Love for Sale or… Love and Fail?
To celebrate the announcement of the soon-to-be-released Arini by Love.inc (the prequel of Love for Sale) and because it is midterm, this article will be easier compared to the rest of the written articles. Clara and Handiko will talk about their comfort movie, and thanks to their lovely friend (editor), Nadia, who lends her Netflix account, so they can watch this movie.
When talking about Indonesian romance movies, we’ll think about the stereotypical ones. Perhaps, it will be the story of the rich and the poor or the jock and the nerd. It will be pretty tiring because those formulas keep getting used over and over again by different filmmakers. Fear not! In 2018 a movie titled Love for Sale was released to save the overused formula of romance movies in Indonesia. But that doesn’t mean the movie is perfect (technically, it is near perfect). That also doesn’t mean that the movie is bad. So, you may ask “what is the purpose of this article then?” This movie is praised for the director’s bold move to change the long-lasting formula in the industry.
Starring with Gading Marten, this movie portrays a realistic life of a single man. In the first scene, Richard, the character whom Gading Martin plays, wakes up in his underwear to an unorganised house. For breakfast, he cooks an instant noodle, accompanied by his turtle, Kelun. Throughout the day, he doesn’t bother to change clothes or shower at all. During the night, he decides to spend the night drinking with his friends. Feeling the pressure because his friend is getting married and he has to bring a plus one, he finally looks for a date. Richard tries to talk to other girls, but he either chicken out or it went terribly wrong. Until he sees the poster of Love.inc and downloads the application. With only one click, it changes his life 180 degrees. Feeling unsure, but has no other choice, Richard uses the matchmaking app and thus he meets Arini, played by Della Dartyan.
A movie directed by Andibachtiar Yusuf depicts another dimension of Jakarta’s life. The metropolitan and glamorous side of Jakarta is not shown in Love for Sale. We can see the simple and modest life of a suburban in Central Jakarta. Like when Richard came back from watching football together with his friends, we can see the dark and sleepy Jakarta. Some old men were gathering to play chess with the local security as Richard walked in a tight and small alley to come back to his shophouse. Later, we can see the diversity of Jakarta. When an encik or Chinese lady came to Richard’s house to bargain about the price. The encik talked about changing Chinese names into the local version during the New Order. Her style when she talked was also very stereotypical of a Chinese-Indonesian, yet it is true to its core.
Aside from the racial stigma of Chinese descent, we also see the portrayal of a woman in mainstream movies. Women are expected to be good housewives and serve their husband. Seen in the movie that Arini wakes up earlier than Richard to cook for him. Also, earlier in the movie, Richard asked one of his employees, named Danty (a woman) to go with him to his friend’s wedding. As an employee, she tells this issue to her colleagues. Then, Jaka (Danty’s colleague) makes sure of it and asks Richard. Richard was furious and ashamed, then he fired Danty. She did not have a choice but to leave. From this scene, we can see that men are superior to women, making women feel powerless and oppressed by men.
We believe that Love for Sale is a game-changer in the industry. Not only was Andibachtiar Yusuf used a different formula, but also because he was brave enough to go with this kind of story. By that, we mean the ending. Spoiler warning if you haven’t seen this yet! It feels kind of useless because, in the end, Arini left after a lot of emotional investment by the audience (and Richard too!). But in the end, it’s not that useless. Since we got a huge character development in Richard (but again, we wouldn’t see him again, even in the sequel; he showed up as a cameo only).
Love for Sale feels like criticism towards society. When people shamed the decision to remain unmarried and try to pursue their dreams in life. It also feels like Andibachtiar Yusuf was tired of the entertainment in Indonesia. As shown in the movie, after Arini left, Richard watched a TV show where a couple fought on the television. This is the reality that many Indonesian enjoy. “What show is this? Why are spouses having a fight in a talk show? Bizarre crap,” complains Richard. Through Richard’s character, the filmmaker expresses their criticism towards low-quality TV programs which some Indonesians enjoy.
In summary, we love this movie! In fact, this is our second time watching it. Love for Sale has a lot of details and many moral values that we want to talk about, but sadly it will be too long for this article. For example, Richard’s character development in the second act of the movie, the simple life portrayals in Jakarta and many more. Maybe see you at the next movie review by Handiko and Clara?
Editor: Nadia Salsabila
