This LIFE is semi-retired.

Hi! I'm updating this space to tell you guys that this second, seemingly, kinda, sort of unsuccessful attempt at deeply documenting my thoughts I call a blog will now be semi-retired. Facebook status updates and tweeting are a lot easier these days to blab about things like my views on life, society, and current events. Blogging, however, takes a little bit of thought. Heck, even THIS pinned post takes a while to be typed too.

The NARNIA division, however, I shall try and actively live it up; where I'll say good or crappy things about films, TV series, music, video games, events, or literature I have read... if this lazy-leech thing ever comes off of my brain, that is. 'Till then.

20110715

Roman picisan 'Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?'


This song has been playing in my head and my MP3 player for a while now, and I think it's a brilliant and beautiful song. The subtlety of the lyrics really makes me think about who or what is this guy talking about. It could be about anyone or anything that's near and dear to the listeners. Everytime I hear this song over and over again, I tend to keep on imagining about the origin of this song, and that would be 'Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?', a 2002 Indonesian romantic drama film by Rudi Soedjarwo. I thought I should give that movie a spin again, and now, I totally get what the flick is about, and I should say that it has been an emotional roller-coaster for me. Oh yeah, now that I'm in the writing course, I could (almost) totally relate with the main characters' interest in literature a little bit. :)

Director: Rudi Soedjarwo
Screenplay: Jujur Prananto, Prima Rusdi
Genre: Drama / romance
Starring: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Nicolas Saputra
Release: February 8, 2002
Studio: Miles Production
I remembered watching a glimpse of this movie when I was still on primary school and then its premiere on a local channel. Honestly, during the time, I remembered being totally clueless as to what they were saying at all, even when they had Malay subtitles on. Heck, I don't even get what they were doing in the film; everything seems so sophisticated and shit, and I think it still is. I guess I was too shallow to watch this flick back then, huh? I guess the reason of my clueless-ness is due to the film's strong backdrop (it involves Indonesian literature and a little bit of politics), nicely dramatised conflicts (it builds up quiet nicely and knows when's the right time for the audience to feel sad or angry or happy) and awesome score (what would you expect from Melly Goeslow, huh?). Even the title itself is clever. It's a play on words where Cinta could both mean love AND the main character's name, Cinta.

Did I mention the girls are totally damn cute? Really, how could I not see that MOST of them other than lead were so eye-pleasing? 

I think that should cover on what I think about the movie, which leads up to this; Indonesians are definitely master of the arts. Even though the feel of most films seemed a little bit Westernised, they still hold dear to their culture. They are awesome when it comes to beautiful and soothing wordings; they managed to sound smart without being totally cheesy or trying too hard, since the script totally echoes the influence that the big time names in the Indonesian literature scene have brought them. They really know how to speak their language, I tell ya, and they are proud of it. They are not ashamed of talking in a 'literary' fashion, in fact, they really embrace it. Apart from that, they also know the right locations that lifts up a certain feel to shoot a scene in order to capture the emotion of the actors and play with the audiences' emotions. It makes them totally romantic at that. Haha.

So yeah, my actual point for this whole entry would be; Indonesians are totally romantic!

With all of the above being said, I'm looking forward to watch more Indonesian films like these which had that same sense of maturity and emotion-invoking storylines. Anyone here has a suggestion?

2 comments:

Akemi Siegel said...

yeah, Iki! Now you talk :D

The Photograph
Indonesia, France, Netherlands
2007
Director: Nan Triveni Achnas

Radit dan Jani
Indonesia
2008
Director: Upi Avianto

Janji Joni
Indonesia
2005
Director: Joko Anwar

P/s: Let's watch those out!

I.A. said...

thanks! will try and find these. :)