Writer/director Yasmin Ahmad has crafted a shining look at friendship, family, and first love that speaks beyond cultural and geographic boundaries. She uses universal tools to accomplish this feat including traditional story lines, comedy, and some brilliantly written and performed songs. It’s a Malaysian “Glee” of sorts (but more realistic) as the music cuts to the heart of things with both lyrics and melody. One montage set to a sweet and peppy song sees a young relationship building… before cutting to an older cancer patient vomiting in pain. It’s this kind of transition that keeps the movie grounded in a reality we can all identify with to some degree.
The comment at the start of this review about John Hughes having a Malaysian sister may have been a joke, but the inference is real. His influence carries beyond the handful of music montages and teen cast though and into the performances and presentations of the characters themselves. These teens are believable in their attitudes and emotions. Their families feel real in their annoyances and charms. Ahmad’s perfect balance of comedy and heart may rely on fewer laughs than the typical Hughes film, but the balance still feels right. She captures a specific time in everyone’s life where limitless possibility first meets harsh reality, and she shows with beauty and grace that the appearance of one doesn’t have to mean the death of the other. These kids may live thousands of miles away from the world we know, but their pains, triumphs, tears, and laughs are as easily recognizable as our own.