Film director Edwin has bridged the line between indie — which can get weird really fast —and mainstream cinema.

His 2008 feature film Babi Buta Yang Ingin Terbang (The Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly) was born of the 40-year-old director’s ubiquitous imagination. Babi Buta is decidedly weird: Protagonist Halim is a dentist who wears sunglasses because he’s ashamed of his identity, while Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” is a recurring motif. Thrown in the mix is even a scene that shows a character stuffing fireworks into
their mouth.

His 2017 release, Posesif (Possessive), was a breakout movie that took its cues from the well-trodden formula of high school dramas and imbued it with a psychological character study.

Edwin’s latest offering, Aruna dan Lidahnya (Aruna and Her Palate), based on writer Laksmi Pamuntjak’s namesake book and released on Sept. 27, is much lighter in its tone, but no less sneakily complex than his
other films.

With a script by Titien Wattimena, Aruna dan Lidahnya floats on the simple story of a woman, Aruna (Dian Sastrowardoyo), who goes on a business trip to investigate an outbreak of bird flu. She also takes her best friends, chef Bono (Nicholas Saputra) and food writer Nadezdha (Hannah Al Rashid), for a culinary adventure on the side.

Along the way, she meets Farish (Oka Antara) who’s working on the same case — the guy she’s crushing on helplessly.

So the threesome becomes a foursome, and they travel around Surabaya and Pamekasan in East Java, as well as Pontianak and Singkawang in West Kalimantan.

The group literally eats their way through their travels, from Pontianak’s pengkang (sticky rice cake) to crab noodles, and from soto lamongan (chicken soup) to rawon (black beef stew), and Edwin really lets us get a good look at the food.

Any other filmmaker could have made Aruna dan Lidahnya; its scenes could have played out exactly like those in the book.

Girl crushes on a boy who’s unaware, girl’s best friend likes a different girl. Girl and best friend are foodies, and we get to see a lot of food in the movie. There’s an affair, an awkward profession of love. It’s simplicity all around.

Edwin’s decision to jump into the foray of mainstream films could be that he wanted to try something new. But a director of his ilk is born with certain instincts that he has subsequently honed. That’s what makes Aruna more than just an extended episode on the Asian Food Channel, and more than a romcom staple.

His instincts work wonders. There’s the passive-aggressiveness of how the characters speak and slowly reveal their personalities to us. This happens very slowly, patiently. It also helps that Aruna has one of the best dialogs that I’ve ever seen in an Indonesian movie (which strikes me as odd, since I wasn’t super into Titien’s previous scripts).

Just like butter, they melt. It’s more than merely believable to watch Nicholas and Dian talk to each other — every single word feels like an instinctive choice; anything corny is teased, interrupted and subsequently dropped altogether.

Gorgeous shots are part and parcel of Edwin’s films (the pale colors of Babi Buta have stayed with me still). There’s a scene where the camera slowly zooms out on Aruna and Farish eating choi pan and talking.

Edwin’s directing feels purposeful, especially when paired with the right actors, although Nicholas doesn’t really do much in the movie: Oka does this “aloof guy” thing really well, and Hannah is the bubbly, if a bit straightforward, one. My favorite scene is when they suddenly end up talking about religion and science and never agree on anything — it’s emblematic of their relationship.

So Edwin can’t help but be himself, even in mainstream (Aruna’s feverish dreams are a non sequitur out of left field), barring the commercial potential of the film.

By all appearances, Aruna dan Lidahnya is just another Edwin movie. That being said, that he could weave the thin threads of Aruna dan Lidahnya into a glorious tapestry of micro-interactions between the superbly acted characters is testament to his inherent versatility.

________________________

Aruna dan Lidahnya

(Palari Films: 106 minutes)

Director: Edwin
Cast: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Nicholas Saputra, Hannah Al Rashid, Oka Antara

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