Variety magazine review of The Big Durian
The Big Durian
(Docu -- Malaysia)
A Doghouse 73 (Kuala Lumpur) production. Produced by James Lee. Executive
producer, Sylvia Tan. Directed, written by Amir Muhammad.
With: Amir Muhammad, Anne James, Farish Noor, Rashid Salleh, Nell Ng,
Zaifeena Wan Nasir.
By KEN EISNER
Ambitious, sleek-looking B&W docu examines wide array of ethnic, religious
and political divisions in modern Malaysia. Clever picmaker Amir Muhammad,
who also narrates and appears onscreen, pegs effort to October 1987 event
in which a young Malay soldier, called Private Adam, shot up downtown
Kuala Lumpur. Combining eyewitness accounts, talking-head observers of
current
life and stylistic space-fillers, such as self-referencing asides and
animated segs, helmer
casts net so wide he's sure to lose some outside viewers. But "The
Big Durian," now having a Sundance bow, will make good programming
at any fests favoring Asian fare or boundary-pushing docus.
Title, which refers to a large Southeast Asian tree with
smelly but appetizing fruit, is applied by Malays to their capital --
although the same is done by Singaporeans and Jakartans to their cities.
Here, the title reps a messy tent holding natives together with Chinese,
Indian and other communities, often with brief outbursts of violence.
"Amok," in fact, turns out to be a Malay word, and that concept
permeates the pic, with its disorderly mix of straight-ahead chatter
and over-the-top visits from actors masquerading as private citizens.
Camera (B&W, BetaSP), Woo Ming Jin; editor, Terence Raj; music, Hardesh
Singh; animation, Deepak Kumaran Menon. Reviewed on videocassette at Hawaii
Film Festival (Cinema Asia), Nov. 9, 2003. (Also in Sundance Film Festival
-- World Documentaries.) (Malay, Cantonese and English dialogue.) Running
time: 75 MIN.