I Wanna Kiss You Once

Aku Ingin Menciummu Sekali Saja a.k.a I Just Want to Kiss You For Once was a good drama as Pasir Berbisik was. Starring Lulu Tobing and directed by Garin Nugroho, this movie had some positive and meaningful potential. Garin as one of the famous Indonesian director was quite different in some way in this movie. This movie was dedicated to commemorate the death of Theis (Irian's famous politician).

The story is kind of more than one. The story is about the feeling of love that were hidden in the heart. It's about jealousy! It was also about the life of the Irian Jaya people. A woman arrived in Irian Jaya to visit a close friend/relatives who died and got buried in the hill of Irian Jaya. She stayed there and lived in a traditional unit for a couple of days. While staying, a boy got crushed into her but he felt difficult to intepret his feeling to her.

The movie had lots of interesting aspects and elements especially about culture and religion. It succeeded to give a picture on how life in Irian Jaya is going and also their traditional culture. It also picture the Christianity in Irian Jaya.

I was a bit disappointed with the needed-more ending. I gave this movie 6/10. Lulu Tobing did a great job and she did focus on her character. I would also like to see more of Garin Nugrogo's future project.

With high expectations I went to see this movie. After having seen many movies from Indonesia the last weeks, I was a bit disappointed and sort of tired watching the new movies. Ada Apa Dengan Cinta (2002) made me think that Indonesia had a lot to offer, but the success of that movie brought a lot of rubbish and noncence into the theaters. Especially Indonesian 'horror' and 'paranormal issues' flooded the cinemas after the (surprising?) success of Jelangkung. But "Aku Ingin Menciummu Sekali Saja" was worth the time and the money. Many people, especially Indonesians will have a problem watching this movie. Though a great document, and at times touching and full of humor, its music at times distracts from the whole story, and will irritate those who have no christian background. Though it is all about the boy who wants to kiss the mystical lady who arrived by boat and seems to have come back to grieve about loosing her lover/husband (? the movie leaves this unanswered) it specially confronts us with the struggle for independence of the Papua's in Irian. betrayed by Sukarno, and treated with terror and violence by Indonesian police, army, and government. At times the movie is so slow that you want to walk out, but the professional actors (much better than in everage movies like "Anda Ia Tahu" (2002) keep you seated till the end. When finally the 'kisses' are there....