Synopsis
Kaki Bakar
Kakang is a Javanese. Kakang always boast about himself, his past and advocate his youngest son, Kusuma about the Malay people. One night, Kusuma witness his father burn down someone's smokehouse. That person asked Kakang to pay him RM50 for the damage caused by Kakang's goats to his banana plantation. An interrogation was held to identify the culprit who burned down that person's smokehouse but failed. Kakang and his family was told to leave the village and never return again by Tok Empat. Kusuma has never receive any schooling education. According to Kakang, he can teach Kusuma religion while his wife and daughters can teach him how to pray. After moving to a new village, Kakang got his family a job to tap latex from Mr Kassim's rubber plantation. When Kakang went to meet Mr Kassim, he step chicken poop onto Mr Kassim's carpet which was put to sun at the front yard. Kakang was asked to wash the carpet clean. Instead of cleaning it properly, Kakang damaged the carpet. Mr Kassim asked Kakang to pay RM400 for the damage. Kakang refused to pay a single cent and plans to sue Mr Kassim for blaming him. During the case interrogation, Kusuma tried to defend his father but was scream by him. Feeling unsatisfied with the results of the discussion, Kakang decides to take revenge and again influencing Kusuma that he was right while the others were bad and wrong. Kusuma tried to stop his father's revenge act but failed. He instead went to inform Mr Kassim that his smokehouse is going to be burnt down. Mr Kassim quickly rush over to his smokehouse and found Kakang. Mr Kassim then shot Kakang.
Jogho
Mamat is a bull fighting trainer, called “Jogho”. Abang Lazim and Mamat's bull, Calet was killed at the bull fighting arena by Isa. Mamat seeks revenge by asking Jaafar to track down the murderer. After days of waiting, Mamat still did not receive any updates from Jaafar regarding the task. Mamat got badly injured by his other bull, Aral after it was given something to eat by a stranger. Abang Lazim's son, Sani manage to track down the stranger who was actually Seman Daud's son. Jali, Salim and Sani left their village to look for Dolah. They manage to find him. Jali killed Dolah and Isa's son. Since the incident, the three of them went into hiding. Police detained Mamat because he was suspected as the culprit for the death of Dolah and Isa's son. Mamat's wife, Minah had to pay for Mamat's bail. Right after he was bail out, Mamat took Aral for the bull fighting competition. At the bull fighting arena, Isa confronted Mamat again. Jali, Salim and Sani also attend the competition. Isa injured Mamat's arm. Sani then killed Isa to revenge for his father's death. After the police arrived at the scene of crime, Mamat surrender himself in order to protect Jali and Abang Lazim's sons.
Reviews
What I like about the films are the slow dolly tracking shots that the director, U-Wei Bin Hajisaari used. This style can be considered as U-Wei's authorship by signature. Authorship by signature re-looks at the director's repetition in production traits and styles across various films as his signature. U-Wei use the same style in both of his films, Kaki Bakar and Jogho. For example, in the film, Kaki Bakar, this style was used in the scene of the interrogation on Kakang's goat case to show all the villagers present. While in the film, Jogho, this style was used in the scene where Mamat was detained at the District Police Station.
What I do not like about the film, Kaki Bakar is Kakang, the leading male character in the film. Kakang always boast about himself, his past and advocate his son, Kusuma about the Malay people. He always think that he is right and great. For example, Kakang stepped on Mr. Kassim's carpet and caused it to be stained with chicken poop. He was asked to wash the carpet clean. Instead of cleaning it properly, Kakang damaged the carpet. Mr Kassim asked Kakang to pay RM400 for the damage. Kakang refused to pay a single cent and plans to sue Mr Kassim for blaming him. During the case interrogation, Kusuma tried to defend his father but was scream by him. Feeling unsatisfied with the results of the discussion, Kakang decides to take revenge and again influencing Kusuma that he was right while the others were bad and wrong.
In the aspects of mise-en-scene, there are four general areas and its uses which are settings; costumes and make-up; lighting plus staging. The setting of the film, Kaki Bakar is mainly in Malaysia while the settings of the film, Jogho are mainly in Patani, Southern Thailand and Kelantan, Malaysia.
Costumes have a causal role in the narrative of the film. The characters in both films, Kaki Bakar and Jogho are conservatively clothed throughout the film to show that they are traditional and religious. Make-up brings out the character's personality traits. Most characters in both films do not put on much make-up except for some to portray the character's natural look and they are not wealthy enough to afford make-up.
The lighting quality of the films, Kaki Bakar and Jogho, are mainly soft light throughout the film. But there are some scenes in Kaki Bakar that does not have much light which cause it to be too dark for the audience to see anything portrayed on screen.
Staging refers to the movement and acting of the performer. The actor's performance consists of visual elements like the appearance, facial expressions and gestures of the performer; and sounds like effects and the performer's voice. Visual elements were portrayed by the actors and actresses involved the film. The performer's voice also change according to the mood of the characters. Sound effects from the natural surrounding were used in the films. Besides that, haunting soundtrack that comprises of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds like the music soundtrack and the prayers are a style of the films' director included in the films. This is another authorship by signature of director, U-Wei Bin Hajisaari.
