Dua Garis Biru

I had been eagerly anticipating this film for about two weeks before its premiere and made sure to tell my mom about it. When I shared the title and a brief synopsis, she seemed a bit puzzled. She initially thought it was just another low-budget teen romance movie, a genre neither of us particularly enjoys. She questioned why I was so insistent on watching it and remained uninterested.

When the day of the premiere arrived, I found myself quietly sobbing during one of the early scenes. I asked my mom for some tissues, and as she glanced at my tear-streaked face, she gave me a bit of a condescending laugh along with the tissues. To her surprise, she ended up crying even more than I did, three times over!

A movie that proposes a central theme about sex education, how important it is and the consequences if one not learn in an early age. It relates with the 21st century millennials who think that personal boundaries is not an issue.

What I love is that the film brings you of the similar concept that has been recycled, but the execution is different. It shows you a set of different plot-points to let the audience go down a different road from what you have seen before.

The performances by the actors are executed brilliantly. You can see the differences between the struggles of two families regarding the same subject.

The cinematography is on an international level! It blends in arthouse and commercial styles of camera movements that are both creative and innovative. What's even better is that there is one crucial scene that longs its one-shot for 5 minutes!

A film that throws in effective jokes that makes the whole audience giggles. These one-liner do not overshadow the serious tone of the film that needs to be addressed to the public which is a good thing. P.S: Be prepared to hurt your stomach during the fruit scene in the hospital. 😂

From beginning 'till the end, all songs that are featured suit the tone of the film. The lyrics are melancholic and they are all great enough, making you want to Google the soundtrack back at home.

Fast introduction scene. The movie should have invested some time on character developments so that audience may be able to express true emotional on the unethical action that leads to ebing the theme of Dua Garis Biru.

The concept however, feels derivative. It has been done quite many times in advertisements, 7 o'clock dramas, and movies from different countries.

Being a huge fan of his, Angga Yunanda's dark skin tone irritates me as it is unsuitable with his look. He looks unnatural and the makeup team should have not asked him to undergo the tanning process under the scorching sun.

Verdict: Better than both Ada Apa Dengan Cinta and Dilan, Dua Garis Biru is a film that touches many hearts. If there is one Indonesian film to send to the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Dua Garis Biru is at the top of the line.

The film expressly tells the story of what has remained taboo in society. Although the beginning was widely opposed, the film successfully demonstrated the importance of sex education for adolescents. All aspects are well crafted, despite some of its drawbacks. Worth it to watch.

The acting is very good, this movie really shows pure emotions from the characters. It's also about family, relationship between parents-children and also sibling to sibling during hard times. Bima and Dara's romance storyline is also very cute and heartwarming despite the things they went through. There are times when they fight, and it somehow shows that they are really just underage teens even though the situation forces them to be mature. But, I don't really like the ending tho. And also, I don't get why they had to tan Angga Yunanda's skin tone (because his natural skin tone is light). They should've picked a naturally dark skinned actor for the role of Bima, I'm sure there are many talented dark skinned boys out there who would be a suitable choice for this role. Or, just simply leave Angga's complexion the way it is instead of putting make up on him to make his skin look darker.

Sex education has been a confusing issue in Indonesia. The country suffers from child/adolescent marriages, illegal abortion, and premarital pregnancy yet sex ed class is stigmatized due to the belief that it may suggest (safe) sex before marriage.

Dua Garis Biru offers a feature with simple premise to guide us into sex ed with more neutral approach, unlike the last 2000s-early 2010s trends of the local adult movies which always involving suggestive materials to usher some lame moral lessons about sex. The premise is honestly just what you'd expect of the unwanted pregnancy, but this movie dig more into the social class, relationship, family problems, and discussions about future.

This movie is giving a treat: for being so close as possible to our daily life. It does not dramatize the anger, provoke tears, or social gap. Most of the dialogue also went so smooth and natural, so that we are can relate to the situation. Honestly, the dialogues are not quite memorable in my opinion, but the situation being so relatable make the scenes always give nice impression.

The main treat is also accompanied by supporting casts acting whose mostly play a big role to assist the main casts. Zara and Angga as two teenagers, honestly feel don't quite charismatic nor having chemistry greater than their promotion videos on YouTube. However, their clumsiness giving a genuine presentation about the real condition, thus able to increase the "relatable level".

Its visual game also interesting. Many have been pointed the strawberry scene(s) is a genius visual analogy to an abortion, without even talking about it! This movie has many easter eggs like that one that are worth discussing.

Although this is a directorial debut, Gina S Noer has prove that her experience in writing screenplay and being a producer, can give a new life to a directing style that is different than the rest. Her screenplay however, focusing much on the sequences so that the climax can't justify all great things happened in other scenes. It's a pity because it makes the movie seems like missing a resolution. But, it's probably a nice companion to the other scenes, with so much things happened, the ending feels more real, rather than being so dramatic about it.

Hopefully, this movie can give new inspiration for other filmakers to explore this new style of directing/screenwriting that Indonesia needs.