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Detachment (2011)
Humane
This film is about a substitute teacher in public school dominant with low-income students', where bad behaved students are common, and family upheaval is familiar background, as a female student seeks comfort by projecting it on him. Immersed in trauma himself, he felt connection with students who revealed the troubled home life.
At one point, a teenage street hooker desperately offered him service, to be provided a shelter by him instead. The way he sees them followed with humane treatment highlights a troubled mental issue in teenagers, often disregarded as inexperienced enough to have real problem. Some scene dismiss potential objectification of young girls as he saw through them into their fragility as human being instead. The teachers, expected to be wise and enlightened, also portrayed undergoing mental breakdown, even as student counsellor.
It has beautiful poetical visual that is also somewhat disturbing, in a way it shows the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
It reveals the beauty of each character's struggles given different title of their roles in societal prejudice.
Barfi! (2012)
Delightful, but could be more concise
The film successfully maintained consistent tones of the characters' inner life quirks, with cinematography and art direction that are of narrative themselves enhancing Barfi's joyous, irresistible way of living. The only thing is that for such mild conflict loaded with delicate sweetness, it dragged a little too long that erodes their magical world overtime. It would be more enjoyable had middle toward end is more concise.
It was a delightful experience nonetheless.
27 Steps of May (2018)
Brilliantly packed for emotionally charged film.
It is rare for Indonesian films to make emotionally intense charged story proportionate with delicate pacing. I was cautious hoping the sensibility would not be off balance at some point.
The characters are complicatedly layered, makes for interesting follow through despite the slowness. Both May and helpless kickboxer father repress their pent up frustation for different reason, in their own way. Prolonged trauma for May and self-condemnation for not protecting his daughter for her father. The awkward silence which makes majority of the scenes, are of retained thousand words that find its way into subtle gestures, attentiveness of the two, and well-visualized pattern obsession. I found the dynamic to be a smart play: overall slow pace busted by contrasting intensity between boxing's violence and May's reconciling progress. It did not feel like watching a film and it's a treat to experience that from Indonesian film.
Her mindscape involving magician (which might be real, but otherwise rather surreal) helps her reconcile mid towards end, and it is well handled to not overpower the realistic nature.
The only thing that bothers me would be the last two minutes of ending. The resolution went too abrupt for such intense years of withdrawal. It's a happy ending but almost too rushing to be convincing.
Otherwise it's an absolute brilliance despite the patience required for its delicacy. Long to go for majority of Indonesian audience, but I'm glad it receives warm acceptance in notorious international festival. It's a piece of art. (minus the last two minutes, again.)
The Sinking of Van Der Wijck (2013)
Decent enough, could be more compact and emotionally charged.
I got the overall experience of the film, firstly for the good note of which setting was well-researched and outsourced with admirable dialects performed. It sent me back to colonial days dated long years ago. It has beautiful poetic visual that adapts to the mood of different phases of their relationship.
But I could not help that it could have had a more natural flow.
Drama could be emphasized on just some points as having too many flattens and make it predictable. The conversation is slow with some redundant line, nailed by the ending scene where she just went on saying Zainuddin, kekasihku for three times. I was joking it would repeat twice but it underestimated even my joke and went for the third one. I agree as mentioned in other reviews that the emphasis when it sank could culminate our loss of Hayati more. For it just seemed matter of factly shown that it sank and she died. I didn't really feel sorry for her neither Zai.
Sufat Chol (2016)
Captures well delicate complexity of the situation.
Perhaps I have to reevaluate my ingrained trust with 7 stars rating as a metric of quality, with this at 6.8 I didn't expect so high. I anticipated it to be a stereotypical, politically charged Arab's crude conservatism imagery that detach, delineate you to side clearly off the black and white character (as in social value metric not typical good and bad). Unexpectedly, it unpacks humanely with a blend of conflicting contradiction in the character far from being one dimensional, inhibited by consequence we have no clear insight about but hinted. Someone or thing is either way at stake. The father fosters a certain privilege to his daughter but hypocrite through indirect treatment to his first wife, yet you still pity him for whatever it is that inhibit him. Her mom, uptight and resentful turns out protecting her for an option her daughter deserves, more so than the more liberal father.
Halfway through I found it well put and anticipated a disappointing turn that justifies the below 7 rating. There was none. The ending is not as justly suited to what her strong personality suggested to be, by (spoiler) having her bent to tradition eventually (but well, this is real life). She remained guarded unmannerly at the end. The new husband's hint of submissive reaction draws him less of a typical antagonist. Made you think that fairness aside, it has yet been proven to be dramatically
a whole lot of wrong turn, just like real life: some options might be not entirely bad but not wanting it in the first place compromised some degree of unsatisfactory or happiness.