Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: PREMAN [Fantastic Fest 2021 - Virtual]
The art of Indonesian action films wanders somewhere sometimes between the macabre (last year's "Impetigore") to over-the-top action ("The Raid"). "Preman" is a lower budget action permutation of this kind of Indonesian film wrapped in a character family drama. While there are motley splashes of the lead character's childhood trauma which leaves him deaf, the connection and heart prevail despite some later overplayed metaphorical flourished. Farell Akbar plays Sandi, a member of what is called the Preman: gangsters that try to provide justice for the community but which doesn't condone or resolve their violent behavior to said protection. Sandi is torn by the enforcement he is asked to do by his colonel leader who himself is under the thumb of a local drug lord. They are trying to run people out of their homes to claim their land. Sandi is just trying to care for his son. His wife/the son's mother is not around but when a conscience based decision leaves him in the crosshairs, he and his son must go on the run.
The action itself (since Sandi as a character is not a martial arts master -- he only has a singular fighting style) is not exceptional but it does the job. The best structure comes about 2/3s of the way through when everything culminates with the mother, an assassin (Ramon, by far the most eccentric and fun character in the movie) in a close quarters battle that has meaning, guilt, revenge and sheer power at times as well as consequences. The culmination for rest of the movie and its tragedy is just an antecedent of that scene where Sandi starts to really understands his character's chokehold on his own life. It is one bathed in both undeniability but also self doubt. The reflection that the rage has on Sandi's childhood is a little overblown at times but Sandi's devotion and heartbreak to his son for the life he could never really provide is quite powerful, especially in a final moment with his superior that could have been disjointed. It instead retains its power because it doesn't turn away from its nature. B
By Tim Wassberg
