Terbaik dari langit

Terbaik Dari Langit poster

Starring :

Bront Palarae, Iedil Putra, Amerul Affendi, Nadiya Nisaa, Megat Shahrizal, Aziz Sattar, Siti Saleha, Sharifah Amani

Director : Nik Amir Mustapha

Release Date : 25 Dec 2014

A heartwarming valentine to friendship and making movies, this year-end gift should not be missed.

ASIDE from the remarkable box-office success of The Journey, there hasn’t been much to talk about in 2014 when it comes to Malaysian films. Reasonably good films are hard to come by, and the ones that do hit the spot are mostly mainstream comedies like CEO, Dollah Superstar and Abang Long Fadil.

It’s only towards the end of the year that there is a sudden, mad dash to claim the title of “Best Malaysian Film of 2014” with films as varied as Lelaki Harapan Dunia, Manisnya Cinta Di Cappadocia and Ophilia opening within weeks of each other.

It’s probably mere coincidence, but Finas’ Skim Wajib Tayang has somehow saved the best for last, givingTerbaik Dari Langit a Dec 25 release date, practically the very last release slot for the year.

You can probably nitpick a little contrivance here, maybe a few unnecessary arguments to ramp up drama and conflict there, but there’s no denying that this film is a satisfying watch.

Nik Amir Mustapha’s follow-up to the all-conquering underdog KIL, which won four major awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best New Actress at the recently concluded 26th Malaysia Film Festival, is still a relative underdog, but one with bigger stars and a bigger set of toys to play with. And it really shows.

Not only have they chosen to do a road movie, already an expansive form to begin with, but they’ve also chosen to sprinkle elements of sci-fi (which means there’s a fair bit of tasteful CGI involved here!) into the mixture as the main characters Berg (Bront Palarae), Ijam (Iedil Putra), Toyu (Amerul Affendi delivering another star-making performance), Ali (Megat Sharizal) and Sofia Jane (Nadiya Nisaa) go on a road trip to make an experimental sci-fi film.

As Berg himself says to Ijam in the film: “The screen is bigger and wider in the cinema, so the ideas also have to be bigger.”

The “money shot” Berg hopes to get is of a real UFO, which he spotted back in boarding school and has been obsessed with ever since.

Stop and be friendly: Earth folk are not normally this friendly to passing UFOs, except when they need a lift to the nearest mechanic.

Despite the quirky-sounding premise, and the film’s many visual flourishes (usually in Berg’s head as he gets high), Terbaik Dari Langit is really about something as down-to-earth, humble and affecting as friendship and the bond that it fosters between people who might as well be alien to each other.

As is the convention in road movies, people go on the road to find or escape from something. It can be anything from a lost car to an incriminating video tape, a White Castle joint to the long arm of the law, but what they’re really trying to find (or run away from) is really themselves.

And what Berg, Ijam, Toyu and Ali are trying to find here is that long-lost glue that bound them together as unlikely friends when they were in school.

Ijam is your standard sports jock (now movie star), Toyu the constant butt of jokes (now a teacher), with Berg the movie-crazy artistic outcast and the dropout Ali both more or less still the same, it’s a volatile mix of characters that’s ripe for exploration.

It’s here that the film’s many achievements shine, even after taking into account a few unnecessary verbal bouts between Ijam and Ali.

As confused as Ijam may be, it’s touching to see him trying to figure out what he wants and what’s really important to him at this point in time, and “cathartic” is probably the only suitable word to describe witnessing Toyu’s journey from being constantly derided to becoming his own man.

Both of them are greatly aided by the wise and tender Sofia Jane. And it is rather ironic that the two “losers”, Berg and Ali, are the ones who have figured out what they want and who they are all this time.

Complementing this strong emotional content is the picturesque beauty of Jordan Chiam’s cinematography, and the aural beauty of Pitahati’s music score.

The cinematography deserves special mention, as Terbaik Dari Langit is one of the most gorgeous-looking Malaysian films in recent memory. It really does look, as the saying goes, like a million bucks – and you don’t often find that in Malaysian films.

The film itself reportedly cost way less than a million ringgit; but with a script this tight, acting this natural and direction this confident, it was money really, really well spent. Bravo!