Flower in The Pocket

Variety Film Review:
By JAY WEISSBERG

The awards keep coming for "Flower in the Pocket," a slip of a film whose genuine humor and lack of pretension, not to mention palpable warmth, set it above the general run of new Malaysian cinema. Though demonstrably affiliated with the distancing style of the ultra-low budget Malaysian trend, freshman features helmer Liew Seng Tat is fortunate to have a couple of rascally brats around whose mischief-making offsets a tone too willing to hold the viewer at arm's length. Prizes at Pusan and Rotterdam guarantee a healthy fest life, though expectations may be greater than pic's mild charms.

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By Ajami Hashim

Salaam..

Ini sebuah filem yang benar-benar saya ikuti ceritanya dari awal ke akhir seolah-olah tidak mengizinkan saya untuk menguap atau membelek telefon bimbit bagi membaca sms yang masuk! Sejujurnya saya kurang gemar menonton filem sebegini yang adakalanya sunyi-sepi tanpa sebarang bunyi atau muzik latar TETAPI filem yang ini saya 'masuk' ke dalamnya dan terhibur! Juga saya tidak ambil peduli sangat sekiranya ada pengkritik atau penonton lain yang mahu mengatakan filem ini berbaur sedikit sindiran sesama kaum? Saya tak kisah! Bagi saya TIADA beza seandainya filem ini dituturkan dalam bahasa Jerman atau Perancis kerana yang saya mahu kisahkan ialah ceritanya.

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Gertjan Zuilhof Programmer of IFFR

Two incomparable boys and the dog, and yet this isn't a children's film. Made with a comic timing of an experienced director. The motherless boys roam the streets while their father doesn't seem to be interested in them. Latest branch on the tree of Malaysian new wave.

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By Benjamin McKay

IT takes great skill to make a film about the emotional and material deprivation of young children without resorting to either sentimentality or sermonizing. How, instead, do you make an empathetic, realistic and non-preachy film about the plight of children in need and still manage to fully engage with your audience? Can, or indeed should, such a film be entertaining?

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By Lee Zhiang Yang

There is a great danger in judging Liew Seng Tat's maiden effort - for it will feel like you are judging children. As the man himself concedes openly, filming children in movies is a forewarned pitfall if you believe the things they tell you in film school. Having not been to one, Liew can at least be proud about being part of the oft-cited Malaysian New Wave of filmmaking, and that his quiet offering "Flower In The Pocket" has a strong case for having won some awards at Pusan earlier this year.

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