QUICK SNAP: LIVE FROM THE RED SEA

An beautiful young woman tries to hide in the forest. She has a baby in her arms and her sister by her side. Both her father and her husband have been murdered. The time is the early 1950s, shortly after Indonesia’s struggle for independence. Her name is Nana (Happy Salma). She is hiding from the soldiers who presumably want to eliminate her, too. A much older man called Darga (Arswendy Bening Swara) offers her shelter and protection. Fast Forward several years. Nana lives with Darga and their four children, the baby from her previous marriage having passed away.

She is the image of the quiet, demure and submissive wife. She devotes her existence to running Darga’s house and farm, and raising their four children, while her husband sleeps around with countless mistresses. She befriend one of her husband’s lovers, Ino (Laura Basuki). Their bond is very unusual, yet profound. The two women share not just the same men, but also their affection for Nana’s eldest child Dais. The two female protagonists have encountered a quiet way of challenging Darga’s patriarchy, but there could be consequences for this vaguely subversive association.

There is a constant Lesbian vibe in Before Now and Then. The fully-fledged romance, however, never comes to fruition. I ask myself whether this was a creative choice or if the director was concerned with the country’s censorship. Indonesia is indeed a deeply conservative society, however LGBT cinema is not uncharted territory in the Southeast Asian nation: Nia Dinata’s Love for Share explored the topics of Lesbianism and polygamy as early as in 2005. Neighbouring nations too have made significant advances.

The absence of steamy sapphic interaction, of course, does not compromise the integrity of film. But there are other issues. This well-intentioned and vaguely elegant movie lacks vigour and vim. Some of the narrative tricks are unnecessarily repeated, often to irritating results, such as the wake-up-in-the-middle-of-a-dream device. The dialogues are very quiet and discreet, yet the plot is complex and multilayered, at times difficult to follow. Another problem is that the film provides very little historical contextualisation, and my knowledge of Indonesian history is extremely limited. I learned very little about the Indonesian independence struggle and the ensuing civil war that befell the nation. A missed opportunity yo educate viewers.

Batara Goempar’s low-contrast cinematography gives viewers the impression that every scene is inundated with lighting, ultimately providing the film with an ethereal, dreamlike – but also monotonous – feel. Think of one of those Jehovah witness leaflets with their colours washed out and you are halfway there. Ricky Lionnardi’s pervasive music score blends Indonesian music, tango and abundant chanting. The outcome is soothing, but also a little soporific. The colour palette heavily relies on cold colours, particularly blue and green, which are also conducive to relaxation. The outcome is a film that fails to absorb, enrapture and lift. Just close your eyes, fall asleep and dream of something else. Or leave the cinema, as did a significant number of people in the audience as early as in the first 20 minutes into the film.

Kamila Andini’s fourth feature film has been compared to the work of Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai and Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. I see little connection between the three artists apart from the fact that they are Asian.

Before Now and Then is in the Official Competition of the 2nd Red Sea International Film Festival. It is one of the 35 films made by women at the event, as Saudi Arabia strives for some semblance of gender equality. The director Kamila Andini also penned the film script, based on Ahda Imran’s novel Jais Darga Namaku.