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)
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 'seek 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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