MOVIE REVIEW: SUMOlah

Posted by azuan on May 16, 2007 in :: All Posts :: | 0 comments

Does a film with casts coming from 4 countries makes a movie international?

Does branding and movie blend well together?

These are 2 out of many questions that arised in my head before watching the movie SUMOlah. To be honest, i’m not a big movie fan and going to a cinema to watch a Malay Movie is something that i do once every blue moon. Anyhow my buddy asked me to join him for the movie and what the ehck, i went to watch this movie which turned out to be MUCH BETTER than many malay comedy movies i’ve seen before…

Brief Synopsis from official website

Ramlee (Afdlin Shauki) is a down and out Malay boy who can’t seem to hold down a job, much to his mother’s (Kartina Aziz) disappointment. Out of a job and out of money, he stumbles across a challenge by sushi restaurant owner Honda (Patrick Teoh) to “eat all you can for free food – within a time limit�.

One day he learns that part of his obligation is to take part in the Malaysian Sushi Association Amateur Sumo Wrestling Championships held by the local Japanese owners of sushi restaurants.

Go to website for more of the synopsis along with screenies.

With a long list of star-studded casts, i was impressed to see that these famous celebrities clicked together and there was not one actor that shines above the rest. It was a synergic performance by all delivering their part.

THE CAST

AFDLIN SHAUKI
INTHIRA CHAROENPURA
AWIE
PATRICK TEOH
GURMIT SINGH
RADHI KHALID
KARTINA AZIZ
TERRY GALLYOT
GAVIN YAP
SABRINA HASSAN
CHI CHI
BEN TAN
AKIHIKO WATANABE
MOHD AFIF

Supported By
LIL KEV
SAMANTHA SCHUBERT
ARI RATOS
KIN WAH
DIN BERAMBOI
NATASHA HUDSON
KARTINA AYOOB
YUKIO SAKAI – MATSUSHITA
KOSUKE SAKAI – YOUNG HONDA

What impress me the most besides the entertaining 2 hours was how the producer managed to discreetly combine branding into the movie without being too obvious or too soft. Celcom and Ogawa products and services were shown as part of the storyline building a nice brand image in exchange for $$$. With Datuk Mohammed Shazalli Ramly as the CEO of Celcom i aspect these kind of collaborations to happen. What a way to spent those fat marketing and branding budget to build brand image of Celcom. At least better than those lame football Celcom campaign (seriously…enough with those expired football stars).

Among the scenes that i noticed branding applies:
1) A girl in the shop next to Boleh Sushi selling Celcom plans.
2) Mobile phone with 3G – 013 number
3) Celcom sponsorship of the tourney
4) Celcom intl roaming japan – malaysia
5) Corporate colors of Celcom = colors of Boleh Sushi
6) TVC shown on TV
7) Machine ‘SPA’ by Ogawa
Ogawa machines in Fitness Centre
9) Ogawa machines in Japan
10) Mr Ogawa as one of the tourney participant
11) One of the team matches Ogawa corporate color.
12) Many-many more

Among the lines that i like:
1) Pokemon punya Dragon Ball – What a cover up for some foul words!
2) “If i snap my finger, Angelina Jolie will come and goes “Brad Who?” ”
3) Somestimes the beauty need some beast… naughty!

Overall i would love to see this movie become a hit. Obviouslly due to demographic factors of Malay Cinema viewers, films like Jangan Pandang Belakang and CicakMan will have better luck in terms of ticker sales. Not to generalize but high class malay comedy like Sumolah will appeal more to urban modern viewers who mostly enjoy english movie. With the timing of the movie close to Spiderman 3 release, it hits the ticket sales quite badly..Thank God for sponsors!

Keep it coming. Looking forward for the next Afdlin’s movie.