My first article about Indonesian feature: the upcoming "?" by Hanung Bramantyo

Finally! I managed to write an article about an Indonesian movie! I was pretty confused to pick which title to write. But then I surfed the web and found this thread in Kaskus forum about upcoming drama movie directed by Indonesia's acclaimed Hanung Bramantyo, titled "?" or simply, 'untitled'. Read on the article to see the movie posters and trailer!

This movie tells about three different Indonesian families. First, family of Tan Kat Sun (Henky Solaiman), a father and owner of a successful Chinese food restaurant. But he is irritated by his son, Ping Hen's (Rio Dewanto) attitude, who seems careless to the family. Ping Hen falls in love with Menuk (Revalina S. Temat), a beautiful woman from a Moslem family, who works in his father's restaurant. Unfortunately Menuk already made her choice, by marrying Soleh (Reza Rahadian), who's actually an unemployement and less fortunate than Ping Hen, but shares the same belief with her, Islam.

The third family is Rika's (Endhita), a widow with a child who starts a relationship with a single man named Surya (Agus Kuncoro) after divorcing with her then husband. Surya works as an actor and is a Moslem, while Rika opens a book store and was formerly Moslem but converted to Catholic after her divorce. Their religion difference not just causes a stir between their neighbors, but also inside Rika's family as well. But Rika sticks with her decision and tries to prove that she makes the right choices.

From the short description above, this movie depicts the reality of Indonesian culture and living. Religion difference has been a problem for married/dating couples. Indonesia isn't a secular country, and that's how the people live as well, so Indonesians (including me) always referring to their beliefs as their way of life. We can't get rid of that, it's not a simple matter. And I think this movie wants to carry out this question: why can't we put aside this fundamental difference and live our relationship with one simple base; love?

I'm so excited to see this movie, since the Indonesian theatre is currently lack of the qualified ones. I don't want to spend any of my money to watch those sexist horror movies, the trend that is going on in Indonesian movie industry. They paid the actresses to look sexy, and that's just about it. Don't ask me about the techniques -- from the screenplay and storylone, most of them are sucky. Let alone the substance -- I don't think they have any. Movies are made to entertain, that is absolutely true, but we -- the Indonesian movie goers -- are not stupid. We do want entertaining features that are also educating, so we can learn something from them -- whether it's a knowledge or moral story.

Now let's go back to the "?" movie. It has amazing cast and crew, I believe it will be great! Bramantyo directed the movie, and Titien Wattinema, the writer behind critically acclaimed Indonesian movies "Minggu Pagi di Victoria Park", "Mengejar Matahari", "Love", and "Badai Pasti Berlalu" remake amongst her masterpieces, also wrote for this movie. "?" also reunites Reza Rahadian and Revalina S. Temat, who previously starred in another Bramantyo's movie "Perempuan Berkalung Sorban", in which Rahadian and Temat won Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress in Indonesian Film Festival 2009 respectively. The other cast; Henky Solaeman, Rio Dewanto, and Agus Kuncoro are all veteran in Indonesian movie industry -- they are all known for their remarkable and highly praised performances in their movies. Besides them, singer Glenn Fredly, David Chalik, and Dedy Soetomo also star.

"?" will come to Indonesian theatres in April 7, 2011.