The Photograph, The Hoax, Number 23 review

Multiple movie reviews.

The Photograph

Watched it where?
Blitz Grand Indonesia

Any snag(s) while watching?
None at all

Can’t say that I have a lot of fond memories watching Indonesian movies, specifically the newer ones. Jomblo was the first movie that made me appreciate and hold a certain belief about the Indonesian movie industries. Yet The Photograph is the first movie that I would be proud to call an Indonesian movie.

The movie revolves around the relationship of Sita, a young village
girl who tried her luck in the city and end up as a ‘woman of leisure’
and Johan, a Chinese Indonesian in the verge of facing his death.

Story wise, it never moved from the dynamism between these two
character’s interaction and their own private struggle in life. And the
true mover in this movie is Johan’s recluse nature and his enigmatic
past.

The cinematography of this movie is at a level that I have never
seen before for Indonesian movies. The subtle color texture and
lighting of the narrow buildings are captured spectacularly and
Semarang, the story’s backdrop, looked beautiful in a somewhat decrepit
way.

The Photograph is still shown in Blitz Grand Indonesia and I highly
recommends this movie. It is a visually beautiful and a moving
narrative about a man facing his mortality.

Rating:
8.5

The Hoax

Watched it where?
Taman Anggrek XXI

Any snag(s) while watching?
None at all

Ok, so the reason I watched this movie because Richard Gere is in it
and I’m curious in how, in his middle aged, he has improved his acting.

The story is about a real hoax in the 70′s where a writer claimed to
have the right to write the biography for a very eccentric millionaire,
Howard Hughes.

Like all movies, it took several liberties (like Clifford Irving’s
subsequent minor delusional and schizophrenic lapses) and entwined it
with real events.

The story revolves around Gere’s character’s brushes with the truth
and fabricated truth and how he is tormented by the lies that he has
produced.

As a whole an the movie is an interesting view on the past hoax and
fans of movies with intricate character interaction would find this
movie interesting.

Rating:
7.0

Number 23

Watched it where?
Blitz Grand Indonesia

Any snag(s) while watching?
None at all

Jim Carrey’s willingness  to experiment with different characters in
movies are commendable. He showed great fortitude for this movie and is
the main show and mover for this movie.

The movie it self, for the the most part, has a noir-esque visuals
and it maintained a dark and brooding story and visual through out.
This is also the main mover of the movie. It scarred me at the most
part of the movie and made me count my own name whether or not it comes
out as the dreaded number.

It all went well until at the end of the movie, when it changes from
a dark noir, thriller escaped into a mouth gaping (in a negative way)
family movie ending.

Rating:
6.0