Joko Anwar: ‘I’m not arrogant despite what people say’

The Jakarta Post -- WEEKENDER   |  Thu, 01/29/2009 8:54 PM  |  20/20

Joko Anwar has his critics but the director-screenwriter is perhaps the harshest one of all. “I only see the mistakes,” says the 33-year-old, whose thriller Pintu Terlarang (The Forbidden Door) opens this month. “At a festival in Amsterdam, they told me I had to watch my film Kala with the audience. I had my eyes covered the whole time.” Once a blunt film critic for The Jakarta Post, he went over to the other side by writing the critically acclaimed social tableau Arisan (The Gathering) and then his directorial debut Janji Joni (Joni’s Promise). His much-anticipated second directing effort, Kala, was also lauded for its daring exploration of film noir, making a short but sharp impression among the commercial dross of contemporary Indonesian movies. Critics will be poised to cut Pintu Terlarang down to size, but Joko, a talent with big dreams, will already be looking ahead to new projects. Besides, he will have spotted his mistakes already.

Describe yourself as a child.
I was a loner, but a happy loner.

First thing you think of in the morning?
Who made friend requests on my Facebook!

And the last thing at night?
What movie I’m going to fall asleep to. Because I always go to sleep watching a movie. In a year, I probably spend 15 nights in my bed; the rest are in front of the TV.

Your worst trait?
I’m vengeful and hold a grudge.

And best?
Confidence.

Are you trying to stop being vengeful?
No, because it’s been my fuel. For instance, when I was in junior high school people told me I wouldn’t be able to go to the best high school in Medan. So I wanted to show them. Most of my achievements have been fueled by that desire to show those people who say I can’t do something.

What makes you laugh?
Sincerely or the ha-ha at what happens in everyday life? Like that story of the cleric who got married to a child who was 9 years old or something. It’s so crazy ... And bad writing, especially bad English.

What are friends to you?
The people who tell you when you are wrong.

What makes you sad?
Intolerance.

What’s more important – beauty or brains?
Beauty. Who needs brains when you’ve got beauty? [laughs]

Night on the town, or spent at home?
At home. I like solitude. I’ve never liked going out.

The happiest moment of your life?
The first time I fell in love.

And saddest?
The first time I got my heart broken. By the same person, in college.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
That I’m not arrogant! People will tell my crew, “Why are you working with Joko? He’s so arrogant.” ... I get SMSs and emails every day, asking me to read scripts. And I tell them that I won’t read it, and not to contact me again because I’m a writer myself so I don’t want to read it. It’s very unfair to ask me to do that: it takes a lot of time to do it, and I have so much to do.

No amount of money could make me ...
Direct a nationalist, religious or any other politically correct script.

Your best teacher?
Hate to say this, but DVDs. Because I work in the movie industry and I get to watch films on DVD.

Craziest thing you’ve done?
Trying to run away from the police after I made an illegal turn. I didn’t stop, so he chased me, it was like CHIPS, and I went down a small street and it was a dead end. So I had to bargain with him. I was with a friend, and he said let me show you how to lose a cop. We tried to do it again, but when we got to his house nobody opened the gate and the police caught us again.

What makes you proudest of being Indonesian?
It’s a great place to live. It may be chaotic but it’s never boring.

And the saddest thing?
Intolerance again. It’s getting worse and worse. I don’t know why people are becoming like that. I don’t think it was even this bad during the Soeharto era.

Favorite movie?
Punch Drunk Love. It restored my belief in love, and in movies.

Favorite book?
Prince of Tides, because it mirrored my childhood so much. When I first read it, I thought someone stole my life story and wrote about it. I read it every six months, and I always find something new in it.

You love food – what’s your favorite?
I don’t love food that much [laughs] I like cheap food, whatever it is ... But my favorite is on the 5th floor of Mangga Dua, a place that sells lontong sayur Medan [Medan-style stewed vegetables and rice cakes]. I go there at least once a month; it’s very tasty.

Who is on your iPod?
Elvis Costello, my father. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, my brother. And Leonard Cohen, my prophet. Actually, Elvis Costello is my prophet because my religion now is PLU: peace, love and understanding according to St. Elvis Costello.

Dream dinner guests, living or dead?
Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. I want to learn from them – they’re geniuses. They have things that we can’t learn from books.

Any regrets?
No. They don’t work. No regrets, they don’t work [singing]. That’s Robbie Williams, very true. Why do you want to dwell on the past? That’s one thing I always tell people. I torture them! [laughs] Let’s move on. I kind of feel blessed to have had not such a good childhood. It’s my emotion bank, so when I write my scripts I can steal from it and use it as a template. It’s very practical.

Life motto?
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

+Bruce Emond
Illustration by Martin Dima

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