Mukhsin

Yasmin Ahmad's 2007 Malaysian film follows the friendship between ten-year-old Orked and Mukhsin, who comes to the village for the summer. They fly kites and play; without being noticed, the relationship turns into something else. The film does not present first love as a large event. The children themselves cannot name the change; rather than explain it from an adult view, the narrative leaves it at the moment the game breaks. It is set before two of Yasmin Ahmad's earlier films and follows the same family. The director had been argued over in Malaysia for taking ethnic and religious boundaries as her subject; the tone here is softer and the weight lies in family warmth. Who it's for: those who like Southeast Asian cinema and narratives of childhood. Who it's not for: viewers expecting dense plotting; the film proceeds through everyday detail.