Top 5 reasons why Malaysians are tired of of local movies

While there are people who passionately describes local movies with words like "sampah" or "bazir duit", there are also passionate audiences who are always optimistic.  But those optimistic ones have been disappointed one too many times at the theaters.  So, instead of staying passive and wait for some director or producer to change this (Which, by the way, there are tons of them trying to), it's time to let the audience have a voice! Based on a survey that was recently done by the Students of MMU's Cinematic Arts Program, here are top 5 reasons why Malaysians are tired of local movies!


1. Action  37%

No, we're not asking for cool Action Sequences for every movie regardless of the genre.  If a movie was advertised as an action movie then audience will come for  good action sequences.  Audiences want seamless choreographed fights and adrenaline pumping car chases.

2. Acting 43%

It's unfortunate that a local actor/actress talent is measured by how convincing they are when they cry in a scene. Really? Sometimes, we see the talent merely reads of a script or "improvise" to a point where it really diminishes the character's individuality.  We see them as celebrities rather than the character.

3. Direction 48%

Of course, what's a movie without the director's vision? Sometimes, when the audience cringe at a scene, it's because of the awkwardness of how it was shot.  Whether it was the cheesy dialogue or the character's awkward body language, it's the direction of the controlling the scene that has the audience rejecting the movie's authenticity, emotional state, theme and many more.

4. VFX 49%

There's not many local movies that utilizes CGI but when they do...oh boy.  Illiterate response like "Nampak mcm kartun" aside, what local talent fail to realize that CGI is meant to support the story and not to be the center of attention.  This especially fails when CGI becomes the climax instead of the character or story; really defeating the point of rooting for the heroes.

5. Story 75%

Yes, of course we want to see a good story! What most local movies tend to do is to make films that THEY THINK the audience want. No, let's rephrase that.  They make movies that THEY THINK WOULD SELL.  Yes, audience will always respond to action, sex and controversy.  But what they'll invest on is engaging storytelling; stories that speak for their generation, speak for an important topic and even a fun story that wittingly have us laughing at ourselves.  Would you rather have audience buy your product once or invest on them? Engaging stories is the key to get people inspired.

Thank you for reading and if you're hungry for more--say, that you want to know list of good movies or local directors to look out for--do comment! And here's the full result of the survey, check out the comments at the bottom!

Categories: Movies