Buying Originals

I went down to the nearby JUSCO today to purchase a few DVDs. I have gotten quite sick of the free TV in Malaysia and was in the mood for some Korean movies. As there was a convenient Speedy Video store there, I walked in and browsed through some of their wares and I came across several surprises.

The price of original DVDs in Malaysia can be anywhere from about RM15 (£2.50) to 10 times that. So, I felt that I could definitely buy a few original DVDs here. There were 2 shelves full of Korean stuff but they were mostly Korean dramas. I guess that not many people actually like to watch Korean movies (me being an exception). About 10% of the wares were VCDs and not DVDs so, I had to be a little careful when choosing the titles.

In the end I settled for 5 movies, 3 random movies that I had never watched before, 1 favourite movie of mine (My Sassy Girl) and 1 very famous Korean war movie that was the most popular box office hit in 2005. Although I have already watched “My Sassy Girl” a large number of times, it still did not fail to touch me and bring a tear to my eye when I watched it again today. I just love that movie, which is the reason why I happily paid £4 for it.

Then, I decided to go look for some Siti Nurhaliza DVDs and that was when I encountered my next surprise. There were hardly any of here CDs, let alone DVDs on the shelf. So, I thought to myself that this was an extremely sad situation. If our country’s most popular artiste is unable to stock the shelves in a major chain store, it must be extremely difficult for the rest of the artistes. In fact, the shelf that was marked Malay videos did not even hold many Malay videos but were mostly filled with Chinese ones.

Finally, I walked to the counter to pay for my purchases using my newly minted Malaysian credit card. I decided to ask about their return policy and was promptly surprised when I was told that I could return my purchases if any problems were found with them within 14 days to any of their branches. Good thing they had this policy as I had already encountered a problem with one of the movies starting Son Ye Jin, which brings me to the final surprise.

The quality of the local original DVDs are a bit of a disappointment. The local licensee who brought in the movies had to comply with the requirements of the National Film Board. As a result, even movies that are rated “U” for universal consumption, have bits of it censored off. This is quite disappointing as it interrupts the flow of the story. Also, the problem movie had an audio track that I could not play on my DVD player. So, I will be bringing it back for replacement within the next few days.

Overall, my experience in buying originals in Malaysia has been mixed. I will have to further explore other shops and other types of movies, before deciding on whether or not to return to my old decadent ways.

PS: Western movies cost a bit more than eastern ones, which means that I will probably be buying more Korean, Japanese and Chinese DVDs from now on.