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Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Accident (Giuseppe Garau)

It’s nice when a film chooses not to overstay its welcome, as writer-director Giuseppe Garau understands in The Accident. For 65 minutes, Garau drops viewers in on Marcella (Giulia Mazzarino), a single mother whose life is falling apart. Over the course of one day where she’s late picking her daughter up from school, she gets fired by her boss (who also happens to be the father of her ex and grandfather to her child), gets into a minor car crash with her daughter, and ends up losing custody. By using a clever formal gimmick that limits events to a single perspective, The Accident makes for a kinetic, creative, surprisingly funny experience as we watch Marcella not so...

"It will be the end of a corrupt system!" There's a new Indonesian action thriller arriving to watch soon on VOD in the US titled 13 Bombs in Jakarta, also known as simply 13 Bombs. This intense thriller first premiered and opened in Indonesia last year, and recently played at the 2024 Rotterdam Film Festival a few months ago. A government organization races against time to uncover and stop the mastermind behind the placement of 13 bombs in Jakarta before the city falls into chaos. IFFR adds this intriguing detail: "Loosely inspired by the biggest financial fraud in Indonesian history, Angga Dwimas Sasongko’s smart, taut action thriller 13 Bombs revolves around the promises and treacheries of digital currencies. The narrative weaves together three points of view: those of the entrepreneurs, the bureau, & the militants themselves, who come across not as dramatic abstractions, but full-fledged characters with rational, even humanist motivations." 13 Bombs...

Action blockbusters are not exactly the norm in Asian cinema, particularly outside of China, since the budget usually needed to shoot such a film is definitely a preventative factor. However, when these types of titles do come out, there seem to be from Indonesia, where, along with a number of other Asean countries, is where the epicenter of action/martial arts movies lies. Angga Dwimas Sasongko has come up with a film like that with “13 Bombs”, in a movie that also tries to incorporate some modern elements in the action, namely social commentary, the concept of cryptocurrency and the significant presence of women.

13 Bombs is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

When a van carrying money explodes in the middle of the street, actually allowing the passerby to pick the money inside, the Indonesian Bureau of Counter-Terrorism gets immediately notified, although the person in-charge, Damascus, does not want...

Created by Sashti Nandani, and co-directed by Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah, the five-episode series opens with flashbacks of a terminally ill Soeraja (Pritt Timothy) is visited by, and who ends up pleading his son Lebas (Arya Saloka) to find a woman called Jeng Jah (Dian Sastrowardoyo). The lad is given a tin jar which contains a key to a safe in his grandfather's office, but when he gets there, his only clues become an old photograph showing a big group of people, and a bunch of letters written to Soeraja by Dasiyah that happens to be Jeng Jah's second name.

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Based on the eponymous best-selling novel written by Ratih Kumala, the Netflix series “Cigarette Girl” is one of the most interesting shows currently showing on the popular streaming platforms, vintage not only in terms of the era it plays in,...

Cigarette Girl is a series based on the noivel by Ratih Kumala, starring Dian Sastrowardoyo and Ario Bayu.

If you fancy a compelling love story across time – one that overcomes obstacles and endures for decades – this is the story for you. It follows two individuals who meet in a business setting and, as they fall in love, must navigate societal norms and differences to either come together or part ways.

This series encapsulates an era and a unique perspective on life, quite different from today’s. It pays significant tribute to ancestors and family, while also showcasing exceptional aesthetic and cinematic qualities. If you enjoy sentimental stories with love spanning across years, “Cigarette Girl” is an excellent series to consider.

Cigarette Girl About the series:

Above all, “Cigarette Girl” excels in its meticulous reconstruction of an era and its profound respect for its characters. Whether you agree with its stylistic approach and screenplay or not,...

Take a look at more footage from the upcoming live-action romance TV series "Cigarette Girl", based on the novel by Ratih Kumala, set against the tobacco industry during the 1960's, directed by Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah, starring Dian Sastrowardoyo, Ario Bayu, Arya Saloka and Putri Marino, streaming November 2, 2023 on Netflix:

"..'Dasiyah' (Sastrowardoyo), a woman ahead of her time, is passionate about concocting the perfect formulas for 'clove cigarettes'. Her encounter with 'Soeraja' (Bayu) leads to a love story marked by historical events that eventually shape the course of their lives. 

"Decades later, 'Lebas' (Saloka), son of Soeraja, meets 'Arum' (Marino) as together they trace the past and uncover buried secrets..."

Cast also includes Tissa Biani, Ine Febriyanti, Winky Wiryawan, Sheila Dara, Ibnu Jamil, Rukman Rosadi, Nungki Kusumastuti, Dimas Aditya, Pritt Timothy and Tutie Kirana. 

Click the images to enlarge...

The new period romance TV series "Cigarette Girl", based on the novel by Ratih Kumala, set against the tobacco industry in 1960's Indonesia, is directed by Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah, starring Dian Sastrowardoyo, Ario Bayu, Arya Saloka and Putri Marino, streaming November 2, 2023 on Netflix:

"..'Dasiyah' (Sastrowardoyo), a woman ahead of her time, is passionate about concocting the perfect formulas for 'clove cigarettes'. Her encounter with 'Soeraja' (Bayu) leads to a love story marked by historical events that eventually shape the course of their lives. 

"Decades later, 'Lebas' (Saloka), son of Soeraja, meets 'Arum' (Marino) as together they trace the past and uncover buried secrets..."

Cast also includes Tissa Biani, Ine Febriyanti, Winky Wiryawan, Sheila Dara, Ibnu Jamil, Rukman Rosadi, Nungki Kusumastuti, Dimas Aditya, Pritt Timothy and Tutie Kirana. 

Click the images to enlarge...

Indonesian genre kingpin Joko Anwar continues his run of hits with “Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion,” a juicy if slightly overstuffed sequel to his 2017 supernatural horror hit “Satan’s Slaves.” Set in a brutalist concrete apartment block that looks like hell on Earth even before ghouls and zombies start terrorizing the first film’s surviving family members, “Communion” serves up suspense, scares and gallows humor with considerable style. This handsomely mounted widescreen chiller is sure to lure plenty of eyeballs to streaming platform Shudder when unleashed in territories including North America and the U.K. on November 4.

Having enjoyed commercial and critical success for most of the nine features he’s directed since debuting with the delightful romantic comedy “Joni’s Promise” in 2005, Anwar’s stock has never been higher. “Communion” attracted 6.3 million local theatrical admissions in August, making it the third-highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time. “Satan’s Slaves...

General Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara) never had a son, so returning to his mansion to ready for a reelection campaign makes him grow sentimental at the sight of young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova). The boy is the youngest son of Amir (Rukman Rosadi)—a man Purna calls a “friend” despite their relationship truly being one of employer and employee. It’s been that way for three generations with Amir’s father serving Purna’s father, grandfather for grandfather. So, no matter how progressive the nation believes itself to have become, the townsfolk still fear what Purna represents. And if that authority allows Rakib a comfy existence as his servant/chauffeur, why not make the best of it?

Writer/director Makbul Mubarak titles his portrayal of these two men Autobiography not because their story mimics his own, but because he’s wielding the film as a metaphor for the autobiography of his homeland.

Netflix has revealed cast for upcoming Indonesian original series Gadis Kretek, including award-winning actresses Dian Sastrowardoyo and Putri Marino.

The historical drama, produced by Indonesia’s Base Entertainment, will also star popular actors Ario Bayu and Arya Saloka.

It will be directed by Kamila Andini, whose Before, Now & Then won best supporting performance at this year’s Berlin film festival, and producer-director Ifa Isfansyah.

Based on a novel of the same name by Ratih Kumala, the series is set against the backdrop of Indonesia’s tobacco industry, and delves into the country’s rich history through the story of an estranged son searching for a girl from his father’s past who can fulfil the cigarette mogul’s dying wish.

Base Entertainment’s Shanty Harmayn and Tanya Yuson will serve as showrunners on the series, with writers including Yuson, Kumala, Kanya K. Priyanti and Ambaridzki Ramadhantyo.

Indonesia is becoming a...