This is the kind of movie I always feel really lucky to see. It may play for only one week, or even one day, in a U.S. theater. But if you have the chance, you must see it. Open a window into another culture, and another place. I am living in Malaysia, and the censors were so harsh toward this movie, the director almost decided not to release it in her own country. But in the end, she said okay. Scenes were cut. If you can see it outside Malaysia, think how lucky you are to see it as the director intended, with the playfulness and the honesty left intact.
It's not some complex, artsy, literary story. It's just first love. Two kids. You know this story. We all know this story, no matter where we grew up. But what's so good about this film is that it's not dressed up in some Hollywood (or even Bollywood) fakeness and overdone. There's no stupid John Williams soundtrack telling you how you should feel. There are just the streets of Ipoh, a boy in a T-shirt, a girl in her baju kurung (and her dad in his sarong, hee hee!), and that human adventure of discovery that happens when you really, really like someone.
