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Thursday, August 18, 2005 |
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Bend It Like Blondie? (Gol & Gincu : A Review) | |
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Gol & Gincu : A Review My editor will probably have a fit if he hears me say this, but I no longer pay much attention to these so-called 'professional' movie critiques and reviewers. This bunch of people (myself included sometimes, unfortunately) can be pretentious at times, with their holier than thou know-it-all knowledge, their use of bombastic words and whatnots.. I swear, sometimes I feel like all they're trying to do is belittle the general viewers by giving top marks for obscure little-known films that "the general population just doesn't get" and a big boo-boo rating to what is actually a good film. And when they DO decide to give top score to a blockbuster movie (which almost never happens), it turns out the movie is actually a massive pile of dog turd (yes, I am of course talking about Spielberg's weakest film to date - War of the Worlds). "Mr Writer, why don't you tell it like it is? Why don't you tell it like it really is?" ~ Stereophonics These breed of people basically just enjoy to disagree with the general concensus - regardless. So, when I'm not assigned to attend the movie's sneak preview for the media, where do I turn to for good reviews that will tell me if the movie is really worth watching or not? Three words: Words.Of.Mouth. That's how the most profittable film ever made (The Blair Witch Project), made it's profit a few years ago. And with the ever growing world of blogs among local movie goers - your average Tom, Dick and Hairul - you just can't fail when people start to talk about how good the movies are, and "Gol & Gincu" has been one of the top picks of the 'streets' lately so I decided to check it out. That's why it took me a while before I finally decided to watch Gol & Gincu. The previews initially looked funny and to tell you the truth, a tad dodgy. I had my doubts. Another teen movie with a 'message'. God help me. After reading the synopsis, how is it not blatantly clear that the movie is a major rip off from the movie Legally Blonde (admittedly, one of my favourite guilty pleasure movies - how can you not love the gifted Jennifer Coolidge?) and Bend It Like Beckham. Girl gets ditched by guy. Girl works hard to beat guy at his own game. Girl triumphs and in turn, ditches guy when guy comes crawling back. Only instead of a court case, the actions takes place in a futsal tournament. Yawn. Next. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. No, no.. all the above does happen in the movie. Well, kinda anyway. If you haven't seen this, sorry to have burst your bubble, but don't worry cause you're not going to enjoy the movie primarily because of the predictable storyline, anyway. But I was pleasantly surprised at how the movie didn't try to imitate the other two movies per se. In fact, the movie even made a reference to the movie "Bend It Like Beckham" within the first 15 minutes, and in a way reminded the viewers that the comparisons should stop right there and then. And rightfully so too, since it has a lot of merits on its own. In a nutshell, the story revolves around Putri, a girly kinda girl who's highly supportive of her boyfriend. Her boyfriend decides to break up with her because she's "too dependent" (if it was me, I'd use the reason :"I can't stand your over enthusiastic perkiness"). Putri gets heartbroken and knows that the way to get back to his man is through his passion - futsal (for what it's worth, I'm still a 'stomach' kinda guy). Putri befriends an experienced futsal player, Zie, to coach her, and her new established team of newbies, culminating to a futsal tournament between them and a rival team, both vying for the attention of Putri's ex. The storyline is just so and so, but what makes this movie interesting is how realistic seems. When I say realistic, I mean the dialogues. A mix of English and Malay and a few street slangs thrown in. That's how real people talk in real life. Just like 'Sepet'. How hard is it for local directors to realize this simple fact? It makes a world of difference. They need to stop lifting chunks of sentences of Prosa dan Tatabahasa 101 & Kamus Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka Jilid Ke-21 for their film scripts. Seriously, NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT. *composes self* Anyway, like I said, the dialogue is what makes the movie watchable. It seems real and genuine and the actors themselves doesn't seem to be acting (and I mean that in a good way - and my favourite local actress Ida Nerina is in it so that's a major boner.. i mean bonus). The movie also offer lots of laugh out loud moments. Not the crude or slapstick kind, mind you. Some of the jokes can be very very subtle (and very very funny) so watch out for these gems. That said, I don't want to make it sound like this is a comedy because it's not. The movie itself is supposed to be liberating especially to girls. And that brings me to the bad points for the movie. First of all, the central theme is generally about a determined young woman who believes and brings out the best in herself. Then there was also the side storylines like incest and abusive boyfriends. More often than not, I felt like I was watching an extended 3R show. It's liberating. It's about Girl Power. It's about Girls Kicking Ass. Okay, okay I get it. I just felt that the film could be stronger without trying to send all these subliminal messages, and instead focusing on its central theme. Other minor beefs : Product endorsements were shamelessly shoved into our faces. The two ex-Akademi Fantasia students were acting WAY over the top that it becomes annoying everytime they come on screen. And the scene between Putri and Reza at the hospital made me utter aloud "ohmigod.. deja prof™ moment". You know 'deja vu' ? That feeling you get when you feel like you've already 'experienced or seen' your exact current moment like it's being replayed again? Well, I coined the term "deja prof™" because the movie had gone on so well, and suddenly there's this awful cheesy trashy scene that can only be described as a scene out of a typical Professor Razak movie. Please, I'm not here to be politically correct. This is a personal blog of my own personal views, so bite me. Anyway, I'm gonna trademark that - "Deja Prof™". Me likey. Anyway, after all said and done, I still can't really point out a single exact reason why I like this movie. I think it's the whole package. The movie does try to address on 'serious' issues without being too preachy about it. Whether or not they made their point to the viewers, it's unclear, but at the very least I can say that the movie is campy fun. I haven't been compelled to write my reviews online (not since Puteri Gunung Ledang) not even for Sepet which I loved. So is this movie better than Sepet? I don't think so, but if you're going to catch just a single local movie a year, then this one's definitely it. The movie has many flaws but should you still go and see it? To quote Big from the pilot episode of Sex And The City : Absofuckinglutely. And as far as the tally goes : WordsOfMouth - 1, MovieCritiques - 0. 0 Comments: |
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