Still locked in blooming infancy ever since its revival almost a decade ago, the Indonesian film industry appears to be in a lockstep over the kind of movies they produce. Though this may change soon with the arrival of martial arts flick Merantau and the bloodbath slasher Macabre, both proven to be excitable around the world, most of the time, you can split Indonesian films into two categories: urban crowdpleasers that have very limited reach outside their shores, and thoughtful fringe dramas that find the most audience in the international arthouse lovers. Jermal falls into the latter category. After playing at several film festivals for the past two years, Indiepix picked it up for a straight-to-DVD US release.
Jermal is a mood looking for a story. That need not be a bad thing, except that it thinks it has one. The film hangs onto one premise and keeps drawing it out for most of its duration, with virtually no evolution until its swift resolution. But meanwhile, we take in the moody observation of life on a "jermal," an offshore wooden fishing platform reachable only by boat. This single location, surrounded by miles of the North Sumatran strait's clear blue water in every direction, provides the film with its overpowering sense of isolation, not to mention the rich photography.
The premise itself is a familiar situation seen a hundred times over in movies, fairy tales and soap operas: an orphan stranded in a strange place and bullied by other kids, but slowly discovering the father he never knew. We don't know why there exists a bitter divide between the father and the son until close to the end, but that distance is supposed to be the foundation of the entire film. After all, it's the reason twelve-year-old Jaya (Iqbal S. Manurung) stays on the jermal following his mother's death, even though his self-exiled father Johar (Didi Petet) refuses to claim Jaya as his son.
This thread of an abandoned son's strained relationship with a reticent father comes and goes, depending on when the mood strikes for a scene that simmers or one that boils and pops. The relationship reveals itself almost as if it's following the movie's lead—a mood looking for a story.
Jermal's strength lies in the lulls between, when we follow the life aboard the jermal. Johar illegally hires underage kids to be his workers, and Jaya is thrown amongst them. Being the only schoolboy of the bunch, he's nicknamed Professor and is given a hard time, but soon adapts to life at sea. Jaya learns his new job and surroundings like we do, through watching. The film throws the audience into the fray also without much preparation, and we are simply given the chance to find out about this place strictly by observation.
The most disappointing thing about Jermal is that despite its uniquely intriguing setting and thoughtful handling of its scenes, the film introduces its conflicts much too quickly and resolves them much too easily. Rather than a steady erosion of the gap between Jaya and his dad or Jaya and the other kids, something just materializes that closes that gap. It's not so much that it's too convenient that it robs itself of a more interesting way to tell the story. The revelation of Johar's secret past is surprisingly anti-climactic, while his turnaround towards Jaya is unnatural given what's transpired before it. This sharp spike at the tail leaves most of the narrative dead in the water, with us similarly as stranded as Jaya, waiting for the pin—any pin—to drop.
DVD Bonus Features
Aside from trailers for this and other IndiePix releases, the only real feature is a languid blooper reel that adheres too closely to its definition. Forget funny, it's not even remotely watchable, since most of it are just discarded shots where the actors miss their marks or the camera fails to follow the action. Clearly not something meant to be seen by anyone, but put together desperately just to have at least one extra to speak of on this release.
"Jermal" is on sale May 11, 2010 and is not rated. Drama. Directed by Orlow Suenke, Ravi Bharwani, Rayya Makarim. Written by Rayya Makarim & Orlow Suenke and Ravi Bharwani. Starring Chairil A Dalimunthe, Didi Petet, Iqbal S Manurung, Yayu AW Unru.
