Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Edwin
Starring: Marthino Lio, Ladya Cheryl, Reza Rahadian
Some films are born cult, some films achieve cult, and some films
desperately strive for a post-modern cult relevance by scavenging
recognisable cult signifiers and alt-cinema tropes, presenting them
through an ironic, would-be cult filter. Take, from the title onwards,
Indonesian black comedy
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (directed by
Edwin, with co-writing honours shared by Eka Kurniawan, who
wrote the book which this film is adapted from), a bricolage of American
indie-style-cool cliches which is the try-hard cinematic equivalent of
those people you see carrying Bad MotherFucker wallets.
Which isn’t to say that the voguish regurgitation doesn’t have its
moments. The opening 20 minutes are a gas, or should that be a Gas-s-s-s,
such is the debt to early Corman counterculture cinema... In this
introduction we meet our lead, Ajo (Marthino Lio), a right
ne’er-do-well, as he dangerously races about with pals and rivals on
motorbikes before hanging out and fighting in the local dive bar. The
iconography is pure Americana: cars, grease, beers; there is even a death
wall, and the wooden thrills of an old school fun fair. It is here, after
shutdown, where he fingers some girl and expects nothing in return, that
we are made privy to Ajo’s impotence: the central conceit of
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash. In a cynical, would-be macho manner, Ajo just sort of carries on with
his affliction by sublimating his frustration into male on male violence.
Until one day he meets, loses a fight to and inevitably falls in love
with, the sexy Iteung (Ladya Cheryl), yet is unable to consummate
their otherwise passionate relationship.
I’ve not read Kurniawan’s well received novel, but Wikipedia informs me
that in the book, Ajo is a teen, not the late adult he appears to be here.
Ajo portrayed as an adolescent would make for more sense in the film. In
that representation he’d seem less of a pathetic figure (fighting and
getting into scrapes at his age? Alright, Grandad!), and the impotency
would have an urgency which descends from shame and frustration into the
realms of pristine tragedy. And, perhaps, the intuitively interior nature
of literature could further essay the relationship between Ajo and Iteung,
communicating its psychological insistence. As it is, the problem with the
insouciance Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash affects
(we see Ajo effortlessly slice off the ear of a passing truck driver to
impress Iteung, the scene shot through with flip nihilism), means that
investing in what we are told is the genuine emotion of true romance
simply on the film’s say-so is a stretch (especially since Cheryl and Lio
enjoy very little chemistry). Without that energy,
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash is a bit of an empty
boast.
It is pretty enough to look at, with its poppy Tarantino palette of
yellows and pinks, along with Gemailla Gea’s simply wonderful
costume choices. But as we witness the vicissitudes of the bar-crossed
lovers over a period of years, there is little powering the film (much
like Ajo’s knob, eh readers?). You’d perhaps hope that, as an
international film,
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash might do something
with the style it displays such a fealty to, you know, offer some sort of
take. There is, however, no attempt at subversion, just imitation. As the
two continue to get into fights, and various misadventures and affairs,
there is a sense of having seen it all before. Keep your cash and save
your vengeance.
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash is on Arrow from August 5th.
