KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Penang-born director Sam Quah is hoping for his crime thriller A Place Called Silence to break a record or two at the Malaysia box-office. The film which premiered last Thursday has already hit the RM1 million mark on its opening weekend here. A Place Called Silence is second place for the highest summer collection of 2024 in China so far, raking in 1.
29 billion yuan (RM806 million). Quah, told Malay Mail that he is hoping to set a new Malaysia record for Chinese crime genre movies in Malaysia through the film which stars award-winning Hong Kong actor Francis Ng and Taiwanese actress Ning Chang. The film which centres around bullying, is actually a remake of Quah’s own 2022 film of the same name which previously debuted at the Busan Film Festival in 2022 and had originally featured controversial Taiwanese actor Jag Huang as its lead.
The award-winning director recast the stars for its 2024 version and has even added local talents in the film such as actor Tan Kim Wang and radio announcer Mei Yan Gan also known as Mavis. “The 2022 version is still considered good for me as it showed the original presentation of the movie idea, however, we had more resources and support this time around. “I have also matured and I hope I can showcase a more comprehensive side of me after gaining more experience.
“Also, I now get to work with a combination of both local and international cast, shooting both overseas and locally, where I am most familiar and comfortable,” Quah said. Inspired by a news article about a mother’s relentless effort to locate her tragically murdered daughter, A Place Called Silence is a harrowing tale of a school girl facing relentless bullying on campus, which ends in a tragic fall to her death. The violence continues, with a chilling chain of enigmatic serial killings.
Good to be Back Home *This part may contain spoilers Part of the film was shot at Quah’s hometown in Penang, and although it was stressful as he had to handle the production aspect of the film, he admitted that it was a dream come true to be shooting there. He spent a lot of his time in Taiwan for his studies and began his career as a filmmaker in China, but he has always wanted to bring his production back to Malaysia. The shooting location also comes with its own set of challenges with the main being the hot and sunny weather in Penang.
It was because the film relies heavily on rainy days to showcase the emotional journey of the characters to the audiences. “At the start of the movie, you can see drizzling rain but then towards the end, it is raining cats and dogs and the aim is actually to bring the emotions to the viewers,” he said. Quah also said that they have spent a considerable amount of time waiting for the weather to shift to but they also added CGI effects for the rain.
Local actor Tan Kim Wang who previously played Ms.Money in the hit film Abang Adik, said him appearing drenched in one of the scenes wasn’t from the rain. “The raincoat that I was wearing (for the scene) was a PVC raincoat.
So although it is raining, I’m sweating inside actually,” he said. Tan who played Brother Hui in the film who shared a few scenes with Francis Ng, said that he never got the chance to properly introduce himself to the famous actor and it has led to the actor calling him by his character’s name throughout the shooting. And he still hasn't gotten the chance to properly introduce himself to Ng till this day.
Actress Ning Chang who plays Li Han, said that one of the major reasons she decided to take up the role was to highlight the importance of dealing with tragic events especially when it comes to family violence. “For instance, in the movie, the daughter was actually raped and the mother did not manage it wisely. “Instead of helping her daughter walk out of the dark place, she chose to ask her daughter to remain silent about the incident.
“And that may be one of the reasons that contribute to more tragic events happening in the future,” Ning said. A Place Called Silence also features Eric Wang, Shendi Wang as well as Shih-Chieh King. The film is currently showing in cinemas nationwide and will be premiering in Singapore this August 15.
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