The most interesting character in "Nota" is a jolly boatman who comes to the rescue to a couple traveling in Malaysia. He feeds them, lodges them, and the takes them to their destination, after they were stranded when their taxi driver was murdered by thugs to whom he was in debt.
The jolly boatman is a great raconteur. He is the shaman with magical cures and daring prophecies, all wrapped up in his clever yarns. The boatman also senses that the couple, Erin and Kamal, are having problems with their marriage.
From the outset, "Nota" is a study in contrasts. On the one hand, there is the spectacular film footage of Malaysia with the magnificent Bako National Park in Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. On the other, there is the sullen husband who is so sour that he will not even acknowledge his wife on the trip. For her part, she is a wounded butterfly, failing to reach out to him, or communicate her own upset.
But an aura of menace constantly clouds the couple's vacation. The menace appears in the story of the crocodiles, as recounted by the jolly boatman. But it is manifested in a deeper internal menace of the beast within Erin.
Erin discovers in her husband's belongings a personal note that he wrote, and the entire film turns on this moment. The husband and wife could have talked to each other and listened to the wisdom of the jolly boatman. Instead, they went into their shells, and result was catastrophic.
The film opens with a line spoken by Erin's best friend that goes "there's a fine line between love and hate." In this grim saga with the stunning photography, the line is crossed between love and hate, and "Nota" becomes film noir, Malaysian style.
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