Arresting portrayal of Sundanese woman and her midlife crisis during 60s. Kamila Andini carefully photographed every moments though never ceased to intrigue audience. Salma & Basuki gave nuanced performances to underline difficult choices and cultural hurdles.
7 Reviews
Enthralling
pasaribuharisfadli2 August 2022
Being lyrical, melancholic, and chalked up with moody cello, it's easy to call Nana being heavily influenced by In the Mood For Love. While the sentiment might ring some truth to it, they're different films altogether. There are some parts when the film veers deep within its artistic sensibility yet signifies almost nothing. Despite that, as a subtle melodrama with a subdued tone and lush visual, Nana still resonates well and is enthralling.
Subtle and Symmetrical
muhammedashiqu-749378 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
BEFORE, NOW AND THEN (2022)
Last year kamila andini through "yuni" showed us how beautiful she can craft a visual story with good use of colours, symmetry and her layered screenplay .Kamila andini does the same here in
"Before, Now & Then" released in 2022 . As in "yuni '' here the basic theme is also about a girl exploring her freedom which she hadn't before in her society, family. But unlike " yuni " here the
film doesn't lead through just one character, rather it equally gave importance to other characters in the 103 minute long screenplay.
As the name itself says "Before, Now & Then " tells the story of Nana's past, present and future. Nana who was married to a soldier named icang doesn't know whether her husband is dead or not as she hasn't seen him for the last 5 years. She then gets married to one of the wealthiest men in the village "Mr. Darga". He shows extreme love for nana and her kids. Even though the only kid under Nana -Darga is dias legally, Mr Darga keeps all other kids stay with him and takes care of them well. Darga also surprise's Nana everyday with gifts. Nana also feels an emotional connection for darga but doesn't have anything more than that. One day Nana met a butcher in a village named ino. At a house party in Darga's house Nana and Ino talks to each other. They connected seamlessly and without knowing herself Nana falls for ino. While all these going Nana discovers her old husband icang. Nana confused what to do finally decides to divorce Darga with a mutual understanding however the movie ends with an open climax where Nana is single and takes a decision according to Ino which is unrevealed leaving the audience to guess. Throughout the film many political agendas exist in indo culture and are subtly shown by visual clues, minute dialogues. There's such a scene I particularly liked when Ino meets Nana for the first time in the kitchen at their house party. Ino asks Nana "why are you here? This is your party". Here nana replies "This is where i belong" on the next scene where nana goes to the entrance of house party just behind her ningsih's character covers her head. Ningsih's character throughout the film is been characterized for showing audience that how worse is a Indonesian superstitious women is .The scene where she introduces ino as bad girl cause of ino is butcher, communist is another example. Making Icang's character a positive one, Kamila won by never generalizing any category. While coming to technical and directional departments the first to be appreciated is Vida Slylvia's production design. Kamila andini and Vida sylvia has already proved their combo's quality in their former collaboration "The seen and unseen ". Vida Slyvia chose the famous cyan and cream color palette for this movie for the most of scenes and this made the drama happening more intriguing one. The color grading chose for night scenes such as green-red combo, yellowish lighting, violet -pink combo where used neatly and gave neon outlook. Batara goemper played a lot with composition especially by symmetry. Three part mirror reflection shots has been used exquisitely for detailing Nana's character. Akhmad fesdi even though using slow cuts elevated the context. Liked how he cut for ricky leonardi's music. Retno ratih's costumes outlooked well with the background. Moreover she gave much depth to nana's costume by giving her a maid like costume while giving white, liberal looking costumes for ino. Adha imans and kamila andini's screenwriting output is brilliant. The use of motif in screenplay where icang gets killed by people which haunts nana made the audience to believe icang was dead so his entry was a shocking twist. The stellar cast with " salma, basuki, ibnu jamil,pitaloka arswendi " performed well and even the kids too.
Even though the movie did well by showing Nana's Before, Now stages beautifully. Nana's then stage has been spoon feeded to the audience. Especially the scene where Nana seeing a dream in which herself killing icang with ino directly told what's going to happen .Thus the movie ending with a open climax failed the audience to draw many clues. However with no much other flaws in the movie "Before then and now " is another equally top notch output from Kamila andini and her comfort crew.
As the name itself says "Before, Now & Then " tells the story of Nana's past, present and future. Nana who was married to a soldier named icang doesn't know whether her husband is dead or not as she hasn't seen him for the last 5 years. She then gets married to one of the wealthiest men in the village "Mr. Darga". He shows extreme love for nana and her kids. Even though the only kid under Nana -Darga is dias legally, Mr Darga keeps all other kids stay with him and takes care of them well. Darga also surprise's Nana everyday with gifts. Nana also feels an emotional connection for darga but doesn't have anything more than that. One day Nana met a butcher in a village named ino. At a house party in Darga's house Nana and Ino talks to each other. They connected seamlessly and without knowing herself Nana falls for ino. While all these going Nana discovers her old husband icang. Nana confused what to do finally decides to divorce Darga with a mutual understanding however the movie ends with an open climax where Nana is single and takes a decision according to Ino which is unrevealed leaving the audience to guess. Throughout the film many political agendas exist in indo culture and are subtly shown by visual clues, minute dialogues. There's such a scene I particularly liked when Ino meets Nana for the first time in the kitchen at their house party. Ino asks Nana "why are you here? This is your party". Here nana replies "This is where i belong" on the next scene where nana goes to the entrance of house party just behind her ningsih's character covers her head. Ningsih's character throughout the film is been characterized for showing audience that how worse is a Indonesian superstitious women is .The scene where she introduces ino as bad girl cause of ino is butcher, communist is another example. Making Icang's character a positive one, Kamila won by never generalizing any category. While coming to technical and directional departments the first to be appreciated is Vida Slylvia's production design. Kamila andini and Vida sylvia has already proved their combo's quality in their former collaboration "The seen and unseen ". Vida Slyvia chose the famous cyan and cream color palette for this movie for the most of scenes and this made the drama happening more intriguing one. The color grading chose for night scenes such as green-red combo, yellowish lighting, violet -pink combo where used neatly and gave neon outlook. Batara goemper played a lot with composition especially by symmetry. Three part mirror reflection shots has been used exquisitely for detailing Nana's character. Akhmad fesdi even though using slow cuts elevated the context. Liked how he cut for ricky leonardi's music. Retno ratih's costumes outlooked well with the background. Moreover she gave much depth to nana's costume by giving her a maid like costume while giving white, liberal looking costumes for ino. Adha imans and kamila andini's screenwriting output is brilliant. The use of motif in screenplay where icang gets killed by people which haunts nana made the audience to believe icang was dead so his entry was a shocking twist. The stellar cast with " salma, basuki, ibnu jamil,pitaloka arswendi " performed well and even the kids too.
Even though the movie did well by showing Nana's Before, Now stages beautifully. Nana's then stage has been spoon feeded to the audience. Especially the scene where Nana seeing a dream in which herself killing icang with ino directly told what's going to happen .Thus the movie ending with a open climax failed the audience to draw many clues. However with no much other flaws in the movie "Before then and now " is another equally top notch output from Kamila andini and her comfort crew.
Happy Salma & Laura Basuki
bayuvevo17 February 2022
No wonder Laura Basuki won best supporting performance in Berlinale Int' Film Fest, she's so amazing. The movie was good I think Kamila Andini is so brave to make this movie and of course you guys need to watch YUNI, that's her best movie.
Indonesian masterpiece
martinpersson9719 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Indonesia is a somewhat overlooked, yet very skilled and thourough filmmaking country, showcasing some truly remarkable names - such as the incredible director behind this film.
It is a perfect blend of high drama and tragedy, with a small sense of irony and satire, that works excellently. The actors all do an incredible job, and you can truly feel for all of the players involved.
The cinematography, cutting and editing is incredible, and it is truly a very beautifully put together film.
Very much recommended for any lover of film, as is the Indonesian film overall. Very important and well put together piece.
It is a perfect blend of high drama and tragedy, with a small sense of irony and satire, that works excellently. The actors all do an incredible job, and you can truly feel for all of the players involved.
The cinematography, cutting and editing is incredible, and it is truly a very beautifully put together film.
Very much recommended for any lover of film, as is the Indonesian film overall. Very important and well put together piece.
A Surprising Charmer
brentsbulletinboard19 October 2022
The search of happiness can be an elusive one, especially when confronted by challenges on multiple fronts, even for those who ostensibly appear to be superficially contented and well off. Such is the fate of a seemingly comfortable middle-aged housewife in 1960s Indonesia, whose first husband, a military officer, mysteriously disappeared and whose second spouse, a plantation owner, is having a less-than-veiled affair, all of which is set against the country's political unrest of the period. It's a scenario further complicated by her willingness to capitulate to her circumstances and by the secrets she keeps from virtually everyone. Surprisingly, though, when her husband's mistress moves in with the family, the two strike up an unlikely friendship, one that leads to some difficult but unexpectedly pleasant developments. Writer-director Kamila Andini's latest feature outing tells a slowly unfolding but ever captivating tale with surprises awaiting around every corner. The deeply heartfelt performances of Happy Salma and Laura Basuki reach out and grab viewers throughout, portrayals all the more enlivened by the film's mesmerizing soundtrack, gorgeous cinematography and inventive, revelatory surreal dream sequences. Admittedly, the pacing at times could be a little more up-tempo, but this is a small price to pay for an otherwise thoroughly engaging watch, one of the Chicago Film Festival's surprise charmers.
artistic
rizkiakbarmufidz12 September 2023
Good artistic.....
one of the most serious jobs, starting from research and small elements in artistic or property, displaying combinations of colors and shapes, colors that are appropriate and modern in their time
and also work that during the production process is fun. Everything is done together.
And the favorite is also for sounds that really enter the ears and mind too, everything makes a good combination
Don't miss all the visual and audio scenes in this film!!!
It's no surprise that this film appears everywhere, internationally because it is a quality, acting film.
To get many nominations on the international stage.
one of the most serious jobs, starting from research and small elements in artistic or property, displaying combinations of colors and shapes, colors that are appropriate and modern in their time
and also work that during the production process is fun. Everything is done together.
And the favorite is also for sounds that really enter the ears and mind too, everything makes a good combination
Don't miss all the visual and audio scenes in this film!!!
It's no surprise that this film appears everywhere, internationally because it is a quality, acting film.
To get many nominations on the international stage.
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