Orang Kaya Baru proves that finding yourself suddenly rich, sometimes, is not completely surprising.

The term orang kaya baru (OKB), translated as new money, is very popular in Indonesia.

OKB implies a change in fortune so sudden and radical it is almost surreal. It occurs in the blink of an eye and also attracts gossip, most of which hinges on how the newly rich spend their money and whether they will screw everything up.

Filmmaker Joko Anwar has heard a lot about the OKB since his childhood, and thus decided to write a film script about it.

Directed by Ody C. Harahap, Joko’s story, simply titled Orang Kaya Baru, has all the trappings of a light-hearted comedy, which straddles the line between frivolous, uncomplicated narrative and the exaggeration of a common phrase.

Orang Kaya Baru centers around a family; consisting of Hikmatwardana (Lukman Sardi) and Wardana (Cut Mini) along with their children; Duta (Derby Romero), Tika (Raline Shah) and Dodi (Fatih Unru).

Duta is a director, struggling financially to stage a play, while Tika is a college student and an aspiring architect, who wonders aloud about their fate as a poor family and Dodi is an elementary school student, the voice of reason in Orang Kaya Baru.

I got you: Hikmatwardana (left, Lukman Sardi) hides a massive fortune from his unsuspecting family.

After the death of Hikmatwardana, the remaining four discover he had been hiding a big fortune; more than Rp 30 billion (US$2.1million) in cash, paid in installments whenever the family runs out of money.

Alas, the family becomes rich overnight. From the minute we learn of the bequeathal, however, Orang Kaya Baru becomes inconsistent.

For example, the movie shows that Tika and Duta, while poor, went to a great and expensive high school. This is not explored and it foreshadows their good fortunes quite subtly. This is a double-edged sword and it makes the audience question how poor this family could be to validate Tika’s complaints about the way she has to take a full bus every morning.

The film does not really show the extent of the family’s struggles and most of the actors would still qualify as “rich people playing poor”.

Orang Kaya Baru offers a heightened reality — just ask yourself “what would I do if I got super rich tomorrow?”. Based on your answers, it might be easy to forgive the silliness in Orang Kaya Baru.

The indulgences shown in Orang Kaya Baru are often ridiculous and, at times, shallow.

Fast money: The family in Orang Kaya Baru becomes rich overnight and starts spending lavishly.

Wardana, for instance, buys an array of jewelry only to wear it inside because she does not want people stealing her necklaces.

Then there is also Tika who buys a motorcycle and a phone for her crush, Banyu (Refal Hady), only to find herself rebuffed. And of course; a shopping montage, which almost seems like a parody.

The pay-off, however, does not really hold strongly.

Spending money with abandon can change a person, sure, but we do not learn a lot about the family over the course of the movie’s beginning to relate to what happens to them.

Orang Kaya Baru is not a documentary. It is a comedy, and a decent one.

Joko definitely has a bunch of jokes in him that would sound weird in his horror flick Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slaves).

The scene in which Hikmatwardana announces his inheritance in a video is particularly hilarious. Some funny bits, contrived in other screenwriters’ hands, inject Orang Kaya Baru with a sense of distinction.

Orang Kaya Baru is decently acted, albeit unremarkable but for the portrayal of several characters, such as Dodi and Tika, which are well-done, as is the depiction of the family dynamics. There’s something daring about Tika’s descent into a superficial life, but again, we cannot invest in her personality to fully care.

Food for today: Orang Kaya Baru revolves around a family in financial turbulences.

— Photos courtesy of Screenplay Films

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Orang Kaya Baru

(100 minutes; Screenplay Films and Legacy Pictures)
Director: Ody C. Harahap
Cast: Raline Shah, Derby Romero, Fatih Unru, Lukman Sardi, Cut Mini, Refal Hady