A subtle film about love. A tired couple lean against each other at the back of the bus. An observation. Screened before Parts of the Heart.
Apparently a simple film. One single long shot. That’s what it looks like. Under the superficial boredom, there are grand feelings, however. Loneliness. Lost love. Fear of death. And all the while we look at a sleepy couple in an empty bus.
Programmer Note by Gertjan Zuilhof:
A moment in the lives of a young woman and a young man. There’s something going on between them, but exactly what is unclear. Whether it has just started or is coming to an end isn’t clear either. It’s like watching strangers. As if we are also on the bus watching the only other passengers.
It is definitely Indonesia, but it isn’t ‘one of those’ Indonesian films. Her skirt is far too short and his hands explore her body too freely for that.
The style is unmistakably part of the avant-garde film tradition, which doesn’t exist in most Southeast Asian countries. Not even in Indonesia. The only comparable production is the short film Trip to the Wound by Edwin. Another skirt on the bus, but nevertheless different.
This makes the filmmaker’s work courageous for two reasons. He is slightly more erotic than his country allows and his understated visual language won’t be understood by all.