The Journey

The Journey is a cross-continental Malaysian comedy drama film with a simple story but full of depth and meaning. The story is about Bee, who returns from Britain to Malaysia to seek her conservative and stubborn father's blessing for her marriage with a Caucasian, Benji.

However, due to Benji's lack of cultural understanding of Chinese culture and traditions and the issue of language barriers from both parties further complicates the situation, which results in Bee's father, Chuan strongly opposes the union. But, due to a series of unexpected events happening at that time, Chuan reluctantly agrees to give his blessing, with some terms and conditions.

Soon, the journey begins with Benji and Chuan riding a motorcycle together to deliver the wedding invitations to Chuan's ex-primary schoolmates all over Malaysia. Throughout the journey, the two learn valuable lessons about love and accepting each other's differences.

The film successfully depicts the Malaysian Chinese culture and tradition, the love between father and daughter, life-long childhood friendships that transcend time and culture, the liberal views of our current young generation on screen, the unpredictability and fragility of life...all in one film. The script is genuinely funny at times, emotionally poignant and relatable to all Malaysians. It's incredibly rare to see a local production of this quality. It's a tremendous accomplishment for the Malaysian movie industry and it's something we, Malaysians should be proud of.

Moreover, the cinematography is surprisingly stunning for a local production and the film is shot on various locations in Malaysia: Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, Kedah, Melaka, Sabah and Johor. The film captures the beautiful sights of the country...the hills, paddy fields, beach, bridges, etc. The props used in this film...the old furniture and decorations in Chuan's or any of his other ex-classmates' house provides a feeling of authenticity.

The Journey is a character-driven story, the film shines because of its wonderful casts. Lee Sai Peng is wonderfully cast as he managed to provide a great performance as the mopey and grumpy old man. On the other hand, Joanna Yew Hong Im and Ben Andrew Pfeiffer both provide a convincing performance as the interracial couple, managed to convey believable character emotions for certain scenes in the film.

Overall, it's one of the best Malaysian Chinese film ever made, don't miss it. It's a film for the young and old, a film that exceeds my expectation. It's better than many of the trashy and pointless foreign Asian productions out there now. Highly recommended.

http://yjcool.blogspot.com/2014/02/movie-review-journey.html

Before I first went to watch THE JOURNEY in the cinema, I have little knowledge about this movie at all. But to my surprise, this locally-made production has totally exceeds my expectation, at which THE JOURNEY truly deserves its recognition as one of the best Malaysian-Chinese movies ever made. And bear in mind, this is only Chiu's (his full name is actually Chiu Keng Guan) third directing effort following his back-to-back success of 2010's WOOHOO! and 2011's GREAT DAY.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

After spending a decade living with her aunt to study art in England, Bee (Joanne Yew) has finally returns home to Cameron Highlands. She also brought back her British fiancé, Benji (Ben Andrew Pfeiffer) to introduce him to her conservative father Uncle Chuan (Frankie Lee) and hoping to seek his blessing for their upcoming marriage. At first, Uncle Chuan opposes to his daughter's marriage because he doesn't get along with Benji well. However, he ends up agreeing anyway except with one condition -- their wedding ceremony has to be done in the Chinese tradition. Soon, Benji is tasked to bring along Uncle Chuan on a long motorcycle journey across the country to deliver the wedding invitations to Uncle Chuan's 11 ex-primary schoolmates.

THE GOOD STUFF

Chiu's direction is sharp and meticulous to detail, especially the way he depicts the Chinese culture and tradition with such authenticity. His regular screenwriter, Ryon Lee, successfully combined the universal themes of culture, hope, love, friendship and unity within his screenplay that everyone can relate to. Eric Yeong's cinematography, which is shot on locations across six states in Malaysia (Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, Kedah, Melaka and Johor) are wonderfully captured with such sheer beauty it's like watching a travel channel. The panoramic and idyllic view of the Cameron Highlands setting is especially worth a special mention here.

For the acting department, Chiu has certainly took a huge gamble by casting actors with little or no experience in acting at all. However, his gamble proves to be surprisingly rewarding. 73-year-old retiree Frankie Lee is perfectly cast as the conservative and stubborn father Uncle Chuan. He pairs well with Australian stage actor Ben Andrew Pfeiffer, who delivers an impressive performance as Benji. Watching the way they argue against each other because of their cultural and ideological differences are simply both entertaining and heartfelt. Miss Astro Chinese International Pageant 2007 Joanne Yew, in the meantime, is not only photogenic but also acted well as the estranged daughter Bee. As for the rest of the supporting actors, all of them have their equal share of limelight.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)

The brief but wonderful scene where Bee uses a black marker to draw caricature of her father, Uncle Chuan and her fiancé, Benji riding motorcycle together on the car window.

THE BAD STUFF

Throughout the duration, I was surprised by the mesmerizing result of this movie. In short, THE JOURNEY is pitch perfect that I hardly find a flaw within.

FINAL WORDS

Like the title itself, this is one cinematic journey worth exploring for. No doubt THE JOURNEY is a rare gem of a local movie not to be missed this Chinese New Year. By the way, make sure to stay for the end-credits music video featuring Ben Andrew Pfeiffer singing a wonderfully cheeky song that combines English and Chinese languages.

Syok ah...song ah...

The Journey is truly a heartfelt Malaysian film that is unprecedented in its overall film making. It has scenes captured around Penang and Cameron Highlands that are totally an eye opening experience even for a local like me. They are so gorgeously filmed that I was immediately being pulled into the story right from the very first scene. It's truly amazing. I'm very proud of our local talents who have demonstrated excellent cinematography to make each and every scene come to life.

This is a story about Uncle Chuan's daughter, Bee who has just come back from overseas with her fiancé, Benji and planned to have their simple marriage carried out locally. Things aren't that simple and when Uncle Chuan disagrees with almost everything Bee and Benji do, the journey begins. Believe it or not, everything plays out like our everyday's lives and I think that's what made it so real and related to us. Each character acted so naturally that I couldn't even tell that this is indeed a film. We can feel their emotion as they are very lifelike.

One thing that I should point out is that this film contains three spoken languages as well as three spoken dialects. It adds to the cultural diversity of how we actually speak in Malaysia. Sometimes, it plays around with the various languages and dialects, making fun with jokes known only to Malaysian and Singaporean. Then there are times where it tells the tale of every Malaysian's life and those are the gem of it all.

Filial piety is a virtue we Asian regard as of highest importance and this incredibly virtuous value is showcased perfectly in the story. Parents have dilemma and they ultimately have to make the difficult decision for their children. Whatever the decision may be, we have to know that they love us more than anything. Besides that, it also makes us realise that life is too short to bear regrets to the things we dare not do. Therefore, I believe that as long as you are an Asian, you will feel moved by the story.

Honestly, I've never thought that I could enjoy watching a drama at the cinema this much. The Journey seems to prove me wrong and I'm very glad to have made the trip to GSC today to watch this fantastic masterpiece. Oh, the laughs, the tears and the joy, it's definitely worth my time. I'm giving it a two-thumbs up with a score of 12/10 for my highest praise and 'more than' absolute satisfaction. Abuden?

Nonetheless, if you have a dream, go live it because time is never on our side! You can be like Uncle Chuan, pergilah!

P.S. : Let's welcome more locally produced motion picture. Malaysian Got Talents!

(v1.2)

The Journey happens to be the first Malaysian film i ever watched in the cinema. The beauty of my experience is that there were 4 generations of my family enjoying it - my 76 year old mother, my old 50 year old self, my 35 year old cousin and her 9 year old daughter. We all connected to the characters and their issues immediately.

The first reviewer has probably mentioned almost everything there is to be said about the movie but i want to add that since i am an educator by profession, i would love to use excerpts of the film's conversations as teaching - learning points for our current generation. The part when Benji did a telling off to his father in law for his reluctance to send off his dead friend highlights the important point of my learning and teaching resource. The little boy who stood in between them as interpreter did a wonderful job. He epitomizes the very essence of human communication... keeping the message simple, precise, easily understood and preserving the original purpose and intent.

And that, is mastery of excellence in communication :)

It has been awhile since I last watched a movie that moved me so much. I managed to catch the movie whilst back in Malaysia for a short holiday.

I must say that Malaysian movie production has certainly come a long long way. The movie brings back many sweet nostalgic memories of Malaysia's rich blend of culture. I came away from the movie with shedding more than a tear. Ben, Joanne and Frankie all gave remarkable performances. Top credits go to Joanne and Frankie making their debut as big-screen actors. One can sense that the main characters flow naturally in their respective roles without too much acting needed. The mix of various Chinese dialects and comical phrases are simply a touch of brilliance. Last but not least, the soundtracks by Geraldine and Ben respectively are so captivating and beautifully presented. Looks like the music scene in Malaysia has also come a long way.

Such gem should not be Malaysia's best kept secret. I am sure if made available worldwide, many Malaysians living abroad would enjoy this movie. I was disappointed that I could not get hold of a DVD/Bluray to bring with me to Australia so that I can spread the love around.

Looking forward to enjoy many more Malaysian movies.

Malaysia Boleh!