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Jakarta Post

'Kulari ke Pantai': A delightful kids' flick

Kulari ke Pantai (I Run to the Beach) is a feel good flick on children developing and finding their true self in this world.

Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, June 29, 2018

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'Kulari ke Pantai': A delightful kids' flick Sam (Maisha Kanna) in 'Kulari ke Pantai' (I Run to the Beach) film. (Miles Films on YouTube/File)

C

hildren are truly the hardest creatures to nurture especially once they begin to venture into the world and adapt to the environments around them.

No matter how they are shaped by the outside world, it is still the parents that bear the biggest responsibility for guiding them properly.

Children start life as blank slates, innocent and oblivious to the world around them. The biggest factors surrounding the shaping of their identities and the way they think comes mainly from how their parents raise and treat them in their childhood, the character of the places they live in, and also the peers that they choose to associate themselves with as they grow older.

Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana’s new film named Kulari ke Pantai explores these facts in a very relevant way, appealing to both the struggles that Indonesian parents in this day and age may face with their kids, and also explores how children truly interact with their environments in order to find out who they are.

Kulari is a film full of genuine, natural humor, a heartfelt, interesting story and top-notch performances from its cast, making it one of the best Indonesian children’s films in a decade, almost up there with other Riri Riza-directed classics such as 2000’s Petualangan Sherina (Sherina’s Adventure) and 2008’s Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops).

Kulari revolves around the road-trip adventures of two preteen girls and the mother of one of them. As the story progresses, all three develop as characters and any anxieties they held in the beginning are resolved in fulfilling ways.

Marsha Timothy, probably one of the best actresses in Indonesia at the moment, plays the mother to newcomer Maisha Kanna’s character Sam (short for ‘Samudera’, which means ‘Ocean’) and the aunt to Lil’li Latisha’s character Happy.

Having been born and raised on Rote Island in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Sam presents herself as a child of nature, being in love with the beach and surfing, while Happy presents herself as the spoiled, constantly-English-speaking city preteen preoccupied with her phone and views nature as uncivilized.

Sam and Happy’s personalities clash even far into the film, and Marsha Timothy’s character Uci, tries to keep things together between the two kids as the only adult while struggling with all the adult stuff that she has to do in between. She handles the kids in a caring, attentive and down-to-earth nature as a parental figure does. Even when faced with car troubles, she exudes grace. However, she is still human.

Luckily, she finds help in the many people that she and the kids meet on the road. There’s the photographers (played by Edward Suhadi and Francisca Suhadi), an out-of-place-but-still-explainable entertainment promoter scouting for good photo locations for her dance troupe played by Ligwina Hananto and Papua-born-and-raised American surfer boy Dani, played by Dani Maxey, who speaks Indonesian in a natural Papuan accent.

Dani steals the show in every scene he is in, even in the tensest moments, as if he is the film’s comic relief. This is true, but with a story that is already funny, comic relief seems too much. Luckily, Dani’s presence on screen is always beyond delightful to watch.

Anyway, the characters interact with the different kinds of people they meet on their road trip from Jakarta to Banyuwangi on the tip of East Java. By doing so, they are exposed to different mindsets, luring them out of their comfort zones as they adapt.

In one example, Happy, the typical rich or upper middle class Indonesian preteen, feels that every problem can be solved with money. But she doesn’t do this consciously. She does this because it seems this is the only thing she knows to do when dealing with problems, as shown several times in the film. Her parents, played by Lukman Sardi and Karina Suwandi are Jakartan rich folk who tend to look down on things such as Uci’s choice of marrying a man from Rote and choosing to raise their child there.

Happy is also occupied with the idea of fitting in and showing herself off on social media as shown by the peer pressure she feels when she talks with her friends, who are of the same wealthy nature. Her inexperience venturing out of her social and wealthy environment accidentally shapes her into a discriminative, classist person, as shown by the first time she clashes with Sam.

Fortunately, her parents are not ignorant enough to let her behavior slide. They were the ones who made their daughter go on Sam and Uci’s daughter-mother roadtrip, to make her see the world beyond herself.

Sam also experiences character changes, but maybe not as blatant as Happy. Even though she is the more down to Earth one, she is irritated and confused by Happy’s spoiled lifestyle and kind of looks down on her choices as well. Like Happy, Sam is not experienced enough to understand the character of the city girl. She is not averse to being judgmental.

Even though Sam is the main character, it is Happy who stands out and becomes the most significant character.

I remember a small thing that my mother told me about life. Speaking from a relatively well-off background, she said to me that staying in one social circle would only narrow one’s mind and one will only act accordingly to how their circle reacts and thinks.

By interacting with those outside your social or economic background, you learn how the world truly works, and can therefore communicate with anyone. It’s pretty simple and cliché, yeah. But it’s a cliché for a reason.

Aside from this, I would imagine that it is very hard for any parent in Jakarta wanting to raise their kids properly, what with their anxieties about who their kids hang out with and living in a city that doesn’t really have the best social climate.

But hey, if we don’t let go a bit and let kids figure things out for themselves, then how can they really develop?

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Kulari ke Pantai:

Director: Riri Riza

Writers: Arie Kriting, Mira Lesmana

Casts: Maisha Kanna, Lil’li Latisha, Marsha Timothy

Running time: 112 minutes

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