Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus dibayar Tuntas - A Movie Well Suited for Festival with Admirable Effort in Creating 1980s Setting

When this movie played in Indonesian theaters sometime back, I was pretty intrigued to give a try but sadly it did not play in too many cinemas including the ones near our home. So I was delighted when Netflix was going to show it this week. And here's more to it.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 1989 where a young man named Ajo Kawir (Marthino Lio - The Guys, Losmen Bu Broto etc) was known as tough fighter who was not afraid to die. Some people knew that the reason for his fearlessness was actually his impotence. When one day Ajo met with a female bodyguard named Iteung (Ladya Cheryl - Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?, Fiksi etc) who was able to match him while they fought, they both somehow fell in love. Despite the encouragement from his best friend Tokek (Sal Priadi), Ajo kept his distance from Iteung as he was worried with his condition.

Meanwhile, Iteung's previous fling Budi (Reza Rahadian - My Stupide Boss 2, Imperfect etc) was trying to win her back and was quite jealous of Ajo. 

So what would happen to Ajo and how would the story conclude? You can find them all in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

From the beginning of the film, the B movie feel was very strong which I could understand as I believed it was the whole point, especially with the 80s setting. When we were introduced with the lead character Ajo, I could immediately sense that it was going to be dark all the way, especially with the kind of background he had. However, as soon as the female lead Iteung appeared, the movie did feel to be lighter. Looking at Ajo when he was being teased by Tokek or Iteung who kept on sending message through the popular device back then was fun.

But we knew it was not going to be long until some darkness would come, otherwise the title would not be such. Oh talking about the title, this movie's English title was "Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash" which was not exactly 100% match with the original Indonesian title. The literal translation would be something like "Just Like Vengeance, Yearning Should be Paid in Full". So I guess the English version was a lot better and definitely sounded nicer.

While watching this movie, I felt it to be a bit chaotic, violent and slow moving. There were lots of scenes which looked like they were there for the sake of artistic value but to me it did not feel effective and ended up making me feel overly detail and too long. It was not helped by the not so convincing acting of the female lead (despite I noticed there was an acting coach for her in the closing credits). It was very strange considering she had worked in lots of movies previously. However, most of the other cast were good. Marthino Lio was suitable as this character, while Reza Rahadian as usual always did an exemplary work, even the newcomer Sal Priadi was good too. 

In addition to the names I mentioned above, there were also senior actor Piet Pagau (Kodrat, Pacar Ketinggalan Kereta) as Paman Gembul and a brief appearance of multiple awards winner Christine Hakim (Tjoet Nja' Dhien, Badai Pasti Berlalu etc). There was one character here named Jelita played by Ratu Felisha (Cintaku Selamanya, Something in the Way etc), but unfortunately to me instead of making me curious with her mysterious nature, I felt her to be totally weird and unnecessary. Not sure if this character was there in the novel or added in the film. Yes, this movie was based on the 2014 novel of the same title by Eka Kurniawan and translated to English by Annie Tucker. Eka also wrote the screenplay together with the director Edwin (previous works included Posesif, Aruna dan Lidahnya etc).

As an artistic movie filled with symbolism, I think this one was quite good as proven by winning Best Movie award in the Locarno film festival. However, it is definitely not a commercial film that I was able to fully enjoy. I liked certain parts of the story like the relationship between Ajo and Iteung or some of the fight scenes (even if they were not spectacular enough) and the recreation of 1980s condition in Indonesia. Some of the details were really amazing like not wearing seatbelts, or the newspaper and so on. I also admired the dedication of the stars who must have worked hard to make their fight scenes convincing. Reminder that there were lots of scenes better suited for adults which explained the poster having warning for 18+ (some of the scenes even caught me by surprise). 

The parts that I did not like would be the character Jelita or the slow moving story and the dialogue which I thought was too polite for these kind of people. And the most dissatisfying of all was the ending as it kind of defeat the whole purpose of the story from the beginning. Nevertheless, this movie would be entertaining for those who like this sort of thing, but likely not for general audience. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars