32 Comments on “Jakarta – The Movie”
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BrotherMouzone says:
February 12th, 2010 at 12:12 pm“Anacondas: The hunt for the Blood Orchid” was set in Indonesia. It even featured music by Iwa K.
Unfortunately it was stab-yourself-in-the-eye-with-a-fork bad.
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Chris says:
February 12th, 2010 at 12:59 pmThanks for the tip, Brother Mouzone.
Checking out its entry on the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366174/
you are right. It was set in Borneo (Indonesian or Malaysian side?).
However, according to the filming locations page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366174/locations
like “The Year Of Living Dangerously” it was not actually shot there, but in Fiji (with opening scenes in Oklahoma and a waterfall scene in New Zealand).
It makes me wonder if that film was made a few years later whether (now that Fiji is a military dictatorship) it would have been shot in Indonesia.
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BrotherMouzone says:
February 12th, 2010 at 1:20 pmBest mention of Indonesia in a movie:
In the (otherwise rather weak) chick flick The Sweetest Thing. A store manager comes back from his break to see one of his staff fornicating with a man dressed up as a chicken, shelves collapsed, and general chaos everywhere. He looks around and deadpans;
“Jesus, I leave the place for five minutes and it turns into Indonesia”
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BrotherMouzone says:
February 12th, 2010 at 1:22 pmIt makes me wonder if that film was made a few years later whether (now that Fiji is a military dictatorship) it would have been shot in Indonesia.
Yes, I thought it might have been filmed elsewhere – not least because all the Indonesians looked conspicuously… Japanese?
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Chris says:
February 12th, 2010 at 1:59 pmBest mention of Indonesia in a movie:
The only one that springs to my mind is in the 2006 Australian movie “Kenny” (http://www.kennythemovie.com), a mockumentary about a plumber who installs/maintains portable toilets at festivals, sporting events, etc.
Thus saith Kenny:
[calculating over phone how many toilets will be required at a public event] Have you got any Indonesian foods or curries? You have? All right. Well, normally, if it was a non-drinking event as far as alcohol, and there was no food or curries, for 4000 people for ten hours you’d have five male and five female blocks. But you’ve got alcohol being served as well as the food, and you’ve got curries in there as well, which does make a bit of a difference.
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Burung Koel says:
February 12th, 2010 at 2:16 pmThe 1976 remake of King Kong by Dino de Laurentis has the ape’s island located somewhere in Indonesia, and there is a scene supposedly set at the Surabaya docks. I suspect that it was probably shot in a Hollywood backlot and on location at Long Beach.
It did star a young Jessica Lange, however.
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Chris says:
February 12th, 2010 at 3:01 pmI don’t know if it counts, but Skull Island – a mythical island off the west coast of Sumatra – also featured in the 2005 Peter Jackson re-make of “King Kong”, as well as his earlier 1992 B-grade horror movie “Braindead” (a.k.a “Dead Alive”).
In the latter, the “natives” who chase the Western zoo-keeper were actually the Fijian rugby team…
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lcvs says:
February 12th, 2010 at 7:12 pmhey folks, let’s not forget about the city of heroes.. one day i’ll make a movie about surabaya, probably martin schwab will be the protagonist haha, anyone still remembers him?
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Odinius says:
February 13th, 2010 at 12:00 amBest movie ever made or filed in Indonesia? Barry Prima’s Jaka Sembung (The Warrior)!
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diego says:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:17 amIt’s always fun reading what those monkeys in saudi arabia are doing:
http://tempointeraktif.com/hg/timteng/2010/02/12/brk,20100212-225427,id.html
Kind of the thing we can expect from them, no surprise here. However, still fun thinking of the scene… : “ugh ugh agh agh ugh ugh (monkey chants), throw the roses THROW THE ROSES for allah’s sake! ugh ugh agh ugh ugh (scratch scratch)”.
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February 13th, 2010 at 3:28 amARG…that is NOT the pic I meant to link to. Thus, I must leave you with this:
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Chris says:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:18 pmHey BK,
I actually saw a copy of “Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid” at my local Disc Tarra today. Even at the discounted price of Rp59 000, it wasn’t very popular; probably because it’s one of those in name only very B-grade sequels, like the multiple sequels to “Bring It On”, “From Dusk Til Dawn”, “Wild Things”, etc.
However, while there I also noticed a DVD version of Paku Kuntilanak with English subtitles for Rp39 000; after the previous hoo-haa about it, I thought I might be interesting to actually watch it myself. I will write a short review as a comment on the other article/page after I watch it. Stay tuned…
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Burung Koel says:
February 13th, 2010 at 6:08 pmWell, it’s your money and time, O Righteous One.
Meanwhile, how could I have forgotten this? Obviously no-one at the studio bothered to do any actual geographic research, either.
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Ross says:
February 14th, 2010 at 10:00 amHey, Dude, yo can get dvd movies at Blok M Terminal for Rp.7000, 2 little stalls just by where the buses sweep in on their arrival.
As for a new movie, KOMMODO could be sequeled as was Godzilla, The latter monster was brough to a large American city, which he understandably wrecked.
So bring one of the local giant reptiles to Jakarta and watch him rampage along Jaksa -I reckon he’d soon be booking a ticket home! -
David says:
February 14th, 2010 at 11:23 amDude, yo can get dvd movies at Blok M Terminal for Rp.7000, 2 little stalls just by where the buses sweep in on their arrival.
I thought with the locally made movies they sell them at the ‘proper’ price, it’s just the foreign ones they sell dirt cheap, that was my impression…
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Ross says:
February 14th, 2010 at 8:10 pmNo, pocongs and kuntilanaks re available at 7000 -10000 per dvd. Usually good quality.
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Ross says:
February 14th, 2010 at 8:11 pmThough in Ratu Plaza, you are correct, only the foreign movies are cheap.
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justme says:
February 15th, 2010 at 10:04 amuseless fact for today
Jakarta was also mentioned in the movie Devils Advocate by Al Pacino
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BrotherMouzone says:
February 15th, 2010 at 6:23 pmuseless fact for today
Jakarta was also mentioned in the movie Devils Advocate by Al Pacino
Yes, and Pacino’s office/hell portal has lots of Wayang laying around…
In the (completely unnecessary) Denzil Washington remake of The Manchurian Candidate, much of the movie revolves around America gearing up for war against Indonesia.
God, I need to get out more…
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February 15th, 2010 at 7:07 pmand what about
-Oeroeg
-Max Havelaar ** in europe the film was released in 1976, but in indonesia in 1987, due to suharto, because he was not happy about the scenes in which the people where oppressed by the ‘regent van lebak’
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Chris says:
February 16th, 2010 at 2:47 pmThanks for the other suggestions.
BK, that movie rates a mention in the Simon Winchester book “Krakatau/Karakatoa: The Day The World Exploded” as the only based-on-fact film of Krakatau not worth seeing:
There’s actually a half-decent Discovery Channel documentary on it too, narrated by James Woods. Can’t find a picture of the cover, though.
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February 16th, 2010 at 3:01 pmIs it this one!?
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Chris says:
February 16th, 2010 at 3:21 pmHi Patung,
Actually, no it isn’t. It must be a bit old – made in 2003 – to have been online. A text search gets a couple of matches, but not a picture of the cover.
It must be rare; I can’t even find it on eBay! Having said that, I bought it at Carrefour a couple of years ago for Rp29 000. I think the full title is “Moments in Time: Krakatau/Krakatoa – The Ultimate Blast”.
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BrotherMouzone says:
February 16th, 2010 at 7:26 pmSo, for a Jakarta tribute movie; a remake of Macbeth; Si Mekbet.
The film describes the power struggles within a gang of particularly aggressive polisi cepek in Tanah Abang.
Coming back from a fight against a gang of Batak preman, Si Mekbet runs into three hideous bencong with a transistor radio who sing him dangdut songs about how he will one day run the busiest corner in Jakarta and he will never be killed by a man born by a woman.
To cut a long story short, he pursues his dream and kills lots of his fellow polisi cepek and eventually becomes the most powerful in Jakarta. His wife goes nuts and ends up in RSJ Grogol and he is eventually run over, power mad, trying to direct a bus the wrong way up the Kuningan busway.
Starring Ucok Baba (but with CGI trickery to make him normal size). Drama/Musical.
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justme says:
February 17th, 2010 at 9:37 amLOL that gave me a good giggle :p
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Chris says:
March 26th, 2010 at 1:52 pmA new film about Jakarta, out now at cinemas: The Sexy City
My level of Indonesian isn’t quite good enough to totally understand the storyline, but it doesn’t sound like a very positive one…
Ross, would you care to check out this movie too and share with us your thoughts on its merits?
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Winmar says:
March 27th, 2010 at 11:01 amI’ll have to see if I can find that one somewhere.
Haha Si Mekbet – gold!
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Chris says:
May 12th, 2010 at 8:51 amAnother candidate for a movie that could inspire travellers to Jakarta, taken from ABC News:
Obama’s Jakarta childhood inspires movie
An Indonesian director plans to make a film about Barack Obama’s childhood in Jakarta in time for the US president’s scheduled visit there in June.
Damien Dematra says the film is to be based on his book, Obama Anak Menteng (Obama The Menteng Kid), but will be released internationally with the title Little Obama.
It will be shot in just two weeks in and around the capital, where Mr Obama lived with his mother and Indonesian stepfather from 1967 to 1971.
“The film is based on real events,” Dematra said.
“I hope youths in Indonesia and all over the world can be inspired by Obama and not be afraid of their differences.
“Obama is an icon of pluralism and he represents a triumph for minorities,” he added.
- AFP
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Chris says:
August 19th, 2010 at 9:34 amAnother movie set in Indonesia, this time a Danish film called At World’s End
The storyline:
A British TV reporter discovers a plant in Indonesia which appears to have magical powers – so everybody wants the plant…
Read a review and get a preview here.
Interestingly it says at the end:
I don’t think the Indonesians will appreciate this take on their prison system but I can’t imagine this will be screening in Djakarta any time soon.
Unfortunately, it’s IMDB page doesn’t have shooting locations yet, so I don’t know if it was filmed here or not.
Can anybody help with information? Has anybody seen it?
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Chris says:
September 28th, 2010 at 12:57 pmKind of related:
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that any of the other bands featured in “Global Metal” – e.g. Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Iron Maiden – will be touring Indonesia any time soon.
Tengkorak (the controversial Indonesian band featured in “Global Metal” – see YouTube clip above) will be playing some shows next month.
In Surabaya, they will play at Gedung Balai Pemuda on Friday 15/10 with numerous support acts (starting at 3pm, finishing at 11pm). Tickets are an amazingly cheap Rp20 000, available at Inferno Rock Shop at Jl Dharmahusada or at the gate.
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