2011 somehow doesn’t feel like any other year for movie goers in Jakarta. Here are 11 small notes that will always be remembered from this year.
The Void
A nerve-racking dry spellwhen several Americanstudios stopped distributingits films to Indonesia over taxissues just when Hollywoodwas unleashing its summerblockbusters, left us withsome very undesirable filmsat the cinemas. We panicked,we bitched about it, we wentto Singapore just to see Thor.Thankfully the governmentresolved it, and the 5-monthboycott ended. We survived it,but it was a very dry summerindeed.
The Big Upset
The Oscars once again pulleda surprise when The King’sSpeech beat initial frontrunnerThe Social Network. Thoughsome did foresee it, manythought it was the biggestupset since Crash stomped onBrokeback Mountain in 2006,and another case of Oscarconservative favorite’s triumphover a more progressive film.
The Prequels
In a year when cinemas areoverflowing with sequels andremakes – the pirates, thevampires, the wizards, thedrunken friends – ones that leftthe biggest impression on usare the prequels. Rise of thePlanet of the Apes is a summermovie with a big heart, andX-Men: First Class delivers firstclass acting and storytelling.
The Last Chapter
Through 8 movies, in 10 years,we not only watched HarryPotter and his friends growup… we grew up with them.And so, on that last shot of an aged Harry seeing his childrenoff on a train to Hogwarts,in the last installment of thefranchise, Harry Potter andThe Deathly Hallows Part 2, wewelcomed the end of an era.
The Beautiful Comeback
It was not so much of acomeback as it was a rare andlong-awaited event, as TerrenceMalick released his first filmafter 6 years. And it was worthevery minute of the wait. TheTree of Life is a film as grand asit is deeply personal, presentinga spiritual question of epicproportion while scrutinizingour existence in microscopicscale.
The Disappointment
Captain America was highly anticipated because it wasgoing to pave the way for the next Avengers movies. However,what we got was a bloodlessaction flick that couldn’t evenprovide a plausible explanationfor the silly costume.
The Revelation
Every Judd Apatow-related filmseems to have catapulted anew comedy star, and KristenWiig is the latest revelation. InBridesmaids, the Saturday Night Live cast member delivers aperformance as fresh and funnyas it is often heartbreaking.She’s like Meg Ryan with betterdramatic chop.
The Horror of Horrors
2011 seems to suffer froma trend of local horror flickswith titles as horrific as theirproduction. Titles like PocongNgesot, Pelukan Janda HantuGerondong, Pocong MandiGoyang Pinggul and KuntilanakKesurupan are just a fewexamples that I wouldn’t evenhonor by translating.
The Local Gem
This year saw few decentIndonesian films, but towardthe end of it, came whatcould easily be the best localproduction we have in years.Sang Penari (The Dancer) is ascreen adaptation of a literarylandmark that is bound to bea cinematic classic in its ownrights, with masterful directing,top-notch cinematography andart direction, and revelatoryturn from the two leads.
The National Pride
The Raid, an Indonesian filmwith some breathless actionsequences, has causedquite a stir when it won thePeople’s Choice MidnightMadness Award at the TorontoInternational Film Festival. Then,Screen Gems, an Americanstudio, bought the rights toremake it, while keeping theoriginal fight choreographer andMickey Rourke rumored to star.It might just be Indonesia’s nexthottest export.
The Absence
Usually every year closes on ahigh note for Jakarta’s filmbuffswith the Jakarta InternationalFilm Festival (JiFFest). Not thisyear, though. Reportedly due tofinancial issues, JiFFest will notbe gracing us with its excitingline-up of films from around theglobe. It certainly leaves a biggaping hole in our year, but forthose whose lives have beentouched by JiFFest for the past12 years, the spirit of JiFFestwill live on.
