Two recent RI films to be screened

Two recent RI films to be screened

Rainmaker (Ravi Bharwani, 2004) and Yasujiro Journey (Faozan
Rizal, 2004) -- two low-budget feature-length films directed by
young Indonesians -- are scheduled to make their home-country
premiere at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFEST)
2004.

Bharwani and Rizal, both graduates of the Jakarta Arts
Institute, have released several short films and make feature or
documentary films for television.

Rainmaker tells the story of a village struggling to survive a
long drought. It fuses together so-called traditional beliefs,
such as hardships as punishments from the gods, and modern
technology in coping with natural disasters.

Set in a Javanese village, Rainmaker slowly proceeds to
narrate the frustration of a meteorologist (Levie Hardigan)
trying to create artificial rain to relieve the villagers from a
very long dry season.

He meets and falls for a sinden (a singer, played by Clara
Sinta), the daughter of a puppet master in the village. The
artificial rain project fails and the ruling political party
takes advantage of the disaster in a political campaign.

The love affair is considered to have brought bad luck and
forces the sinden to exile herself in search of
self-purification.

Although many Javanese idioms have already become tired (e.g.
a woman washing a man's feet, the symbol of a sinden's
promiscuity), Bharwani takes advantage of the whiteness of the
dry hills and creates an unusual image of the Indonesian
landscape.

The use of ritual-like offerings, and the way a maid takes
care of her master's cow, relates Javanese culture to Hindu
influences, which may have been taken for granted in a
predominantly Muslim society.

The very slow action and scene progression of Rainmaker may
appear overly ponderous, but is quite effective in conveying the
desperation of the characters.

Faozan Rizal's Yasujiro Journey shows Yasujiro Yamada (Suzuki
Nobuyuki) in search of his grandfather, who is also called
Yasujiro Yamada, a Japanese fighter pilot who went missing during
World War II.

His solitary voyage, which spans 60 years since the
disappearance of his grandfather, takes him through a surreal
landscape of deserts, creeks and dry forests. In the end, he too
disappears, just like his grandfather.

With no other references to time aside from the main
character's dress, Rizal relates the pain of loss that can
accompany the search for one's roots.

He uses an unconventional storytelling method by developing
the narration through written text and a blank screen.

The rest of the story is told through Suzuki's movements and
facial expressions, emphasizing the nuances of isolation and
solitude.

Unlike Rainmaker's vivid fascination with tradition Yasujiro
Journey does not make any specific cultural references.

The story relates more to personal memories and could very
well have taken place anywhere.

There is no dialog in the film, which only refers to Japan
when Yasujiro sings the Japanese national anthem Kimigayo.

As far as composition is concerned, and in its use of
unconventional colors, the film is rather appealing, yet the
frequent repetition of images borders on the tedious.

Both films were screened at the Pusan International Film
Festival in mid-2004 as part of their international premiere, and
were well-received by a Korean audience.

Despite their low-budget production, the two films offer
attractive cinematography and make an interesting edition to
Indonesian cinema.

While these are their first attempts at making a feature film,
the debuts of Bharwani and Rizal are well worth witnessing.

Rainmaker Dec. 5 at 2:30 p.m. Senayan 6

Dec. 10 at 2:55 p.m. TIM 1

Yasujiro Journey Dec. 4 at 2:55 p.m. TIM 1

Dec. 11 at 5:25 p.m. TIM 1