NOOB FILM REVIEW - TEGKANG directed by Josh Nawan (In cinemas starting 28th November)
SYNOPSIS (GSC)
The film tells the story of the relationship between a tourist, Hanafi, and a local girl, Rinai, who grew up in a rural village in Bario, Sarawak. However, Hanafi's presence in the village has changed Rinai`s life, which will result in an old hidden secret finally being revealed.
REVIEW
The synopsis does not contain the main twist to the story. Yet it is told in the official trailer. I think it would be a better surprise to the audience if it was kept to that point in the film.
So, if you want to know what it is, you can watch the official trailer. If you want to be surprised, let the film reveal it to you.
THE INTRO AND OF SYAFIE NASWIP
It is one of the most beautifully shot intros in the local film I've seen this year so far. Goes along with the tune running in the background. Starting from there, I was introduced to everything about Bario, Sarawak.
Then comes the shot where a plane landed on the village airstrip, and thus came Hanafi, played by Syafie Naswip of Yasmin Ahmad's protagonist in Mukhsin, Talentime, and also in Songlap and Al Jafree Md Yusop Melur Vs Rajawali (to name a few).
He brings that special presence into the film and adds that odd chemistry into the mix. His interaction with the main female protagonist, Rinai (played by the beautiful Michelle Lungan), takes me into the scenes from his previous film appearances, where he faces a similar challenge in falling in love, almost representing a special sort of archetype or trope for the modern Malaysian cinema.
Hence his entrance in a plane and from above gave me that strange feel. Moreover, into a place in East Malaysia, Bario, that I have never heard of before.
THE 'ALIEN'
This brought me straight into Ninavau, a short film by Bebbra Mailin that subtly speaks of East and West Malaysia being two very different places. The marriage between Ninavau with a Muslim from the Peninsular changes the relationship between her and her family altogether.
In this Tegkang, you will see how Rinai takes the presence of Hanafi in her life. The camera work speaks of how things are not going to work out despite how the story unfolds in the end, despite the usage of Tegkang (which means rainbow) as a semiotic in Bario. It should mean that Bario is the place, the heaven that Rinai is in.
SPOILER TERRITORY
Yet Rinai wants to escape and fly away (with the shot of the plane flying away from her 'heavenly' rainbow place, to come to the Peninsular to 'see' more ‘aliens’. Depicted at the end, she learns to read the 'Braille' code and uses a white cane as she settles down in Kuala Lumpur. Subtly, in critique of the absence of development in rural Sarawak. Another subtle hint of her conversion to Islam is by having Masjid Jamek in the background of the ending scene.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
How the whole thing feels, is as if Rinai was being ‘abducted’ by a Malay Muslim from the Peninsular. And despite Rinai’s ability to ‘see’ better with the help of Braille and a white cane, her spiritual awakening is not being presented, if any. Her return to Bario with the blessing of her stepfather and mother would have completed the circle nicely, meaning that both sides are together with the change.
Like how Bebbra Mailin did it in Ninavau by not entirely closing the door in the ending. The door which also represents the openness in their relationship.
Rainbows could be used together as the depiction of the bridge where both Hanafi and Rinai walked in the end towards a ‘heavenly’, poetic and spiritual ending, to further act as a symbol of their bond like the scene where Rinai gives Hanafi to wear the rainbow bracelet.
And Rinai ability to smell could be used further as a plot device such as in Metro Maalai by Haran Kaveri In Metro Maalai, a couple having a secret affair is being caught by the husband without the film showing how. But watching the scene the night before, she was shown in close proximity to her boyfriend while he smokes the Gudang Garam.
It would've been much better if this Tegkang happened during something happening in Bario or Sarawak in general, like an election or a monsoon storm, so that the Peninsular influence would be projected and represented on a bigger scale, a la Karate Kid.
The attached photo is from the trailer. The mise en scene subtly shows their division despite the narrative indicating otherwise.
Official Trailer