Bite this

If you are going to buy, borrow, beg or steal a book soon, make it Yasmin Ahmad’s Films by Amir Muhammad.

(The stealing bit was a joke. Usually I tend to avoid blatant disclaimers like this, but you’d never know, the same people who got Nose4News’ writer into trouble may be reading this and get unnecessarily excited. My holistic upbringing teaches me that it is better to be safe than sued.)

Now, I’m never very good at reviews – so many things these days hardly deserve one. But then again, so many gems out there do, and I always have a fear that whatever I say would not do justice to them. So I kept quiet. After all, I can always post the link to Facebook and tag the whole world.

However, Yasmin Ahmad’s Films is so good that I figured no amount of lame gushing from me would be able to screw it up for you. So, OMG OMG GET THE BOOK I *HEARTS* IT LONG TIME!

I may be biased though. I’m the type of person who loves reading anthologies and interpretations of artworks. I love having people point out, highlight, circle, and double underline the symbolism, the subconscious messages and the cheeky hints that writers, filmmakers and artists sprinkled in their work. This is perhaps why I read Otaku Zone in The Star although I have no patience for manga. Or why I can be engrossed in Bryan’s PC Gamer magazine for hours although I have no brain cells for those super-strenous games that they review.

And I always have a soft spot for wit. And gosh, Amir Muhammad is witty. Five minutes into the book and three of them have been spent laughing and then re-reading those clever lines and laughing again.

I also cried. Yasmin always had that effect on me. Now, I discovered that Amir does too.

The book is, of course, about Yasmin Ahmad’s films. But it is not just about Yasmin Ahmad’s films. Some people may think, like I did before I bought the book, why would we want to read something that we have watched? And then I started reading it. And I couldn’t stop.

I would like to think that this book is more about the story behind Yasmin Ahmad’s stories. It tells of Yasmin’s life, her philosophy, her vulnerability, her support group, and her disarming cheekiness. Rather than tediously over-analysing her scenes, the book actually accentuated them, helping us see things that we have never appreciated, and unveiling inspiring messages that we may have missed. Like I said, I’m a sucker for these things.

Amir also inserted his own notes about Malaysia’s various concepts, quirks, camaraderie, and contradictions, and those are the parts that I really like about the book. Don’t get me wrong – he did not gloss about the muhibbah-ness and the 1Malaysia-ness (I accidentally typed 1Malaysia-mess. Perhaps my fingers are bolder than my brain in accepting the obvious. I suppose it’s because finger-washing never quite caught on as well as brainwashing). His notes are honest, insightful, enlightening, down-to-earth, and best of all, funny like hell.

Flipping through the pages in the bookshop, I had that ZOMG MUST GET THIS feeling, which I always consider as an approving sign from the above to blow my budget for the month.

Perhaps it was divine intervention. I have no regrets buying it. I do not want to go into the details of describing it, because revisiting the memories of Yasmin Ahmad is something that is so personal, you have to experience it on your own.

According to the back cover, “all the writer’s royalties from the first edition will be donated to the MERCY – Yasmin Ahmad Fund for Children”. Think of the little kiddos and reach for your wallet already. They will thank you for it. Best of all, you may thank yourself – and goodness know you need to do that more often.