Belenggu

Going into this film I had no idea what to expect, the only hint as to it's nature I had was the visual of the bunny costume. I expected something "Donnie Darko"-esque scripted to it's nation's culture, however sitting through this Indonesian horror I couldn't help but allude to what I felt were other American influences. The overall mostly surreal tone seemed very Lynchian, the scenes in the theater had a Mulholland Dr vibe & the foreboding rickety old lady reminded me dearly of the Log Lady in Twin Peaks. The script seemed, to me, to draw some influence from Shutter Island & that's all I'll say about that. Of course these ideas & artistic direction could have developed completely independently, regardless, as a fan of what I just referenced, this film left me pretty satisfied. Definitely worth the time IMO.

Donnie Darko The Shinning Black Swan Twin Peaks The Machinist Mulholland Drive!

And probably more....... seems like this movie got a lot of influence from western movie / series, the acting from the cameo seems a bit funny, not so natural. I don't quite understand why the have to imitate other movies. The storyline is actually interesting, the set design also add plus point for this movie especially when you watch in 2023. Hopefully Indonesian movie will get better in time. This one is pretty weak from me. The main actor is pretty good tho, the character suites him well. That's all i can say!

Stumbling upon the 2012 Indonesian horror/thriller "Belenggu" (aka "Shackled") by random chance here in 2023, of course I opted to sit down and watch it. I had never heard about the movie, not that it mattered, and with it being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course my interest in the movie was caught.

However, writer and director Upi Avianto delivered a movie that fell short of entertaining me. The narrative and script was simply a bit too confusing, erratic, surreal and chaotic for my liking. It was sort of like watching an Asian version of a David Lynch movie, so if you enjoy his style of directing and movies, then "Belenggu" might be something for you.

The acting performances in "Belenggu" were fair. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble, given my somewhat limited exposure to the Indonesian cinema. But they had a good cast ensemble, and the actors and actresses did put on good performances, despite of the storyline not appealing to me.

Visually then "Belenggu" was okay. It was not a movie that made use of CGI, but relied on practical effects. The effects were adequate and served their purpose well enough.

I wasn't particularly impressed or entertained by "Belenggu", but it was a semi-watchable movie, albeit a rather forgettable one for me. As such, then my rating of "Belenggu" lands on a four out of ten stars.