Syumaila Salihin (right) and Arjun Thanaraju play school friends Aishah and Suresh in the film. – Anomalist Production
MENTEGA TERBANG should be banned, but for this sole reason: it’s boring. My colleague Nadia and I are not happy we lost over one hour of our lives watching this tepid Yasmin Ahmad wannabe film, but we watched demi negara dan rakyat (for the people and country).
The film is about a family who loses their mother due to an illness, and a precocious daughter who is curious about the world. She can be combative, like all teenagers are, as she navigates her little world with her best friend, Suresh (the only good thing about the film). The two fancy themselves as purveyors of culture and debate, as they deal with crushes, death and grief, and yes, multiculturalism in Malaysia.
