About Me
On Saturday 4 April 2015
One of the best things about storytelling is that it invites you to empathize the character or plot; opening up ourselves and recall a similar emotion or predicament. For Papadom 2, directed by Afdlin Shauki, it was one of few local films that managed to make me open up myself; tearing up and being able to put myself in that situation. To be frank though, it was more to the director rather than the fictional characters. That statement has some critical weight to it in both positive and negative ways.
The opening scene is one of the most creative, thought provoking and comedic in recent years of local films (Maybe, the only one). Meant to be the ending of a film that's being filmed in the movie, the opening scene summarize Papadom 2's overall theme while at the same time expresses how the local industry is trying to film such genres. Opening scenes are very important as it establishes the genre, character, style, theme and even a hint of the character's needs. Local films has overlook this and went on to show a general 'explanation' or misleading opening scenes. The best example is the recent local movie, Cicakman 3. The film's opening scene--though I'm confident that wasn't the attention--was a bit, and unnecessarily, homophobic but it did established the villain well.
Commercial value?
While I detest quick cash grabs in films (Even in video games), I cannot deny the importance of audience's reaction. But this is not to be confused with sales and box office. The best stories are the ones that tries to communicate with their audience well; not trying to sugarcoat it or dumb-ing it down. Like a lecturer trying to teach her students, how well the students understand is how much consideration, knowledge, experience and passion is put into her material. Papadom 2 indirectly speaks to the people of the film industry (As what most local films do nowadays). But the center is family in general. Layers in stories compliment each other thus creating solid storytelling. Even though family values are, indeed, general, the film still caters to its critic to the industry. I believe the majority of the audience aren't able to relate to this because--well, they're not filmmakers nor do they ever care to be one in Malaysia (Considering how the masses see local films). This is the reality that I see as the film didn't do well at the box office and it's very disappointing. But this means something more to me, personally.
Great Script
I empathize more towards the director rather than the story itself which is, its in own right, an achievement itself for the film. I'm a film student and Papadom 2 tells the story of Malaysian filmmakers through Saadom's daughter. She's an assistant director to a very angry and nonsensical director. Through her, Saadom merely observes the hustle and bustle of a film set; much like the general audience! But why didn't it made it big in theaters?! Argghhhh!
*Clears throat* Sorry
All of the tiny details of the set; the work ethics, the mentality...all spoke to me very well because it's frightening to me, as a student, to know that I'm going to go through all of this. I believe there's no sugarcoated happy ending when it comes to the film making part but the film ended with what the director felt most important; family. And this is where it hit me, emotionally. Why I empathized more with the director is because I've been following his social network posts and his latest activities at the time. This reflected very well in this movie; sort of diminishing it's fictional nature and encouraging you to self reflect. That's a great achievement in storytelling.
Verdict
Papadom 2 put me into one of those self reflecting moments when one watches films; being in my list of favorite stories like Up, Brave, Legend of Aang, Legend of Korra, Walter Mitty and many more. Local titles are limited but its growing. Papadom 2 earns a solid 4/5 for it's honest storytelling and great script.
