BEFORE NOW AND THEN
Genre
Drama
Running time
103 minutes
Year
2022
Language
Indonesian
Subtitle
English and Arabic
Country
Indonesia
Director
Kamila Andini
Bio
Producer
Gita Fara, Ifa Isfansyah
Cast
Happy Salma, Laura Basuki, Arswendy Bening Swara, Ibnu Jamil, Rieke Diah Pitaloka, Chempa Puteri, Arawinda Kirana
Scriptwriter
Nana (Happy Salma) is the much younger wife of the bullying Mr Darga (Arswendy Bening Swara), a local man of influence in West Java in the 1960s when Indonesia was in a calamitous state of civil war. The daughter of an intellectual and widow of a rebel, both murdered by the draconian regime, Nana escaped by taking a perilous trek through the jungle with a baby strapped to her body; Darga is her protector. She repays him by running his farm and house impeccably, enduring his compulsive philandering – and the consequent contempt of other men's wives – with dignity. Life brightens, however, when she befriends one of her husband's consorts, Ino (Laura Basuki), a market trader who is lively, reckless and refuses to be judged by anyone. Kamila Andini's film is elegantly composed, richly coloured and attentive to its characters' inner lives. The classic storytelling makes for wonderful cinema.
Other movies
RED PATH
Director: Lotfi Achour
Ashraf, a shepherd boy working with his teenage cousin in impoverished northern Tunisia faces the unimaginable when Islamic State terrorists set on them and behead his cousin Nizar in front of him. Ashraf has no choice but to take the head back to his family, who can do nothing: the terrorists are a constant threat, while the police are indifferent to the problems of poor herders. Nizar’s parents fixate on trying to recover his body for a proper burial, but Ashraf has no way of dealing with his trauma, clinging to the visions he has of Nizar during which he can talk to his cousin’s ghost. An extraordinary journey into the wounded psyche of a child in a war zone, heightened by Ali AlHleili’s captivating performance.
HANAMI
Director: Denise Fernandes
The remote volcanic island of Fogo, off the coast of Cape Verde, is a difficult place to make a living. Like many other young people, Nia chooses to go, leaving her new baby Nana to be raised by her grandmother. Nana is observant and sensitive; when she develops a high fever and is sent to recover with a healer under the volcano, she immediately responds to the magical atmosphere of the island’s interior. It is as if the island itself, along with the network of women who give the film a strong feminine energy, is caring for her. A moving story about longing and belonging, culminating in the older Nana’s quandary: should she stay here forever, or follow her mother into the wider world?
