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Jakarta Post

A good cocktail of everything

Imam (left, played by Adipati Dolken) finds a way to chase Jia Li (center, Eriska Rein) all the way to China by tagging along with Billy (Ernest Prakasa)

Andreas D. Arditya (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, December 7, 2014

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A good cocktail of everything

Imam (left, played by Adipati Dolken) finds a way to chase Jia Li (center, Eriska Rein) all the way to China by tagging along with Billy (Ernest Prakasa).


Drama, romance, religion and comedy are the most popular and commercial genres in the Indonesian film scene.

Kukejar Cinta Ke Negeri Cina (I'€™m Chasing Love unto China) is a cocktail of all those ingredients, mixed into something good by a skillful and passionate crew.

At first glance, Kukejar seems to be purposefully produced to sell tickets '€” it is only short of sex and horror from becoming the ultimate sell-out flick.

But the people behind the production managed to create a refreshing and thought-provoking concoction with strong yet relatable material.

The movie is based on a novel by the same name by Ninit Yunita, who worked with Novia Faizal to write the script for the movie. The title is a word play on the famous hadith '€œseek knowledge even unto China'€.

Kukejar was directed by Fajar Bustomi, who is quite busy this year with four of his films having been released, in collaboration with accomplished cinematographer Roby Herbi and editor Wawan
I Wibowo.

The religious-romantic-comedy-drama (rel-rom-com-dram?) follows main character Ridwan Imam Fadli (played by Adipati Dolken), an underachieving senior year college student at Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, who has a very Islamic name but no Islamic attitude.

Betawi-descent Imam is having a difficult time with his academic and love life. His Semarang-native girlfriend of four years Widya (Nina Zatulini), who is his junior, graduates and starts her career.

Widya'€™s father (Ray Sahetapy) is against their relationship because he sees Imam as an undependable man '€” both religiously and academically, something that Widya herself cannot deny and is also having trouble with.

Imam confides with his best friend of Chinese-descent Billy (Ernest Prakasa), who is equally baffled by Imam'€™s ignorance about the clear-cut problem Imam is having.

Billy takes Imam to the Sam Poo Kong temple, a worship complex established by the famous Chinese Muslim explorer Admiral Zheng He in the 15th century and shared by Buddhists and Muslims, to explain his problem to God. Imam sniggers at the suggestion and instead goofs around the compound.

There Imam meets with and becomes enamored by Chen Jia Li
(Eriska Rein), a young hijab-wearing Chinese Muslim woman from Beijing who is visiting the temple and the city her ancestors helped build. Imam offers to be Jia Li'€™s guide.

Billy warns Imam of playing with fire, but he ignores him. In a matter of days, Imam falls in love with Jia Li. When Widya finally finds about the affair and confronts Imam, he doesn'€™t take long to choose Jia Li.

Imam enjoys their time together but Jia Li suddenly has to cut her trip short to go back home, leaving the country without being able to say goodbye to Imam.

Devastated, Imam finds a way to chase Jia Li by tagging along with Billy, who has been given a holiday to Beijing by his parents as a graduation present.

Imam and Billy track down Jia Li'€™s home only to find out that she is engaged to a well-off religious
Muslim man named Ma Fu Hsien (Mithu Nisar).

Although not without flaw, Kukejar, which hits theaters on Dec. 4, managed to evade the pitfalls of religious heavy-handedness, cheesy romanticism and cheap slapstick antics.

Adipati worked well enough on his character that the audience could feel Nina'€™s character'€™s annoyance toward his life decisions. Eriska is commendable for her  effort playing an Indonesian- speaking Beijing-native.

Ernest'€™s comedic scenes with a delivery of cheeky and witty Semarang dialect '€” especially in interaction with Adipati'€™s character '€” and some physical humor slightly tipped the movie balance towards comedy.

Ninit and Novia'€™s breezy story and dialogs are enhanced by Fajar and his production team'€™s dynamic camera angles and cut-scenes. One not to miss.

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