Siksa Kubur

Joko Anwar has been known to make films with notable standards like great characters, interesting premise to follow, provoking dialogues, and doses of gore here and there. Grave Torture checks all of the items, but unfortunately, it also checks Anwar's notorious trademark: a weak third act.

Anwar has always been a good storyteller. This movie is no exception. It has a bubbling mystery in every corner, asking me to guess in every scene, unrolled with witty, almost absurd, characters, to keep me on my seat along with amazing technical aspects, especially the sound design. Then, the third act comes.

It reminds me of all of his previous horror works where the plot becomes chaotic and blurred. I don't know how, but it felt really exploitative. There's not much of a story, just series of audience-engaging scenes masquerading as a climax. How is that justify all of the buildups? How is that going to answer all of the questions? Those questions keep me on my seat until suddenly, it ends.

I realized that Anwar is not responsible to make a film that I can fully understand. Maybe I am not smart enough for that. Maybe it's a trick to anticipates for possible sequel (if any). Or maybe, it's time for me to accept that Anwar's style will never going to a direction that I like. But, I think most of his climax is an easy way out for such lucrative plot development that he makes.

Then again, the climax stays in my head for two days. It does impactful.

For the duration's worth and the marketing materials, I was expecting Joko Anwar to expand the discussion triggers on various perceptions of what would happen the moment someone was buried six feet under. Unfortunately, he spent too much time on the jumpscare build-up in the second act to fully develop his promising main characters, which made the story... kinda go nowhere.

The first act is solid, Widuri Puteri and Faradina Mufti did an immense job of making the seamless transition from young Sita to adult Sita. Her and Adil's childhood struggle is a stellar backstory, which is a shame that the follow-up in the second act felt cheap to handle their inner conflictions. Would love to see more screen time of young Sita and Adil in the pesantren because it would've given more betrayal value to add to drive Sita's motivation and also satisfactory value for what eventually happened to the villain. Personally, I wasn't invested enough in the villain to see his ass totally whipped as a payoff. The horror elements in the second act are what tickled me the most because for being something that supposedly affected Sita's state of mind, all of the events were actually meaningless and contradictory. Why bother making bad things happen to the people who don't deserve it when the point is that you'll reap what you sow before entering the afterlife?

Another thing is Adil's character journey. I feel like he had so much potential, especially with the exceptional delivery by the incomparable Reza Rahadian, that went wasted because the film didn't want to address him explicitly. For being half of the main characters, I wish we got more of his story shown.

All in all, the cast ensemble carried this film on their backs. No bad performances whatsoever. The sound design also popped off. If only the story is much stronger.

Probably not the best Joko has produced as some have pointed out, but it's the most enjoyable to me so far. Pacing's good, not too fast, not too slow. The story's pretty understandable too, well at least 80% of it without the help of forum and discussion. Open to different interpretations? Yep, it's not Joko if it's not. Funny thing is, the movie doesn't feel like religious to me (from one particular religion) if you think it through, as it has a universal message of humans in the face of death as they lie dying rather than it is about people finding out one particular religion is right, or in other words: More psychological than religious, more human than supernatural, a spiritual journey and reflection about the end we're all gonna face one day, even for those who don't believe.

8.5/10.

Many people said, this film are like Christopher Nolan of Indonesia. But, sadly, Not!! There's too much people praising this film. "It's just like western movie" they said. "It's not about jump scare" or "It's more psychological film."

The atmosphere are great. The cinematography are good. The acting are top notch. That's the only positive things from this film.

The first half of the film is about our brave women, Sita. She try to find the truth about "Siksa Kubur" or Grave Torture. There's so much ideology battle, especially about religion through the film. Quite enjoyed it, yes, this "psychologycal" thing are so great.

Sadly, after that, when, Sita goes to the grave, it's became down hill! The ghosts are laughable. Why? Because it's literally more like alien, like Venom. And the other ghost just crawling in the wall like spiderman.

And there's literally Zombies in here! Just beat it, man!! Those old man zombies are not menancing enough!!

Many people said, the most "scary" scene are the washing machine scene. But, sorry, it's a big NO. Nothing scary, that's scene just make my eyes roll, because, it's soo dumb. They're literally in super rich nursing home, why the patient washed their clothes alone?? Yes, it's a part of "big twist" but too dumb.

And Sita suddenly became weak minded. She's a brave women like Spider-Woman or Katnis Everdreen from the get go, but why do that to her at the end?? Ugh.

They're claimed this film would make people "believe" about grave torture and repent. But at the end, i just thought, "did i watched some superhero movie"??

Life after death is not a new story that has emerged around us. From the animist era (kejawen) of Semar's disappearance to the realm of virtue to the concept of heaven and hell in the religion of Abraham, we are attached to the belief to do self-moral as a form of devotion to God. Interestingly, this movie does not try to reflect on moral boundaries, but instead challenges the general concept of each belief without offending any party. From the beginning, we are brought into the movie feeling various sides of emotions and the impression of injustice for deep wounds. Leading us to be unsure of the direction of this movie. I personally did not feel a deep impact when watching this movie the first time. But realized that there was a hidden message being carried. Creating various question marks about the direction of this film. Realizing that many feel this film is good, but for me personally this film is less able to describe an explicit picture or traumatic impression in death itself. Which is the soul of the movie itself. I realized that the director (from some media interviews) did not delve into that area, from the beginning he tried to open new doors to create a space for discussion. For me, this is unacceptable because it seems selfish and will exclude ordinary viewers who don't really dig the absurdity. If I reflect on this movie, it is more suitable to be juxtaposed with films like Shutter Island (2010) or Seven (1995). But I appreciate that Jokan (as fans call him) remains consistent in bringing his world. Given that quite a lot of people are fanatical about his work. Various theories are proposed and concluded, but not many are satisfying for me. I would personally recommend this movie for anyone who wants to explore further the psychological sides of humans rather than looking for trivial fears that are widely peddled in most Indonesian films.