Nell Eu’s use of TikTok isn’t just a metaphor. That also taps into what the girls’ Malay parents and teachers fear is happening to their country, particularly as secular Chinese pupils seem to be hogging the highest grades, the school headmistress (Fatimah Abu Bakar) complains. They spend recess filming each other doing TikTok dances, of course. And “Tiger Stripes” is certainly in touch with what girls like Zaffan, Farah, and Piqa are going through. In fact, her premise is pretty close to ideal for a Gen Z-friendly B-movie (Z-movie?). That elongated first act might be because Nell Eu feels she has to show us what preteen life in rural Malaysia is like, or that she wants “Tiger Stripes” to seem like less of a B-movie. It’s a slight shame that it takes us so long to get there, which limits just how long Zaffan gets to do the fun stuff. (Her feistiness, mind you, needs no reinforcement.) Cue what “Tiger Stripes” is really about, and we’re in for quite a ride. As the pressures of home and school continue to pile up, Zaffan’s biological changes ramp up. Writer-director Nell Eu has talked about her own fears while confronting puberty without proper sex education - who could possibly think that’s a good idea? - and that she wanted to illustrate the “monster” that Zaffan is led to believe she is. Gal Gadot and ‘Wonder Woman 3’ Won’t Be Part of the New DC, Despite Her Recent Comments And her teachers are actively unhelpful: Zaffan is told to “hold it in” during one difficult moment, leading to a public embarrassment that only worsens her sense of isolation - and challenges the “innocence” that her school deems so important. Her anxious mom (Jun Lojong) and emotionally absent dad (Khairunazwan Rodzy) are not much help. That makes her something of a trendsetter at her small religious school it also means she’s alone in what she’s going through. In Amanda Nell Eu’s film, Zaffan soon becomes the ringleader of a band of unlikely rebels, including Farah (Deena Ezral) and introvert Piqa (Mariam), just as changes in her body remind her she won’t just be one of the kids that much longer. The term, and its problematic use, certainly apply to the star of “ Tiger Stripes”: Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal), a 12-year-old girl whose rural Malaysian village seems far too small and parochial for the scale of her wild wit and personality. In the years since its creation, it’s been more widely used to describe a person whose sheer smarts mean they ought not to be trusted (think: Scar from “The Lion King”). The last Malaysian film to be screened at International Critic’s Week was Woo Ming Jin’s The Tiger Factory.One of many terrible phrases coined in Britain during its long, foundational Victorian era was “too clever by half.” The term originally described a person whose intelligence was their downfall (think: a classic Greek god). It was the first film of the selection that we saw. This year’s Critics’ Week jury president Audrey Diwan, of Happenings fame told ScreenDaily magazine that the film impressed with a bold sense of audaciousness, saying “Irreverent and uncompromising, Tiger Stripes does not try to please, it is content to fully assume its seductive singularity. Image credit: GHOST GRRRL PICTURESįounded in 1962, the Semaine de la Critique is a sidebar event that is held specifically for first and second films, with Tiger Stripes being the fourth-ever local effort to be screened there since 2010. Starring a completely fresh triumvirate of local talents that include Zafreen Zairizal, Deena Ezral and Piqa, the film delves into the life of a 12-year-old girl who is ostracrised from her local community after undergoing an alarming process of metamorphosis, which leads her to eventually discover and embrace her true sense of self. A post shared by Amanda Nell Eu Stripes: A bold, irreverent effort
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |