Dead Time: Kala

At first i was expecting something 'out of the box' from Kala, when i previewed the website and especially from rumors i heard from people who went to the theater to witness the birth of the new Indonesian movie genre, a neo noir kinda movie. well.....This movie directed by Joko Anwar was actually went 'out of the world'. To be honest it wasn't totally awful, i like the art direction, i love the idea of the story, i really appreciate the gud of those people who brought this noir idea into silver screen, salute guys... but when it comes to plotting and story telling, oops.......sorry it wasn't good enough. The haunted ghost scenes with logical explanation attempt at the end, just doesn't work out man!. The grading quality is so poor also. Though i understand that technically it's quiet difficult to shoot the night scenes with wide angle (it's clearly seen the day light reflection on talents face as well as from the see-trough cloth wore by Fahrani). but if Joko Anwar paying more attention on details especially during the post production, i'm sure this movie would be even better. one more thing....the Kungfu lady was just too much...

When I first heard about the movie being made, I don't believe any Indonesian filmmakers will be able to do it. Once upon a time, in a city where Apocalypse is drawing near (quite similar with Jakarta situation at present), five men was burned to death near a market. The story then leads us to the investigation by local Detective, Eros, and a narcoleptic reporter, Janus, who will soon realize that they're involved in big government conspiracy and some mystical Javanese myths about the rise of Queen of Justice. Wow! It's like JFK meets The Mummy.

Joko Anwar took the risk and made it. The result : HE DID IT! Simple as that! The city looks genuine and well-polished, the camera work is astounding (Noir style), the characters are strong and believable, and the story...OH MY GOD! How he combined several genres into a movie is an absolute perfection. I cannot stop watching! And Joko gives an unusual twist at the ending, a genre twist! There are indeed several drawbacks, but all is technical because of the budget. But still, it is a magnificent movie.

Joko Anwar worked very hard to create a new standard for Indonesian Movie and he accomplished that. Now, I only pity him because in his next movie, he has to work even harder. Otherwise, I'll be very disappointed.

Kala is big in hype, and the first 15 minutes managed to live up to it. I was easily impressed by the production value, setting, acting, art direction, and so forth. The well-structured first act also promised a lot.

However, everything went static to the next 30 minutes. The movie, dressed in noir style, started to tell a story that was neither horror, neither fantasy, or adventure. There was no whodunnit plot, there was no clear track of where the movie was going. I thought, then, the film makers perhaps wanted to offer me something new, and I had to really think out of the box. I went out of the theater because clearly I was not prepared.

I tried watching it again the next day, and this time with a new mindset, and getting ready for "something new".

However, I was not prepared for "something rotten".

As I was coping up till one hour, I started to realize that this was merely one of the most pretentious movies ever made in human history. Setting is out of this world, characterization is seemingly strong, but actually lacking of development. Fachri Albar delivered good acting skill, but the script brought him nowhere, so he ended up being a tiring person to watch. Shanty's talent was completely wasted by the pretentious characterization. Fahrani's body was exploited. The scene of her singing in a bar was clearly made only to make Kala seemed to be a real noir movie. It is not! Noir is a whodunnit plot, whereas Kala is whatthehellitis plot.

Somehow, the film managed to get worse, especially when the Reservoir-Dogs-alike scene was forcedly inserted to no particular reason. The conclusion of the "story" was foolish. I am not against homosexuality, but if Kala is made merely as a pro-Gay movement by making a statement that a gay guy is Indonesia's next big leader, then it is purely silly, unreasonable, and rather masturbatory. There was no strong reason why the leading actor should be gay, except that's just simply what the director wants. It is a very unfair treatment of a story.

Awful with capital A.

This film is very interesting with its storyline, it's not commonplace and maybe Indonesian horror films are starting to get really boring now, they should have a story with a storyline that gets the adrenaline pumping.

Because the setting is probably in the 90s and the dialogue is like old 90s films. It seems a bit standard and flat. The downside here is that the actors don't really explore the dialogue with very flat expressions and it's a bit annoying because their expressions are quite flat

Joko Anwar truly never runs out of ideas and always dares to explore things that are still relatively new today. However, I'm a bit disappointed with the CGI, which was still acceptable in that year But the impression is a bit painful for the eyes, but the interesting storyline helps.

The story is about an odd murders in the "never never land" city. A narcoleptic reporter stuck in the middle of it, and a super cop try to solve it.

When I've heard about Kala, I was looking forward to seeing it. No high hope, no nothing, so I will enjoy the movie as it is.

It was good, but not that good. It's something new for indonesia movie, but I see lots of Korean n Japan movies like this. It was good execution, good character, good Cinematographic, good color, I still recommend people to watch it.

Technical problem?...well it's still OK..I think it's only a budgeting issue. Plot holes is more of my concern.

As for "noir" like people said..well, it felt like noir at the beginning but horror in the middle and ... in the end.

Overall, this is still a must see Indonesian movie. It's a breath of fresh air for Indonesian movie that full on teenage romantic comedy and horror..