Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! (2008) User Reviews (2)

Life and times of a woman

[p-stepien · 7/10 · 11 June 2009]

"That's me, I'm a Monkey", despite what the title might suggest, is a drama about a young writer, whose diet consists of beer and cigarettes, whilst her favourite pass-time is getting laid with random men. At the same time she lives off money given to her by her sexual sponsor. One can easily see that Adjeng's (played by Titi Handayani Sjuman) life is screwed up. Much owed to her equally demented relationship with her controlling mother, a burned out singer famous in the 80s.

The movie has a very autobiographical feel to it and first time helmer Djenar Maesa Ayu seems to be conveying a very personal story. Most tech credits are great, but the film is very uneven with some brilliant sequences followed by bland and TV-like shoots. It almost feels like there were two directors and two cinematographers working on the movie with every other shoot given over to the former. Pacing tends to be off and some script doctoring would have helped the movie immensely.

Titi Handayani Sjuman does a sufficient job as Adjeng, the tortured writer, but unfortunately her film relationship with Henidar Amroe is lacking. And in a movie where the chemistry between her and her mother is key to keep the dramatic flow of the story flowing it really hurts the end effect. Henidar Amroe at times does a good job, but you never really feel the intensity of their past and this makes the movie ultimately underwhelming. That said it is a worthwhile watch and touches on some very interesting issues. All in all a decent first go by Ayu and I am definitely waiting for her follow-up movie.

For those interested there is a brief cameo of Joko Anwar, the current king of Indonesian cinema.

a movie about a young talented writer with her gloomy life story

[namakuadelina · 9/10 · 4 May 2009]

The movie is taken from two short stories the director has, so it made this movie taste different from other common movies we usually have in Indonesia especially.

The flashback in this movie is seen as a part of it, not really obviously shown as it is. The main character's life in the past is told repeatedly, but of course with different scene.

Titi Sjuman played very well as if this is not her debut. It shows how good she can perform to be Adjeng, the main character in this movie. Adjeng is a very complex individual with the trauma from her childhood. She grew up with her mommy and was treated not well by her mommy's bf made her life suffered but she seemed not want to admit it.

In the movie we can see how Adjeng are having relationship with two guys, not married, which is not common for people in Indonesia, but I believe some of the people are really having that condition. So this movie is trying to portray the real life of a person from the gloomy side of hers.

When you decide to watch this movie, you are faced the reality which may not happen n your regular life, but it happens to others.

The dialogs are strong with the real words we often hear from young people nowadays. Just be careful if you watch it with your parents, they will not like you watch this movie, especially because some parents still cannot see the reality happens around them, not only in this film.

In conclusion, I can tell this movie is a great movie to watch, to analyze the problem and to appreciate. Djenar has made a successful one for her debut as a director.