BELENGGU

Directed by: Upi Avianto

Starring: Abimana, Laudya Cintya Bella, Verdi Soleman, Bella Esperance, Imelda Therine

Running Time: 100 min

Psychological thrillers are rare in Indonesia. Most movies are either romantic drama, religous romantic drama, low brow horror stories or another low brow stuff. I myself rarely pay attention to low brow comedies so I have some expectation for this film. This one is a stand out since it is beyond my expectation. Belenggu itself means 'shackle' in English. It has the same name with an Indonesian classic literature written by Armijn Pane, but the story itself is not about the book. The similarity is only on the name.

Elang (Abimana) is haunted by his horrible dreams. As a closed and introverted man he saw a masked figure that seems to be the key of the horrible events, like murders that happened around him. The masked figure reminded me of the horror bunny from Donnie Darko.

Meanwhile his neighbor, Djenar (Laudya Cintya Bella), always seem depressed and it looks like that she had a problem with her husband (Verdi Soleman). In the mean time, strange things happen out of nowhere and the viewers are left puzzled by how and why until gradually the twist reveal itself.

Fans of psychological thrillers can easily guessed what happened (and who done it) but this does not reduce the enjoyment of this brilliantly scored film that can make your heart pound with curiosity. With tight editing, the acting is satisfying and I must give extra credit to the art department for creating a scary atmosphere.

However the film poster at the cinemas is a major turn off, it looks like any generic horror film and sometimes the use of too formal Indonesian language in the dialogue feels weird to Indonesian. If only the poster for Indonesian release is the one this film used at international festival, perhaps it might attracts more audiences.

Written and directed by female Indonesian filmmaker Upi Avianto, Belenggu is so far one of the best Indonesian film released early this year and one of my favorite.