Guāng

光

Malaysia, 2018, colour, 1.85:1, 88 mins.

Director: Guo Xiuzhuan 郭修篆 [Quek Shio Chuan].

Rating: 6/10.

Delicately made but dramatically thin study of two brothers in KL, one of whom is autistic.

STORY

Kuala Lumpur, 2015. The autistic Wen Guang (Zhuang Zhongwei), 27, lives with his younger brother (Zhang Shunyuan), who has brought him up since their mother died years ago. The younger brother still hasn’t given up trying to help Wen Guang find a job, so he can help with the household expenses. However, after being coached in what to say, Wen Guang blows his interview with a florist (Xu Shifen) when he says he doesn’t like flowers. Since childhood, Wen Guang has had an ear for musical sounds and one day tells his brother he wants to buy a piano; the latter tells him to earn some money first. In a piano shop the owner (Zhang Zhen’gang) shows him a second-hand mini-upright that’s priced RM3,000. Also browsing in the shop is kindergarten teacher Su’en (Chen Ziying), 24, who can play the piano; later the two talk at the bus stop, when Wen Guang coyly introduces himself. He gets a job washing dishes in a street restaurant, where the owner (Zheng Yuping) nags him about cncentrating on the job. Later, he becomes obsessed with the musical sound of a struck wine glass and starts collecting those with different pitches, for which he has an acute ear. After Wen Guang is sacked for stealing glasses from the restaurant, his brother’s friend, Tony (Li Runguang), grudgingly gives him a job at his shop. But when Wen Guang steals a glass bowl from a shop, and the police come calling, his brother finally cracks and throws away all the glassware he’s carefully collected for their different musical pitches. Wen Guang runs away from home, and his brother and Tony try to find him, even driving to the brothers’ hometown of Rasa, 50 kilometres to the north of KL.

REVIEW

A delicate study of the relationship between two brothers, the elder of whom is autistic, Guāng 光 is a notable feature debut, after several shorts, by Malaysian Chinese film-maker Guo Xiuzhuan 郭修篆 [Quek Shio Chuan], then in his mid-30s. However, despite its technical finesse and good performances, it ends up looking like what it is – an expanded version of Guo’s own 2011 short, of the same title – and is less engaging than it should be. Precisely shot and scored, and largely free of icky sentiment, it’s still very thin on content, with a script that has little dramatic architecture, leaves side characters undeveloped, and never really feels like a fully-fledged feature. Though never boring, it could easily have been an hour-long featurette without losing anything.

Guo’s original 14-minute short largely concentrated on the title character’s perception of the world via his autism, and was inspired by the director’s own elder brother, Guo Xiukai 郭修楷 [Quek Shio Gai], who has the same affliction. In the feature film, Guo and his producer Ismail Kamarul have come up with a plot of sorts that centres on the character’s attempts to get a regular job, coached in what to say by his younger brother. (Some good-natured humour is wrung from him repeating the mantra “Hello, my name is Wen Guang. I’m 27, friendly, easy-going, and willing to help others. If I seem a bit strange sometimes, it’s because I’m autistic.”) Parallel with this is the thread of Wen Guang’s interest in the musical notes created by various wine glasses – he appears to have perfect pitch – and his gradual attempt to build an instrument of his own; all of this comes crashing down when the endlessly patient younger brother, who’s singlehandedly raised Wen Guang since the death of their mother, finally cracks. This leads to the soggiest part of the movie, with much self-recrimination by the younger brother and the underlying theme of “there’s no place like home”.

Though the content is slim, Guo manages to keep things bouncing along with small incidentals and occasional visual flourishes (Wen Guang buying wine glasses, enjoying the sounds they give off etc.), and the realistic performance by TV’s Zhuang Zhongwei 庄仲维 [Kyo Chen], then 29, as the title character is admirably free of sentiment or unnecessary exaggeration. Despite that, it’s the playing by TV actor/director Zhang Shunyuan 张顺源 [Ernest Chong] (30 Ways to End a Singe Life 30不单身, 2015) as the (unnamed) younger brother that carries the film, as he patiently coaches Wen Guang in dealing with the outside world, gets time off to play majiang with his pals (including a Cantonese friend, nicely etched by Li Runguang 黎润光 [Adrian Lai]), and occasionally admits how he’s sacrificed his whole life to looking after his elder brother. In a role that the film-makers don’t seem to know how to develop, 27-year-old actress Chen Ziying 陈子颖 [Emily Chan] (30 Ways; Love from Kampung 今年不回家, 2017) is briefly good as a kindergarten teacher who encourages Wen Guang.

The film’s dialogue is mostly in Mandarin, with some Cantonese. Throughout, the work by d.p. Yang Dewei 杨德伟 [Eric Yeong], who shot the original short, is standout, whether playing with light or sketching everyday Malay life. So, too, the warm but not sticky musical score by Ananth Kumar that often takes its cue from sounds heard by the title character. Guo’s younger sister, musician Guo Xiuyu 郭修彧 [Quek Shio Yee], wrote the end-title song. Director Guo, whose mainstay is commercials, recently made three episodes of the six-part, Chinese-language TVD The Ghost Bride 彼岸之嫁 (2020), produced in Malaysia.

As well as being the elder brother’s given name, the character 光 guāng can mean “light” or “bright”.

CREDITS

Presented by MM2 Entertainment (MY). Produced by Reservoir Production (MY).

Script: Guo Xiuzhuan [Quek Shio Chuan]. Original story: Guo Xiuzhuan [Quek Shio Chuan], Ismail Kamarul. Photography: Yang Dewei [Eric Yeong]. Editing: Guo Xiuzhuan [Quek Shio Chuna]. Music: Ananth Kumar, Raof Zamirdin, Guo Xiuyu [Quek Shio Yee]. Song music/lyrics: Guo Xiuyu [Quek Shio Yee]. Music direction: Ananth Kumar. Art direction: Zeng Xianyou [Anthony Chan]. Sound: Huang Zhiqiang [Lester Wong], Lawrence Chick. Visual effects: Fabrizio Pistone (Basecamp VFX).

Cast: Zhuang Zhongwei [Kyo Chen] (Wen Guang), Zhang Shunyuan [Ernest Chong] (Wen Guang’s younger brother), Chen Ziying [Emily Chan] (Su’en/Sue Ann), Li Yanqiong [Feon Lai] (mother), Li Runguang [Adrian Lai] (Tony), Low Hock Guan (Sheldon), Lu Zhengyang (young Wen Guang), Huang Zixuan (young younger brother), Zhang Zhen’gang (piano shop owner), Zheng Yuping (restaurant owner), Du Hanwen (fish shop owner), Xu Shufen (Sister Hong, flower shop owner).

Premiere: Shanghai Film Festival (Asian New Talent Awards), 22 Jun 2018.

Release: Malaysia, 29 Nov 2018.