Tiger Stripes Review Comingofage Body Horror Releases The Monster Inside
Malaysian director Amanda Nel Yew's impassioned feature debut showcases stunning visuals and a vivacious cast as they journey through a jungle of the mind starring Brian in dramas and films realistic about women's bodies and sexuality. De Palma, David Cronenberg, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It can be a bit derivative and at times the story seems to flow but only after we have had very crazy and hallucinatory experiences.
The scene is a Muslim girls' school in Malaysia, where students are required to dress and behave conservatively; In English class they learn phrases like: “Dad went to work. Mother cooks at home. Twelve-year-old Zafan (Zafrin Zairizal) hangs out with his girlfriends Farah (Dina Ezral) and Mariam (Pika), and from the start we see he's a rebel and a born leader; It was filmed on someone's phone. going to the toilet, dancing and taking off the headscarf, which are dangerous crimes. The teaching staff is furious that the girls are misbehaving in this semi-private place, and the principal (Fatima Abu Bakar) scolds them for their bad behavior and complains about the fact that Chinese students beat Malaysians in exams.
The crisis of course came at a tense moment when Zafan realized that his body was the first to change. First, they register the difference as a kind of privilege; he is freed from his prayers, which gradually degenerate into ostracism and abuse from his ex-girlfriend, Farah. But wait. Something actually happened to Zafan's body - something else, rage, cunning, and unfathomable power. He saw forest creatures on the branches who had burning eyes and seemed to transform themselves into them.
The film's strength may also be its weakness: the connection between the allusion and the literal. The first time we see Zafan's eyes twinkling, the first time we see his body clearly and terrifyingly transform into something hideous, there is something amazing about him; We seem to enter a new dimension of fear and even terror. But in the next scene he's back to normal and what we see doesn't seem to have any narrative impact. Sure, the two modes coexist very well, but the side-theme of mass hysteria and the cries for help of a snake oil charmer (Shahazi Sam) is a bit tiresome.
As regressive and homophobic as the authorities may be in their dealings with Zafan, they are not completely irrational; he finally turned into a real monster. However, the action the director got from his young cast was amazing and beautifully filmed.
