Letter to Nancy (Surat Untuk Nancy)

Minggu lalu akhbar Harian Metro menyiarkan tulisan tentang Festival Filem Malaysia ke 20 dan satu hamba Allah ni telah menulis surat elektronik kepada Nancy Foo tentang apakah criteria filem yang baik. Sudah tentu Nancy tidak punyai waktu untuk menjawab soalan tersebut atau tidak dapat menjawabnya atau sengaja untuk tidak mahu menjawabnya. Maka soalan tersebut berkeliaran di ruang siber. Seterusnya ada seorang hamba Allah ni melepaskan satulagi soalan di ruangan siber, ia berbunyi: Soalan terbuka: ADAKAH PEMILIHAN CALON SETIAP KATEGORI FFM20 KALI INI 'BERTEPATAN' ???

Seorang rakan filem menjawab dalam emailnya berbunyi Cerapan SELEBRITI METRO AHAD 29 JULAI '07: > ..menurut Pengerusi Penyertaan & Penjurian FFM20, Nancie Foo:"Istimewanya pencalonan tahun ini, kami membenarkan juri menentukan siapa yg layak bertanding di dlm kategori tertentu. Berbeza beberapa tahun sebelum ini yg membenarkan penerbit filem meletakkan nama calon bagi kategori yg dipertandingkan. "Bagaimanapun, kata Nancie, bukan niat mereka utk mengambil alih kuasa pemilihan calon, sebaliknya ia wajar supaya kategori itu bertepatan dgn calonnya".
Seorang lagi rakan filem ni, HMM menjawab “WHAT MAKES A GOOD FILM? Here we go again! What makes for a good film? Very simple one. 1. A good story. 2. The good story well told. So what's a good story? Nobody knows! But when you see it, you will know it (& sometimes you won't know it until very much later - sometimes years later! That's the way the cookie crumbles, folks!). But basically, a good story will have 3-dimensional characters (but what about Anotonioni's vague characters? Difficult, isn't it? Will members of the jury understand about this?); Good plot (what about those which are the so-called plotless one or the non-linear plot? More> importantly, will the members of the jury be able to evaluate this?); Tells about the human condition (yes, even films of fantasy tell about the human condition). So how do you see if a story is well told? Easy one! Check out how technique is utilized - screenplay, cinematography, art direction, editing, sound, acting, music, sound mixing - both technically & aesthetically. All these techniques serve only one function - to help tell the story. The best-told story is where none of these techniques stand out for themselves. The best cinematography is where you're not aware of the cinematography (or editing, sound, etc). If it is purposely made obvious, you can bet that it is part of the narrative (e.g: WATER). What you will get at the end is good Gestalt - FORM! So which are the best films - okaylah, make it the good films. Okay, okay - worth seeing! - of this year's Malaysian Film Festival?


According to yours truly (& based on the above criteria):-MUKHSIN-HARU BIRU (Yes, it's well done! A writer & director to watch)-LOVE CONQUERS ALL
-CHALANGGAI-BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN-ZOMBIE KG PISANG-SEEDS OF DARKNESS-CIPLAKAlso worth seeing:-PUAKA TEBING BIRU-CHERMIN1. What about the other films? 2. What other films?!!3. How will the august members of the FFM20 jury choose the good films?
Jawapan terakhirnya “Don't hold your breath”.

Pun begitu TRW menjawab “Well...it's not so simple at all. There's nothing wrong with a good story, but telling a story is only one of the things a film can do. The description you give of a good film - one in which all elements of film style serve the story - is a very Western (Hollywood) idea, and is also very restrictive. If everyone followed this advice, we would have no Eisenstein, Tati or Ozu, not to mention avant-garde cinema, or much of animation. It's true that Hollywood's idea of a good film dominates most of the world, but we need to broaden our views of what is possible with film; it's not just literature (specifically the novel or short story) on the screen.

Terakhir ada pula hamba filem ni yang menjawab “ i just think Seed Of Darkness is a bad example. it has a bad story and bad storytelling. really lah, En. Hassan, first Curse Of The Golden Flower, and now Seed Of Darkness?. HMM, lu joker lah!