Most of us don't get to live our lives with our first loves, but sometimes that separation leads us to the love of our lives. This is true of the Orked trilogy, the third installment of which is named after the one other love Orked had before Jason. Without the interracial dynamic, one might expect that the dynamic between Orked and Mukhsin would be more simple, and sure, with her tomboyish self-confidence, it starts in that familiar way we would expect from a coming-of-age movie. However, writer-director Yasmin Ahmad challenges this expectation through a nostalgic, but no less honest, depiction of this love in a rural Malay village. It may not have the same obvious challenges, but Mukhsin proves through an endearing first love story that there are much more factors that could make or break even the most innocent childhood relationships, specifically Orked doesn't exactly fit in the ideal her community expects of her. It's not totally groundbreaking, but Mukhsin nonetheless sets the stage for Orked, and girls like her, to understandably seek for connection elsewhere.

The subject is difficult, but Yasmin Ahmad makes Orked and Mukhsin’s relationship feel so natural and effortless, because Ahmad remembers the small details– tugging at familiar first love feelings while still capturing the unique Malaysian village experience.