Malaysia,
2004, 142 min
Shown in 2005
CREDITS
- dir
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Saw Teong Hin
- prod
-
Dató Shazalli Ramly, Tiara Jacquelina
- scr
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Mamat Khalid, Saw Teong Hin
- cam
-
Jason Kwan
- editor
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Kate James
- mus
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M. Nasir, Tan Yan Wei
- cast
-
Tiara Jacquelina, M. Nasir
- source
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Enfiniti Productions Sdn Bhd, 7 Jalan Jurubina U/18, Hicom - Glenmarie Industrial Park, Shah Alam 40150, Selangor, Malaysia. FAX: 603-5569-2520. EMAIL: raymond_ahmad@myjaring.net.
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COMMENTS
Saw Teong Hin in person.
OTHER
The most expensive Malaysian film to date, this epic combines two locally well-known legends from the 15th century. Puteri (the titular princess) is the sister of Javanese King Adipati. Puteri loves Hong Tuah, a military commander serving Adipati’s rival, Sultan Mahmud of Melaka. But Puteri, forbidden by Adipati to marry a commoner like Hong Tuah, retreats to the solitude of the sacred mountain of Ledang. When Adipati is attacked by the King of Demat, he allies with the Melaka Sultanate, offering the Sultan the hand of his sister. Hong Tuah is sent to fetch her, forced to choose between his love for the Princess and loyalty to the Sultan. Using magical powers, Puteri realizes that Hong Tuah will choose loyalty over love, and she agrees to marry the Sultan—but with a few conditions attached. This sweeping epic, produced on a scale that rivals Lord of the Rings (with Malaysia looking just as spectacular as New Zealand does in the Rings trilogy), is emotionally enriched through the graceful performance of star Tiara Jacquelina as Puteri. Director Saw Teong Hin brings a sharp visual style to his debut feature, using both impressive special effects (including a trip to hell!) and a local martial arts style called pentjak silat to add to the excitement.
—Roger Garcia
FACTOID #219
Daniel Talbot, editor of Film: An Anthology , was the first recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award in 1988. Later he cofounded New Yorker Films, a distribution company that introduced many foreign language films to North American audiences. The Mel Novikoff Award, named after the pioneering San Francisco exhibitor, is given to an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema.
