Rindu

Punggok Rindukan Bulan

A couple of weeks back, I had a wonderful chance to catch the preview screening of Azharr Rudin’s debut feature Punggok Rindukan Bulan. Punggok tells the story of a young boy, Sidi (Saeful Nazhif Satria), who lives with his parents (who, in the press preview cut, are not seen together on screen) in a run-down flat in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Bahru, which is just across from Singapore.

A quiet movie that, for me, talks about a slow and irreversible disintegration of things – relationships, places, memories – and a longing for an end to that feeling. The (sometimes shaky) hand-held camerawork complements the sense of mobility, and Azharr employs mostly ambient light and sound (if I remember correctly), which amplifies the sense of place in the dilapidated and largely unfinished flat. It generally reminds me of Dogme 95 aesthetics, though I’m sure any references to this is coincidental.

For me, the end of the movie – which I won’t disclose – asks questions about the Malaysia we live in today: Is this as good as it gets? Can we change the way things are? Or are we seemingly powerless to do nothing more than merely long for things to get better?

In Malaysian cinemas 25 Sept – 8 October.