Abang Adik

The story is about the emotional journey between the two "stateless brothers" - Abang (a deaf-mute man) and adik (a teenager) - and their lives. Through their lives, it reveals a lot of local social justice issues, e.g. Public servants' attitudes, illegal foreign workers hiding from immigration operations, taking on odd jobs for a living... and so on.

The pace is rather slow at times, which appears to be a common style among most new Malaysian directors, who love to bring out the typical Malaysian street scenes, building conditions, and local values, which can be overly deliberate and extra to some extent.

The character development between the two brothers is good. They are very well developed and engaging! However, it's weak on the supporting characters, e.g. The Myanmar girl, her scene is very touch-n-go and left unaddressed! Of all the supporting characters, I love "MONEY SISTER"! Although 'she' plays a small role in the movie, "she" is outstanding, and she seems to have a lot of untold stories that are worth exploring (perhaps in another solo movie??!!)

I love the communication scene in the prison, which carries so much emotional weight and struggle. Abang lives well in life day-by-day, but from the scene, audiences could realise that deep inside his heart, he has a lot of voices of unfairness, despair, anger... that wish to be heard and understood! No doubt, Wu Kang Ren's acting is superb! You feel him all the way, from his eye-contact, tears, emotion, and body language... He deserved the BEST ACTOR AWARD!!!

There are a few pitfalls in the movie, e.g. Some scenes are rather shaky, and the storyline is very much one-dimensional. Besides, the last scene of Abang meeting Adik in the prison is NOT well managed. It can be more touching and much better than that, yet the angles and build-up motions do not achieve the optimum outcomes.

For a local production, I gave 3.25 out of 5.0. It's a nice cameo, but NOT up to an excellent movie, without pitfalls or weaknesses. The storyline is rather simple and thin. What makes it good is the emotional depth of the silent communications of Abang that carry us away! If it is without it, it can be a very pale and plain movie. (Gosh~~ I burst into tears badly in the cinema!!)