Watching Movies

As we raced to get the first Weekender out almost a year ago, I visited a remote part of the country for a travel story. The main town in the area is typical of its kind, with its tidy streets, hospitable locals and, when night falls, very little in the form of entertainment.

I was particularly surprised that there was no movie theater in the area; the only one had closed its doors years ago as people chose instead to stay at home watching TV and VCDs. It is the same story in other small towns across the country.

As we discuss in our Centerpiece on the local film scene, urban centers such as Jakarta are the main market for moviegoers, but the choices are pretty limited. There are the standard Hollywood blockbusters or the new local money-spinners catering to young urbanites: slickly packaged but often story-lite horror movies and teen romance flicks. Still, while the movie purists bemoan the lack of quality movies and original ideas, it’s still a better situation than 15 years ago, when the Indonesian film industry came close to folding.

And I’m a great admirer of Indonesian resourcefulness. One of the articles in this month’s Centerpiece on the local movie scene details how film lovers find what they need at DVD stands, the private theaters showing sleeper hits and during the increasingly frequent film festivals held across the country.  It’s that same spirit and enthusiasm that may one day lead to a true revival in Indonesian cinema.       

( Bruce Emond )

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