Do You See What I See

Do You See What I See (a phrase I literally only associate with the Christmas carol, so I can't help but hum it even whilst typing this) is a fun little Indonesian ghost flick that is overall pretty effective and entertaining.

It follows Mawar (Diandra Agatha), a university student who inadvertently finds herself in a relationship with a ghost, as her hapless friends try and save her soul. It's a fun concept and is clearly rooted in Indonesian folklore and mythology, making it an even richer experience on that front.

The performances are honestly pretty great across the board; you really sense the deep friendship the main girls have with one another and I think Agatha in particular shows a lot of range, although I do wish her performance was a little more varied and intense at times.

I also have to commend the cinematography, that often mixes first-person "found footage" style with conventional horror techniques, with some Raimiesque trickery. It keeps what is an otherwise stripped down story (mostly set in two locations) relatively fresh and interesting.

However, I do think the pacing is pretty bad; not only does the movie take a bit too long to get going, but it does feel somewhat repetitive in the middle. Lots of cheap jump scares and a prevailing sense that we're biding time until the climax comes. For a movie with so much opportunity for character development, it's a shame there isn't more of it.

I know it's based on a 30 minute-ish podcast episode, but like...isn't the point of a film adaptation to bring in things that the original form couldn't really explore?

I also wish the movie went more into the lore and explained some of the plot elements better; perhaps the film is directed at an Indonesian audience, so it's possible that there's cultural context I'm missing, but there are just things that happen in the film I found myself a bit puzzled by.

However, I think the movie really picks up towards the end, with a pretty fun and tense sequence that leads to a truly devastating and frankly, story redeeming ending that really stuck with me. It's the sort of ending that reminds you why it's ESSENTIAL to get out of the American bubble re movie consumption, especially with horror.

Do You See What I See is like watching a professional figure skater start off strong, start to wobble through her set, and then totally stick the landing.

Another Indonesian movie with a fantastic horror plot. Based on a horror podcast, the movie adaptation is simply superb and wi;l keep the audience hooked.

Although, I dont understand the language but the screenplay and story will keep your eyeballs stuck to the screen (Ofcourse you have to follow subtitles :) ) After a long I have come across such a unique plot in the horror genre. I will definitely recommend this one to watch out, if you are a fan of Horror movies.

You will also get to understand the Indonesian culture related to death rituals and bonding among the friends. The actors are also very good and the movie is a fresh one in this genre. So watch and enjoy :)

9 Stars from me.

Adapting a short 30 minute-ish audio only podcast into an over 90 minute full feature film is not an easy feat for sure. However I was pleasantly surprised by how good this movie really was initially. It started out strong and I really like how they were able to still make the movie so creepy & tense despite we who have already listened to the podcast kinda got the gist of what will happen next already. Unfortunately the way they dragged the movie in the latter act kinda bogged down the whole movie altogether. But this was in no way a deal breaker as overall the movie was still really worth a watch, even just to witness Diandra Agatha's shift from the innocent naive Mawar to a much more sinister version of herself.

The story about a woman who is dating a ghost is interesting, whether using the perspective of the woman, or her friends. The movie uses her friends perspective, so we can see some interesting things like when her friends suspecting whether her boyfriend is a good man or not, or whether her boyfriend is human or not. And of course when her friends are haunted by the ghost. It's an interesting story and surprisingly well executed. However, I think this film needs to deepen the story, especially in the cause of the core incident to add more scary element to the film. Also, the main character's acting still feels a bit stiff. Lastly, I am very satisfied with the ending chosen.

Well it's a decent story execution was not good, the thing is movie lacks that connection with characters which it didn't develop which is why you don't feel what's meant to be shown. Lack of impact due to poor execution and story telling. You can watch once if you are bored. Acting was not great either.. i mean they tried but the role of younger sister i mean the actor couldn't act well. The boyfriend was just there nothing much just for plot reason, had to be useful once with nonsense relationship triangle again no impact or sense. Overall movie lacked the connection and very poor execution, you won't miss much if you skipped it.