''Muallaf'' is a 2008 Malaysian drama film directed by
Yasmin Ahmad
Yasmin binti Ahmad (7 January 1958 – 25 July 2009) was a Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter. She was the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur. Her television commercials and films are well known in Malaysia fo ...
. It tells a tale of three souls finding solace in religion. This is Yasmin Ahmad's fifth film after ''
Rabun
''Rabun'' is a 2003 Malaysian drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It tells a story about a free-spirited older couple, Pak Atan and Mak Inom who decide to spend more time in the country after getting tired of city life. But they find that life ...
'', ''
Sepet
''Sepet'' is a 2005 Malaysian teen romantic comedy-drama film set in Ipoh, Malaysia. Directed by Yasmin Ahmad, it tells a tale of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl. ''Sepet'' is a Malay word which, in this contex ...
'', ''
Gubra
''Gubra'' is a 2006 Malaysian film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It was shot in 14 days in Ipoh, Malaysia. It is the sequel to ''Sepet'', and was followed by '' Mukhsin''.
The title is a word in the local Penang or Kedahan variant of Malay use ...
'' and ''
Mukhsin
''Mukhsin'' is a 2006 Malaysian film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It is the third instalment in the "Orked" trilogy. Shot in just 12 days, it won one award and one special mention at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival (2007) under the chi ...
''.
Cast
''Footnote:''
* ''Brian Yap's character was initially planned to be named Robert Ng.''
Closure
* It was not clear what had happened to Rohana. However, it could be assumed that Rohani had finally met up with Rohana considering that she had volunteered to take care of her stroke-hit father who had snatched away Rohana earlier.
* It was not shown explicitly whether Brian was attracted to Rohani or the religion of Islam itself. If Brian was in love with Rohani, this would probably mark the first time Yasmin concealed the romantic relationship in films that contain the agenda of love.
Screening
As Yasmin's previous films, ''Muallaf'' opened with the usual Islamic verse "In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful" (
Bismillahirahmanirrahim). What set ''Muallaf'' apart from her previous works was that the verse was displayed in Chinese in this movie, i.e. "奉大仁大慈真主的尊名" (
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: fèng dà rén dà cí Zhēn Zhǔ de zūn míng). It was understood that the verse would be displayed in Tamil in her next film, ''
Talentime''.
As Yasmin's second feature film, ''Sepet'', ''Muallaf'' was first screened in Singapore instead of Malaysia, where it was shot. The film ran for 4 weeks in Singapore from 27 November to 24 December 2008, recording turnouts more than that of ''Sepet''. ''Muallaf'' was first denied screening in Malaysian cinemas due to the Malaysian censorship authorities request of key scenes to be cut, thus rendering the story meaningless. However, 1 year later, ''Muallaf'' finally opened in Malaysia nationwide on 24/12/09 with a few dialogues muted.
International participation
Awards won
* 21st Tokyo International Film Festival (18 - 26 October 2008) ~ Special Mention Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film
* 2010 Screen Awards - Best Film & Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sharifah Amani)
Official selection
* 61st Locarno International Film Festival (6 - 16 August 2008)
* 13th Pusan International Film Festival (2 - 10 October 2008)
* Rialto Film Festival, Amsterdam - New Malaysian Cinema
Reviews and Interviews with Yasmin Ahmad on the film
Singapore
RazorTV Interview with Yasmin Ahmad on ''Muallaf'' (part 1)Lianhe Zaobao (24 November 2008): 马国电影《皈依》男主角原属意光良
(Malaysian film ''Muallaf'' male lead originally for Michael Wong)Lianhae Zaobao (28 November 2008): 《改心》马来姐妹花逃家 (''Muallaf'': Two Malay sisters on the run)TODAY (29 November 2008): Much ado about ''Muallaf''
Indonesia
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090126005522/http://www.rumahfilm.org/resensi/resensi_muallaf.htm Rumah Film: ''Muallaf'': Brian dan Sepasang Gadis Ronin (Brian and A Pair of Girls on the Run)
Malaysia
Cinema Online: ''Muallaf'' Review''
References
External links
{{Yasmin Ahmad
2008 films
2008 drama films
Films directed by Yasmin Ahmad
Malaysian drama films
Malay-language films
Chinese-language Malaysian films
Cantonese-language Malaysian films
2000s English-language films