the worst thing about penning my thoughts about
KAMI - this is not a review (haven't done one of those for a very long time - is when you gotta do the dirty on a friend, or in this case 2 of them. me? I know fendi and fizzi and i know them well enough to feel awkward about writing this. on one hand i couldn't just let it be and be totally apathetic about it, or simply pretend i didn't watch the movie... with the usual euphemism, "ohh... busy-lah." but then again, i promised fizzi, i would. this could be a case of being careful for what you wish for.
so let me get this out of the way. in short, i liked it*. the asterisk is there, because i feel i have to qualify that statement. since i'm going gonzo on this, bear with me. i watched 3 movies this raya weekend, KAMI, Eagle Eye and Painted Skin. the last two were sheepishly bad... baaad. EE was mindless turdshit, i.e. shit of shits, while Painted Skin really offended my sense of wonder, the editing was bad, the story sucked seven types of floaters and the actors puked out their lines like the triads forced them to say stupid shit. WTF. how do people bankroll stinkers like these?
with that, i think KAMI became my favourite movie of the week. on its merits, i liked KAMI in parts, small measures. the acting was interesting, but the thing that annoyed me the most was the lack of dialogue and excess of posturing... "oh, look at me.... i'm misunderstood" or "oh... don't ask me too much... the truth will eat you alive and give you a migraine". "oh... look at me smirk, an evil smirk... i'm such a baddie", i could go on. i know its motivation but when people spend too much time on the screen with the difficulty of not being able to speak their minds, you have a problem.
let me try to explain myself. if you watched an arthouse/outhouse movie and there wasn't much dialogue or even an attempt to speak, it's cool... in an artie fartie sense... or on the flip side, if there was too much talking, you'd end up with a bunch of kevin smith poser retard characters whom you have not affection for, and case in point jay of the jay and silent bob. i like jay but he doesn't stick because he says too much.
but what we have in KAMI, is chilling. people with sooo much to say but having difficulty saying something. so if you watched the movie you'd be wanting to shout at the characters to "fucking say something!!!!" before the next fuck-up happens. can it be possible that so much shit happens in the movie because these kids have a problems talking to each other, even though they are friends? or are they even friends? go watch the movie and tell me if it is not fuck-up by numbers, and the determinant being a lack of chat time. dear readers,
"what we have here is a failure to communicate".
it's bad enough the bunch have problems with their parents, or don't really have much to say to them apart from the pouting and storm offs, but even among themselves...? i was steaming in the cinema. that said, i do hope there is a sequel, just to see if these characters actually grow up - even if they don't, what fuck ups will they endure... like the rambo series or the nolan batman franchise, the theme of escalation may work out here.... let the failure to communicate escalate, so that they ended up doing really odd things... and we can all them have a laugh.
by the way, where's this university of norwedon? i'd like to know... cos' if i have a kid, i'm not sending them there... who in their fucking right mind would give sofie a placement in a university when she only just finished her SPM... bearing in mind her results are still weeks away. don't medical students have to at least have A-Level requirements....?
so, no.... i do not think the following, that:-
(i) ali's an underachiever with an oedipal complex, and how can he not with mommie being a hottie;
(ii) abu's a nut job, but after so many beatings in juvie detention, and no one really doing anything about it... an intervention may have saved him, but that wouldn't have sold as many tickets, i suspect, unless of course your uncle's tony soprano.
(iii) lynn's the other nut job and clueless glue that binds. so she can't articulate, but she can write... hatchet jobs. i'm guilty of those and i relate very well, all the way up to receiving my paychecks...
(vi) sofie's such a princess but her mommie's utterly bonkers. what happened to jamal, may not have been necessary to the plot, but leaving it unresolved means leaving it muddled and not ambiguous with regard to her mom's intentions of hiding sofie's offer letter.
(v) adii's my one true spark. she may as well be the allspark. i've never seen a character this whoreishly virginal and spunky in local cinema. may be an original.
(vi) boy's just an asshole who get's his comeuppance and not much else. the one thing i could not get was why was he a drug pusher, channeling paedophilic tendencies... you see that smirk and glint in his eyes? i thought he was just horny.
there were one too many sub plots that didn't matter, for me to really make sense and have closure. i didn't need it nicely wrapped up but it feels to unresolved. would there be a director's cut? i hope so.... all these little things would add to a lot.
i just wish there was some polish to KAMI, rather than a diamond in the rough. so i do like it, while reflecting on my childhood, the annexe, paul's place, doorbitching and bad jam sessions. but that's life and all that. i just wish i had a longer glimpse of what was or never was, than the 1 hour and 50 minutes afforded.
so just in case, you "think" i'm slagging the film off, please stop thinking... i'm just being honest here. i know i made a point somewhere in here, but that's up to you to figure out. i'm going for a dump right now. until next time... kill the lights and pray you don't see daylight.....
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