Film scene 2000: A year of alternative movies in Indonesia

By Joko EH Anwar

JAKARTA (JP): Moviegoers were blessed with more nonmainstream films among the still dominating straight entertainment entries this year.

It seems that Studio 21, the company which owns most film cinemas, finally realized that there is a market for alternative films, those that do not follow the usual Hollywood formula.

The high number of venues showing alternative movies in the city proves that people are hungry for "fresh" films. The venues include the Usmar Ismail Film Center in South Jakarta and Teater Utan Kayu in Central Jakarta.

The audience's enthusiasm for alternative movies was also witnessed at the first Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest) held in 1999.

This year, some of the more than 100 alternative titles from various countries shown last month during the second JiFfest were even screened at two mainstream theaters in the Studio 21 chain.

Unfortunately, each of those films were only screened once during the festival. To comfort the disappointed fans, some of the movies were later played at the Teater Utan Kayu.

There were also several alternative films which were given regular showing at film cinemas this year. This served as a window to see worlds other than those depicted by American films.

Let's start with the bittersweet Iranian film, Children of Heaven. The film's simple story about a 10-year-old boy from a poor family who loses his little sister's shoes is very charming.

The film was screened for many days at theaters here since many were able to relate to the story.

Another film in the same category is The Cup, a film directed by a Tibetan monk. It is about how the World Cup craze influenced the life in a Tibetan monastery at the foothills of the Himalayas.

The film was imported by the newly-established film distributor Tanimbar pictures which has vowed to screen several art-house films every year. The Cup is their first presentation.

It was also surprising that a film distributor had imported the German-made Run Lola Run which was first screened at JiFFest.

The extraordinary film shows a red punk-haired young woman running and running endlessly throughout the film. It is not the kind of film which will attract a lot of viewers here and this was proven by its short run at the theaters.

The fate of Wim Wenders' Million Dollar Hotel was even worse. During its first screening at one of the top film theaters in the city, one third of the audience left the theater before the film reached its second half. The remaining audience kept mumbling words like, "This is such a waste of time."

However with Mel Gibson in its cast, the film was able to attract some people to see it before the word about the "badness" of the film spread out.

Too bad, because it is such a good film.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of several movie gems this year. In contrast with most non-American films shown here, the movie directed by noted Taiwanese director Ang Lee was well received by the local audience as they are familiar with Chinese films. While it is not your average martial arts film, it's great fighting scenes alone are enough to attract people to see it.

The great Italian-made film, Life is Beautiful, naturally made it to film theaters here as it was much hyped after winning at the Academy Awards.

Children

The real movie event this year, however, goes to the Indonesian-made Petualangan Sherina (Sherina's Adventure).

The film had been highly anticipated since it features the child singer Sherina Munaf who is loved by many for her talents and good behavior which is unlike most child performers in the country.

While there is nothing special about the film's plot which is about a little girl who tries to save her schoolmate from bad guys, Sherina, as expected, shines in her film debut. The film's direction and camera work also meet the standard of decent filmmaking.

The film succeeded in making people stand in long lines to get tickets to watch it. Some even had to leave the theaters disappointed because the tickets were sold out. Many children also forced their parents to take them to see the film more than once.

Despite all of its shortcomings, the film is a real winner which single-handedly brought the country's film industry back to life.

Three other Indonesian films screened this year were Garin Nugroho's Puisi Tak Terkuburkan (Unburied Poetry) which was not well received by the audience and critics, the supernatural- action flick Reinkarnasi (Reincarnation), and the children's movie Joshua Oh Joshua, which seems to want to cash in on the success of Petualangan Sherina.

Indonesian cheap skin flicks did not appear this year. Thank God.

Hollywood entries surprisingly featured several different films this year starting with Fight Club. The dark comedy was directed by David Fincher who also directed the great thriller Seven in 1997. Indonesian film distributors might just grab the film since it stars Brad Pitt.

However, the mainstream audience might be put off by its unusual story line and daring style.

The film had a long running at theaters simply because of its cast and it finally exited theaters after those who had seen it bad-mouthed the film saying that it was confusing and nonsensical.

Three Kings which was screened later is reminiscent of those directed by the Coen Brothers. it is even underrated in its home country. Again, the film's distributor probably wanted to cash in on the appearance of George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

Like Fight Club, the film's story line is also quite different, so those looking for a straight action film might be disappointed. It had an even shorter run at the theaters.

The other great film passed by many people was the hip, stylish, and highly enjoyable Go. Though the film is filled with such enjoyable scenes, it ran for only a short time because it lacked stars well-known to the local audience.

The film can be compared to the wildly successful Pulp Fiction (which was not too successful here either) which it resembles in many ways.

Boys Don't Cry surprisingly found its way to film theaters. Its provocative approach on a sensitive subject might put off many an audience but those who seek daring films should not miss this as it is about a young woman with a sexual identity crisis.

As in the previous year, film theaters here screened several critically-acclaimed films which include Gladiator, The American Beauty, The Green Mile, The Insider, and Erin Brockovich.

Film theaters also delivered pure, enjoyable Hollywood entries such as Stuart Little, written by M. Night Shamalan before he made The Sixth Sense; the Jet Li-starred Romeo Must Die; another Jim Carrey vehicle Me, Myself & Irene; Shanghai Noon; Shaft; and Charlie's Angels.

Children got a lot of family films this year which include Road to El Dorado, Titan A.E., Dinosaur, The Tigger Movie, Chicken Run, The Grinch, 102 Dalmatians, and MVP.

Horror movie lovers got several films such as the underrated A Stir of Echoes, Scream 3, Halloween H20, What Lies Beneath, House on the Haunted Hill, and Tim Burton's dark fantasy Sleepy Hollow.

Some much-anticipated films turned out to be disappointments but they were still enjoyed by an undemanding audience. They include Nicolas Cage's action vehicle Gone in 60 Seconds, The X- men, Mission Impossible 2, and Autumn in New York.

Some good films which were sadly ignored by many here include The Mighty, Frequency, Boiler Room, Road Trip, Bring It On, and Judas Kiss.

There were not too many bad flicks shown this year compared to previous years. We still got two Dolph Lundgren films but the rest of the cheap entries such as Teacher's Pet, Komodo, and They Nest were not that bad.

Let's hope this trend of showing good films at theaters here will continue next year.