“GREAT DAY” (天天好天) Malaysian Movie Review. LOVE YOUR PARENTS because TIME and TIDE wait for NO MAN. And treasure the ADVENT of each new SPRING.

“GREAT DAY” 天天好天 MALAYSIAN FILM PRESS PREVIEW

In Chinese, this name 天天好天 is admonishing us to treasure the tiny element called TIME, that “each passing day can be a wonderful day”.

Cool.

It is also a stark reminder that time and tide wait for no man.

So savor precious minutes, because you’ll never know when you are going to stop breathing.

Kindly avoid griping, preening and pruning.

Today your skin may be supple smooth as an adolescent, but as the years pile on, you will arrive to be an old person with wrinkles.

In case you don’t believe, just take a good look at your mummy-ah and daddy-O.

It’s a fact you can’t be always young, nor can you live forever.

Let’s sum up that “GREAT DAY” is a didactic, “feel-good” comedic film produced by MALAYSIA’s ASTRO, targeting at the family and holiday crowds.

It’s an apt title to usher in the LUNAR NEW YEAR 2011.

Can you feel the advent of Spring?

“GREAT DAY” is a 100% made-in-MALAYSIA movie boasting a truly all- MALAYSIAN cast.

Well, we have a talent ensemble starting with well-known DJ JACK LIM and friends such as ROYCE TAN, VIVIAN TOK, WAN WAI FUN, LIM YEW BENG ambling close.

The film director does not rely on artistes from across the Causeway nor the regular local “oft-cannot act” pretty faces we see all the time on prime-time television. Wise move.

Film Director CHIU KENG GUAN, fresh from last year’s box-office blockbuster “WOO HOO!” is back again, this time with boundless confidence and one rural parable about love, love, love.

Yeah, there’s boy-meet-gal love, parental love and neighborly love.

An assortment of love delicacies on the platter to titillate your palate and reminding us that:

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

“My name is TAN HAU YEN. Ain’t I cute?”

“DADDY-O and MYSELF are the BEST of PALS”

“I love my GRANDMA and DADDY-O VERY MUCH.”

“I am CRYSTAL LEE looking for GRANDPA. Help me, I am LOST.”

CRYSTAL LEE with screen GRANDPA (LIM YEW BENG), Mum (VIVIAN TOK) and UNCLE (ROYCE TAN).

Above Picture: ”OUR BOX OFFICE TARGET is set at 5 MILLION RINGGIT. Now make our GOAL come true!”

“GREAT DAY” 天天好天 dictates to us that the elderlies must be respected.

It’s a lesson for us to nurture our love for our mum, dad and everyone in our family tree.

You may flaunt your youth today, but like everyone else, there will be a time when you, yourself will all be at the mercy-of-time.

This is when you get married, become a parent and face your own children.

Then you’ll have a dose of your own discipline because the past will come back to haunt you on how you treated your parents.

For Asians, unlike the Westerners, parental dedication is a form of filial piety and woe betide you if you don’t follow the rules.

Because what’s goes around, comes around.

Take note that FILIAL PIETY is to be good to one’s parents; to take care of one’s parents; to engage in good conduct not just towards parents – but also outside the home, so as to bring a good name to one’s parents and ancestors.

“GREAT DAY” starts with two quarrelsome uncles, LIM and LAM who live in an old folks home.

For want of nothing to do, these two men often pick on the most trivial of issues to create a dispute.

Tired of their everyday frolics, they escape from the old folks home to find their children just to compare whose children is better. Uncle LAM hurts his leg leaving Uncle LIM to continue his journey alone.

Fortunately, Uncle LIM stumbles into AH HOCK, a hard-working widower with his son AH BOY who are heading for Kuala Lumpur in a pick-up truck.

But when Uncle LIM arrives at the big city, everything is not what it seems.

His son and married daughter are juggling their lives, not doing as well as they appear.

Nevertheless, it’s all well that ends well.

In the end, there’s a big reunion bash for everyone at the old folk’s home, just in time to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

This movie is likely to give Director CHIU another boost as he stands proud with an able cast of mostly DJs and one heartfelt script with scenes that are definitely going to sear your heart.

In the acting department, JACK LIM triumphs in a competent performance as a filial son who is steadfast in his selfless love for his mother and young son.

Despite the pain, poverty and heartache that he sometimes goes through, he remains a generous man whose primary goal is to make his demential mother a happy woman till the end of time.

Yet it’s clearly the child stars CRYSTAL LEE and TAN HAU YEN who shine, who give the adults a run for their money and are pivotal in rendering “GREAT DAY” a deserving uplift.

We really hope to see more of these kids in future dramas.

The morale here is:

“Blood is thicker than Water”

and

“Tomorrow’s HOPE should mean a lot more than yesterday’s MISTAKE”.

Do we ever learn?

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI in the YEAR of the RABBIT!