25 July 2006

DORM - No Ordinary Horror Flick

In 3 words this movie is.. Funny, heart-warming, beautiful.

What..? Why...?

Isn't it a horror movie?
Kinda'..

Does the movie suck..?
Well..no. It's actually excellent.

I wasn't prepared for a full-blown horror movie when I went to watch Dorm. I thought Shutter was good but horror movies from Thailand seems a little, well.. same-old, same-old. But neither was I expecting a wonderful story about life, death and everything else in between.

Dorm was directed Songyos Sukmakanant and tells the story of a boy, wonderfully played by Chalee Trairat being abruptly sent to a boarding school against his wish. There, he makes no new friends, the class bully terrifies him with ghost tales, and his teacher (Jintara Sukapat in her quietly powerful performance) exhibits eccentric behaviors. Eventually, he befriends classmate Wichien (newcomer Sirarath Jianthavorn) and things look bright until one day Chatree discovers something shocking.

The performances all around was good especially the two main actors Chalee and Sirarath who displays huge acting range expressing resentment, loneliness, fright, and maturity. Both he and Sirarath lighten up the film with their wonderful onscreen chemistry. We laugh when they tease each other and we empathize when they seek shelter from loneliness. The school bully gang of four (especially the son of the undertaker) also was excellent as they provided the comic relief for this wonderful film. Seriously, I was laughing my ass off to their antics. Futures are looking bright for all these young actors.

Songyos direction was also very good as he moves the storyline forward by gradually peeling the plot layer by layer, which effectively makes the film quite suspenseful. Unfortunately, some viewers, especially hardcore horror fans, may be let down by the simplicity and modest answers to the film's mysteries and unconvincing explanation to a very important part of the story. Obviously, the story 'twist' or the 'ghost element' is not the priority for Songyos as he places the thrust of the film on the friendship of the two boys, which I personally think work way much better.

The studio has been marketing Dorm as a horror movie (..complete with a poster that feature a hanged-girl and a parental warning) but I wonder if this is the wisest decision because horror movie fans would be disappointed and the family film audience would not see the movie in the first place. But to tell u the truth, there are so many 'horror' movies right now that every other one seems so ordinary. Fortunately, Dorm transcends from being an ordinary film about frightening dead people. It tells a beautiful story about friendship and redemption, about growing up and growing out of the past by forgiving others and yourself. The film makes me think, do we sometimes treat people around us like ghost? Do we don't care about them as if they were invisible? Are we being treated like ghosts by other people? Go find the answers in this movie.

In short, Dorm is an outstanding coming-of-age tale for adults as well as for children. One of the best movie to come out of Thailand, definitely.

17 July 2006

I Hate My Job


5 days straight in the office.
Eat, drink, bathe, sleep, shit, piss, work in the office.
1 day rest. Back to more work.
Work,work,work, work, work, work, work...
Work sucks.
Quit your job.
Seriously, work sucks.

10 July 2006

The end of those sleepless nights..

Italy Are 2006 World Champion!

But the question on everyone mind is.. Why Zidane? Why..?? It's your last game ever..!
Apakah carutan Materazzi kepada Zidane sampai Zidane tiba2 naik sawan kambing gurun?
It's a damn shame..


Forza Italia!

07 July 2006

Penang Stories..


Phew.. just got back from Penang. Outstation yg sangat memenatkan physically and mentally. Almost a week aku berada di Penang tapi only the last day sempat pegi jalan-jalan. Penang bagi aku adalah sebuah tempat nostalgik, banyak kenangan bersama family dan kawan-kawan aku di Penang. It was sort of like home, sbb penang adalah jiran negeri kelahiran aku.


Outstation aku kali ni memang mengundang banyak masalah. Kebiasaannya bila aku keluar outstation aku terpaksa deal dengan orang awam dan aku terpaksa melayan beribu-ribu karenah manusia. Ditambah pula dengan masalah scheduling dan miscommunication, aku boleh labelkan outstation kali ni the worst ever. Tapi aku sedikit beruntung kerana musim world cup sedang melanda. Jadi adalah source of excitement. Dan of course di Penang mmg tak sah kalau tak tengok live football matches di.. kedai nasi kandar..!! Mmg happening gila, dh mcm kat stadium. First semi-final match aku terpaksa tgk the first-half sambil berdiri sbb kedai Kayu Nasi Kandar terlalu pack hinggakan cashier pun terpaksa sacrifice kerusi dia pada customer. Hehe. Anyway it was fun.. and oh yeah, Forza Italia! Haha..


Bercakap pasal nasi kandar, aku sempat melawat kedai nasi kandar favourite aku seperti dalam gambar di atas. Restoran Kassim Mustafa, the pioneers of nasi kandar, the origins of 'kuah taruh atas' clan. I could still remember, arwah ayah aku mesti takkan lupa utk bawa kami sekeluarga makan di kedai ni everytime we went to Penang. Aku tak boleh describe kesyahduan di saat aku menjamah nasi kandar Kassim ini untuk kesekian kali. Akibatnya, 2 pinggan nasi kandar Kassim aku jamah. Memang nahas kalau aku terus tinggal di Penang. Alamatnya makin buncit la perut buncit aku ni. Kalau pergi Penang, jgn lupa singgah Kassim.


Satu lagi tempat yang perlu disinggahi is of course, Bazaar Chowrasta Road. Bagi aku Bazaar ni adalah tempat paling masam di dalam dunia. Bukan sebab baunya, tetapi di sebalik bazaar usang ini adalah syurga menjual pelbagai jenis asam, jeruk dan yang sejenisnya. Kalau tak tahu nak beli apa untuk souvenir, datang aja sini.. beli asam jeruk sekilo dua bawak balik KL.


Kalau ke Penang rasanya tak sah kalau tak ke Padang Kota. A place just to chill around, menikmati udara segar, mengamati ombak laut. Cuma satu yg aku perasan, Fort Conwalis sekarang dah tertutup dan ada admission fee. Hmm.. Aku juga tak lupa pekena sotong kangkung dan pasembor dekat medan selera Padang Kota. Mmg out of this world. Only in Penang.



Seperkara yg menarik, semasa perjalanan pulang dari pantai Batu Feringghi, kami singgah untuk solat Asar di sebuah masjid yg masih belum sepenuhnya siap. Apa yg menarik adalah masjid ini merupakan masjid terapung dan mempunyai rekabentuk luaran dan dalaman yang sangat indah. Sempat juga aku mencapai kamera aku untuk snap 1,2 gambar.


So that was Penang. FYI, bulan Julai adalah bulan yang paling sibuk dan mencabar dalam organisasi tempat aku bekerja. So this coming 2 weeks.. I'll be spending most of my time, night or day, rain or shine in the office. In fact the time now is 6.00 am, aku baru aja habis keja. 8.30 am masuk kerja semula.. Harap2 sempat aku update blog pasal world cup finale (..yg aku sure akan aku tonton beramai-ramai di pejabat).

Phew! Here we go..