RIFLE RANGE BOY

Blinded by the Light (2019) Director: Gurinder Chadha Maybe it is the slave mentality at work. The slaves looked up to their masters and wanted to be like them very much. They see them as the proof of success, the pinnacle of achievement, and yearning to walk in their shoes. That is where the buck stops. The slaves chose what was 'good' and what was not acceptable. Many middle-income Malaysian Indians who were teenagers in the late 70s and early 80s had to endure this, yours truly included. The parents worked hard to provide their offspring what they missed growing up. What they thought they missed most was the ability to acquire education, pass examinations and the remunerations that came with it. They wished to achieve what they did not get, like the opportunity for education, freedom by their standards and academic achievements through their children. They did not, however, want the Master's idea of independence. Their idea of children is to be seen but not heard. The la...

Y tu mamá también  (And your mother too,  Mexican Spanish, 2001 ) Director: Alfonso Cuarón Interestingly, sex has always assigned the duty of maturing someone and smacking people with the profound answer of the reason for existence. Tinseltown impresses us that sex is the panacea to all our worldly problems. Of course, we all know that sex may also create problems of its own. There was a time when sex was accorded a special status in society. Because of its mysterious nature, which was ill-understood by primitive men, sanctioning permission to indulge in this biological activity was complicated. Many requirements and rituals had to be fulfilled to obtain access. As the societal restrictions became increasingly questioned with no logical explanation in sight, the biological act came to be treated as such, a biological process, not needing frills and pomp. Humans were merely continuing the spread of their seeds for the continuity of species. Slowly sex lost its respected status ...

Last Film Show (Chhello Show, Gujerati; 2021) Director: Pan Nalin Growing up in a lower-middle-class Asian family, the last thing we were allowed to do as children was to indulge in too much time watching movies. Movies were considered evil, deterrents that would derail us from our purpose in life. In their eyes, the purpose of life hovers around getting into the fields of law, medicine, engineering or teaching (if you are a female). Anything else would not just cut it. As we grew up in our own time, we realised that life is neither black nor white. Straying away from the top four noble professions did not make one a failure, and following religiously along the pre-planned path would assure success. This Gujerati film is a surprise nomination for the 2022 Academy Award Best International Feature Film Category, instead of 'R.R.R.' or 'The Kashmir Files'. This movie, by all means, is not an original one. It is inspired (or plagiarised, depending on which camp one is) by t...

Blues Gang I was just thinking the other day. Occasionally, in my social media group, one or two members would send snippets of Malay songs of the 80s and 90s. These songs used to be high on the music chart and ruled the airwaves in their heydays. I was pleasantly surprised that these group members were even familiar with such songs. We, the teenagers of the late 70s and 80s, must be a lost generation. The generation that grew up under the umbrella of the Malaysian New Education policy imbibed in Malay culture and songs. We grew up laughing at P Ramlee's antics in his actual Malaysian-themed movies and comedies in our preteen years. We ended up watching them umpteen times, probably able to rattle out certain classic dialogues and recall particular scenes from his films at the drop of a hat. The 80s saw a renaissance of modern guitar and drums bands that were belting out hard and punk rock music. Rock Kapak was another branch of rock of Malay punk. These bands were so popular that e...

It: Chapter 1 (2017) Coulrophobia is a psychological condition when its sufferer feels a morbid fear of clowns. Funny it may sound as clowns are generally employed to liven up an event, a child's birthday or as a filler between circus performances. Furthermore, as the general statement goes, come sun or rain, the show must go on. Movie buffs will quickly remember Raj Kapoor's 'Mera Naam Joker' (My name is Joker) where the clown has to make his audience laugh even though he was crying and dying inside. Sivaji Ganesan also did a similar rendition in 'Rajapath Rangadurai' in the song 'Jinjunaka' where he, dressed as a clown, had to entertain a rowdy despite his bleeding heart. There is a logical explanation to coulrophobia. Clowns are accepted in certain places, parties, circus etcetera. He elevates the mood. However, outside this ambit, people are supposed to behave appropriately. Humans, as survival defence mechanism, have developed pattern recognit...