HEADSHOT Same Difference or Different Enough?

 Official Trailer Headshot

Banyak yang bilang “Udah nggak ada lagi yang benar-benar baru di dunia ini”. Sampai derajat tertentu, saya setuju. Sesuatu yang benar-benar baru (seperti internet pada tahun 1950 an misalnya--kata Wikipedia) mungkin masih harus menunggu entah berapa puluh tahun lagi. Sambil menunggu ditemukannya hal baru, para konsumen perlu dikasih kompensasi berupa inovasi atau pemukhtahiran dari apa yang sudah ada, secara reguler. Nggak, kita nggak ujug-ujug minta Iphone yang batere nya bisa tahan selama sebulan, atau Siri yang tiba-tiba jadi lancar bahasa Indonesia. Tapi setidaknya, harusnya bisa lah ada update minor seperti tombol edit di Twitter, tempat naro foto panoramic di Instagram dan fitur recall di Outlook yang actually works. Konsumen nggak minta sesuatu yang completely, new. “Completely new” sounds untested, alien and therefore—to my pathetic, spineless, ball-less mind--scary. I want “completely new” to happen to other people first. But I’m all for innovation and creativity. Pakai semua yang sudah ada, kasih nilai tambah. Kalo yang ngeramu tangannya jago, chances are, hasilnya bikin konsumen hepi, and they will come back for more.

Take this movie “Headshot” for instance. Para pembuatnya sangat cerdik dan efisien. They work with what they know. Mereka tahu benar ada film unyu berjudul “The Raid” dan “The Raid 2”, film aksi buatan dalam negeri yang masing-masing sukses ditonton lebih dari satu juta pasang mata di Indonesia, kata internet. Mereka mahfum bahwa kedua film tadi diperankan oleh Iko Uwais ditemani--di film kedua, at least—oleh Julie Estelle, Very Tri Yulisman, dan Zack Lee. Daripada coba-coba aktor lain yang belum terbukti keandalan fisiknya, kenapa tidak pakai saja aktor-aktor yang sudah main di film tersebut? Toh cerita dan nama karakternya akan beda. Tambah lagi, in the creators’ defense, banyak sutradara lain yang menggunakan aktor-aktor yang sama untuk film ber-genre serupa (tengok lah Oom Liam Neeson nggak tau udah main di berapa film action selepas “Taken” atau Tom Cruise, yang setelah “Mission Impossible” jadi hobi banget nyelamatin dunia). Kalau filmnya menghibur, penonton akan tetap legowo merogoh kocek sedalam apapun untuk menonton filmya di bioskop. Apakah strategi para pembuat film “Headshot” berhasil?

Pertama dari ceritanya dulu, seorang pemuda berparas mirip jagoan di film The Raid, terkapar koma di rumah sakit di sebuah pulau selama dua bulan. Ia dirawat oleh seorang dokter muda cantik (karena kalau tidak cantik, filmnya akan berhenti di sini saja). Namanya dokter Ailin (diperankan oleh Chelsea Islan, yang menurut saya parasnya lebih cocok untuk memerankan mahasiswi). Suatu hari sang pemuda terbangun dari koma dan tidak ingat siapa namanya dan dari mana ia berasal. Sang dokter memberikan nama Ishmael kepada sang pemuda, diambil dari nama salah satu tokoh novel Moby Dick yang kebetulan lagi dibaca oleh sang dokter (entah apa yang terjadi jika mbak dokter kebetulan lagi baca komik Kobo Chan). Dokter Ailin tidak menyadari bahwa Ishmael sedang dicari-cari sekumpulan orang yang ingin menghabisinya. Sekumpulan orang-orang ini dipimpin oleh seorang pria paruh baya karismatik bernama Mr. Lee (diperankan dengan baik sekali menurut saya oleh aktor Singapura (kata Liputan6.com) bernama Sunny Pang). Soal kenapa kelompok pimpinan Mr. Lee ini mencari-cari Ishmael dan bagaimana cara Ishmael membasmi kroco kroco nya Mr. Lee menjadi hidangan utama film “Headshot”.  Jadi, kalo film ini diibaratkan sebagai acara gala dinner, adegan gebuk-gebukannya ini adalah hidangan kambing gulingnya.

So what do I think about the movie? Sebenernya di dalam kalimat saya tadi ada kata sakti yang menjadi kunci berhasil atau tidaknya tontonan ini. Kata itu adalah: “Cara” atau “How”. If you saw how meticulously awesome the fight choreography is in this movie, you’d know that this movie delivers what it promised to do. Sutradara film ini, The Mo Brothers, menurut saya, memiliki mata dan tangan yang terampil dalam mengeksekusi berbagai adegan close range, hand to hand (or hand to whatever, really) fighting yang pasti maha sulit untuk dipersiapkan, di-shoot, dan di-edit (untuk siapapun yang ngedit film ini, saya turut bersimpati pada Anda). Tapi apakah adengan fighting seperti itu merupakan hal yang baru bagi penonton yang awam dunia bela diri seperti saya? If you have watched all of those awesome hand-to-hand bone-to-bone/jaw/head/celurit/parang combats in two “The Raid” movies, doesn’t it seems like you’ve seen it all? Perhaps. Tapi itulah uniknya sebuah karya seni. Lo bisa aja nge sketch ulang lukisan Monalisa dengan tangan lo sendiri. Kalau lo terampil dan hasil sketching lo bagus, siapapun yang ngeliat secara jujur pasti akan mengapresiasi. Ini yang terjadi pada gue setelah nonton “Headshot.” It is as if the filmmakers of this movie are sketching their art based on paintings of the two The Raid movies, but then they cleverly add their own colors. Karena The Mo Brothers punya enough talent and skills, film ini jadi sangat, and I repeat, sangat well made dan bagi yang menikmati dwilogi The Raid, sangat menghibur. Semua aspek teknis di film ini (to my untrained eye) dieksekusi sangat baik. The fighting is lighting fast and looks deadly. The editing is fluid enough to not make us lost or confused as to who is fighting (and hurting who). The music sounds incredible, constantly thumping, intensifying each action scene.  Selain bagian teknis, The Mo Brothers secara mengejutkan juga berhasil membuat saya percaya bahwa Iko Uwais dan Chelsea Islan bisa saling jatuh cinta. Yep. Film ini punya romantic arc yang dijaga dari awal sampai akhir oleh pembuatnya untuk membedakannya dari The Raid. Menurut saya, percobaan ini berhasil. Kalau adegan baku hantam di film ini merupakan hidangan kambing guling, maka romantika mini di dalam “Headshot” ini ibarat obat penurun kolesterolnya. Bikin hati tenang setelah (nyaris) jantungan.

Tentunya film ini juga nggak akan enjoyable kalo pemain utamanya nggak bisa “memimpin layar”. Untungnya The Mo Brothers punya Iko Uwais. His physicality and martial arts skills are imposing enough for the viewers to trust that he will lead us through adrenaline-infused action scenes with only a couple of bruises, broken bones, death by chopsticks, and bullet to the face.  But he seems humble, heroic and selfless enough for us to be rooting for him. Saya juga, entah kenapa, merasa bahwa The Mo Brothers sangat mengetahui kekuatan (dan kelemahan) aktor utamanya di depan kamera. What Mr. Uwais lacks in dramatic acting ability, he makes up for strong screen presence dan dari cara film ini di-edit, The Mo Brothers sangat mengakomodasi hal ini (dramatic scenes are kept short and sweet, while the fighting scenes are neverending. All the better for it). Chelsea Islan bermain cukupan sebagai love interest, tapi tetap di mata saya, terlalu muda. Yang saya sedikit kecewa sebenarnya aktris favorit saya (dan maunya saya, favorit semua orang), Julie Estelle. Entah kenapa, berbeda dengan aktingnya yang menurut saya bagus di film “Rumah Dara” (2009, disutradari The Mo Brothers juga) dan “Selamanya” (film tahun 2007 yang menurut saya bagus, tapi pasti yang lain bilang cheessy), jadi agak kaku di sini. Mungkin sebagai penggemar, saya harus mengakui bahwa Julie merupakan aktor yang excel in physical acting, namun runs into trouble when it comes to delivery of dialogue (intonasi suara Julie dalam men-deliver dialog tidak sekaya aktris seangkatannya seperti Acha Septriasa misalnya). So, naturally, I rejoice when I heard her next project will also be an action movie, playing to her strength, directed once again by the Mo Brothers, further adds to my belief that The Mo Brothers really knows their actors’ strength. Sekarang saya menganggap Julie Estelle itu seperti Sigourney Weaver Indoensia in the making. And as movie nerds know, this is a praise of the highest order.

Go Julie!!

Eh, ini lagi review “Headshot” ya? Sori, sori. Its good. Go watch it in theater.

And, go Julie!!

18 December 2016

Dimas

ADA APA DENGAN CINTA 2: A “HELLO, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN” FROM AN OLD FRIEND

 Ada Apa dengan Cinta 2 Trailer

It is very rare for a movie to be able to capture the imagination of a generation. And when a bunch of filmmakers succeed in doing so, the movie itself transforms into something that is more than a 90-minute escapism. It becomes a culture. I do not need to go to great lengths to prove that “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta” (“What’s Up With Love”/“AADC”) is one such movie (in Indonesia at least). Almost everyone from my generation in Indonesia that I know of are familiar with the names “Rangga” (played by Nicholas Saputra in his screen debut) and “Cinta” (played by the perfect—and none of you can convince me otherwise—Dian Sastrowardoyo), even if they have not actually seen the film. A lot of people can recite the lines to the point where they become parodies (with the most popular ones being: “Salah gue? Salah…..(if you can fill in the blanks then I have proved my pseudo-theory)). A lot of people can immediately recognize the music whenever it is on. Some people may even remember phrases from the Rangga’s poems. The point is, when a movie (or any event, really) is blessed with being at the right place, and at right time, the target audience will eat it up, its stars will be typecasted, the storyline will be copied, and the lines and quotes will be etched in that generation’s mind for a long time as if they have been taught in school textbooks (which got me thinking, maybe the best way to get kids to voluntarily memorize some boring textbooks is by capturing their imagination, but I digress).

I am one of those people that were in awe of the film when it first reached Indonesia’s theaters in 2002. Back then, I was in high school and I did not understand what teenagers my age were talking about, what music they were listening to and where they hang out.  Basically I was like the Amish of my school. Imagine how I felt when I saw AADC on the big screen with hundreds of anak-anak gaul Jakarta (that’s Jakarta’s hip teenagers for you) who I assume have all experienced what Cinta experienced (the puppy love, the heartbreaks, the cliques, the hangouts, the concerts and the need to be accepted by their peers). It was like getting a crash course on “how Jakarta’s young people supposed to behave”. During the first minutes of the movie, I was dumbfounded at the dialogue between Cinta and her clique. I was shrinking in my seat when I saw how Cinta and her clique treated the school nerd, Mamet. I was terrified when—I imagine—that the teenagers watching the movie were nodding in agreement to all of the above. I remember thinking, “So those are what’s acceptable. That’s the way I should’ve talked to my peers.” It made me question whether I was ever human.

But then, as the plot progressed, the viewers were introduced to another character, Rangga, which was a loner and a cynic with a penchant for poems. He did not have any clique. He spent his time reading at the back of the school, and scoffed at the concept of “peer pressure” which teenagers subject themselves to. But even so, Cinta was almost immediately drawn to Rangga, like a cat to catnip, from the moment they met. And I just realized from a recent re-viewing of this film that Cinta was the one who orchestrated her subsequent meetings, dates and midnight strolls with him. Like a scientist who stumbled upon something mysterious, she wanted to know more. And surely, as with any boy and girl characters in any teen movie, they fell in love, albeit not without some memorable bickering in between. These bickering, is pivotal for me, as these are what made me like the movie. One of the standout arguments between Rangga and Cinta, for me, happened during the basketball scene, where Rangga approached Cinta to apologize about what he said during their first outing as frenemies in a traditional bookstore. I like their confrontation in this scene because each of them had valid points, and it made each Rangga and Cinta (and me), got that needed slap in the face. The heated exchange went something like this: Rangga called Cinta aside to talk privately during her friend’s basketball match. He apologized to her about his behavior the day before. She dismissively told him that she didn’t think about it anymore. However, seeing that the girl kept looking at the other direction while speaking, made Rangga called her out: “Why do you keep glancing to your friends the whole time you are talking to me? I bet they don’t like seeing me here, do they? You too are embarrased to be seen talking to me, aren’t you?”

When Cinta defensively responded that his thoughts are mean, Rangga went on, “I just wanted to read the minds of people like you and your friends.” Hearing this, Cinta’s anger intensified, “So now you can read our minds now can you? And that makes you have the right to judge us? Whose fault is it if you always feel uncomfortable in social settings? Is it my fault? My friends’ fault? You want to know what I think? I think you are out of your mind.”    

Bear in mind that the above is a loose paraphrasing of the original dialogue. That being said, at that time I could really imagine myself saying the things Rangga said. He faked self pity in front of Cinta so people like her and her group could not hurt him, because he got there first. She got great comebacks though, since it is true that Cinta and her “people” are not responsible for Rangga’s cynical view of the world.     

Back to the movie, I honestly think AADC is wonderful. Unlike, say, Hollywood teen movies, it transcends its genre. It is not drown is teen movie cliches. Even if there are cliches, they don’t feel like it when I watched it. The movie didn’t end in a party or a prom (although to be fair, it ended with a chase through the airport), the girl didn’t fall for the guy because he’s a jock or a rebel that needs fixing, neither of them have terminal illness, there is not bets (as in “he/she dating her/him is actually a bet made with his/her friends), no opposing families and they bonded over poetry and books, not due to their time spent during a detention or community service mandated by the school principal.

The music and the songs that fill the movie is exceptionally good too, to the point I can dare say that the film is, in part, a musical, even if none of the characters burst  into songs at any point in the movie. It is because the songs, rather than disrupting the scenes, are actually intensifying them. This, to me, can be clearly seen in the much cried over “farewell at the airport” scene when both characters professed their love to one another. The haunting and classical sounding “Suara Hati Seorang Kekasih” (“A Lover’s Desire—okay I just made it sounded like an X rated adult movie, but trust me, this song is good) were playing in the background and climaxed (sorry, couldn’t resist) just in time for Cinta and Rangga to  embrace each other for one last time.

That scene marked the last time Indonesian vievers saw Rangga, Cinta and her friends. However, acclaimed producer Mira Lesmana and Director Riri Riza pulled a “Before Sunset”/”Before Midnight” move, and made the sequel to AADC in 2016, fourteen years after the first movie broke into Indonesian big screens. It involves all the main characters of the first movie, namely Rangga, Cinta and her group of friends, living the life as thirtysomethings with all the perks and challenges it offers. The movie opens with Cinta and clique, still as tight as they were back then (now, do not misconstrue that), celebrating several milestones. There is an engagement, a pregnancy, and a recently clean and sober former addict (it goes to show that, life after a successful teen movie is indeed usually rough). To celebrate this milestone, the girls decide to go to Yogyakarta, a city in Central Java that is steeped in tradition, myth and culture, old-timey regalness, magnificent mountains, awe-inducing temples, honest to goodness food, laid back aura and friendly people (I cannot praise Yogyakarta enough. Anyone should visit this city at least once).     

In an act of serendipity, Rangga who since the end of the first movie, has been living in New York, decides to also come to Jogja (short for Yogyakarta) to finish some family matters. Long story short, they finally meet in Jogja and has the much needed talk to, not only catch up with what the other one has been doing for the last fourteen years, but also to get some explanation, some venting up, some acknowledgement and apologies, truce, and finally, closure, so they can move forward in life, be it together or otherwise.

I must admit, I quite like the idea of making the second movie sort of like a road movie. I like that the two former lovebirds are confined by (compelled by) time and space to quickly resolve their issues with one another. I imagine that, because they are not an item anymore and so many years have passed, they can really say hurtful things to one another and get on each other’s nerves like nobody’s business, when they feel like it, like people in long term relationships often do. This does not happen here though. There are some heated exchange of words (mostly courtesy of Cinta) of what happened in the past, but I feel like it is played for giggles and laughs (mind you, I think this is intentional) rather than realism.

This says about the tone of the movie. Maybe, in order to keep this film strictly on the sweet and romantic side, the filmmakers have decided to keep the “fights” in the romantic comedy territory. This made the sequel lost a bit of an edge when compared to the first one. After all, a little “You are so selfish” or “You lied” or “Why now?” are hardly comparable to a spot on piece of character dissection hurled by the two of them in the basketball scene in the first movie. But, this decision has made the movie into a simple and entertaining crowd pleaser while it last, even if it is not a mature or a substantive one.

A lot of props must be given to the main actors who imbue their respective characters with distinctive and consistent personality. Cinta, as played by Dian Sastrowardoyo, is still the “leader” of her group, even if she is constantly in need of validation from other people and almost always in fear of what her group might think of her decisions. Rangga somehow seems comfortable in his loneliness, but begins to question some of his choices in life, some family related, some love related and is picking up the courage to make peace with these choices. The other characters are not equally fleshed out, but given the limited screen time and how thin they are written, Cinta’s friends remain amusing as a group and provide the needed comic relief, which mostly comes from the character Milly as played by the effortlessly comedic, Sissy Priscillia, who almost steal the movie.

However, to me, the standout actor in the movie is still Dian Sastrowardoyo. Sure Nicholas Saputra displays some emotional range, however, in this film, Ms. Sastrowardoyo displays something that I have never seen from her before (no, not what you’re thinking), that is her comedic range. As I have written above, some of the exchanges between Cinta and Rangga seem to be intentionally made for laughs, and if the viewers do laugh like they did when I watched the movie, it is due to her line readings and facial expressions. One need to look no further than when Rangga drives Cinta around Jogja. She tries to keep her cool but occasionally a gleeful smile would escape from her lips. It is a hoot to watch. It is as if Ms. Sastrowardoyo can command the viewers to react the way she wants them to react, simply by making subtle (and not so subtle) change in her expression and voice. This part of her reminds me of Jennifer Lawrence. I do not know if she even knows that she is capable of doing comedy.

Now about the music, AADC 2 is still scored by the talented couple that scored the first movie,

Melly Goeslaw & Anto Hoed. While the orchestraic music and songs sound grand and big to my inexperienced ears, none of them have stuck yet to the brain. They correspond well to the scenes on screen, but I did not end up humming the songs on the way out of the theatre. But then again, maybe the objective of this movie is not to compete with the first one, which has attained somewhat of a cult status among people of my generation, but simply to make up for lost time and bring us up to speed with what has happened during the 14 years, just like a reunion. And like any reunion, it might not be as exciting as we had hoped, but we sure are glad we came to the party. 

    Dimas Riyo Kusumo

Jakarta, 1 May 2016