Petaling Jaya, Tropicana City Mall | May 1, 2010 (Saturday) :
I am one of those people who prefer to watch horror and thriller than love movie. Hence, it is not my norm to suggest and ask my friends to such movie. However, the same can not be said for this movie which was Ah Niu's directorial debut. First of all, I am not a fan of his. I mean I have no special opinions on his songs nor acting. It is the comments and reviews that triggers my interest and those have been positive thus far. So, are those sheer sympathetic and bias votes as this is made and starred by Malaysians? I wonder...
Ice Kacang Puppy Love is a movie that was basically produced locally starring some of the biggest name of our Malaysia Chinese artists such as Angelica Lee (Fighting Fish), Gary Chaw (Ma Ling Fan), Victor Wong (Prince Charming), Fish Leong (Barley Ice), Yi Jet Qi (Botak's brother) and the director, Ah Niu himself (Botak). Apart from that, some of the older local artists which have been off radar for quite some time can also be spotted. These includes Eric Moo (Fighting Fish's dad) and Angela Chan Mei Ngor (Fighting Fish's mum). As the title suggested, the plot focused on the puppy love of the lead character (Ah Niu) and his friends. It was a 6 angles love story as it involves 6 of the characters. Just imagine a typical story line where A fall for B but B fall for C and C for A. But in this case there are 6 people involved rather than 3. Chaos, you say? Well, thanks to the simplicity in story telling and scripting, it is not that confusing at all.
Apart from that, there are other issues which were portrayed. Yet, it is the agony and difficulties for a single mother raising her child and the impact of the failure in marriage towards the children which were shown by Fighthing Fish and her mum that made me ponders. As the saying goes (pinyin in Cantonese) "Nam jui pa yap cho hong, lui jui pa ga cho long". There is also an interesting character of a Hakka old man in the movie which was seen sitting in a corner of the coffee shop gazing at the window waiting for the day where he would be reunited with his wife in China. Even as the old man was not the focus here, the message delivered by his character was meaningful. Live life to the fullest, life is short after all!
Through out the whole movie, there are a lot of silly and humorous scenes. Some of the comedy slapsticks were quite familiar as it reminded me of other movies that I have seen before. From the character of Botak's overweight sister putting up ghostly make-up and tried to confess her love reminds me of Zhao Wei in Shaolin Soccer. The combo of fatty-skinny-clumsy-clueless sidekick of Ma Ling Fan were also hilarious. Not to forget the scene where the duo chasing after Botak's sister in an attempt for love confession.
Still, the most note worthy point of the this movie is the effort of the production. There are a lot of props used which reflected the time line and brings me back to my childhood: the old Ringgit Malaysia notes, the guli game, the fighting fish, the Indian man riding motorcycle to sell bread and junk food. Well, I have not seen those for a long time since... many years ago?Another thing that I like best is the usage of azan (the Muslim summons to prayer) to signify the time. Other significant elements of Malaysia potpourri of race and culture were certainly detected in the language and script. Perhaps it would be best summarised as made by Malaysian for Malaysian.
I would say the downfall for Ice Kacang Puppy Love is how Botak can be miraculously appear at the bus terminal to meet Fighting Fish even the scene before is where his bicycle was hit and he fall on the road. Hmmm... At in all, I support the verdict that this is indeed a worth watch movie. A simply storyline and story telling that leave me light-hearted as I leave the cinema.
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