It's a good thing I went to see a collection of shorts one day shy of the closing of Q film festival 2010. It's not to spite FPI or Tifatul Sembiring, I forgot how it felt like to go to Q and support and enjoy movies with all sorts of Tom, Dick and Harry. People can be LGBT (if I remembered correctly), which is the theme this year, who cares ... what matters is, do you like movies? Do you wanna see movies that's different from what's in your nearest pirated DVD stalls collections? Do you want to see something new in storytelling? Do you want to be surprised and taken to edge of your seat? That's the essence of film festivals, and last night I was reminded that such a thing exists. The best thing about film festivals is really the shorts, the long ones can leave you dry if they are bad. But come on, you've probably have seen 1000 movies in your lifetime and only liked less than ten. In film festivals, that journey is compacted into mere weeks. I am not saying what I saw last night was the best shorts ever, but I am very hopeful at what our local young moviemakers can offer Indonesian audience. I welcome their surprises, and fellas we could be in for an enjoyable local movie experience, if they keep it up.
It's called Pink Homemade, with six little stories in it. The first one, Gincu, sort of escapes me, the movie ends before I could figure out what the story was all about. A long haired guy, telling us the audience a story about his mom's red lipstick, while getting his hair chopped of. At the end, after he's got all his hair cut off, he puts on a red colored lipstick. Then the credit titles. I was fishing for my fisherman's in my cluttered bag, by the time I got it, the story ends. Now, the way I say it, there's got to be more than what meets the eye right? I just don't know what it is.
The next one, A Bride and A Clown, is a classic Indonesian movie storytelling. By that I mean, it reminded me of the 70s movies, with long dialogues and a lot of focus on facial expression. If the actor is angry, happy, you can see it in their face, because the camera will stay there forever for you to get it. It begins with a man dressed in clown outfit standing on a rooftop, puffing away. He is not a happy clown from the sound of his galloping breaths. Then we cut to Atiqah Hasiolan, the renowned indie actress, in a proper wedding dress with hands tied together. She has been kidnapped by the clown, and as she wakes up and gathers her consciousness, she starts screaming for help. The clown stands and watch her sometimes. He shows her the key to the door she's banging. Only after that the bride asks what the clown wants, "please, we spent too much time, energy and money for this wedding, do you want money?" The clown smirks and says "I have one question." He asks why the bride wants to marry her future husband and whether she loves him. She laughs, because that's two question, a Freudian tell tale that signals the audience-look, we're going to have a long intellectual conversation on the scheme of things here-that's what I meant by this is totally home brew. He shows her a photo of her on the lap of this guy who is not her future husband. And Atiqah does what she does best, flip dramatically from regal like gestures to a been there done that type of woman. Talks and stands differently. The clown takes off his suit because it's hot, and she is aroused with the spectacle and offers him sex for the key. The clown seems exasperated by her, but grabs her anyways and fucks her from the back. She seems to enjoy it. After that we learn through dialogues that the clown is her future husband lover for 5 years. And despite the butt fuck, he wants nothing from her. After he scrapes off the make up, we see a handsome man, in tears trying to tell us how much he loves his lover. He even tells the bride not to put creamer in her future husbands coffee, or he prefers bar soap and sweats his feet when stressed. Then he gives her the key and opens the door out, without even using the key. The bride pauses and then leave the rooftop the exact same way the clown did.
Therefore the clown is a really a clown, and the bride a bride. It doesn't try to approach it's theme symbolically like Gincu did, it's straightforward and as is. I think it works, I like that it doesn't show same sex coitus while dwelling on that issue, unlike most LGBT movies are. I accept the long winded dialogues. Dirgayuza (if I'm not mistaken) the filmmaker has an eloquent, very local touch to his work. Pair him up with Hanung Bramantyo, the could make magic. Atiqah's performance was what is expected from Atiqah, but this guy, who plays the clown is definitely a new actor I haven't seen. He shows more screen presence even when he's all dolled up and we can't see his face. He made it into his story, and I like that move.
Boy Crush by Sigi Wimala, was a complete surprise. Her credit rolls were just filled with important names like Garin Nugroho as producer, Arturo GP and Gunnar Nimpuno as the behind the scene people. There are more, I can't remember. Oh, my friend Nugie, not quite as well known as the other guys but he's my friend therefore, important to me.
Ok, the story is simple but oh it is so beautifully and artistically shot, that those little ideas on every line of the script made it safe onto the screen. She probably shot it with 35 mm to for all I know.
So there is this boy, two boys who are sharing a room, they sleep in bunk beds. The room is dimly lit and all the props seem to be conveying the feel of our characters. The boy sleeps in the top bunk, have recurrent dreams about having sex with the boy who sleeps in the lower bunk. He doesn't tell it to his buddy of course, he hardly speaks in the short. The buddy only knows he dreams of sex with a guy, the buddy says it's okay to be gay, he's got the look for it. We see, without much words how this boy with wet dreams struggle with own thoughts. The buddy, let's call him nintendo boy, because he plays nintendo while trying to soothe his roommate that it's okay to be gay.
The short is shot in one place, this house and right outside the house, an orange three levels scaffolding. That's where these two boys would chat. Then we see a girl who has a crush on the supposedly gay boy, he does nothing. Instead he thinks of his parents and deaf grandma's reaction if he tells them his gay. So, one day the girl comes over or rather just passes the house and some street punks start to pull her chain. Nintendo boy says "if you're a guy you would do something about it." So he did, he walks over to the punks and gets beaten up instead. Nintendo boy comes to his rescue. The girl likes gay boy for trying to save her. Now we go back to the room and sleepless night dream. This time nintendo boy is having that dream instead. But, he's just a boy, what can he do but touch himself while staring at his roommate's photo. Unrequited love. It's not a big story, nobody dies, but it is artistically shot and you will get the point.
Munafik
A short about a Muslim gay couple living in Australia who prays and have sex. The twist, is the boyfriend jerks off in the toilet while looking at another man's photos and that he secretly has a girlfriend.
The audience laugh when the short shows this scene where the couple prays together and the boyfriend kisses his partner's hand. Which is only customary for Muslim wives to the husband. This movie was not made by filmmakers, but they know what they want to say. No fancy camera moves, 'it was done out of boredom' said the scriptwriter during the q and a after the show's done. It talks about Luth the prophet and how gay people where stoned to death during Luth's time, it tries to make a stand from a homosexual point of view. Bloody hell, all the stuff FPI talks about, is actually all here in this short. It's a satire that's very comical. Talking about religion and how this betrays their Islam faith when all they want to do is hump each other. Like the bride and the clown, this one hits home. The narrative is so local, what we do and say are normally different and that's good, and fits the title. This short does not try to be what it's not, it mirrors Mocthar Lubis' take on Indonesian characteristics.
The Birthday Gift
The movie begins with a woman (I know it's a woman, because I was introduced to the woman before lights out) fiddling with her camcorder. We learn the apartment is in a complete mess because there was a birthday party last night. And this camcorder is a birthday gift, and the one holding it is the birthday girl. Everything is shot through the camcorder, so think Blair Witch Project . And forgive the grainy quality of the short because that's part of the intention. And we know she's the birthday girl because when she uncovers her bedroom comforter, there is a girl who yelps 'happy birthday.' With that voice, the voice and the cringe on her face like a cat that signals 'high maintenance but cute.' We don’t see the face of the birthday girl because the screen time is largely allocated to the girlfriend. But you see enough to know about the birthday girl by the woman she tangos with. The mood is happy, the girlfriend does all girly stuff by putting make up on, and we can see her cosmetics ammunition could powder the whole village. The girlfriend wants to cook for her, and she can’t cook. She does not know the right pan to use, and instead of the ladle she uses the knife and scrape the Teflon off. But the birthday girl laughs at these things, she tries to warn and tells her how and what to do in a very sweet way. She knows her woman and her little flaws. You know perhaps it was what the birthday girl found attractive about the girlfriend. She sounds contented as she fiddles with her food instead of eating it. The girlfriend just wants to make the birthday girl happy that day, she wants to cook, clean, stuff she’s not very good at, but willing to do for the special day. Everyday stuff, we do with our spouses at home. Which makes it organic, somewhat natural. Although normally organic should still be shot un-organically, you will get used to the camcorder quality, because we’re so used to seeing it at home, or some Facebook posts by your friends shot by their BB at night. Then there’s a bell on the door, a surprise gift for the birthday girl: a bunny. Not even two bunnies so they can play together. A cute little bunny, birthday girl says thank you and a minute later … the bunny pees on the floor.
That’s when they actually, argue verbally, because so far, only us audience can spot the problem. It is shot from whose perspective? Yes, the birthday girl. When the bunny pees, we learn that our characters do realize, they have differences. The girlfriend then finds out the birthday girl doesn’t like animals, and she always gives the wrong birthday gifts. “Wait, I like this camera, it’s from you.” “No, it’s from your ex girlfriend, read the card.” The birthday girl reads the card. They don’t go out that night. And last scene, we see the girlfriend fiddles with the camera and we finally see, the birthday girl sleeping like a log.
I think there’s more to the story than what’s it’s willing to tell the audience. If you’re observant enough, you will see a dormant volcano. And it would pass for an everyday life in every couple, too. (sam)
