Calling THE SHOTS

True masters of their own craft, these haute auteurs bring a refreshed outlook on Malaysian cinema with their latest works.

- NIKITA NAWAWI

MALU BY EDMUND YEO

A galvanic work of stark chiaroscuro and muffled rage, Malu probes into the complexities of the family dynamics, intergenerational grief and the constant search for identity with care and utmost empathy. Edmund Yeo—coming off the success story of Aqerat (We, The Dead), in which he shone a light on the Rohingya migrant crisis—looks inwards with a diegesis rooted in unsettling familiarity as he unfolds a narrative centred on a long-lasting discord between two estranged sisters.

In Malu, Hong and Lan are kept apart for 20 years before the passing of their mercurial mother brings them back together. But what should be an emotional reunion turns into an icy and withdrawn one as they learn the very dissimilar trajectories of each other’s lives. Unspoken guilt and resentment pile on when they’re compelled to relive the lingering childhood trauma and lead to a series of unfortunate decisions, leaving the siblings feeling more isolated than ever.

Slicing through timelines with flashbacks, sometimes without clear distinction, Malu gives offthe sense that the past is, in a way, the present. To this, Yeo reflects that we are unwittingly the shadows of our parents. The dreadful conception that we don’t really move on if we don’t let go of the past is a tragedy of the worst kind. It is a plague that haunts the central characters of the film if the atmospheric sound of crashing waves interspersed throughout the scenes is any indication.

Let me start by saying that in a world where many male filmmakers seem to struggle to come up with one good female role, you have created three in one film and it’s becoming a theme in your filmography. How do you do it?