Directed by: Joko Anwar
If you have seen (and understood, at least partially) Mulholland Drive, The Science of Sleep, Adaptation, A Beautiful Mind, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, Identity and The Machinist, this film is not so shocking and easy to understand, although it still can have another interpretation and has enough power to shock and awe.
As for those who haven't seen such films I mentioned above perhaps they will be scratching their head, or somebody else's head in my case. For Indonesian film, this one is a breakthrough. It has a new theme, a fine animated opening scene which looks like originated from 60s TV Series and perfect visual editing. Pintu Terlarang has been selected in the 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam scheduled to run from January 21 until February 1, 2009.
Gambir (Fachry Albar) is a very successful sculptor, he has a beautiful wife to be, Talyda (Marsha Timothy) and a small number of friends. But he has problems, his wife to be wanted an abortion and there's a mysterious message saying "help me". To make matters more interesting there's metaphor of pregnant women in Gambir's sculpture and aborted fetuses Gambir use for his "maternal" sculpture. Not only that, the mysterious message lead Gambir into more mystery (there's a forbidden door in his home) as he uncover a secret organization with revealing truth.
After this point, several scenes are predictable (especially for those who already watch the above mentioned movies) and in a shocking end, the viewers were left dumbfounded and some might nod as if they understand something (this one could be me too). Sure some might say that it was all happened in Gambir's head or some might say that the secret organization really do exist and play a role in Gambir's insanity. I myself like to switch between those two possibilities.
But watching this film isn't like opening a forbidden door, it is simpler than Mulholland Drive and the metaphor is easy to understand. Although it seems that Joko Anwar tries so hard to put so many "Ooh" and "Aaah" moments and trying to push too many philosophical questions whereas a simple metaphor of a sculpture of a pregnant women is suffice enough for this film.
As for acting, the leading actor/actress is convincing and the camera work is simply stunning and rare for Indonesian movies. The dialog is much better than Kala, another Joko's film released in 2007 since it doesn't sound as if it has been translated word by word from English to Indonesian.
What really bothers me is the use of too many English language dialogue and songs. I think it is very disturbing and doesn't sound real enough for Indonesian viewers, what's wrong with Indonesian songs to make it sound "Indonesian"?
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