Well, hello, hello, welcome back with my so-called film review.
Some of you probably remember my little review for a film called Gundala a bit while ago. I was so excited for this film, being Indonesia’s first superhero films around. Adding up to the hype, the film was made by the same director who brought us Pengabdi Setan (or Satan’s Slave for y’all who lives internationally), Joko Anwar. Pengabdi Setan is the kind of horror film that brought a soft spot that I didn’t know I have, just like what The Conjuring films made me feel every time I watched them. On broad daylight, of course.
Now, Joko Anwar gave us another chill-fest in his new film, Perempuan Tanah Jahanam. For y’all who lives internationally, this film is called Impetigore. Although I’m not sure if this film will screen abroad in near time.
A little confession, I only watched a few of Joko Anwar’s films, both of him as the director or writer. I admit that he have an interesting take in telling a story about everyday life to the audience. I mean, Arisan! and Quickie Express were instant favourites of mine just ten minutes in of each film. Kala/Dead Time was beautifully shot, and of course, Pengabdi Setan is THE wild card in the Indonesian horror scene.
After I’ve seen Pengabdi Setan and Gundala, I knew that I just have to watch Perempuan Tanah Jahanam. Gore scenes be damned, I watched Hannibal series for lunch/dinner! Well, I used to enjoy my lunch/dinner while having it on, all of the cuisines Dr Lecter had made were just frighteningly delicious.
But, I still couldn’t bear to watch Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding or Dexter.
Anywho!
Perempuan Tanah Jahanam is a story on finding your roots, the family you never knew of. And what mystery they left behind.
The story opens with two female highway gate attendants, Maya (Tara Basro) and Dini (Marissa Anita). The two girls were having a chat over the phone while on their graveyard shift. The conversation went on cheerfully until Maya told Dini that there was one male customer who always passes by her gate and always creeps her out with his stare. Then, of course, soon as they talked about this particular man (Teuku Rifnu Wikana), he showed up.
She was not exaggerating.
The dead of the night ambience at an almost-abandoned highway and the lighting were successfully brought up the eerie feeling that was quickly felt by the audience. Teuku Rifnu Wikana didn’t help with his brilliant performance of someone who was seven days sleep-deprived and consumed with hate and grudge.
That was not all. The audience was taken to a rollercoaster of fear when the male stranger kept staring at Maya from his car. Seconds passed with us guessing what he would do to her. Was he a pervert, or was he a psycho? Then he asked for her name.
Most of us probably didn’t realise that we held our breath until we saw the stranger drove past Maya’s gate. Only to have him pulled over and returned with a machete in his hand. Maya was trapped inside the tiny cubicle, and her only communication to the outside world was the phonecall. She couldn’t see how far the stranger is, she couldn’t see how fast he walked, and if the claustrophobic room would be enough to protect her from the man.
She managed to escape her box and ran. However, she didn’t get far when the stranger caught her and stabbed her thigh with the machete. Fortunately, the officers that were called by Dini came by and took care of the man.
That was only the opening of the film.
For the next hour and a half, we will be taken to another set of a thrilling experience, as Maya insisted to Dini that she would go to revisit her birthplace. Somewhere in Eastern Java. In a true sisterhood style, Dini insisted that she would go accompany Maya, as she also wanted to see what Maya’s family have somewhere in the remote areas.
It’s probably the typical Indonesian horror films, where you know that you’re in the place where nothing looks normal at all, but you insisted on staying.
There’s an old house that seemed abandoned for ages, let’s spend a night there! The man who took us to this godforsaken remote area offered to wait for us and take us back to the city? Nah, fam, we’ll be fine here.
You know, those things.
Yet, somehow, those ridiculous tropes seemed like they make sense in this film. The old house was owned by Maya’s family, and she was there to claimed her heritage, dust and all, as one of the wealthiest families in the village many years ago.
The village was lead by a Javanese wayang puppeteer, Ki Saptadi (Ario Bayu), who was famous around the village and also neighbouring ones for his performance. He’s also the religious leader, along with his elderly mother, Nyi Misni (Christine Hakim), who was always by his side.
Little did Maya knows, the house and the village were keeping something frightening deep inside.
Right, I’m gonna stop here on talking about the plot, if what I have written so far could be said as a plot.
To be really honest, I was overly prepared when I went to see this film with my friends. I was preparing myself to watch this gore-fest thriller. For some reasons, I was expecting to see ghosts, demons, and people being possessed and murdering each other. Yeah, I didn’t know what went in my mind back then. Turned out …. true, this film is a gore fest indeed, although not as shocking as Hannibal series.
Based on my minimal experience with his films, what the audience can expect from a Joko Anwar film is beautiful cinematography. And we were fed really well through this film. The way he prepared the village and shot it at certain angles and lighting, magnificent.
One of my favourite scenes was the late-night puppet show. My Dad is Javanese, and the majority of my family and friends are Javanese as well, so I’m quite exposed to the culture and, sometimes, the mystical story about a puppet show. In this film, Joko portrayed the dark and mystical ambience of traditional puppet show perfectly. The stage was at an open field in the village, surrounded by tall trees and old Javanese houses, the source of light that was from simple torches, eerily beautiful.
Don’t get me started on Ario Bayu and his Javanese outfit … hot damn. Even his back looked gorgeous. Yeah, it was a kind of mixed feelings that I had when watching the puppet show scene, it was both suspicious, yet beautiful.
Visuals weren’t the only thing that would tickle your mind while watching a Joko Anwar film, you have to pay attention to the dialogue. They are honest, raw, and brilliant tongue-in-cheek manner.
Here’s one example that I thought deserved a standing ovation, it was from the scene where Maya visited her parents’ grave at the village. She was wondering how she would pray for them since she wasn’t exactly a religious person. Then Dini told her, “Just use Indonesian. God understands not only Arabic, you know.”
Bloody brilliant!
As I wrote this review, Joko Anwar already has another film released called Ratu Ilmu Hitam. Although in this film he only acted as the writer, and the director is the dude who brought us Killer and Macabre, Kimo Stamboel. He’s also one of the producers for The Night Comes For Us, along with his brother, Timo Tjahjanto, who was the director. They both are also known as The Mo Brothers here in Indonesia.
I also look forward to seeing that film, really, but I’m still considering the gore effect. Probably will ask one of my friends to go see it with me for support.
Another thing that excited me about Perempuan Tanah Jahanam was the fact that it was shot at my hometown, Banyuwangi, East Java. Although I never been to the village where they shot the film, but yeah it’s good to know that Banyuwangi really started to placed itself on the map of tourism.
Mr Joko Anwar, if you’re reading this post and plan to have another film shot in Banyuwangi, maybe you might consider staying at my parents’ hotel, Bella Vista? Located just across the weighing service of Ministry of Forestry, around 5 minutes from the Ketapang Port.
This shameless promotion also applied to y’all who read my post.
Thank you for reading, see you on my next post!
Disclaimer:
- All photos from Perempuan Tanah Jahanam film came from Joko Anwar’s Twitter
- Ratu Ilmu Hitam poster also came from Joko Anwar’s Twitter
- Photos of Bella Vista are mine
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