Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival June 2010
THIS IS TOTALLY GOING IN MY BLOG!
Yup. I said those words approximately a month ago.
Anyway, it's my blog so...
Last June, a day before leaving for Singapore, GG Imelda, her sister Imelda and yours truly drove to 1Borneo GSC to treat ourselves to a couple of international movies. There were six movies all in all, but Mel and I decided on Karaoke by Sabah's own Chris Chong and a Japanese anime movie entitled "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
So, what do I think about the movies? I'll start with Karaoke...
(warning : This is what I see from the movie...not some copied and pasted synopsis from other webbies. So, it may be half-half accurate)
Karaoke is about a young man named Betik who came back to his hometown and find that things were not the same like it used to be. So X-files, kan?heheh nolah...Betik's mum is the manager for the karaoke shop, she decided to move to the big city with his uncle and quit the karaoke business. Meanwhile, Betik falls in love with a local girl, Ani and works hard to woe her. Eventually, Betik's mum moves to the big city, Ani goes to UiTM and Betik, well he works as a karaoke video actor.
I guess I am just not ready to sink in this new genre of presenting films. Though the music is good and meaningful, I still find the movie quite "dry". It lacks the magic that the late Yasmin Ahmad has, but who am I to judge? No director should be the same. I bet the movie is best appreciated if I have some knowledge of cinematography. But, I'm just saying...
I love the concept in Block B though. Prior to the screening of Karaoke, we were shown a short film called Block B. I like to search the characters' location at the setting...it's something refreshing to have a still setting compared to typical films where the settings are always dynamic.
There's Chris!
Cinema 8, all the films were screened here.
The second movie, or anime, is my favourite. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time made me laughed and cry. The characters are relatable and the soundtrack is nice as well. So, what is it about? Below are the synopsis I copied from http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/the-girl-who-leapt-through-time
"When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of her and her friends".
But I think I'm rather biased when comparing these two movies. I'm a major anime fan especially from Ghibli. I'm going to next year's KK International Film Fest :-)
A toast to all good movies!!
