[au ciné] the beauty of the very violent django unchained

DJANGO UNCHAINED
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz
Year: 2013

"Django. The D is silent."

In case you're wondering, yes, I had a very good weekend. I went to see some movies, catch up with a friend, dining with my family. One of the movies I did watch last Saturday was Django Unchained. I must say that I love this movie so much.

Like most of Quentin Tarantino's movies, at the end of every movie, I felt that I just saw something that's totally new, something that has not been done before. I was like this kid being amazed at a fair or something. The same thing happened to me with Django.

Django in short, is about a slave who was given his freedom by this German bounty hunter, whom acquired his help to hunt some law-breakers. Soon after the winter ends, Django decided to search for his wife and planned to free her as well.

Let's put it this way: Quentin has a big head not for nothing. It contains a big busy brain. He is so clever that he could make a very simple non-twisted story line interesting. The dialog, every line seems like a quote from Paulo Coelho's books or something. It's violent, it's extravagant, it's offensive and it's the kind of movie that you would associate with Tarantino.

His love for those tacky B-movies again influenced so much of the movie. The over-the-top blood splats, the crazy opening credit and the tacky soundtrack are exactly why Django is an instant classic. I don't think we could talk about Tarantino without associate him with this movie.

And I have mentioned all these eccentric characters? Leave it to Tarantino to write the most interesting, mind-blowing fictional characters that ever graced our silver screen. And sweet one, they're named with unusual names. Just when you thought nothing could be any weirder than Beatrix Kiddo, here comes Broomhilda von Shaft, Calvin Candie and Django, with a silent D. Do you think Tarantino laughed his ass off when he decided on the names of the characters he wrote?

Just like Inglorious Basterds, soon after I watched it, I firmly believed Waltz deserves his Oscar. In Django, he gave a crazy natural performance as the charismatic Dr. Schultz. I won't be surprised if he eventually wins this year's Oscar for the best supporting role. Leonardo DiCaprio was also taking risk as the flamboyant Monsieur Candie and it works. It's a snub that he wasn't even nominated, totally! Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson are always good actors and they proved it so.

In short, I beyond love this f-ing movie!

don't call me botak, unless ...

Okay, do not judge me based on this photo above. Not only that I look ridiculous, I also look a bit over-weight. The initial idea of the photo was to challenge myself to lose some weight and blog about the whole thing. I was going to take the before-after shot. Then this other idea came up and I thought this photo kind of represents it, so voila, that's the whole story. 

Almost two years ago, I decided to shave my head. I remember telling myself that it was a crazy idea, but at that time, I assured myself that it's going to be liberating, which it is. Some people give up eating meat, I gave up having hair. It's just that simple.

Unfortunately, I live in a society that probably is not familiar with a completely shaved head. I cannot begin to tell you, how many people have use my hair absence to deliberately mock me. I have been called shining-head, egg-head, golf-ball to the most vicious and offensive one, botak (translated as bald).

Okay, let me try to explain to you why it's offensive. You probably remember that Gwyneth Paltrow - Jay Z - Kanye West incident a year ago? When Paltrow joked around using or referring to Jay Z's song which contains the N word (you know which word I'm talking about, don't you?). Jay Z, Beyonce and (probably) Kanye were extremely upset and offended by Paltrow due to that usage of N-word simply because she's white. 

The same thing applies to my situation. Despite the fact that I am botak, but to have someone who is not, calling me that is very insulting. For me it's equally offensive as Paltrow using that N-word. 

However, I'm a man with a big heart. I forgive and forget. So I forgive you, crazy super-drunk mas-mas at Pluit who almost made a song of my baldness. 

I also forgive you, you little brat at Grand Indonesia last weekend, who probably was there for your first time ever. I forgive you for pointing your index finger at me and calling me "om botak". 

I hope in the future once this post published, being bald is no longer unusual, but it can be considered cool and trendy. 

[au ciné] rectoverso

RECTOVERSO

Sutradara: Olga Lydia, Cathy Sharon, Marcella Zalianty, Happy Salma, Rachel Maryam

Bintang: Amanda Soekasah, Lukman Sardi, Yama Carlos

Tahun: 2013

"Aku jatuh cinta pada seseorang yang hanya mampu aku gapai sebatas punggungnya saja.

Seseorang yang aku sanggup menikmati bayangannya dan tidak akan pernah bisa aku miliki,

seseorang yang hadir bagai bintang jatuh, 

sekelebat kemudian menghilang, 

sebelum tangan ini sanggup mengejar,

seseorang yang hanya bisa aku kirimi isyarat, 

sehalus udara, langit awan atau hujan."

Saya harus akui kalau saya belum pernah membaca karya tulis Dewi Lestari dalam bentuk apapun. Tanpa malu, saya juga harus akui sebelum menonton film ini, pengetahuan saya akan kumpulan cerita pendek karya Dee boleh dibilang nihil. Justru karena begitu, saya percaya kalau saya adalah orang yang paling sering menghelakan dan menahan nafas selama pemutaran film ini. Yep, call me lebay!

Rectoverso sendiri mempunyai beberapa arti. Dalam dunia percetakan recto-verso adalah pengkodean halaman dari kanan ke kiri, seperti buku-buku dalam bahasa Arab atau Mandarin. Dalam bahasa Perancis (bahasa yang tampaknya tidak akan pernah saya kuasai dengan mahir walau sudah bertahun-tahun belajar juga), rectoverso mempunyai arti dua sisi dari selembar kertas. 

Dalam beberapa situs, Rectoverso disebut sebagai film omnibus, yang mana artinya film ini adalah kumpulan dari beberapa film pendek yang mempunyai satu kesamaan. Dalam hal ini, kesamaan dari semua film-film pendek ini adalah akhir kisah cinta yang tidak bahagia. Pendeknya, gak ada yang bahagia di film ini.

Rectoverso terdiri dari 5 segmen dengan 5 sutradara muda. Seperti pengakuan saya sebelumnya, kelima kisah film-film pendek ini didasari dari kumpulan cerita pendek popular karya Dewi Lestari. Kelima cerita tersebut adalah: Cicak di Dinding, Firasat, Curhat untuk Sahabat, Malaikat juga Tahu dan bagian yang paling saya sukai, Hanya Isyarat. Sinopsis dari masing-masing film pendek ini dapat dilihat di situs Rectoverso.

Sedikit catatan untuk Hanya Isyarat. Ini adalah bagian yang paling-paling-paling saya sukai (Kudu 3 kali palingnya, biar pada jelas!). Selain latar belakang pantai dan laut, dialog di adegan-adegan film pendek ini begitu puitis tanpa berkesan norak atau terlalu baku, seolah-olah sang penulis naskah menggunakan KBBI sebagai acuan menulis. Justru sebaliknya dialog-dialog puitis ini menggugah emosi penonton (baca: saya) dengan teratur, dengan rapi dan hasilnya sangat menyentuh.

Apa yang membuat film ini begitu istimewa sebagai satu kesatuan? Selain naskah yang ditulis dengan baik, juga keberhasilan sutradara-sutradara perempuan ini yang berhasil menerjemahkan tulisan-tulisan tersebut dengan gambar, dengan adegan yang begitu puitis, begitu rapi, begitu menyentuh. Di-edit dengan begitu baik, sehingga alur cerita dari keroyokan 5 film pendek terkesan sangat rapi dan tidak membingungkan.

Tentunya, keberhasilan film ini juga dipengaruhi oleh kesempurnaan pemeran-pemeran dari film ini dalam menjiwai karakter yang sungguh beragam, seperti Lukman Sardi, membawakan peran Abang, karakter yang sangat istimewa, dengan emosi yang berapi-api atau Amanda Soekasah, sebagai Al yang memberikan kesan tertutup dan Soekasah berhasil menghipnotis saya dengan kemampuan yang luar biasa. Selain mereka, tentunya masih ada pemeran-pemeran lain yang layak untuk dikenang, seperti: Yama Carlos, Dewi Irawan, dan bahkan Sophia Latjuba tidak mengecewakan.

Mungkin satu-satunya kesalahan film ini adalah saat lagu Malaikat juga Tahu berkumandang dengan begitu tidak pada tempat dan saatnya, seperti usaha -siapapun itu- untuk menguras emosi penonton. Mungkin dengan musik orkestra atau bahkan petikan gitar, rangkaian adegan-adegan akhir film itu lebih mengguncang emosi saya.

Sayang sekali, Rectoverso diputar tidak lebih dari 25 biskop di Jakarta dan sebagian besar biskop-biskop tersebut adalah biskop kecil. 

Sungguh disayangkan.

I own no right for all the photos. They are taken mostly from internet.

soon, the sun will smile

I wish I could just say it's only water. The flood has caused so much loss, so much pain and definitely leaves a big scar. I'm truly glad that it's over for now and I'm truly grateful for people who have been working so hard to help, to look after us and to pray for us.

Many blessings.