TENGKU Mona Riza has done it again. The impression she made with Redha in 2016 that made the movie our selection for the 89th Academy Awards is once again seen with Rain Town, her latest directorial film.
This time around, the movie is set in Taiping and starts with rain betting, a favourite pastime of a few of the townspeople. The main character is Choo, the father who along with his mixed-race wife Aileen, raise their kids Alex, Isaac and Ruby to rather exacting standards which makes it very challenging for them.
Along with the setting of the movie, the dialogue and storyline are very familiar to many of us in Asia, let alone Malaysia, and in it, we see many characteristics that are closely related to people we all know.
From Choo’s many conversations with his childhood friends and friendly rain betting stories to Aileen and the children’s conversations with their own friends, one can find a connection with our own lives.
Susan Lankester steals the show as long-suffering wife Aileen and Choo, played by Kin Wah Chew, is instantly recognisable as a friend’s parent that we all had when growing up. Choo constantly pushes his children to excel and is oblivious to the fact that he pushes them away from him as well. Fabian Loo’s acting as his eldest son juggling horsemanship and a deep desire to be a musician that drives him over the edge is very commendable. I’m expecting nominations for great acting from this outing for all 3 of them.
To add to the drama and storyline here, the movie is about 80% in Cantonese. Yes, it’s a Cantonese movie with a smattering of English and Bahasa Malaysia written well by Azril Hamzah and Zac Omar and directed by Tengku Mona. This is the unique tapestry of the society that we live in today in Malaysia that many of our neighbours don’t possess.
It’s great that our diversity and uniqueness are championed on film even while we have those who are trying to drive us apart. Rain Town has even won the award for “Most anticipated foreign Chinese language film” in Xiamen China at the 36th Golden Rooster.
The Vibes had an exclusive podcast session with producers Tengku Mona and Haris Sulong previously on the journey to making films that will impact society.
What really struck me was a quote that I found in the little coffee table book made by the film crew to commemorate the journey, which said, “Stop waiting to be on the side of the majority, make a difference. Be an impactful minority”.
Haris also said he and Mona make films to inspire their children that what seems to be impossible is possible (of course within the limitation we have) and to inspire other fellow filmmakers that to be in an unfamiliar territory can be a beautiful, knowledgeable experience. This is certainly underlined by the fact that Mona had to have an interpreter to get her thoughts and plans across to the crew accurately enough, just to ensure that that the film was made as she envisioned it.
Malaysia is truly Asia in that sense when we have such a powerful and diverse resource of cultures and stories that we all live and talk about more than many neighbouring countries. Rain Town is a wonderful product of this country, and it is our hope that more filmmakers will spotlight this wonderful unity that we have in their production.
Rain Town begins its run in our theatres just before the nation celebrates Chinese New Year from February 8. – The Vibes, February 6, 2024
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