Review 2001 for Dec. 28

Review 2001 for Dec. 28

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Yearend-film
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2001 marked by signs of recovery in RI film industry

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Joko E.H. Anwar
Contributor
Jakarta
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An unusual sight has been repeating itself at Blok M Plaza
theater in South Jakarta, where teenagers wait at the entrance
early in the morning to get tickets for an Indonesian horror
movie, Jelangkung, which has been playing at the theater for
weeks.

"I must get a ticket today, otherwise I'll die from
curiosity," 16-year-old Ria desperately told The Jakarta Post.

"I've been trying for weeks to get tickets to see Jelangkung
at Pondok Indah Mall (South Jakarta) to no avail, so I'm trying
my luck here," she said, as echoed by her friends.

It was such a refreshing sight to witness people so eager to
see a local movie. It has been quite a long time since so many
have lined up at the box office -- not since last year's
Petualangan Sherina was on.

The fact that there were still a lot of people wanting to see
Jelangkung many weeks after its premiere showed that nobody had
wanted to bad-mouth the movie.

This could be seen from the reaction of theater audiences,
which seemed to be enjoying it. They laughed at the funny moments
(some of which were unintentional), and screamed at the scary
ones: They were involved in the movie.

The fact that it was technically far inferior compared with
another of this year's most talked-about Indonesian movies -- the
art house piece Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sands), which was
released not long before Jelangkung -- did not seem to bother
them.

While Pasir Berbisik, directed by female director Nan T.
Achnas, was beautifully (and expensively) shot on celluloid,
Jelangkung was shot on video and is even shown at theaters via a
video projector.

What really attracted the audiences was that Jelangkung was
made with the clear intention of being straightforwardly
entertaining.

"We were out to make a mainstream movie, commercial art," the
movie's codirector Rizal Mantovani told the Post.

The young director agreed that Jelangkung, which he codirected
with Jose Purnomo, was the kind of movie needed to rejuvenate the
film industry here.

"We made a movie that the audiences want to see so we had pop
culture in mind while making it," Rizal said, adding that the
movie cost them Rp 400 million (US$40,000) to make.

Rizal, who is well-known as one of the first notable music
video directors here, thought that a movie about an urban legend
was a great idea.

"We always hear young people talking about scary urban
legends, so why not make a movie about it?"

The movie tells the story of three students who, under false
pretenses, visit supposedly haunted buildings in the city but
then decide to go to a small village with a grim past after their
project in the city fails to provide any evidence that ghosts
exist.

There is nothing original in the movie, which will quickly
bring to mind American offerings, including the indie-hit The
Blair Witch Project and the Evil Dead series.

Fortunately, the movie hits the bullseye, as can be witnessed
by the number of people who have been disappointed through
failing to get a ticket.

Jelangkung is currently being screened at only the two venues
mentioned earlier: Rexinema, the company that produced the movie,
could only afford to buy two video projectors to show it.

The year 2001 should be noted as an important one for
Indonesian cinema as it marked signs of recovery in the country's
film industry.

There were at least eight locally produced movies released for
public viewing this year and this is considerably more when
compared with recent years.

Unfortunately, not all of them were winners as they failed to
attract significant audiences.

Pasir Berbisik, for example, succeeded only in drawing people
curious to watch it in the first few weeks following its release.

Despite being heavily publicized, the movie was quickly bad-
mouthed by many as being a head-scratcher for most audiences.

"I have no idea what is the aim of the film. I don't know why
the film was made. For me it's simply boring and confusing,"
movie buff Priesnanda Dwisatria, 25, told the Post.

The film, however, was beautifully shot and won the Best
Cinematography Award at the 46th Asia Pacific Film Festival, held
here in October.

However, since the storytelling is muddled for mainstream
audiences, the film failed to attract people in great numbers.

It was also a disappointment because the film had not really
decided which market to target.

This was in contrast to Jelangkung, which, according to Rizal,
was clearly aimed at 15-year-old to 25-year-old audiences.

Meanwhile, other movies ended up as disasters.

Two, supposedly made for children following the phenomenal
success of Petualangan Sherina last year, Joshua Oh Joshua and
Bunga: Jangan Ada Dusta, were simply dead on arrival.

The two movies were badly produced by filmmakers who did not
seem to understand that people had much better things to do with
their time than sit in theaters watching 90 minutes of mind-
numbing movie, with nothing to offer.

There was also an action flick produced this year titled
Reinkarnasi, which was a shameless rip-off of everything from
Jackie Chan's Armor of God to The Matrix.

Nevertheless, the movie was embarrassingly admitted as an
entry to the Asia Pacific Film Festival.

It seemed these three local films were made without any
awareness that nowadays audiences are more sophisticated,
especially with the existence of many TV channels and more
foreign movies being screened.

Another movie Jakarta Project, which was also aimed at the
youth market, tells a story about a massive diamond hidden on top
of the National Monument in Central Jakarta and involves the U.S.
National Security Agency.

The problem is, the moviemakers were unaware of their
shoestring budget for making such a big story, not to mention how
ridiculous it was.

Had the movie been made tongue in cheek and not taken itself
too seriously, it could have been successful.

It is high time for our local moviemakers to be aware that
they should concentrate on things they have good knowledge about,
since audiences have become much more critical.

One of the keys to the success of Jelangkung is that the movie
is at least smart enough for its target audience.

Thankfully, there was at least one winner this year so maybe
we can expect more locally produced movies next year. Who knows,
it might not be too long before our film industry awakes from its
hibernation!