Indonesia has never been able to get one of its films nominated for, let alone win, the Best Foreign Language film category at the Academy Awards, but their pick for next year’s Oscars may be the one that breaks that streak.
The Indonesian Film Selection Committee, headed by veteran actress and producer Christine Hakim, announced yesterday that they had picked the critically acclaimed Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts as the country’s official submission to the Academy Awards.
“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” is Indonesia’s submission to the Oscars!
“Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak” menjadi submisi Indonesia ke Oscars! #MarlinaForTheOscars pic.twitter.com/PFMaEOBIiK
— cinesurya (@cinesurya) September 18, 2018
The film was chosen out of all of the movies screened commercially in Indonesia between October 1, 2017, and September 30, 2018, in accordance with the Academy’s rules.
Marlina, the third film by director Mouly Surya, has been described as a neo-feminist “satay” western and although it is set in modern day Sumba, the setting and the story it tells very much references the tropes of Western films while lending them a uniquely Indonesian flavor.
The movie tells the story of a widow, played by Marsha Timothy, who is robbed by a group of bandits at the start of the film and then follows her tale of revenge across the titular four chapters.
Marlina made its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in May as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section. It had a successful festival run, including winning the NETPAC award for new Asian cinema at Poland’s Five Flavors Asian film fest, and has already been screened in 40 countries around the world.
The film also proved to be a critical darling, earning a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with only one bad review out of the 35 aggregated by the site. Brent McKnight, reviewing it for The Seattle Times, wrote: “With a Morricone-inspired score, gorgeous cinematography that screams to be witnessed on a big screen, and bleak humor, this film’s tightly executed, meticulously controlled surface barely contains the seething fury within.”
Since it first started submitting films to the Oscars in 1987, none of Indonesia’s official selections have earned a nomination for Best Foreign Language category (the critically acclaimed 2013 documentary The Act of Killing and its follow-up, 2015’s The Look of Silence, both pertaining to the 1965 mass killings in Indonesia, did receive nominations in the Best Documentary Feature category however).
Marlina will no doubt face stiff competition just to get a nod at next February’s Oscars, but anybody interested in the potential of Indonesian cinema should seek it out anyways if you haven’t already.
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