ARTICLE
Highest Grossing Malaysian Film 'The Journey' Makes its Way to Singapore!
By InCinemas / 14 Mar 2014 (Friday)
Malaysia's highest box-office local movie The Journey <一路有你> 'crosses' the border to Singapore this March!
Set against the backdrop of Malaysia’s rich customs and beautiful
scenery, The Journey features an unforgettable ride to explore
subject-matters that would resonate with Singapore's cross-cultural
marriage, family ties and friendship.
The Journey is officially the highest grossing local film in Malaysian history, overtaking the popular KL Gangster (2010) with RM13 million in a mere month! Since its release, the movie has
also been garnering good word-of- mouth and favourable reviews in
newspapers, magazines, and online platforms.
During the press conference yesterday, director Chiu Keng Guan revealed that he was taken aback at the resounding success of the film and is thankful for the support. "We have people from all walks of life coming to watch the film. We even saw families bringing their grandparents to catch this movie", he added.
When asked about his view of the attractiveness of this movie, Chiu said it was the 'details and joyful moments in life' that made it special. "This story is actually a very
simple story but the characters are very relatable; be it of
yourself or even your neighbour."
He calls The Journey a 'community' film where he invited Malaysians from all walks of life to join the production, engaged non-professional actors and even asked his own production crew to appear in the film. "I felt that since so many people were part of this film, I felt it was essential that our team should play a part too. The 'prostitutes' you see in the film are actually our hairstylists, wardrobe assistants and make-up artistes", he chuckled.
The Journey also marks the first acting project for female lead Joanne Yew, a former beauty queen who bagged the role as the confident Malaysian-Chinese art student who came back from England. Yew won the Miss Astro Chinese International Pageant in 2007 where Chiu said she 'had the feelings of the character' he was looking for.
Playing the father is Frankie Lee, who supposedly didn't make the cut for the first round of auditions. Chiu explained that Lee was shortlisted because he wasn't able to speak Mandarin, but because he wasn't satisfied with the shortlisted few and requested to view the profiles of those whom were rejected.
"I really liked him and chose Frankie for the father role. We decided to change a little to help him with the language", Chiu added.
Lee greeted the media with Cantonese and English saying, "It’s my first time acting in a movie. It wasn't easy to do this movie but I am happy that this movie is very successful and is now the best movie in Malaysia!"
The Journey <一路有你>opens InCinemas 20 March 2014!