one of the best Malaysian movies, Rais should be given credits for breaking the monotonous clutter of heart wrenching boys meet girls Malaysian movie industry. Kudos! ... And the movies have been shown on Malaysian cinemas, in contrast to earlier comment.

I caught this movie during its short run in Singapore and found it quite fun - at least it tried a different genre (road movie) than the normal Malaysian stuff. The leads were easy to like but the pacing is a bit slow and the youth slang rather outdated (is it supposed to be set in the present or the sixties?). The ending could have been stronger but I suppose they didn't have the budget for proper special effects. Still, your interest is held as these young people make a journey to discover the values of friendship, persistence, etc. Unfortunately this film has never been released in Malaysia even though many want to see it. The director is quite controversial for his political views but the movie is sweet and harmless, so I don't see why it has never hit our screens.