Best Tak?

Like everyone else around me, my film rating system is simple: Best, Tak Best, OK, Bolehlah...

But only God knows what I really feel about the films I watched. I had to pretend to like Avatar because if I professed my repulsion towards the film, people will just think I'm a contrarian. For the same reason, I don't go off telling everybody that I love the Happening. And yes, I don't talk to people about films that nobody seems to watch. Why should I? Because it's a strictly personal affair.

But when I showed Maria to several people, they were polite enough to ask me "Who are your target audience for this film?" a winding way of telling me that this film is not understandable to a mass audience. I get it. I really do. But still, to me, it doesn't matter. Because it's a strictly personal affair.

I've been blessed to be attracted to all kinds of films, Hollywood and Bollywood, commercial and independent, love and war, period and sci-fi, Park Chan Wook and Park Chan Wook. So does it matter that a film is Best or Tak Best? How can I be the judge of what's what? So I keep my mouth closed and mind open when it comes to film. Because it's a strictly personal affair.