天天好天 (Great Day)

A few weeks ago, I came across the poster for the movie Great Day, a local production in Cantonese, Mandarin and Hokkien. It looked interesting and I told myself that I must watch it.

Last Saturday, I had some free time and so I decided to go and catch the movie before it is taken off the big screen. I went alone because most of my friends don’t watch local movies, especially one in the Chinese language. (one of my friends remarked “local movie?? Sure not nice one… such biasness.)

And all along the way to Wangsa Walk, there were so many obstacles, heavy traffic, no parking spot (I had to drive for half an hour to get one) and it threatened to rain. But thank God I made it in time to get the ticket. Surprisingly the cinema was more than half filled. This goes to show how far our local movies have come.

Before watching the show, I had some form of idea of what the movie was about, mainly that it is a family type of drama and highly recommended by a friend who had watched it. But nothing prepared me for what was in store.

The movie was a story of 2 old men who were residents of an old folks home in Perlis. Both of them were constantly outdoing each other in terms of their childrens’ achievements. One day, of one them challenged the other to go to KL and take pictures of their children as proof of their words. One old man went while the other chickened out. Along the course of the movie, there were many other inter related scenes that added to the story line.

The old man finally found his daughter’s house and stayed with them. His only grandchild, a little girl, was initially hostile and rude towards him. Then one night, ths little girl was doing some calligraphy and asked the maid’s help. But the maid did not help and the girl ran after her. The old man then picked up the brush and started to write.

The little saw what her grandfather did and asked him to teach her. This was the beginning of a beautiful and lovely relationship between the two. They started spending more time with one another, playing video games together, playing the swings together etc. It was a truly beautiful segment.

One day, the school had a parent-child performance. Unfortunately the girl’s mum could not come because she had to work. And the girl went up on the stage and sang alone. It was quite sad to see the girl singing alone without her mother. Suddenly the grandfather appeared and they both sang and danced together. And we see the scene where the mother stood crying from afar.

I shall not describe any more of the movie. If any of you is reading this, go watch the movie, it’ll be worth your time and money.

The movie is really about love and family. The little girl grew up without a father (her parents were divorced) and so does not know what love really means. It was not until her grandfather turned up that she truly experienced the meaning of love. It was truly amazing to see what began as a cold and distant relationship blossom into a deep and lasting bond.

The movie has its funny moments of course. But I was struck by the moving scenes, especially one where both granddaughter and grandfather is no longer together. That scene really tore at my heart and I really wanted to cry at that moment. It is only in these moments, where we are separated from the ones we love, that we truly feel a longing for them.

This goes to show how important it is for us to cherish the people we have around us. Some of us work and work and never give a thought to those around us. Money is important and necessary but how far do we go to get money or wealth?

There are many things which money can buy but no matter how much we have, nothing can buy the love of our family and friends. This movie is a simple movie, but sometimes simplicity brings out the human that is in us. And I really salute the producers, cast, crew and writers of this movie. I seldom come across movies which are really good and for me this deserves a thumbs up. (I had wanted to clap at the end of the show but this is Malaysia, and people don’t do that so I did not)

If we do not cherish and be present to those around us, we may one day wake up and realise that we have everything but we have nothing. Because we have the things that can give us comfort but we have nothing that can give us love.

Would we want to end our life that way?