In September, the China Film Archive will welcome the screening of four Indonesian films, providing Beijing audiences with a glimpse into the world of indonesian light and shadow. Among them, "Take Care of the Shop Next Door", which will be held at the meeting, is the work of talk show comedian and director Ernest Plakasa, which focuses on a Chinese Indonesian family as the core of the civilian comedy. Gary and Ratna is a remake of the late 1970s Indonesian film classic, incorporating musical elements into this modern love story. "Sweet 20 Years Old" is remade from the Korean movie "Strange Her", which is a different interpretation of a nostalgic story like Yang Zishan's version of "Sweet 20 Years Old". The biopic "Kartini" focuses on the history of women's liberation in Indonesia, and uses celebrity stories to retrace the experience of the times. The four films, shot over the past two years, cover several genres common to Indonesian cinema: comedy, youth, romance, biography, and also showcase generations of local performing arts stars such as Lano Carnot, Shirley Xanafia, and Tagina Saphira. Through these films, the standard of mainstream film production in Indonesia today can be seen, and the face of contemporary life in Indonesia can also be vividly presented.
"Sweet 20"
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and is second to none in Southeast Asia. Although the prosperity of its film industry remains limited, its demographic base has ensured that Indonesia is the largest box office market in Southeast Asia. After several years of rapid development, last year Indonesia's annual film box office has exceeded 300 million US dollars, but the size of the film market can not be directly linked to the creation and development of national film culture, dissemination and acceptance, in a long time, Indonesian cinemas have been "occupied" by Hollywood films, and although several films screened this time focus on local issues and historical experience, reflect the effective attempts of local production and imported products to compete in recent years, they can have a more effective resonance with local audiences. However, the overseas recognition and recognition of these works is still very limited.
As a country of archipelagos in the geographical sense or even a "country of ten thousand islands", Indonesia has a large population, multi-ethnic mixed, and the area radiated by the island is vast and diverse, and there are differences between life and culture in different regions. Due to uneven development, the Indonesian film industry is concentrated in Jakarta and the surrounding areas, on the one hand, the content is relatively monotonous, on the other hand, the domestic communication and distribution is also very difficult.
The complexity of geography and ethnicity should actually provide space for the film to present itself. The capital, Jakarta, is a bustling city in western Java, with the resort resort of Bali relying on tourism and animism, while other islands offer landscapes and cultures that Chinese audiences don't know about. For example, on the island of Sumba, the "Island of Sandalwood", which is not far from Bali, the famous "female Western" "Marina's Killing Quadrilogue" (or "Revenge of the Wolf") was born in recent years. The film has been screened at both the Beijing and Shanghai Film Festivals and is the work of young Indonesian female director Molly Suya. She borrows the legendary tradition of Sumba Island's empty landscape, pony warriors, and head-cutting booty, and hooks up with the Italian Western or the New West such as "Earth-shattering Heads", which is free, romantic and not lacking in comedy, and lightly interprets the story of female revenge. Among them, the landscape of the desert mountains seems to be in Central America, presenting a Southeast Asian imagination that is very different from the tropical rainforest. Director Suya calls the film a "satay cowboy" style, and indeed entwines the local Indonesian style with the genre of the film that flows through the world.
Marina's Killing Quadripartite
Seemingly niche, different types of Southeast Asian films have actually been glorious on the world art film stage for many years, mature directors such as Apichatpong, Ravdaz, Mendoza, etc. are in active periods, and every year more young creators are introduced by film festivals and are known to the world. In the Indonesian film tradition, commercial tendencies are more prosperous, but several works are also presented at international film festivals every year. For example, Chinese-Indonesian director Edwin was nominated for the Busan New Wave and Rotterdam Golden Tiger Awards for his debut film "Blind Pigs Also Want to Fly", and the second feature film "Postcard from the Zoo" was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival. The former uses the story of three generations of Indonesian Chinese to look back at the history of riots around 1998, and vaguely guides the audience to see the historical trauma and identity problems of this land. The latter is more experimental and dreamy, with abundant imagination to create an Indonesian girl who grew up in a safari park, how to grow up with horses, tigers and giraffes, but to return to human society to work in spa centers, is a very popular work in Berlin that year.
However, "flowers inside the wall and incense outside the wall" is a common situation, and films that receive attention and praise in the international circulation network may not be recognized by domestic audiences, and works that have been filmed in Indonesia and are considered to be Indonesian films are not necessarily created by Indonesians. For example, the fiery massacre documentary "Killing Deduction" was actually written by Joshua Oppenheimer, an American director who settled in Denmark. The internationally acclaimed and box office hit action film Raid, although it shows Indonesian martial arts culture and local police stories, is also directed by Gareth Evans, a British director based in Indonesia. Of course, the success of "Raid" is first and foremost inseparable from the director's partner, Qingxiu male starring, strong martial artist Iko Uas, this thriller action film with a strong sense of reality, tension and retro sense, integrating Hong Kong police bandits and Hollywood blockbuster styles, absorbing the characteristics of Indonesian martial arts Ban Casilla, filming violence out of another extreme sense of beauty, very stimulating the audience's adrenaline secretion, several screenings in Beijing are hard to find, full of seats, can be regarded as the pinnacle of the indonesian action genre in the new era.
Satan's Slave
Sitting on a huge cinema market, the Indonesian film industry has many places to share with the Chinese film industry, such as tirelessly exploring the possibilities of local genre films. In addition to blockbuster action movies such as "The Raid" and local comedies, horror movies are also quite popular in Southeast Asia. Jockey Anwar, a young talent who starred in "Blind Pigs Want to Fly" and directed "Copy of the Heart" and was selected for the Venice Horizon, was absorbed into the mainstream industry and directed the most high-profile "Satan's Slave" in 2017. Adapted from the 1982 classic of the same name, this Islamic horror film achieved box office success as a dark horse, not only the champion of Indonesian horror films, but also ranked fourth in the history of local film box office in the past years, which is a victory for local story styles, especially the remake of local old films.
| Zhang Yaoting
Friday, September 21, 2018 Beijing Youth Daily B8 edition