"Ice Kacang Puppy Love" / 初恋红豆冰

This was a movie produced by a local comedian known as A-Niu 阿牛，陈庆祥 a few years ago. It was a hit in the Malaysia box-office and it even expanded to Taiwan. It stood out  from many other Malaysian movies because of the large casts of artists who had succeeded overseas such as Angelica Lee 李心洁, Fish Leong 梁静茹, Victor Wong 黄品冠, Gary Chaw 曹格, Eric Moo 巫启贤 and so on. However, the more someone promote something the more rejects I have towards it, that's why I only started to watch this movie now (cuz no one is on it anymore XD). 

This movie set back in a small town at Perak call Tronoh in the 80's. A young boy who everybody called him "Botak" (which means baldly in Malay, portrayed by A-Niu) had a crush on a Chew AnQi (with the nickname Fighting-fish, portrayed by Angelica Lee). They grew up together with other children - Ma LingFan (Gary Chaw), Ma LiBing (Fish Leong), African (Victor Wong). As they grew up, they all developed feelings towards each other and eventually it became complicated and their long-time friendship was put on a test. 

Botak was always the quiet one and looking for the courage to confess his love to AnQi. He spent most of his time with AnQi listening to her stories, and bring her for ice kacang whenever she was upset. He expressed his love in the portraits he drew on her (and one of the portraits won first prize in a drawing competition later on). Until one day he finally got this courage to write AnQi a letter. Unfortunately, Ma LingFan stole that letter and in a complicated twist the letter never get to AnQi but got back to him at last. 

Towards the ending of the story, most of them left town - Ma LingFan and Ma LiBing left with their parents due to money issue; African left to pursue his dream to become a singer. AnQi plan to leave for her studies at Singapore. The day AnQi depart, Botak rushed to the bus station on a bicycle with a packet of ice kacang. On the way, he got hit by a motorcycle but he still stood up and rushed to the station on foot. When he was at the station, he got a soft hit by a bus while he was trying to pass the packet of ice kacang to AnQi who was already in the bus. AnQi hugged Botak before she left, and Botak still has not work out the courage to pass the letter to her which was in his pocket all the time. 

The final scene which was many years later, showed Botak with his girlfriend (Penny Tai 戴佩妮) at a pedestrian crossing in Kuala Lumpur, not knowing that AnQi was nearby, they both walked different ways. 

I've watched a few of A-Niu productions before and even now, but I'd must say this is definitely the best one. Not because of the casts, but how beautifully A-Niu described puppy love with something as simple and common as a bowl of ice kacang. Also worth the credits are those beautiful scene A-Niu chose to shoot this movie and those angles he used in every scene are mostly perfect. Some of the scenes are so touching like it is actually happening to me or it happened to me before. 

Making a movie doesn't mean it has to go beyond the technologies. Stay simple. Sometimes what really touches you is to see what you've been through before or what happens to you in your daily life been moved to the big screen, because that is when you really get to feel what the whole movie is about. 

Bravo to team A-Niu! Malaysia Boleh!