Indonesian filmmaker Richard Oh’s fifth feature film examines being too dependent on a partner.

When you get into a relationship, do you want your partner to love or need you? Do you love yourself enough not to have your partner twist you and turn you like a rag doll (or vice versa)?

Similar to his 2016 film Terpana (Transfixed), Richard again explores the mysteries surrounding human connection in Love is a Bird, which premiered at the recent 2018 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. While Terpana explores laws of physics in discussing the odds of finding love, Love is a Bird talks about codependency without being complicated by all the scientific references that the former has.

The story touches on an issue many people can relate to: our desire to fix our loved one given the assumption that once our partner no longer needs us, he or she will leave us. At the end, we will realize that such a relationship will never make us happy or fulfilled. Alas, these needy “fixers” always attract manipulative partners.

Love is a Bird follows Darma (Bront Palarae), a photographer who has always been attracted to troubled women as if he has a special radar that could identify them at first sight. During a photo hunt in Yogyakarta, Darma encounters and obsesses over a street dancer named Naira (Ibel Tenny).

Darma silently follows Naira — from her dance class where she is harshly reprimanded by her dance teacher (Eko Supriyanto); a food vendor where she gets into an argument with her boyfriend Jafran (Ibnu Gundul); and home where the couple finally reconcile.

After taking endless pictures of Naira and eavesdropping on her conversations, Darma discovers many things about Naira. This scene is interspersed with Darma’s recollections of his fights with his longtime girlfriend Kirana (Geming Sinatrya), a manipulative partner who never values Darma’s achievements but always beg Darma to come back every time he is about to leave her.

The film shows how individuals with codependent personalities seem to recognize each other when Naira approaches and asks a favor of Darma, who instead turns around and walks away. Copying Darma’s move, Naira follows him wherever he goes.

The two start spending time together while Darma and Naira’s relationships with their respective partners begin to fall apart. Eventually, Kirana’s manipulative tactics no longer suffice to maintain her relationship with Darma.

Now that the fragile and needy Naira seems to reciprocate the feelings of the equally fragile and needy Darma, will they both curdle into the same codependent pattern again?

Kudos to Ibel Tenny for her excellent portrayal of Naira through her convincing acting and eye gaze, while Geming Sinatrya gives a commanding performance as the emotionally abusive Kirana.

Captivating moves: Fragile yet talented dancer Naira (Ibel Tenny) mesmerizes Darma (Bront Palarae), who is repeatedly attracted to troubled yet manipulative women.

Love is a Bird presents a visually appealing scene when Naira is dancing in front of Darma with a slideshow of Darma’s photos of her partly projected onto her body.

The film depicts traumatic flashbacks effectively. There is a slow-motion scene of a ceramic vase smashing into the ground when Darma witnesses Naira being reprimanded by her dance teacher and later by her boyfriend. It is followed with Darma’s recollections of arguments with his girlfriend Kirana, underlining that both Darma and Naira have experienced turbulent relationships.

With its unconventional storyline, Love is a Bird offers moviegoers a chance to reflect upon their insecurities and their own experiences of unhealthy relationships.

Viewers can hopefully get a sense that in order to have a fulfilling relationship, one must love oneself first. Codependency will only lead to a turbulent, emotionally toxic relationship.

Painful as they are, some people cannot seem to get out of these types of toxic relationships simply because old habits die hard.

Pensive: The romantic Darma (Bront Palarae) carries lots of baggage from his relationship with troubled and manipulative Kirana.

— Photos courtesy of Richard Oh

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Love is a Bird

(Metafor Pictures, Timeless Pictures and 13 Entertainment Production, 2018)
Director: Richard Oh
Scriptwriter: Richard Oh
Cast: Bront Palarae, Ibel Tenny, Geming Sinatrya, Ibnu Gundul, Salvita Decorte