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'Cai Lan Gong' an age-old tale in digital days
For Rexinema, coupling an age-old urban legend with the latest film-making technology is a die-hard habit as evidenced in its new Cai Lan Gong horror movie
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For Rexinema, coupling an age-old urban legend with the latest film-making technology is a die-hard habit as evidenced in its new Cai Lan Gong horror movie.
Rexinema production house has released its latest urban legend-themed film Cai Lan Gong with the determination to bring one or two new things onto the proverbial filmmaking table.
The production house hit success with its first production back in 2001, the poetic horror Jelangkung ' it turns out that Jelangkung is a bastardized form of Cai Lan Gong ' the first feature film shot using a Betamax-formatted camera.
This time, Rexinema has become the first to optimize its filmmaking with the latest innovation in digital technology, using the 4K resolution-camera from an Android Smartphone, an international breakthrough that has seen the film rewarded with an award from the Indonesian Museum of Records.
Technical director and film co-producer Derryl Imanalie said the crew used Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and then later, after its release, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for additional scenes.
'The award is recognition of our creativity and innovation. Hopefully we can inspire other young Indonesians to realize their dream of becoming filmmakers,' said Derryl, adding that editing and post-production was handled by home talents.
'The theme of what we're doing is accessibility. We're democratizing filmmaking, putting Hollywood in your pocket,' said the 22-year-old.
With the advances in technology used in the making of the film, Cai Lan Gong is a breed of the modern innovation and age-old beliefs existing in the world of today.
The story premise is based on the ancient Chinese custom of 'keeping' the spirit of known or known powerful persons, in order to bring the captor power and wealth.
There is a ritual of calling the spirit and using a medium, such as the doll in Jelangkung sequels. The spirit is supposed to give an answer to an open-ended question asked by the caller.
The legend starts with a witch hunt. The woman, An Yi (Vien Febrina), was burned alive and her spirit was caught by martial art and spiritual master Shifu Xian Min and kept in a vegetable basket.
The basket itself was a family heirloom, used to carry an age-reversed man known by locals as Cai Lan Gong (Vegetable Basket Grandpa) who died at 444 years old.
The intro ' itself interesting enough to be made into a film ' was delivered through a blend of animation and narration.
The basket, spirit and the spirit-calling spell had been handed down for generations, right down to the last descendant Shifu Akung (Ronny P. Tjandra).
As he is without a son, Akung decided to bestow these heirlooms upon his maiden granddaughter Aileen (Ineke Valentina). This is done with a ritual, with the help of his assistant Chandra (Anthony Xie) and witnessed by Aileen's new friends ' amateur photographer Mary (Putri Ariani) and Rama (Rezca Syam), who has a crush on Aileen.
The spirit goes berserk at the sabotaged ritual and returns to get revenge on her captor.
Twist after twist is brought to the screen, making it difficult to guess how it ends.
Director David Poernomo, who was involved in Jelangkung as music director and co-producer and also directed horror flick Mall Klender (The Mall) last year, was in his comfort zone.
Beautiful scenes, neatly arranged sound effects and music added excellence to the artistic value of the film.
The cast, most of who are little known with some having played small parts in films and TV commercials, delivered the characters well and showed enough chemistry on screen.
The more familiar faces were of singer Sheryl Sheinafia, a co-producer of the film, and actor/VJ Boy William who appeared as a cameo at the start of the film.
But the film is not without its flaws. As a 4K-quality film adapted to a theater 2K screen, subsequent, albeit unintended, blurred shots are annoying in what is otherwise a visually remarkable film.
The camera phone has done a worthy job, resulting in crisp and sharp footage. It was able to capture the grainy pictorial manuscript made with paper and ink clearly, as if the object was a computer graphic image and even the genuine super moon phenomenon which occured last September (look for it in the film).
'The camera produces bright images, too bright for horror film,' said David, explaining why some scenes made use of vignette to create darker atmosphere.
The film is currently screening at 21 local theaters in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Surabaya, Medan, Batam, Palembang, Pontianak, Makassar and Manado.
In all, Cai Lan Gong is entertaining to watch, although based on the story and the visual sense; it's more of a drama than horror. There is a hint at the end alluding to a possible sequel to Jelangkung which, if it turns out to be true, will be the most awaited film. In the meantime, let's just expect some more innovation.
