The Photograph

I first saw this film at Cinequest (San Jose Film Festival) in 2008. Each year I see about 15 films at that festival, and this was by far my favorite; it was also one of my favorite films of the entire year. The pace is languid, as appropriate for the story and setting. True to the title, I perceived many of the scenes as a delicate and cherished still shot brought to life for a short while. The story is simple: singer and reluctant prostitute at a town bar seeks escape from her situtation and rents a loft from an aging and frail portrait photographer; reluctantly he accepts her help in lieu of rent. The acting, cinematography and even the story made this a great film. I am not a great critic of acting skills, but I felt the two main actors did a superb job. Watch this film if you can find it and I assure that you will be invested in the lives of these two remarkable people.

Shanty is a woman living at the fringe of society, always a day late and a dollar short -- literally. She has a daughter in the country, and she sends money for the child's support, and phones her weekly, but she hasn't seen her in three years; all she has is a photograph. When she moves into the apartment above Kay Tong Lim's photography shop -- he doesn't want a tenant, but she forces her way in and pays him half now and promises to pay the rest later, and can you make a copy of this picture of my daughter -- I had to force myself to continue to watch this. This, I thought, was going to be a couple of character studies about two people people I didn't think I would care much for, and how they bond. Because we're all people, you know? We all need other people. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Well, I never really came to care about either of them, but somehow the process of the movie, the inevitable plot became this mystery. You know how your standard mystery is to figure out who done it, but occasionally, like in episodes of COLUMBO, you're told all that up front: who did the murder, how he did the murder, and the detective knows very well who did it. The only question is how they're going to prove it, what the process will be.

That process was the interesting point in this movie. Of course, that journey from start to finish is supposed to be interesting, but it almost invariably goes in one of a severely limited number of ways. This one does not. Well done.

A humanistic film about a couple of people struggling in their lives, and who find some level of solace from gently supporting one another. The first is a mother (Shanty) who's been forced to leave her mother and daughter to work as a karaoke bar hostess and prostitute. She owes her pimp money and out of desperation, takes an attic room at an elderly photographer's place of business (Lim Kay Tong). The photographer is beginning to falter both mentally and physically, and is haunted by his past from events which we gradually learn about. Meanwhile, the young woman is treated like dirt at the karaoke bar and brutalized by men, so yeah, this is a pretty somber film. Director Nan Achnas exercises restraint, but the scenes where someone throws a beer can into her face while she's singing at the bar, and then later the beginning of a gang rape with her in tears put a lump in my throat.

The quality of the video that I saw was not the highest, but the cinematography and performances from the two leads were solid. I liked how the film didn't take an easy or cliché path with its plot. She doesn't become the photographer's assistant, and they don't become friends in some unrealistic way where suddenly it's all smiles in their lives. On the other hand, the fate of the pimp seemed awfully convenient, and the pace of the film lags a bit in the middle, as if something else was needed to take the film to the next level. All in all though, a sensitive film worth seeing though.

I have watched a lot of movies, as many people here.

Before I watched this, I just finished watching the - wait, kid of forget - The Night Agent on Netflix, which was a series made by Sony Entertainment.

Well, since I was not sleepy, browsed a bit and found this Photograph title and saw that the play time was suitable.

Surprised that slice of life movie was really good. It told about life from different perspective, cultures and ages without any judgemental view. It just flow. I would not tell about the plot, as I do not like spoiler. Slice of live genre is usually my last choice as I have seen enough in real life daily, but this is a simple beautiful movie.

And, I believe with much lower budget than the Sony's one I watched previously which was pretty lame, this one excels a lot.

Sometimes simplicity can be good, and of course, supported by good casts.

Touching, if a bit melodramatic, this Indonesian film about the growing friendship between a prostitute hiding from her violent pimp and a dying portrait photographer weighed down by a lifelong secret is lovely to look at, gentle, with a good heart. It's a film I wish I loved even more.

The intentions are wonderful, but the tendency to go over the top with the acting (especially the old man), and the fact you could see where the story was heading for quite a while kept a lid on my enthusiasm. So did the emotional distance of the style and very slow pace (and I love slow movies).

All that said, it was good enough that I will see it again, and discover if it pulls me in deeper next time, knowing ahead of time the very low-key approach to the story, and the slightly heightened performances (an odd, interesting contradiction there).