REVIEW: ‘Talentime’
My first exposure to this year’s Asian American Film Festival at the Landmark Magnolia Theater in Dallas is a Malaysian production which explores several very genuine and touching stories of the heart, set in the context of a school competition called “Talentime”.
Writer/director Yasmin Ahmad has crafted a memorable tale of love, loss and redemption with a blend of talented young actors, along with the gifted comedic and dramatic veterans, many of whom you will never have heard of before.
Original music by Pete Teo made the talent competition authentic enough, even if the actors’ inability to play or even believably fake playing the musical instruments to which they were assigned was obvious.
The central theme of this film appears to be varying levels of acceptance and redemption–whether it is a young girl’s acceptance of the boy she admire’s hearing impairment, a woman’s acceptance of her complicity in her brother’s life-long regret, a gifted singer’s acceptance of his mother’s inevitable passing, or the redemption of another performer whose malice toward a rival competitor turns out to be misdirected anger at his own father.
Talentime takes a real look at the interpersonal relationships between Melur (Pamela Chong) and her Muslim family, with sibling rivalries, loving, supportive and often silly parents, and unexpected comic relief provided by Melur’s English grandmother, portrayed by Jacklyn Victor.
Director Ahmad offers a heartfelt look at young love between Melur and Mahesh (Mahesh Jug al Kishor) and young loss for Kahoe (Kahoe Howard Hon), and before it’s all done you’ll more than likely shed a tear or two.
For American audiences, “Talentime” may come across as a bit on the contrived side–tugging at the heartstrings as it does–but it is ultimately a story well told by a director who will tell us no more tales.
Yasmin Ahmad died before this film made it into our theaters and our hearts, and it is my opinion that she would have contributed greatly to the fabric of our film making community. It should be noted that the glaring deficiency of “Talentime” came in post-production, where the editing lacks subtlety and elegance.
If a real old-fashioned tear-jerker is not your cup of tea, then you probably don’t need to see “Talentime”…but then again, it’s not my thing either, and I really liked it.
