c h o c o l a t h e a d w e l c o m e s y o u

I went to catch “Cinta”, the most hyped about movie of the year ever last week. I said so because “Cinta” has hogged the headline in almost every mass media even before it was released. Maybe it’s because Grand Brilliance’s product and GB is one of Media Prima’s family member. As we all know, MP conquers almost all mass media market. MP is undeniably the biggest conglomerate, which combines almost every aspect of mass media that we could ever think of. From outdoor advertising, newspaper, radio, television to film production, MP conquers it all. Coming back to the movie, I think the movie is quite good. But not as good as some movies I watched previously namely, Sepet, Gubra, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta, Tentang Dia and many more Indonesian movies that I have watched before. It’s not that I’m comparing Malay and Indonesian movie or something, but I can’t help but not to talk about Indonesian movies when it comes to Malay movies. I must admit I love Indonesian movies but as far as our movies concerns, not the entire of their product is good. “Cinta” to me is a good attempt to change the stigma that people has towards Malaysian movie, especially our own movie-goers. In spite of the big promotion done by GB way before they release this self-acclaimed “must-see movie of the year”, I still think this movie lack something. For the first time in my life, I bought a pack of tissue for me to cry on for I have fallen for the reviews made by the critics about “Cinta”. Unfortunately for me, I have wasted my 30 cents for it and the only thing that made me feel good about buying the tissue is the fact that I bought it from a blind man under the bridge that I used to get to the Putra station. At least I do some charity. What I’m trying to say here is, when I watch “Sepet”, I knew I will cry but I don’t buy a pack of tissue to wipe my tears off. I never, I repeat, never, bought tissues or even bring a handkerchief along with me when I go to the movies even if I knew the movie is an absolute tear-jerker. But magically, I am so caught up will all those marketing ploy that GB had in promoting “Cinta” that I actually, went to buy tissues for this movie. For that, I give my greatest kudos to GB for a great marketing strategy. Having said all that, did you guys check out the great outdoor advertisement done by GB for “Cinta” at KL Sentral? The advertisements are so damn neat and cute and sadly, I haven’t got a chance to photograph what I saw at KL Sentral. Okay, I can go on and on just talking about the greatness of Cinta’s promotion.

Moving on to the movie itself, I found it quite disappointing. Not much, but a little. I expect it to be great and big. I mean, really BIG. But for the most hyped about movie of the year, it’s quite disappointing. The cinematography is great. The proportion of the movie is near to perfect. The actors and actresses are convincing. But what this movie lacks to me is the little bit of ZING, if you know what I mean. That zing is important to every movie ever made or will be made in the near future. I cant talk bad about this movie because there’s nothing really bad about the movie, but I cant 100% love this movie like I do with Catatan Akhir Sekolah because of the zero present of the much loved “ZING”. For most of us, the love stories depicted in “Cinta” is common and to me, when you’re doing something common, in order for it to become special is to revamp it into something that is different than the older version of that particular thing. Okay, let’s talk about all 5 different love stories brought up in this movie.

First up, the love story between a married couples. They had a daughter and the husband is very dedicated to his family and loves his wife to death. But the thing is, his wife is in love with somebody else. Somebody that she gets to know along with her aging marriage to a happily married guy that happens to be his over-loving husband. I mean, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. I love the fact that the passionate person in the marriage turns out to be the husband. Not everyday we can see a husband who loves his wife more than his wife do. Because of that, I like this story better than the rest. So the wife wants to get a divorce and as we all know, the husband is crushed but finally, he succumbed to the old saying which is; if you really love somebody, then let her go. He realized that loving doesn’t always mean owning them. Wait, let me rephrase that, loving doesn’t always mean having them. Sometimes, we have to let them go, if it’s the right thing to do at that particular moment.

Second love story is the story on siblings. The sister is depicted as a successful woman in her 30’s. Her educated brother, to her disappointment, is only a painter on the street. She tries very hard to help his brother to make it where she is. But her brother doesn’t want her help. He only wanted his sister back. His sister that raises him to be the person he is today. Her sister finally realizes that she has changed and she changed again for the better, for the last time. She sacrifices herself for the good of her brother that she loves so very much but never really gets to know it until moments before she takes in her last breath.

Third love story is between as I put it, the “gold class citizen”. The much respected Dato’ Rahim Razali played Cikgu Alias, a retiree with Alzheimer problem. I kinda love this story because it reminds me of the movie “50 First Dates”. He still thinks he teaches in school and he called his grandson his son. But the coolest part is everyone in his neighborhood helps his grandson to kinda like “take care” of him. His grandson has a day job as a taxi driver so he only counts on the caring neighbors to look after his grandfather who hang around doing the same routine every single day. I’d really love to live in that kind of neighborhood one fine day. It’s an ideal neighborhood, isn’t it? Pfft.. As if it’s real in today’s world. He met Rubiah, a Laksa champ who opens up her stall exactly where Cikgu Alias gets his clock unwind and repaired. Due to his serious Alzheimer problem, his grandson is forced to send him to the place where he belongs. Passionate Rubiah offers to take care of Cikgu Alias for the rest of his and her life. Oh, bliss!

Next up is the love story with two young couples. The girl comes all the way from JB in search of the love of her life, which she believes to be working at some fancy architecture company. She didn’t find him and this leads him to a boy who works as a reporter for a sucky, gossipmonger tabloid. He’s such a sweetheart and nerdy and cannot say no to every single person. So he helped her for no reason at all. But the actual reason is, he has fallen for her. Despite his strong feelings towards her, he still helps her to find her so-called true love. She’s the type of girl who’d die for her love and will do anything for love. She’s insanely innocent and so insanely in love. But as soon as she finds out that he’s cheating on him, her world crumbles and she decided to go back to her hometown after realizing that her effort is totally worthless. Hold it. It shouldn’t end this way. The boy hasn’t said I love you yet, and so he did and they live happily ever after.

The final and the most nauseous love story of all is the classic “rich and poor” love story. Well, I hated this story the most because it’s so unreal and does not fit with the other 4 stories depicted in this movie. Other stories are more down to earth, close to life, and real. But this, this story is the suckiest of all and this maybe the sole reason why I didn’t like “Cinta” very much compared to other movies. Azura and Azlan, what a cliché thing, to pair the name of the lead character in this 5th love story in “Cinta” I mean. Azura is one rude MPH worker employee I’ve ever met. She can always politely tell Azlan not to bring drinks inside the MPH, but she decided to yell at him just because of that teeny-weenie mistake. So, that’s not logic because in real life MPH employees are polite and not as grumpy as her. And after scolding him and knowing that he’s some big time magazine owner, she decided to say yes when he asked her out for a date. And for a girl who works as a cashier and lives in a flat with some other normal family, she sure has a closet full of glamorous attire to wear out to dinner that night. And somehow, she knew that Azlan’s going to bring her to some fancy restaurant. And the way that the director depicted the way he’s afraid of being seen in public with her is soooo damn lame!! If he’s afraid of being seen in public with Azura, so don’t bring her to the function and hold her hand in a place that he know will be flooded with journalists and gossip column writer. Oh my god. Khabir Bhatia, you can do better than this lame scene. He could’ve just leave it to the scene where the reporter just ask him about Azura to depict how he is afraid of the public knowing he’s dating somebody and leave that lame holding-hands-and-let-go-hands scene behind. Big mistake dude. And the way he proposes in the train is so not close to real life. I mean, the other 4 stories are logic and close to our daily lives but this has totally crossed the line of logic and fantasy. Enough said. I could go on and on but I decide not to waste my precious time to bitch about 1 unreal story out of 5 love stories of a beautiful movie. So that’s it. This is what I really think about the movie “Cinta”.

I don’t know what else to write. Whether to write about my heart which has been broken to pieces and has been scattered all over the galaxy so badly a week ago or to write about how numb I now feel towards love and it’s so-called existence in my pathetic life. Either way, I’ll still be writing about me and love. A match that has never find themselves fit for each other. Love and me is like water and oil. We never understand each other. I bet love don’t understand what else I wanted from it. Or neither it understand what can it do to make me fall in love. I mean, I do. I do fell in love some time ago. But after admitting I’m falling in love for god-knows-consecutive-times, I will eventually hurt myself by falling for the wrong guy. All over again. I’m always like this. I will never change. I will never do.

The same goes a couple of week ago where I’m convinced that I have found the right guy for me. He’s perfect, despite some major differences. I miss him sorely even though we just met thrice. I’m crazy for him even though I didn’t get to know his full name. I love him. Or I thought I was. Then it hits me that, he didn’t feel the way that I do. He’s not in love with me. Then I’ll be devastated to death after making my own assumption about him and his feelings, if there was any, towards me. Apparently, he’s not interested in me. He’s absolutely has forgotten about me by now. And why the hell does it hurts when I finally realize that he’s not the one for me. Maybe because I wanted him so bad. Maybe it’s not him. Maybe because I wanted to be loved so bad. Yes. That’s it. I wanted to be in love. And he entered my life at that moment. And suddenly, I’m pretty much convinced that he’s the one, when all of these time, he’s not.

God, this is so confusing. One week earlier, I felt so damn depressed and again, I felt like committing suicide and be the depressive, out-of-love, tortured, restless teenage soul wandering around pestering whoever in love and made them believe that love sucks. Skip forward to present, I felt numb. I don’t feel anything. I can’t feel anything. Especially love. Back then; he’s constantly on my mind, 24-7. But now, I tried to think of him, but I cant. He’s not stuck in my head anymore. I don’t know whether to thank god for that or the other way around. I’m not missing him anymore. But still, he managed to slip in my mind sometimes. And that’s the furthest place he can go. He’s not deep in my heart anymore. I need to manage my feelings so that I will not be easily in love in the future. I need to.