The Big Durian (film)

The Big Durian is a 2003 Malaysian film by Amir Muhammad that combined documentary with fiction. It created history by being the first (and only) Malaysian film to screen at the Sundance Film Festival.[1]

The Big Durian
Directed byAmir Muhammad
Produced byJames Lee
Sylvia Tan
Music byHardesh Singh
CinematographyWoo Ming Jin
Edited byTerence Raj
Running time
74 minutes
CountryMalaysia
LanguageEnglish
Malay

Synopsis

On the night of 18 October 1987, a soldier, Prebet Adam ran amok with an M16 in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Due to the thorny circumstances of the time and place, his amok triggered a citywide panic and rumours of racial riots.

Cast

The Big Durian features 23 people: some are actors, while others are expressing their personal opinions. The first group includes Patrick Teoh, Low Ngai Yuen, Jo Kukathas and Rashid Salleh; while the latter include Farish A. Noor, Nam Ron, Anne James and Chacko Vadaketh.

Release

The Big Durian screened in over 30 film festivals, including the Singapore International Film Festival and Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 2003 (the former being a world premiere) to the Sundance Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival in the following year.

Critical response

Variety magazine said: "Ambitious, sleek-looking docu examines wide array of ethnic, religious and political divisions in modern Malaysia."[2] The Village Voice said that it is an "impertinent love-letter to the citizens of Kuala Lumpur that does not let them off the hook for their apathy."[3]

gollark: I've said it before, you know.
gollark: PotatOS was literally made because of Terrariola.
gollark: Well, deploying orbital laser strike on terra I guess.
gollark: Really, Terra? If it *allows* you to install nonfree stuff it's beehiveful?
gollark: Oh no, is Terrariola doing things?

References
  1. "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 2018-10-04. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  2. Review in Variety
  3. Review in The Village Voice by Dennis Lim


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.