When the Full Moon Rises

It’s possible to suggest that many films have an incomparable design, but in this film, that’s almost an understatement. The design is virtuoso. The film is in black-and-white, yet the colours seem to splash from the screen.
The story of the film is no less exuberant. The roving reporter Saleh is forced by a flat tyre to spend a night at full moon in a kampong (a tropical village). It soon becomes clear to him that strange and mysterious events take place in the kampong. Men disappear at each full moon. People whisper about a pontianak: the spirit of a woman who died in labour. In Southeast Asia, the pontianak is very feared.
Just as quickly as Saleh becomes involved in mysterious matters, he also falls in love with the equally mysterious Cik Putih, the sister of the garage owner. The parents of the singer Cik Rogayah, however, have decided that Saleh may be a suitable marriage partner for their daughter. In view of the fact that men disappear at regular intervals, there are not many marriageable men left.
The film is not only lavish and very cinematographic in its references to previous genre films, it’s also very funny. In addition, the film maker involves in a satirical way the hidden history of the Communist rebels in Malaysia in his already overloaded story. Inimitable. (GjZ)

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