On the 30th of September this year, the third feature film from Perantauan Pictures Malaysia & Befour Film UK will be released exclusively with Golden Screen Cinemas.
Indie cinema doesn’t have it easy in Malaysia. Whilst making movies has gotten much easier, releasing them hasn’t. It’s why it’s taken us so long to get this film out. Those of you who follow this blog would know we shot in the summer of 2008, and wrapped post in the summer of 2009. Then we had to wait till 2010 for an available slot.
As the film is prepped for release, I found myself going back to the question asked of all filmmakers, “Why should I watch your film?” Back when we were shooting, I recall a stressful afternoon at the back of co-director Lim Benji’s car, when our sound recordist Sebastian asked me “Arivind, why should anybody care about your movie?”. Being in the frame of mind that I was at the time, I told him to shut up or risk getting slapped.
But his question indeed begs asking. Why should you spend your money on this film?
The Joshua Tapes was a hard film to make. I initially felt the material was a little too close to S’kali for my liking. In essence we were once again making a movie about the relationships between young people.
At the same time, of my own accord, I was learning that my friends and I had changed. Where once we all seemed to read off the same page, now there were opinions and less of a homogenous point of view.
And that’s how I found the emotional truth of the film…
You see, when you’re in school, you spend almost every day together. You experience almost the same things together, and thus, you share the same highs and lows creating a bond like no other. It’s why your school mates, tend to be your life-long mates.
But then you all split up, you go away to study, to work and you grow, you become your own person. And so the next time you all come back together, each has his own stake to claim, his own point of view.
This is where the characters of The Joshua Tapes are. They experience that same points of transition in the film, of realising that unless they accept that the friendship will grow and change, they will never be happy.
By extension, I think the writers have subconciously commented on something much bigger, that being the state of flux their country, Malaysia, is in right now.
You see, Malaysia is very much in the “teenage” stage of it’s life cycle. It began with the common bond and aim shared when the country had to gain independence. It was like being in school. Everyone was in the same boat. It’s why a lot of older folk will always say race was never an issue, like it is in modern Malaysia today.
Once that was achieved, then each race, each person started to lay claim to things. Everyone wanted a stake in it, a part of the cake if you will.
And now, the country is at a point where they can no longer find the common ground anymore easily, because everyone has “gone away”, and become different “people”.
The question is, what will the outcome be?
Truth is, like for the characters in The Joshua Tapes, it will be a mix of regret and redemption. What will matter in the end, is the way in which one chooses to conduct oneself, during this period of transition because that will define the end outcome.
And perhaps that is why you might want to give this movie a watch. It is a story about all of you. It’s why every time you, as a young person, gets together with your mates, all you talk about is politics, social justice and personal relationships.
Because just like Ajeet, Ryan & Reza, you’re just trying to find the right way to get to that place you all wanna be.
And just like the process of both character and nation building, it is messy, rough, raw but above all, emotionally true.