Malaysia: Melodramatic Drive, Rural Discord, Urban Heartaches

Jarum Halus, a Malaysian film adaptation of Othello, had a successful art-house run in Malaysia on its release in 2008, won the Malaysian Film Festival Award for "Best Digital Film," was screened at the Cineasia Film Festival, Koln, and attracted plaudits for its "deft handling of. .. subject matter [and]. .. symbolic visuals" (Muthalib 200). 1 Funded by FINAS, the Malaysian Film Board, Jarum Halus benefited from what Khoo Gaik Cheng describes as a governmental "push towards establishing a hightech industry" that has worked to "democratise and activate the indie film movement" (138). The film has not been discussed in Western Shakespearean circles despite its unique deployment of vernacular English, Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) and Cantonese dialogue. 2 The act of translation is highlighted in an opening credit announcement which glosses "jarum halus" as a "fine needle" or a "plan to cheat others. .. to weave a web of malicious. .. intentions." Confronting ambiguity, translation is understood here not simply as the "transfer of texts from one language to another" (Bassnett 6), but, rather, as what Kate Sturge terms "cultural translation," a process that embraces "practices" that mediate "cultural difference. .. [and] convey extensive cultural background" (67). In this instance, the unpacking of the titular expression simultaneously recalls Othello's handkerchief, with its finely-needled motifs, and Iago's plot to bring down the protagonist. Both will have an amplified and localized significance in this reimagining of Shakespeare's play. The work of Mark Tan, a young Malaysian filmmaker who directed the film after completing an M.A. in Creative and Media Enterprises at Warwick University in the UK, Jarum Halus emerges from a well-established

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Malaysia: Melodramatic Drive, Rural Discord, Urban Heartaches

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