Tears in Kuala Lumpur

Inspired by the iconic Malaysian singer and actor P. Ramlee, Ridhwan Saidi’s contemplative paean to Kuala Lumpur surveys a relationship that has ended through ruminative recollections that exist somewhere between a memory and a dream, while the city remains in a constant state of architectural and cultural change.

In Tears in Kuala Lumpur, the city becomes a labyrinth of memory and loss. Tze, a woman grappling with the mysterious disappearance of her sleepwalking husband, drifts through its streets, while Jay, a photographer and modern flâneur, roams the urban landscape with her camera, capturing fleeting beauty and hidden stories. For Tze, the city is a repository of spectral echoes, where the past lingers in every corner. For Jay, it is a canvas for existential exploration, where “photography brings you to places where you can escape your normal reality.” As their paths cross, fragmented memories of love and longing play out in stark monochrome, set against the everyday pulse of Kuala Lumpur.

The everyday and the abstract merge in Ridhwan Saidi’s elusive portrait of urban lives. The film takes its title from Air Mata di Kuala Lumpur, the final song written by Malaysian icon P. Ramlee for his unmade first colour film. Tears in Kuala Lumpur combines improvised scenes and striking static images of the city’s architecture with a variety of filmic styles – from stark black and white to colour and inventive use of night-vision technology – that conjure a rich panoply of lives inhabiting this world. Ramlee’s compositions enrich a layered sound design, while the film’s slower, introspective pace offers an alternative to the city’s usual cinematic depictions, capturing a Kuala Lumpur brimming with hidden complexities and quiet beauty.

– Vanja Kaludjercic

Trailer

Interview

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