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‘Bebas’ high school nostalgia hits you in the right spot
Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza’s adapted high school drama Bebas (Free) is full of tenderness, humor and warmth.
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Memory lane: "Bebas" is an adaptation of the 2011 South Korean movie "Sunny". (Miles Films/-)
H
igh school is one of those life experiences you’ll see through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, where taxes only exist in your textbooks and apocalyptic was a word that described your mother when you flunked your midterms.
No wonder, really, that high school fiction is a constant staple through the years. Add that to the current batch of 1990s kids finally settling in their 30s and 40s, and you’ve got a winning formula.
Yet producer Mira Lesmana and director Riri Riza’s latest flick Bebas (Free) won’t draw you in just for the nostalgia factor; it’s also a tale of lifelong bonds, letting go of the past and finding yourself along the way.
The movie is an adaptation of the 2011 South Korean Sunny, with the plot staying true to the source material, albeit with some alterations to better fit Indonesian audiences.
Vina (Marsha Timothy) is a housewife whose life is basically idyllic on the surface: a husband generous enough to send a Louis Vuitton purse in lieu of visiting her sick mother at the hospital and an attractive yet aloof daughter.
Yet Vina is left despondent in spite of her privilege and peering at some happy-go-lucky high schoolers reminds her of her own friends who grew apart over the years.
