Ada Apa dengan Cinta?

Hello all--for what it's worth, I'm in a doctoral program on Indonesian politics and returned this semester after about a year's fieldwork, most of it in Jakarta.

I'm a big movie fan generally, so I went out as often as I could, and bought tons of local VCDs while I was there. This film was clearly the best of the lot, even though it's a few years old. The story is clear, the acting is excellent, and it stars an incredibly beautiful actress named Dian Sastro. She should be working in western movies, since, unfortunately, virtually every other new film I saw could not measure up to this one, and no actress is as good.

Since this is supposed to be a comment, not a review, I won't bore you with a plot summary. Suffice it to say that if you find this online, buy it. Even though it's a VCD, the transfer quality is good.

Ada Apa Dengan Cinta is the best Indonesian teen movie ever made. It has great casting especially the two main star; Dian Sastrowardoyo as Cinta and Nicholas Saputra as Rangga. They both are new actors and they really focus on their character. Titi Kamal, Adinia Wirasti, Sissy Priscillia and Ladya Cheryl are also star in the movie and they look gorgeous in the movie. The storyline of the movie was pretty good. It was a very simple love story between a girl teenager (Cinta) who uses to hang out with her friends and very clever. All the sudden when Cinta lost the poetry competition. The winner was a lonely boy Rangga. They both came from a different world but as the story progresses with lots of conflict and comedy,they find that they were in love each other. The movie was basically about being friends. And definitely about love and all the consequences. Director Rudi Suedjarwo was very good in directing the movie. He gave a little bit of action, drama, romance and comedy for the movie. It is basically a teen movie and most of Indo-teen loved this type of flick. Most of the setting was in high school and it was nice to look back at the Indonesian school. The soundtrack that were given in this movie were perfect for teen! I really recommend this movie to all of you especially when you have a stress and this movie is basically for us to enjoy and have fun! I think this movie had been promoted to Melbourne, Australia this year but only for limited time. The Video CD had also been released and they were mostly sold out. At the first week, 110,000 vcds had been sold out. Remember don't take this movie seriously, it's just for fun! I am looking forward to see all of the casting in this movie at another movie!

Watching this movie makes you want to go back to the time where you were a high school. A movie that reflects our lives as a teenager with all the problems and excitement within. High school memories never be the unforgettable ones.

Taking from Cinta's point of view, friendship and love can't mixed very well together. She sees that she must choose one of them. To get both of them means that she has to lie about it. But after all, it's no friendship at all if friends can't understand the problem faced by the others. That's a friend for, to share and to cheer up each other. Love is another thing, in a different side of one's life, but love is understandable.

Generally, this movie is enjoyable to watch. Not too dramatic, picturing in a very ordinary way, but yet, it touches the soul of the story. And the most endearing of this movie is the ending. An ending that makes people want to see it again and again.

While everyone seems to be sick and tired of Hollywood teen flicks, Indonesia churns out one which is top-notch. I'm Malaysian, and Bahasa Indonesia is pretty different from Bahasa Malaysia although they're supposedly almost identical. I watched it in the cinema so there were subtitles, which helped a lot.

This is one teen flick that you'll regret you didn't take the time to watch. It revolves around average people leading average lives, which makes it so easy to relate to. It tells a story of the choices you've to make in your life. Choosing your friends or your boyfriend. Many people are faced with this challenge in life, and this movie excellently portrays Cinta's (Love; the girl's name) social life (involving her four best friends) and the boy whom she fell in love with.

She has two choices to make--choose her friends, or Rangga (the boy). She finally has to make this decision one day when Alya (who seems to be in a terrible state), her best friend, calls her and asks her out just when she's about to go and see Rangga.

What makes this movie so memorable, so beautiful is that it is no where near shallow. It revolves around the problems that plague teenagers around the world today, as well as political problems that many countries currently face. It also promotes "karya sastera", or literature, and poetry as well as music amongst teenagers. After all, it is literature that brings Cinta and Rangga together.

I watched this movie over and over, and each time I walked out of the cinema feeling strangely elated. "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" reminds you of how it was like being young and innocent and free. It reminds you of the beauty of young love, and the importance of friends. It reminds you of how the strangest circumstances can bring people together and forge a bond so tight that not even distance would never be able to separate them.

I just watched this film last week as part of the Indonesian Film

Festival in Melbourne - I'm studying Bahasa Indonesia at school

and am doing a project on kebudayaan remaja - youth culture.

Kids, this is a great movie. It's better than any teen flick churned

out by Hollywood in recent memory (it is, I would say, in the 10

Things I Hate About You league). It's not great for a 'foreign' movie

or whatever - it's great in it's own right.

It combines the age-old appeal of teenage romance with enviable

friendship, humour and the poignant sadness of Alya's situation.

Cinta is the kind of character girls aspire to - pretty, smart, gutsy as

all hell - and Rangga is, well, let's face it, he's hot as all get out.

There's some serious messages in this film, about friendship,

about honesty, about violence and trust, but luckily it steers from

being preachy. Maybe it's because the Indo film industry is less

jaded than that of Hollywood, but this movie gets right what so

many Hollywood teen flicks have gotten wrong.

Watch this movie. Fall in love with it. Trust me.