Across The universe

is there anybody going to listen to my story
all about the girl who came to stay?
she's the kind of girl you want so much
it makes you sorry
still you don't regret a single day
oh girl! girl! girl!

A young man in a black coat is sitting at the seashore, he face the horizon for a while, and after that he look back and start to sing that piece of song above. It is Jude

The story starts in the early 1960s with (Jim Sturgess), a young Liverpool shipbuilder and artist, who traveled by ship and track down his biological father in the United Stated of America. Then, he met a rebellion with wealthy family background, Max (Joe Anderson) and his Sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). After a hectic thanksgiving dinner, Max made a decision to drop out from college and ask Jude to go with him to New York. Later on, they share an apartment with Sadie (Dana Fuchs), their landlady and aspiring singer, Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy), a fiery guitarist –shortly he become Sadie’s band lead guitar and boyfriend -, and Prudence (T.V. Carpio), a self-involved lesbian who literally comes in through the bathroom window.

After her boyfriend is killed in the Vietnam War, the grieving Lucy, come to New York and live with Jude, Max and the other. As Expected, the romance developed by Jude and Lucy. Meanwhile, Max has to face the truth that he drafted to the war. Sadie’s sign a contract with a label and start a solo career, and it’s lead Sadie and Jojo into break up, apparently, Jojo doesn’t feel happy because Sadie change one bit. Moreover, Prudence who secretly falls in love to Sadie, and it makes her depressed. These back up story completed the whole structure and go deeper each second of the movie.

When Max is drafted and sent to Vietnam War, Lucy gets involved in a radical anti-war movement. He is unhappy with the amount of time she spends with the political group, and suspecting that its leader, Paco (Logan Marshall-Green), is a Don Juan. Jude's art and his relationship with Lucy both start to falter. The differences between Jude and Lucy rise up. Jude comes into the offices of the political group where Lucy works and gets kicked out after punching Paco. This leads to a fight between them, resulting in Lucy leaving Jude.

When Jude comes home, he fined that Lucy is gone. Furthermore, Jude finds Lucy at an anti-war demonstration, which many protesters, including her, are arrested. In attempting to help her, Jude is also arrested. Jude is deported back to England, because he came to U.S without Visa. Then, Max is wounded in Vietnam and is sent back, while Lucy still involved in her anti-war movement that is becoming more and more violent and finally leaves the group when she discovers Paco and some of his followers making bombs. Jude reads about the explosion in a Liverpool newspaper and is concerned that Lucy has died. Subsequently, he arranges to return to the States legally. Max picks him up and drives him to Sadie's Beatles-style rooftop concert. Lucy is supposed to be there but no one can find her. Meanwhile, he group is forced to leave when the police arrive, but Jude manages to stay on the roof and begins to sing, "All you need is Love", shortly Jude see Lucy standing on the roof across the street. They smile at one another with tears in their eyes, and the screen fades out to white clouds and blue sky.

I love the way of the story is created, it is simple and the songs is well arranged, the beautifully captured scene, which some of it is surreal, and skillfully acting from the cast. These is drove me into its depth. I consider this movie as one of the best musical film, which triggers me to be more and more creative, especially, the scene when Jude had a fight with Lucy and start to make his work back grounded by “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Moreover, This film lead me into a lesson about how you have to find your self and manage its process, just like in this story which start with alcohol, drugs, dopes, irresponsible act and free sex into a better way of life. In the end, I just want to add that to ignore your problems instead of faced and fix it, only leads you into disaster.

* Additional information: Don’t you know that on February 4, 2008, NASA aired The Beatles’s Across the Universe to the space. This is to celebrate the 40th year of the song was recorded. (From www.acrosstheuniverseday.com)

Batman The Dark Night

Yesterday is an “accidental” holyday for us who live in East Java, it’s because we have to vote for the election of the new governor. But, I didn’t do it, because I’m so skeptical about their programs and commitments. Then, I decided to go to the cinema to watch Batman The Dark Night.

Heat Ledger’s acting in this movie took my attention, as a psycho Joker, he’s voice and body language came so natural and he immersed in the character. And it makes Jack Nicholson’s joker just like an ordinary funny clown and accidentally became a villain. Ledger’s joker more sadistic, a cold-blooded, knife happy psycho, only too ready to give his victims a 'smile'. To me, he’s character became the main structure of the whole story. At the end it’ll make everything so clear that, the movie shouts about or create a place where the good and evil which expected to do battle. Joker create a plot to turn the Gotham’s “real” Hero, Harvey Dent, in to a two-faces psycho. Dent villain act drove by his grief and revenge, because the death of Rachel. He completely drawn in to Joker’s game. Which is his main purpose by doing so many crimes.

Above of all I love this movie, it took a superhero movie into a new step. Even though, it’s dark and full of creepy things, this movie lies between art and industry. It entertains me in a different way than the other super hero film.

p.s : this in my favorite dialogue, "I don't want to kill you," Joker tells Batman. "You complete me".

Radit dan Jani : Love, Seks, Drugs and Money

Kamis kemarin saya sengaja nyediain untuk nonton film Indonesia baru yang ditulis dan disutradarai Upi (30 hari mencari cinta dan Cerita Yogyakarta dalam Perempuan Punya Cerita), Radit dan Jani.

Tidak ada ekspektasi apapun dalam benak saya ketika berniat nonton film ini (ini karena beberapa film indonesia yang baru tayang di bioskop sangat menyedihkan hasilnya), hanya saja saya tertarik dengan tagline dari film ini, Brutally Romantic. Saya hanya ingin melihat bagaimana sebenarnya wujud dari film romantis yang brutal, romantis karena film ini memang dibangun dari cerita cinta yang terjadi antara pasangan muda, Radit (Vino G. Bastian) dan Anjani atau Jani (Fahrani). Sebenarnya cerita cinta yang menjadi pondasi film ini sangat biasa atau bisa dibilang cerita cinta klasik. Akan tetapi, film ini memiliki sudut pandang yang berbeda dan memiliki aspek-aspek penceritaan yang berbeda, yaitu seks, drugs and money.

Meskipun tidak terlalu vulgar dari segi gambar, kisah cinta Radit dan Jani yang sangat liar, membawa mereka pada jalinan cinta yang menggebu dan penuh hasrat. Seks bukan lagi menjadi hal yang tabu untuk diumbar, mengingat di dalam film ini mereka diceritakan adalah pasangan muda yang telah menikah dan Jani memilih untuk tinggal dengan Radit meskipun dia harus keluar dari rumah karea orang tuanya tidak menyetujui, di sinilah letak keklasikan cerita cinta Radit dan Jani. Hal ini juga memang perlu diwujudkan dalam gambar karena kehidupan mereka sangat liar, mereka menjalani kehidupan yang tidak biasa dalam tataran normatif kita (indonesia), mencuri barang dari minimarket, nyolong telepon genggam dan mencuri di rumah orang tua mereka sendiri menjadi bagian menarik dari keseharian mereka.

Cerita menjadi semakin kompleks, karena Radit adalah seorang musisi idealis yang rela kelaparan demi menjaga keidelisannya ditambah dia juga seorang drug addict. Jani berusaha sekuat tenaga untuk bisa membuat Radit mengubah kebiasaanya itu tapi lagi-lagi dia tidak berhasil karena dia terlalu mencintai Radit. Menurut saya pribadi di sinilah letak salah satu perbedaan film ini dengan film cinta lainnya, mencintai seseorang tanpa syarat bukan berarti merelakan pasangan kita untuk semakin tenggelam dalam kuburan yang dia gali sendiri. Pesan moral ini memang digambarkan dengan kenyataan yang sebaliknya, di salah satu adegan, digambarkan ketika Jani berusaha membuat Radit lepas dari narkoba dengan cara membiarkannya sakauw di dalam kamar dan menguncinya dari luar. Tapi Jani akhirnya menyerah karena mendengar rintihan Radit yang kesakitan.

Lagi-lagi uang harus ditempat di antara kesetian dan cinta yang sudaj terjalin begitu kuat, nyatanya hal ini juga menjadi isu yang diangkat di dalam film ini. Di dalam hingar-bingar kehidupan yang serba konsumtif, uang adalah barang yang paling realistis dan harus menjadi pelengkap utama dalam hidup, cinta saja tidak cukup!. Cinta tidak akan membuat kita kenyang dan hidup nyaman, meskipun kenyamanan hidup memang bisa kita ciptakan dalam pikiran kita, hal inilah yang membuat Jani memilih hidup dengan Radit dan pada kenyataannya dia percaya bahwa dia bahagia dengan kehidupannya.

Cerita dalam film ini berjalan lambat, mungkin dengan cara ini kita bisa merasakan emosi yang coba dibangun si sutradara. Kita diajak untuk merasakan emosi yang digambarkan dalam setiap adeannya, tetapi menurut saya pribadi kemungkinan itu akan lebih bisa didapat apabila jalan ceritanya diperlambat sedikit lagi. Memang hal ini akan menyulitkan karena pada saat saya menonton ini banyak komentar-komentar dari penonton-penonton di sebelah saya yang malah mengeluh bosan. Selain itu, mungkin penceritaan semacam ini tergolong baru di Indonesia setelah sebelumnya dipenuhi film-film kurang bagus dan hanya menghibur (saya merasa lebih terhibur nonton film ini).

Menjelang akhir film ini saya tiba-tiba saja teringat beberapa film luar yang kurang lebih memiliki kemiripan tema cerita, yaitu L' Enfant (The Child) film yang menang Palm d' Or 2005), disutradari oleh Jean-Pierre Dardanne dan Luc Dardenne,serta Broken (2006) karya Alan White. Yang ingin saya maksudkan, bahwa film ini memang bercita rasa barat meski dibuat di Indonesia, meskipun diceritakan begitu realistis dengan latar masyarakat urban, tetap saja kultur yang ditampilkan kurang mewakili kultur Indonesia.

Lepas dari semua ini saya rasa film ini memang patut ditonton karena film brutally romantic ini memberi warna baru dalam perfilman indonesia, sama seperti film-film yang ditulis upi sebelumnya.

Jenis Film DRAMA

Pemain VINO G. BASTIAN, FAHRANI, MARRIO MERDHITIA,
NUNGKI KUSUMASTUTI, JOSHUA PANDELAKI

Sutradara UPI

Penulis UPI

Produser ADIYANTO SUMARJONO

Produksi INVESTASI FILM INDONESIA

Homepage http://www.raditdanjani.com

Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm_uifzaiik

Durasi 110 MIN