Right, while I was somewhat much older than the target audience for this 2023 Indonesian drama titled "Dear David", I have to admit that the movie actually turned out to be entertaining and enjoyable.
Writers Winnie Benjamin, Daud Sumolang and Muhammad Zaidy put together a nicely written storyline that had a richly detailed character gallery to bring the story to life on the screen. And it is a story that draws you in and takes you along on a ride as Laras's secret writing leaks to the school and turns her and David's lives upside down.
Sure, the storyline is aimed at a young adult audience, no doubt about it. But I actually found the storyline and script to be rather nicely written and constructed, and that made for an thoroughly watchable and entertaining movie.
The acting performances in "Dear David" were good. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but they definitely put on good and realistic performances. Leading actress Shenina Cinnamon really carried the movie quite well, and she certainly is a very talented actress.
Something that was working against the overall enjoyment of the movie was the length of the movie. It ran for nearly two hours, and would have benefitted from a much more generous cutting touch in the final editing. Nearly two hours of a drama such as this was pushing it to the limit and beyond.
A movie such as "Dear David" is one that will find a wide appeal with the young adult audience, of that I am quite sure. And not just with an Indonesian audience either. Give director Lucky Kuswandi's movie a chance, because it definitely is an entertaining movie.
My rating of "Dear David" lands on a six out of ten stars.
