Budak Kelantan

It’s a James Bond mania at the cinema right now. As everybody gets excited to see their favorite British secret agent in action, I was not as much.

I didn’t went to see The Quantum of Solace like everybody else on Friday, instead I went to see Budak Kelantan. That somehow had put the movie Budak Kelantan (Kelantan Boys) in a difficult position. Is it worth putting Quantum of Solace off to watch Budak Kelantan? Will it pass the test?

After watching Budak Kelantan, I’ve to say that I am glad that I put off the James Bond flick for another day. I mean James Bond will always be James Bond, cars, guns, bond girls, explosions are all as expected. However, movie like Budak Kelantan only comes once in a blue moon.

First of all, this movie, Budak Kelatan had zero hype what so ever. The reason I watch it because someone I know said it’s worth watching, and from blogs that I read, giving it a fairly good review. The movie only means of promotions were probably only by word of mouth, apart form the lame ass stupid movie poster.

Yes thats a really lame poster. I remember laughing so hard at the cinema lobby after seeing the poster for the first time. One part of the whole production of the movie that went disastrously wrong would be the poster design. Please do not take the poster seriously, instead I suggest you watch the trailer, I’ll embed the Youtube video after the synopsis.

Childhood friends, Buchek and Jaha, met again in Kuala Lumpur after being separated for so long. Now young adults – their attitudes and views about the world differ from one another.

Buchek witnessed the wild lifestyles of Jaha and felt the need to bring him back into the righteous path and even willing to let go of his girlfriend Che’ Nor in hopes of Jaha becoming a better person. However, Che’ Nor could not fulfill Buchek’s wishes and when a tragic accident took Jaha’s life, he blames Che’ Nor for it.

It’s a buddy movie, a true sentiment to the saying, “bros before hos”.

There was nothing commercial at all in this movie, nor do I think they wanted it to be a commercial movie in the first place. No product placement, no big names actors. The movie is selling non of that.

I like the realism portrayed in this movie. In the early part, the rape scene, I was surprise to see it actually went that long and no cuts.

I like how some scenes of the movie was made as if it was shot with a handheld camera. Ala, Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. In the fight scenes, the camera was all over the place, which makes it feel all too real, non of the choreograph stuff.

First act, got me hooked immediately. It was in your face. I was at the edge of my sit. A good start. However I started to see some plot holes in the second act. The third act feels like they were in a hurry to rap things up the film.

There should be more into the plot. Why does Buchek effortlessly willingly to give up his girl friend Che’ Nor to Jaha? More needed to be told of why Jaha deserved Ceh’ Nor.

Overall it was a stellar performance from the cast, especially for new comer Mohd Asrulfaizal Kamaruzaman who played as Jaha. He succeeds in making the audience hate his character. His performance outshines the rest of the cast, as I do think Danny X Factor, who plays as Buchek also did pretty well.

The movie is spoken with almost 100% Kelantanese dialect. Thankfully there were subtitles in both Malay and English. Not very familiar with the dialect myself it almost feel as if I was watching a foreign film or something.

Although I might not agree with the plot line as much, I still think it was a good first try for writer-cum-director Wan Azli Wan Jusoh. I’ll sure be watching out for his next project.

Budak Kelantan is raw and real, and I do think it’s worth putting of Quantum of Solace, for another day. It’s a must watch. Do check out the attached trailer.

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