Last night, I was lucky to be invited to the gala premiere show of "LOVE" before its public launching on February 14, 2008. "LOVE" is an English titled Indonesian film directed by an Indian citizen who lives in Kuala Lumpur with musical performance by Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. Quite an interesting mix, actually.
This movie is a remake of a Malaysian film titled "Cinta" (2006) who was created and directed by Kabir Bathia, who's also directed this movie. People who have watched both versions declared that the story is 90% different. BTW, Titien Wattimena, the writer and co-director of "LOVE", was only given the concept of the movie and developed the scenario without watching the original version first, even until now.
Multiple storylines in one film ("LOVE" has five) is not really original. Some viewers stated that "LOVE" resembles Richard Curtis' "Love Actually" (2006), which also has many storylines and talking about love. Although the main idea is the same, I would say that Titien has successfully created original plots that will not make people connect to stories in "Love Actually". She has created 5 different storylines intertwined in one movie with an enjoyable result.
She has been nominated for best scenario, for "Mengejar Matahari" and "Tentang Dia", in FFI 2004 and 2005 respectively and has won Piala Vidya for "Sebatas Aku Mampu". Her other works include "Cinta Pertama", "D'Bijis" and "Badai Pasti Berlalu" (remake).
I would also credit the director for the soft appearance of the sponsors' product. The editor for nicely tied in storylines, the art director and director of photography for the beautiful scenes. And last but not least will give my standing ovation for Sophan Sophiaan and Widyawati, who are brilliantly showing their maturity in acting.
I will not hesitate to vote this as 2008 Valentine movie for rather mature audience, who has more conscience of life. I would not suggest this to average 12 – 17 years old audience, who might not get any message from this movie other than the appearance of handsome and beautiful casts (yes, I do make age stereotyping here :-). I personally think that the Alzheimer, autism and breast cancer issues found in the movie will not touch base in those age band.
I rate this movie an 8.5 of 10, in Indonesian movies scale. So, heavily-in-love couples or just-fall-in-love couples or even will-fall-in-love couples, let's go to the cinema and enjoy the movie.
Guys, be ready to sweep her tears. Or maybe yours. :-)
"LOVE" movie web site: http://www.themovielove.com/
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