Siti (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Eddie Cahyono
	Actors: Sekar Sari
	Country: RI
	Genre: Melodrama
	Conditions of visioning: 02.05.2015, Teatro Nuovo, FEFF2015
Synopsis: After her husband is injured in a fishing boat accident, Siti (Sari) is constrained to sell cookies during the day and host a Karaoke at night to support her 4-member family.
Review: I so rarely watch Melodramas that I had to ask my co-blogger for a definition of the genre at some point. The situation of the main character in Siri, a woman with the same name, is so desperate that it fits well the definition. But the movie has something more to it than just showing the misery in Indonesia: it does it by following the rules of Neo-realism cinema: long shots (usually 2-5 minutes), beautiful Black&White, short time span (in that case two nights and a day), natural light... This actually reminds me of the Danish Dogma rules (see Festen). The director was thus proud to present Siri first in Italy, the birth country of neo-realism. I liked in particular the lighting (or absence thereof), the long exposing shots revealing natural actors, and the oppressing feeling of helplessness of Siri in front of her fate. The budget for the movie was small and its reach in terms of meaning limited, but it certainly has a quality that I would not have expected from Indonesia.
Rating: 7 /10