Thursday, July 31, 2008

Susuk

I went along to the premier of the long-awaited Susuk yesterday, co-directed by Amir Muhamad and Naeim Ghalili and thoroughly recommend it to you all when it comes out on Aug 7th. The filming was actually done in 2006, but the post-production work delayed the film's release.

It's a very classy occult thriller,which looks at the lengths some women will go to become divas.

The title refers to the black magic practice of inserting gold needles and other precious objects under the skin as talismans, and the deeper, by far more dangerous version of the practice susuk keramat, which was initially used only by royalty.

I thought it very well cast - especially loved the two lead ladies Diana Rafar as Soraya and Ida Nerina as Suzana, and the wonderfully creepy Adlin Aman Ramlie as the magician. The cinematography was beautifully done - there was a real build up in the atmosphere of menace, and the soundtrack, by Hardesh Singh, excellent.

But the film launch was also a book launch for the two novelisations of the film, the Malay version by Nizam Zakaria, and the English version by Amir Hafizi, both published by Marshall Cavendish. It was great to see Nizam get his first novel launched at last but I was so sad that Amir H. didn't make it, I think because he was sick.

Both versions are (apparently) quite different, with Amir H. taking more liberties with the story, and Nizam's version following the film more closely. I wonder if this is the first novelisation of a local film?

Well done, anyway, to all concerned and I hope the film finds an audience not just locally, but overseas as well. Here's the trailer to whet your appetite :

12 comments:

Burhan said...

i might actually get to see this film in the panggung.

i thought the english version of the book was already out. saw it in mph more than a year ago.

Amir Muhammad said...

Heard from Christine of MC that the book has been pirated in Indonesia!

Anonymous said...

I thought the book came first? I got a signed copy from Nizam a year ago.

The film looks exciting and ... takooooooot..

bibliobibuli said...

the film was release was delayed by 2 years so the books based on it actually came out first but weren't officially launched until now.

amir - yes, you know you've arrived when someone pirates you!

Anonymous said...

i bought a pirated lelaki komunis terakhir more than 6 months ago...amir had arrived quite a while back...

ah pong

Nizam said...

I was told that even the unpublished drafts of my novels are being pirated in Indonesia by a couple of readers over there.

Don't know if it is true or not lah... I'm flattered nevertheless.

bibliobibuli said...

doesn't it show a hunger for good writing, though? hope you can capitalise on it, anyway.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't a bad movie, even if I did keep my eyes obscured half the time...

"Not a horror movie"? Riiiight...

bibliobibuli said...

there were some pretty gruesome bits, weren't there. i'm glad the bit with the head being torn off got censored - what we saw was quite bad enough.

Anonymous said...

I was stapled together with titanium pins after an operation and will have to live with them in my body for the rest of my life. Now I know why I'm so scary but adorable ... haha.

bibliobibuli said...

that's interesting, Rox. but at least you haven't developed a taste for human flesh!

Anonymous said...

where ah?

"i bought a pirated lelaki komunis terakhir more than 6 months ago..."