Archive - 12th Five Flavours Film Festival

One Two Jaga

Crossroads: One Two Jaga
Malaysia 2018, 80’
subtitles: Polish and English
director: Nam Ron
screenplay: Nam Ron, Pitt Haniff, Muhammad Syafiq
cinematography: Helmi Yusof
editing: Razaisyam Rashid
music: Tony Merle, Bemby Gusti
sound: Terry Ezekiel
VFX supervisor: Emir Ezwan
cast: Zahiril Adzim, Rosdeen Suboh, Ario Bayu, Timothy Castillo, Iedil Putra, Asmara Abigail, Amerul Affendi, Azman Hassan, Nam Ron
producer: Bront Palarae, Rozi Izma, Abdul Karim
production: Pixel Play, Jazzy Pictures
language: Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog
colouration: colour

Awards and festivals

Udine FEFF 2018; New York Asian Film Festival 2018; Fukuoka IFF 2018

Film description

At the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Sugiman, an illegal worker from Indonesia, is facing additional hardships. His teenage son befriends Adi, an impulsive boy running shady errands for his father, an agent employing illegal immigrants. On top of that, Sugiman's sister runs away from the home she was working in as a maid, and wants to return to Indonesia. Since she cannot cross the border legally, she hides in a cheap motel and waits for a secret boat trip home. In a room next to hers, a Filipino working for the local mob is tortured after he sends his boss' money to his mother, who was in dire financial situation. Meanwhile, two police officers are patrolling the neighborhood. The older detective lives off of bribes from the owners of shops and small businesses, something his younger partner, fresh out of police academy, is not particularly fond of. The conflict starts building up, and the law doesn't adhere to the reality ruled by chaos and a macabre nursery rhyme.

Nam Ron comments on today's most important global social phenomenon – economic migration and the way the authorities try to control it, at the same time enriching themselves on the illegal foreign workers. The director creates a multilayered narration, draws a clear picture of each of the characters, and presents mutually exclusive motivations, which are the basis of the conflict. All of it turns "Crossroads: One, Two, Jaga" into a nuanced, brave, piercing portrait of the social situation not only in Malaysia, but also in other parts of the world, facing an inevitable global processes of the redistribution of wealth and privilege.

Maja Korbecka

Nam Ron

Nam Ron (alias of Shahili Bin Abdan) was born in 1969 in Kangar, Malaysia. He graduated from the Department of Theatre in the National Arts Academy in 1994, and has since worked in theatre, television and film as a director, writer and actor. His reputation was launched by the play MISI (co-written with Faisal Tehrani), followed by many successful stage performances. He has worked with most reknowned Malaysian filmmakers such as Dain Said, Yasmin Ahmad, James Lee, Tan Chui Mui, acting in main, supporting roles not mentioning many cameo appearances. His directorial debut, "Gedebe" was a loose adaptation of "Julius Caesar" set in the underground Malaysian music scene. In his film works Nam Ron skillfully combines genres cinema with sharp social commentary.

Filmography:

2003 Gedebe

2009 15 Malaysia (dokument)

2011 Jalan Pintas

2013 Psiko: Pencuri Hati / Thief of Heart

2018 Raz, dwa trzy, kryjesz ty! / Crossroads: One Two Jaga

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