In the opening scenes of this wee Indonesian drama we see Cahaya a
19-year-old devout Muslim young woman, nervously sitting by herself on a train. It turns out that she is on her way from the
suburbs where she lives alone with her mother, to go to Jakata the capital to find her father who she has
not seen since she was four years old. She
is clutching just a few rupiah, and a scrap of paper that has an address the
only clue as to where she may find him in city.
She somehow manages to locate the right apartment
building but all her enquires for Mr Saiful are met with blank stares, until
one of the neighbors figures out that she means 'Ipuy', and they direct her to
the area where they say he works. Cahaya
is baffled as this turns out to be just a bridge and has neither any offices
nor shops even close by. When she finally locates her
father ‘Ipuy’ she finds a transvestite prostitute plying her trade on the
streets with all the other ‘working girls’.
For both daughter and father discovering each other
like this is a bitter shock. Initially it looks like that their worlds are
so far apart that there is absolutely no way that they can even start to redeem
any sort of paternal relationship, but that’s when this wee drama really comes
in to its own. As the pair are forced to spend some time together they very
slowly start to have their deep rooted perceptions of each other’s lives shaken
up. As the night draws on and the two strangers learn to open up and be honest
with each other, against all odds they actually start bonding.
It turns out that Cahaya has her own dark secret that Ipuy
persuades her to come clean with her mother as he has made it clear that
this reunion of theirs is strictly a one time only event. Its not that he doesn't care for his daughter
but he is already in trouble with some gangsters who want him to return money
he stole, the same money he gives to Cahaya to take back home to pay for
College. Its not said, but definitely
implied, that when the mob later catch up with him, it will all end badly for him.
This essentially two handed piece is layered so
beautifully and is a delightful fresh take on a father and daughter
relationship. It primarily succeeds so well because of the fine nuanced
performance by award winning Asian actor Donny Damara as Ipuy who pitches his convincing take of a
transvestite hooker with such subtlety that so cleverly avoids all the stereotypical
clichés .
A wee gem that is slowly doing
the Festival circuit and is definitely worth looking out for.
★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★
