Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Ida Bagus Putu Radithya Mahijasena, Ni Kadek Thaly Titi Kasih, I Ketut Rina
Intro:
...has a hypnotic appeal as it loosens your grip from holding to a predictable way of processing and interpreting events.
In The Seen and Unseen by Indonesian writer director Kamila Andini, the boundaries between dream, imagination and real life are effortlessly fluid. The story centres on Tantri, a nine-year-old girl whose twin brother Tantra is admitted to hospital with a possibly fatal prognosis.
Boy/girl or ‘buncing’ twins are said to have a special bond in Indonesian lore, and are meant to take care of each other, according to an older woman Tantri speaks to, but how can she look after her brother when he is dying? “If only I could replace you,” she says in the process of trying to assimilate and affect the tragedy that is occurring.
Tantri brings ritual and dance to the hospital in an effort to provoke and revive her twin. There is an extraordinary scene where both children are dressed in feathers and body paint to enact a dance of fighting cockerels that Tantri has just witnessed. Equally poignant is a scene where Tantra uses shadow puppets behind a backlit hospital curtain to tell a fable of the moon’s eclipse.
Andini’s gift as a filmmaker is highlighted in her impeccable scene setups, often with framing doorways and depth of field that separates Tantri from adult groups and conversations. The soft and natural palette underlines the delicacy of feeling and innocent child’s view of the world. The sets move easily between natural landscapes and the hospital room, night and day. The two child actors are superbly natural, well cast and directed.
Even if your taste is more towards a clear narrative line, The Seen and Unseen has a hypnotic appeal as it loosens your grip from holding to a predictable way of processing and interpreting events. The soundscape of the film adds to the effect; rhythmic undercurrents of the sounds of water and birds, or a clicking dance rhythm that becomes the rotating fan over the boy’s bed.
Andini says the film “is not based on a story but is an expression and a feeling.” She told the Helsinki Cine Aasia, “I want to explore who I am as an Indonesian,” as her motive behind the film. The finished work takes us deep into the themes and motifs of Balinese culture and folklore.
As the daughter of filmmaker Garmin Nugroho, Andini was born with the filmmaker gene. She resisted it at first, opting to study for a degree in sociology at Deakin University in Australia. She returned to Indonesia to work on music and documentary videos before gaining attention with the short film Following Diana, a deeply internal perspective on an Indonesian woman struggling with polygamy.
In 2011, Andini released a low budget feature, The Mirror Never Lies. It picked up awards and critical acclaim across several film festivals. Mirror deals with themes of magic and bereavement as a daughter tries to find her father through mirrors. The Seen and Unseen came next. Six years in the making, the seed idea came from the concept of ‘Sekala Niskala,’ an Indonesian belief in the ‘real’ world being completed by the intangible, spiritual dimension.
Enjoy a trip into the heart and soul of Indonesia at Sydney’s film festival with this original piece of storytelling.
