NOOB FILM REVIEW - MACAI directed by Sun-J Perumal
SYNOPSIS (IMDb)
A drug dealer finds himself in hot water when the merchandise he’s carrying for a local kingpin is lost. Fearing his vicious boss’s retribution, he sets off to make amends in a visceral, kinetic film that knowingly plays with genre conventions.
REVIEW - THE REAL STORY
With that synopsis and a tagline that read, ‘Simple job. Dirty exit’, what the movie is about cannot be clearer. But as the masters of the trade say, what matters is how you show it. Coming from the cult success of the 2015 Jagat, Sun-J has given birth to a multiverse from where the Jagat boy protagonist, Appoy left. Multiverse means it is not in the same world as Appoy. It grows from the same branch. The actor Kuben Mahadevan who plays Appoys father in Jagat, is not the same person in Macai.
The protagonist in Macai, called Siam, started the film with a shot from the back and looking for something in the dark. Then the shot transitions into a fractal dream-like scene with (this is a big hint) the sound of films rolling - and then he woke up - with more shots from the back. This is a negative start for Siam. He is in a dilemma, in search of something in a fictional state of Linga Pura.
Before we go further, a bit of something on the term ‘fictional’ from the Canadian psychologist and writer, Jordan Peterson - “Fiction is not the opposite of fact. Fiction is hyper-real. And the deeper the fiction, the deeper is the distillation, the more real it is.”
What is distillation? It is the embodiment of real ideas into, for example, the Joker in Batman, which is the distillation of everything pathological into one character. But what happened in the movie Batman is not real. It is not real in the sense that it is a videotaped representation of an actual sequence of events. It is real because it is a profound abstraction.
And what is abstraction? An example of abstraction in the context of literature is that an author does not tell about every detail of a character’s life. He only takes the happenings that would capture the audience’s interest and contribute to the story. What triggers my curiosity is when he said that great literature, including mythology and religious accounts, is the deepest form of abstraction. And the trouble begins when abstractions and distillation have been taken as something real, and worse, missing the whole point of the story.
Coming back to Macai, Sun-J Perumal is an auteur who understands this. And the earlier ‘big hint’ that I have mentioned about the sound of the films rolling is - this is one of those films that talks about film and film-making, and the life as an auteur, specifically in Linga Pura. This is not the first one in ‘Linga Pura’ - We have U-Wei speaking of the same thing in Hanyut. Mansor Puteh in Seman. Mamat Khalid with Man Laksa, Kala Bulan Mengambang, Apokalips X, Manap Karaoke (oh, the list goes on). And to the more recent example is Mencari Ramlee by Megat Shahrizal and Kulit Wayang by Dain Said. Oh, and the poetic Snow in Midsummer. Ultimately, the godfather of it all, Dr. Anuar Nor Arai’s Johnny Bikin Filem. This is not the whole list, mind you.
Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver (1976), said that to write a story, you must first understand the problem. Then, transform that problem into a metaphor. He transformed the problem of being broke, alone, disconnected from the world, into a guy surrounded by people, only to be separated by the windshield of his taxi. Similar to distillation.
SUN-J PLAY ON MYTH, JUNGIAN ARCHETYPE, AND LITERARY DEVICE
That is what Sun-J Perumal has done with Macai. Like any other true artist - painters, sculptors, dancers, etc, the main trait of their work comes from within and is reflected onto the canvas. And the protagonist Siam actually is the mirror reflection of Sun-J Perumal. An alter-ego. Like how Paul Schrader said earlier, he understands the problem of living as a film director in ‘Linga Pura’ and transforms the problem into a metaphor.
Thus, this makes the abduction/ransom plot a ‘red herring’. A red herring in writing is a misleading clue or piece of information intended to divert the audience from the actual truth or outcome. It is how, for example, Dain Said plays with the performance of wayang kulit to critique the scene of the local film industry. It is also how Megat Shahrizal points to the sky towards the villain in Mencari Ramlee, similar to “Big Brother” in Nam Ron’s film Gedebe, or the “Gatekeeper” in Jalan Pintas, and The Gaunt Man with keris in Shadowplay. In Macai, it is the character Ibu played by Susan Lankester. Sun-J Perumal makes her omniscient and all-powerful by having her billboards everywhere. Someone that Siam owes big time - a goal, threat, or villain.
It all started with Siam speaking of the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve with the girl in a saree and ended up having a bite of the ‘apple’ (which is also her name) - and lost his precious stock of meth. The girl is obviously the ‘serpent’. Siam has committed the original sin. To avoid the writing of the plot being a plain and dry ‘MacGuffin’, Sun-J has cleverly integrated myth into it. The term ‘MacGuffin’ was coined by Alfred Hitchcock, which means something the characters care about, but the audience might not - a briefcase, secret document, treasure, person, or even an idea - in this case, the pack of meth.
Thus, enter Jack. Siam hits a dead end in coming up with 30k in 3 days. The way Jack enters the story is almost forceful, provocative yet composed. Like a sudden anal rape one can't avoid. Siam countered and re-countered the number of bottles of beer Jack offered. Until the former hit his limit and lost the alpha male lead to Jack.
Jack is needed for the story to move forward and for Siam to complete his character arc. Jack is almost, if not a full ‘Deus Ex Machina’ or the 'ghost in the machine'. ‘Deus Ex Machina’ is a storytelling device where an unexpected, sudden, and often unrealistic solution appears to resolve a seemingly impossible problem. In Mamat Khalid’s Man Laksa, Dato’ M. Daud Kilau's character descended from the sky and reversed all the damage done in Temasya Kampung Tualang. Same as Jack. He has brought Siam right into the very end of his character arc, in a club aptly called ‘Red Serpent’. It is where the ‘serpent’ arrives again to tempt and seduce Siam into deeper sin, but fails. Siam redeemed himself, and that is also where Jack finished his ‘job’ in the story and vanished into thin air. Oosi is just there as a middle person, comic relief, and a gauge for Siam to act and retake his lead role of the pack. And so he did and more.
Apart from being a 'Deus Ex Machina', Jack is also what Carl Jung calls the 'Shadow' of Siam. Something that Siam has to overcome. Close to his 'doppleganger' or alter-ego, a-la the Brad Pitt character in the movie Fight Club. This added more justification for how he just vanished in the end because he served no further purpose in the story, because Siam has already overtaken his doubts and moved on to the end of his character arc.
The pacing drags you with the story. Might be too slow in some parts, but Sun-J Perumal is in no rush. He takes you in to empathise with the protagonist and feel the struggle. Oh, corrupt police? It is a norm now in Linga Pura’s cinema scene since Nam Rom breaks the taboo in 2018’s One Two Jaga. And a fictional country or city? Not the first either. 2019's Moondram Athigaram has Metrocity in the Saffron Valley. P. Ramlee had one (of many) in a form of Pura Cendana in Musang Berjanggut. Oh, you guys can help me add to the list.
LABOUR OF LOVE
Lynchian, dream sequence. Dystopian, neo-noir, cyberpunk-ish play of lights reminded me of 2019’s Metro Maalai and Shadowplay (and Tiger Stripes!). (plus it is Blade Runner Noirvember!) Cinematography by Gwai-Lo brings Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angel wide angle lens to project the distorted world view to the audience. Mixing it with religious symbolism has allegorised the life of an auteur into a myth.
Skeleton in the closet as a escape pod into ‘Narnia’. Same as in Jerangkung Dalam Almari. The same in Mencari Ramlee where Sofia Jane’s character found the Pandora’s Box in a cave inside a closet.
The mysterious red hooded entity of which the wild boar symbolism has been hinted since Act 1 acts as the pay off for Siam near the end of his character arc. - although not many amongst the audience could share the emotion or experience the catharsis.
All familiar and recognisable literature trope for us to openly accept the myth. To interweave these elements into a film is masterful. I share what Pak Hassan Muthalib thinks about this film - A very mature work from Sun-J Perumal that explores landscape and mindscape with a neo-noir approach.
It is quite clear that Sun-J has major, if not full, control of the stage. As said earlier. This film is truly the auteur's reflection on the canvas. That is maturity in the trade.
For those who struggle in solving the puzzle, Joanne Gardner, a Mythologist from the Joseph Campbell Foundation, said that we should take myths seriously, but not literally. It means paying attention to the metaphorical meaning it could be suggesting. Interestingly, she said the same thing about movies. Movies should be taken seriously, but not literally, paying attention to their metaphors and archetypes as well.
Perhaps all of 'Linga Pura's films about film can be connected in one multiverse. And taking the quote from Udo Kier, who passed away a few days ago, in his one and only tweet - "Film should not be streamed on Netflix. Envelop yourself in the darkness of the movie hall and submit to the artist's vision." - and enjoy the glory of epiphany.
‘Nafas baru’? Nope. But as brave and ballsy as the others. Looking forward for Blues!
Trailer