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'Killers': Of Minds & Murderers
Oka Antara stars as Bayu Aditra in Killers, a latest film by The Mo Brothers
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Oka Antara stars as Bayu Aditra in Killers, a latest film by The Mo Brothers. (Courtesy of Guerilla Merah Films) (Courtesy of Guerilla Merah Films)
Oka Antara stars as Bayu Aditra in Killers, a latest film by The Mo Brothers. (Courtesy of Guerilla Merah Films)
To describe the latest feature film by the Mo brothers as 'brutal' would be an understatement.
With more than a generous dose of limb-twisting and skull-cracking scenes, Killers, the second film under the direction of brothers Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto, is not for the faint hearted.
The brothers have returned with a blood frenzied film, but this time they offer a complex plot that winds its way through the distorted perceptions and thoughts of the film's main characters, played by Japanese Kazuki Kitamura and Indonesian Oka Antara.
Killers is written by Takuji Ushiyama and Timo, who have mixed in dark and potent elements of Tokyo and Jakarta's metropolitan cultures.
Kimo said if their horror movie Rumah Dara (internationally known as Macabre) was about splattering blood in each and every scene, Killers was a journey into the mental states of killers and their worldviews.
The movie opens by introducing Nomura Shuhei (Kitamura), an eerily flamboyant, sociopathic serial killer who preys on the women of Tokyo.
Nomura lures his victims to his house, where he straps them onto a steel chair and uses an assortment of blunt and sharp objects to torture them before enjoying taking their lives.
The narcissistic serial killer then meticulously plans his killings and dons a custom-made white hooded mask while recording his actions. Nomura uploads his videos and secures a stage in front of fans across the world.
In Jakarta, world-weary journalist Bayu Aditya (Oka) is facing a life crisis after a failed attempt at bringing down wife-beater and corrupt politician Dharma (Ray Sahetapy), effectively terminating his career and marriage.
Separated from his wife Dina (Luna Maya) and daughter Elly (Ersya Aurelia Siffrin), Bayu watches Nomura's online videos, unknowingly feeding the killer instinct inside of him.
Bayu finally wakes his demons after an attempted mugging and abuse by a taxi driver and his cohort ends with Bayu violently killing them both with a knife and gun.
In a surge of calmness after the killing, Bayu picks up his smartphone and records his attackers as one of them gasps for their final breath.
Bayu then uploads his video and quickly gets the attention of Nomura, who thinks he has found a true follower of his ideals. In anonymous instant-messenger chat, Nomura encourages Bayu to kill more people.
Thrilled by his achievements in killing two muggers, Bayu decides to hunt down Dharma and his men. In an attempt to gain information about Dharma, Bayu tracks his right hand man Robert (Epy Kusnandar) and holds him at gun point. However, after learning that Robert is a sexual predator, Bayu decides to douse him with kerosene and burns him alive with a camera in his hand.
While watching his 'student' grow, in Tokyo, Nomura meets Hisae (Rin Takanashi) whom he thought was depressed about living an unworthy life and could understand his views.
As his relationship with Hisae grows, Nomura begins making sloppy mistakes in his killings. Eventually, Nomura and Bayu have to face the consequence of their killings.
Killers starts with an interesting ' albeit extremely dark ' premise and tells an interesting story while revealing the main characters, one bloody layer after another.
Between the stomach-turning, vein slicing scenes and the film's slow creeping pace, things tend to drag in places during the 137-minute feature.
Kitamura brings a cold, calculative but ultimately disillusioned serial killer to life effortlessly with cold and numbing scenes.
Oka should also be lauded for delivering a confused and manic depressive, torn between the dark and light sides of his character.
Killers shows the Mo brothers have become accomplished filmmakers, having already received positive comments after the film's premier at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival last month.
That said, Killers is brutal, graphic, dark, twisted ' and at times disturbing. It may not be everyone's cup of tea.
Killers
(137 minutes, Nikkatsu and Guerilla Merah Films)
Directors: The Mo brothers
Screenwriters: Timo Tjahjanto, Takuji Ushiyama
Cast: Kazuki Kitamura, Oka Antara, Rin Takanashi, Luna Maya, Ray Sahetapy, Ersya Aurelia Siffrin, Epy Kusnandar, Mei Kurokawa, Tara Basro, Denden, Dimas Argobie
Producers: Yoshinori Chiba, Shinjiro Nishimura, Takuji Ushiyama, Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto, Daniel Mananta
