Teen flick 'Untukmu': An insult to intelligence

Teen flick 'Untukmu': An insult to intelligence

Joko Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

New Indonesian teen flick Untukmu (For You) should have come with
a warning about its hazardous content. It is guaranteed to keep
your mouth open for so long that you may not be able to close it
again.

The movie, proudly brought to you by Asun Mawardi, the
producer of the horrendous The Black Magic, is so unbelievably
inept in almost every department that it insults even its target
audience and anyone who can count from one to 10.

Or, it may give you stomach cramps from laughing throughout
this unintentionally hilarious movie, which makes local teen
flick Catatan Si Boy (Boy's Diary) in the 1980's seem like an
Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film.

First, let's take a jab at the film's storyline that seems to
have been written by a chap with an underdeveloped ability to
write a movie about college kids or someone too old
(septuagenarians and above), and who is completely out of touch
with how young men and women live today.

The story centers around a university where a new, rich male
student (Okan Kornelius) has just transferred from another
college. He is (supposedly) very charming and (supposedly) a very
good basketball player.

He immediately catches the attention of a (supposedly) sultry,
rich female student (Yunita David) who vows to make him her
boyfriend.

Meanwhile, the new guy is having difficulty coping with his
new classes and gets an F for Statistics. So he seeks help from a
(supposedly) smart female student (Asty Ananta) to give him
tutorials.

As you may have guessed at this point, the new guy and his
tutor fall in love with each other. Conflict arises when the new
guy's friends, including the sultry girl, do not approve of the
relationship.

The latter manages to find out the smart girl's classified
background: She was adopted. They then use this big, (supposedly)
embarrassing secret to separate the two people in love.

In a scene too mind-bogglingly hard to believe, the bad guys
mock the nice girl by exclaiming, "You are adopted child! You are
adopted child!". The (supposedly) mature, clever girl runs away
in tears.

Are they sure they are not making a movie about kindergarten
kids here? My God!

After the incident, the new guy is angry with his friends and
leaves the basketball team. But no need to worry, my dear
readers, since for no apparent reason, the sultry girl suddenly
realizes that she has been mean and apologizes to the nice girl.

In a corny closing, the new guy, apparently ebullient with the
progress of the romance so far, turns into a hero by showing up
at the last minute when the college's basketball team was on the
very verge of losing a game. That's it. The end.

Please note that we are fully aware we have given away the
ending of the movie but it matters not -- the movie's official
website, www.untukmuthemovie.com, does it too.

If you think the plot is already as thin as a flake of
dandruff, wait until you hear the hokey dialogues that will make
even junior high school kids howl in pain.

It's made even worse by amateurish performances with miscast
actors.

TV presenter Okan Kornelius, whose expressions range from A to
somewhere near B, does not possess the slightest charm to be a
charming guy.

Meanwhile, newcomer Asty Ananta wears a new haircut and make-
up that makes her look like a photocopy of the similar character
in hit teen flick Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (What's Up with Love?)
played by Ladya Cheryl.

In its press kit, the producer boasts the movie is the first
Indonesian production to use cutting-edge music score and real
rap songs.

Yeah right. They must have been talking about the wrong movie
since the music in Untukmu is simply tasteless and appears to
have been taken from an album that failed to be released and was
shelved in the '80s.

In fact, I suspect producer/director Asun Mawardi is inspired
by his love for an old Indonesian song from the late 80s, also
titled Untukmu, which he made the theme song of this embarrassing
movie.

OK, the producer deserves credit for shooting the movie on
celluloid, which means that they were willing to spend more money
in production rather than using the cheap, ugly digital video
medium that most local film producers do.

However, Untukmu can't help from looking cheap as it was not
supported by a competent art department.

The poorly conceived sets seem to have virtually cut the
production value of the relatively expensive movie by more than
half.

And whoever approved the costume prepared by the wardrobe
department should be thinking about finding another career.

There is a scene where our nice girl shows up in a party in
slow motion and (supposedly) surprises everyone since she
(supposedly) looks dashing wearing a (supposedly) beautiful gown.

Teen girls and boys who were watching the movie with me could
not help but burst out laughing at the scene since the girl looks
like she has just emerged from a very seedy beauty salon.

Even if we put aside issues of taste such as music, costume,
make-up, etc., the movie still has to deal with basic technical
issues.

The picture is often out of focus and plagued by a jarring use
of lens filters that ignore the picture's continuity.

The producer also bragged that the movie was the first
Indonesian film to utilize aerial cameras. That may be right but
who cares about such cameras when they can't even pan correctly?
In short, this movie's shots may only give you a headache.

For those who only want to see the Indonesian film industry
grow, we can only hope that this kind of extremely unprofessional
effort will not scare away Indonesian audiences from watching our
local movies.

-- I-box

Untukmu (For You)
Drama/Romance, Zero Stars (out of ****)
Starring Asty Ananta, Okan Kornelius, Yunita David, Ali Syehan,
Ika Eviolina.
Directed by Asun Mawardi