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I ought to say a few things about the films I saw at the HKIFF.

One I chose because the premise sounded so charming was JONI’S PROMISE, from Indonesia.¬† I think it’s the only Indonesian film I’ve ever seen.¬† It’s about a young guy whose part-time job is to deliver reels to different cinemas, so that multiple theaters can show one film.¬† So when one reel of a film is over playing, he has to get on a motorbike and take it to another cinema, but has to get there before THAT cinema’s reel finishes, so the audience doesn’t sit there with nothing to watch.¬† He takes all of this really seriously.¬† He has to be even MORE serious about it when he meets a girl and it’s love at first sight for him, but she tells him she won’t tell him her name unless he brings back the two last reels of the film she is seeing in time.¬† Of course, all these complications ensue.

It’s a very charming movie, very sincere, and non-cynical about human nature.¬† Actually, I’m hoping there’s a non-cynicism movement beginning in cinema — the sincerity and optimism about people and their motivations was one of the reasons I liked GOAL!, which I just saw on campus here, so much.¬† JONI’S PROMISE¬†was quite low budget, shot in about three weeks, and stars a mix of professional and amateur actors.¬† The main actor is Nicholas Saputra, who is a local star, and the director is Joko Anwar.¬†

It’s definitely worth seeing.¬† It’s fun.¬† It’s also a tribute to the positive side of human nature, and to the movies.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 15th, 2006 at 11:54 pm and is filed under General, Movies and TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.