So I bought an original VCD – Sepet

One Chinese boy, one Malay girl, one unforgettable love story

I wanted to see Sepet at the cinema, but I was away so I didn’t have a chance, I wanted to buy the Uncle Ho DVD but there isnt one, and I’m not into buying pirated VCD’s so I bought the original from Jusco on sale for RM15.90, pretty cheap if you ask me.

I’ve been wanting to see it for quite some time though, as to be honest the majority of Malay movies from recent years I’ve seen have been crap, bring back P. Ramlee, and I heard this was pretty good, whacked some boundaries. Even within Sepet they criticised Malay movies.

Now I don’t know if the VCD is the censored version or the international version, I’d suspect the former, as it is being sold on Malaysian soil, I was surprised what got past the censors tho, like the MILF part and the dancing in sarongs to Siamese music..

It breaks some stereotypes and enforces some others, like a chinese Ah beng[/url] VCD seller, writing and reading classical poetry? That’s a new one…and his best friend who plays the piano?

The story is good, very sweet and and bit sickly in places, the direction is good, the acting is ok on the whole, the main characters are good anyway. It’s pretty realistic and potrays Malaysian life with an almost gritty reality.

The cinematography suffers a little tho, it’s quite marked they are only using one camera, and it makes some of the shots a bit weak.

I think it would be excellent for people outside Malaysia to see this movie as a taste of the culture here, they might not realise what it’s like.

I don’t quite like the ending, but other than that’s it’s a nice story, on the whole well told, with some interesting characters typifying Malaysia.

Ida Nerina and Harith Iskandar were great as a Husband and Wife truly in love, passion in their eyes dancing around in sarongs, great stuff.

All in all it’s a cute indy movie, it’ll never be a blockbuster or a chart topper, but I don’t think that was the focus, it’s not a big budget movie, it’s a movie about people, relationships and opening those ‘sepet’ (small eyes).

I’d give it a 7/10 and say that well, it’s definately worth watching, one of the best local movies I’ve seen for some time. I still need to watch Puteri Gunung Ledang though.

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35 Responses to So I bought an original VCD – Sepet

  1. j o e l October 27, 2005 at 10:12 pm #

    it isn’t a malay movie, it’s a malaysian movie, as corny as that sounds =P

    still one of the better movies i’ve seen in a long time

  2. totoro October 27, 2005 at 10:15 pm #

    the original DVD is only RM21.90.

  3. kimberlycun October 27, 2005 at 10:21 pm #

    so cheesy movie! but donch know why i kept sobbing hahahahahaha

    my favourite part is when the peranakan mom in law scolded her daughter in law about babie. classic!

  4. ShaolinTiger October 27, 2005 at 10:21 pm #

    Damn would have bought that if I saw it…but didn’t see it anywhere!

  5. dRaGon CiTY â„¢ October 27, 2005 at 10:31 pm #

    yeah…nice choice to buy the movie..it was really a nice movie

  6. aw3 October 27, 2005 at 10:35 pm #

    They had a row of the DVD at Tower Records.

  7. Wan Zafran October 27, 2005 at 10:58 pm #

    Looking forward to buy this.

    At least it’s a clear difference from the celebrity-love crap that the Malaysian movie industry producers are usually churning out.

    And yeah, it’s a Malaysian movie, about Malaysia. Heck, that makes me want to buy it already.

  8. Mei October 27, 2005 at 11:41 pm #

    Whatever you do, don’t get Spinning Gasing. ~_~

  9. cyber-red October 27, 2005 at 11:52 pm #

    I liked Spinning Gasing!!

  10. Jeremy C October 28, 2005 at 12:25 am #

    Totally agree with you, ST. Nice little movie with a great theme and, like yourself, I didn’t really fancy the ending. Anyways, if I’m not mistaken, I think they’re coming out with the sequel soon!

  11. desparil October 28, 2005 at 1:21 am #

    just curious, how come you’ll buy pirated dvd but not vcd? 😛

  12. Gee October 28, 2005 at 1:22 am #

    The dancing in sarong scene was actually a build up to a punchline which got cut off the VCD/DVD version – Ida Nerina pulls down Harith’s sarong as he was adjusting it, in walks ‘Kak Yam’ and.. you get the idea. ASTRO’s box office version had the ‘deleted’ scenes. I wonder if we will get to see that on Hari Raya when it airs on Astro Ria.

  13. minishorts October 28, 2005 at 2:44 am #

    they’re going to show it on astro during the raya hols! yay!

  14. moons October 28, 2005 at 3:31 am #

    ah yes, this movie been out for some time, and my elder brother is writing a research paper concerning it for UKM, er he majors in english literature. lol.

  15. sharina October 28, 2005 at 4:17 am #

    i cried watching it!

    the ending anyway. when she read the letter.

    gah. i’m such an ass.

  16. suanie October 28, 2005 at 5:13 am #

    not so original after all, yours didn’t have the sarong dropping scene! BWAHAHAHAHA

  17. howsy October 28, 2005 at 6:04 am #

    wanted to buy Uncle Ho’s one but they gave me a stunned look (dun haf lar!). Speedy sells VCD version only.
    And FYI, PGL’s airing on ntv7 on Raya first day.

  18. paradoxx October 28, 2005 at 12:21 pm #

    dude..the sequal to sepet.. “gubra” is due out next year..

  19. paradoxx October 28, 2005 at 12:22 pm #

    hopefully it’d clear the misunderstanding on sepet’s ending…

  20. Jacky October 28, 2005 at 12:41 pm #

    One of the better Malay/Malaysian movies I have seen. But in my humble opinion still too lousy to compare with movies produced by other countries.

  21. sub October 28, 2005 at 2:28 pm #

    puteri gunung ledang up on the list next?
    haha..
    come down over to johor and i’ll bring you to the mountain.. if you fancy hiking that is.. 😛

    imho, puteri gunung ledang is a true legend believed in the locals.. me included.. 😉

  22. S-Kay October 28, 2005 at 2:42 pm #

    PGL is a very very slow movie but it’s a nice watch if you appreciate its dialogues and gosh, the costumes and all…it’s just neat

  23. ShaolinTiger October 28, 2005 at 9:49 pm #

    Yeah I searched many Uncle Ho’s outlets for this and PGL, but to no avail, most of them just looked at me blankly and offered me Fantastic 4 or Monster in Law.

  24. Zaki October 29, 2005 at 3:48 am #

    OMG… PGL?? the story is about ZzzZzzZzz…ZzzzZ ops i fall asleep… pgl is a crappy movie =_=”

  25. met October 29, 2005 at 5:54 am #

    sepet is good.

    pretty chick ;D

  26. bittersweet October 29, 2005 at 5:36 pm #

    aiks. the girl looks a bit like kimberly woh. 😛

  27. Kuzco October 29, 2005 at 5:55 pm #

    Gwei lo, help me can?

    https://kuzcodaily.blogspot.com/2005/10/daylight-saving_29.html

    I know it’s totally not related to this post…oh well.

  28. yen October 29, 2005 at 8:41 pm #

    its good to watch it before judging it….but seriously…PGL is BORING….tot it was a cool movie ….but den =.=”….yea no doubt sepet is one of the best local movies i haf ever seen

  29. lionel October 30, 2005 at 8:04 pm #

    Sequel? Where did you all get that? I think a sequel would cheapen Sepet and I can’t see that coming from Yasmin Ahmad. “Gubra” will be another stand-alone film by the same director.

  30. dreamer idiot October 30, 2005 at 10:46 pm #

    Last I heard, there are people writing academic papers on it.

  31. Irene October 31, 2005 at 12:57 pm #

    not bad. you actually care to watch more local-made movies than this local girl. find the local acting still rather stiff and story-lines bit cheesy. but i’ll make an exception for sepet. n yeah, the ending’s such a bummer.

  32. Anonymous November 2, 2005 at 6:36 am #

    i strongly disagree with shaolintiger opinion of the movie potraying malaysians….duh……

  33. Ms November 3, 2005 at 10:04 am #

    sigh.. this movie remind me & my exbf.. he’s malay mixed chi n am chi.. and like someof the scene in d movie, chi family always disagree their child to be with muslim…

    *SIGH*

  34. Primrose November 4, 2005 at 10:59 am #

    You will love Puteri Gunung Ledang. I did. All 3 hours of it. Romantic-nya!

  35. Shane December 12, 2007 at 6:58 am #

    Hi,

    Do you know where online I could purchase a copy of the DVD of Sepet and/or Gubra? I saw Yasmin Ahmad’s sequel Gubra at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

    I loved the film and want to share with my second cousin from Indonesia.

    Thanks,
    Shane

 
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