Boosted by hi-tech enchantment but dragged down by shocking miscalculations, Angga Dwimas Sasongko’s romantic drama is a cautionary tale of how artistic merits are no substitute for emotional resonance.
One thing I noticed about Angga Dwimas Sasongko: he is probably (but also most likely) the most restless Indonesian filmmaker that has ever graced the industry in the modern era. Only Sasongko can answer whether his creative restlessness comes from a place of inspiration or boredom, but such restlessness, most of the time, has been his ultimate weapon. Stealing Raden Saleh (2022), a case in point, was one of the very rare instances from which you could almost literally see Sasongko’s itch to shatter the status quo, global pandemic be damned.
There is nothing wrong with being restless. If anything, such a quirky trait could be a powerful asset for a filmmaker to possess. Having said that, the ramification of having that incurable creative itch is a tendency to prioritise vision over resonance. This is not to say that Sasongko’s films are always destined for sloppiness, though. The reason why 13 Bombs (2023) has joined one of Sasongko’s better films to date is his ability to unite a thousand different moving pieces into a focused and forthright experience.
Unfortunately, old habits die hard. And Heartbreak Motel, which premiered in Indonesian theatres on the 1st of August, finds Sasongko at his most restless. An ambitious wild goose chase whose purpose grows unclear by each second.
Perhaps I should start with this: any young blood who is considering a career in filmmaking should not only watch Heartbreak Motel — they must also study it. From, quite literally, the very first frame of Heartbreak Motel, Sasongko immediately asserts that what the audience is about to experience is not your typical love triangle palaver. The film’s stirring use of three different camera monocles aside, special props should be given to director of photography Arnand Pratikto, lighting coordinator Norman Hermansyah, colourist Sorawich Khunpinij, and editor Hendra Adhi Susanto who were able to keep up with Sasongko’s exacting vision while making sure that the end result does not come across as three different flicks superglued together into one. The filmmaking personnel who oftentimes get sidelined as the so-called ‘unsung heroes’ went above and beyond for Heartbreak Motel so much so that, in a perfect world, it should have been their names that are printed bigger on the film’s official poster.
The costume department did not cut corners either, which is a testament to costume designer Fadillah Putri Yunidar’s as well as MUAs Aktris Handradjasa’s and Medi Triyon’s work ethic. One could imagine the temptation to deliver a half-baked work just because your lead actors happen to be some of the most naturally good-looking thespians in the biz. Fortunately, such laziness is nowhere to be found in Heartbreak Motel. Either in a film-within-a-film sequence or in a condensed photoshoot episode, these artists’ commitment to the given setup eloquently shapes Sasongko’s world-building into a pretty believable phantasm.
The score courtesy of Alyssia Eunike Soetedjo and company, sadly, leaves much to be desired and oftentimes comes across as cliché. However, it is not the kind of fatal flaw that can turn a film into a sinking ship.
Sasongko has all the elements (not to mention, the team) to paint a peerless, matchless picture. Nevertheless, even cartoon-obsessed kids would agree that a visual wonder does not singularly define a good film. This point may sound very much like Storytelling 101, and one would think that veterans of Sasongko’s class already had this pearl of wisdom etched in the membrane. Unfortunately, as Heartbreak Motel reached the middle of its second act, all the visual wonders being thrown at the audience could no longer paper over the mouldy, heartbreaking cracks. And once the paint job starts decaying completely, Heartbreak Motel reveals itself as one of Sasongko’s — and Visinema’s — weakest outings yet.
The first massive crack that Heartbreak Motel suffers from is the writing. Sasongko usually writes like a criminal mastermind — the more convoluted the characters and their personalities are, the sharper his pen usually becomes. To my surprise, even as the film reaches the end credits, Sasongko’s mastermind-like penmanship could not figure out how to bring the soul out of his principal characters. Ava Alessandra and Reza Malik are altogether depicted as reactive (instead of proactive) human beings. This explains these characters’ penchant for drama, and Sasongko blows up the drama like the storming of The Bastille. However, as Heartbreak Motel goes on, Sasongko’s orchestrated mania starts suffocating these characters’ humanity to the point where Ava Alessandra and Reza Malik become caricatural. Even when Reza Rahadian attempts to put on a more nuanced turn to add more layers to his Reza Malik, Sasongko’s more-is-more framing incessantly reminds the audience that he is here only as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Meanwhile, the other principal character that should have been able to serve as the antidote to this head-spinning melodrama, Raga Assad, is oddly underwritten and serves no significance besides being a plot device for Ava Alessandra’s character development. On top of that, the film’s rushed resolutions suspiciously betray Sasongko’s credo as a storyteller. Sasongko is usually not the type that settles with a trite, cute-bow-on-top, Hollywood ending. What happened to his usual third-act wizardry?
As visually remarkable as Heartbreak Motel appears itself, there is no amount of camera monocles or cinematographic miracles in the world that can ever remedy sloppy storytelling.
This leads to the second massive crack within Heartbreak Motel: the casting. Initially, it was exciting that Sasongko decided to assemble the massively decorated Rahadian, Laura Basuki, and Chicco Jerikho in a love-triangle drama. This was casting at its most ambitious. Was it *too* ambitious? We can only find out by watching the end result — and the end result, sadly, proves that industry accolades and skill supremacy do not at all guarantee a resonating performance. This also happens to be Sasongko’s biggest miscalculation — overestimating an actor’s capability can be as dangerous as underestimating it.
The pitfall of casting highly talented actors as highly talented (fictional) actors is that their performances will be sure-fire solid, but not exactly what you can call ‘exciting’. Even before the title of the film glows on the screen, we can already expect that Rahadian could have pulled off his capricious Reza Malik in his sleep. We can also expect that Basuki’s first-rate acting will be on full display even when her character’s decisions start coming across as insufferable. In reality, that is what Basuki and Rahadian exactly did. They followed the brief and took up the assignment to a T. However, this also means that their performances are straight-up predictable.
Basuki’s duet with Jerikho, unfortunately, did not fare better either, proving once again that having two über-charismatic thespians as lovers is cringeworthy if the sparks between them are far from believable. A showcase of undulating chemistry is what makes or breaks a romance. What does it say about an actor’s suitability to their project, then, if the actor in question has no issue transmitting a thousand emotions from a zoomed-in silent stare, yet falls horrendously flat in executing what is basically a textbook date scene?
Heartbreak Motel‘s weakest link, even to my horror as well, turns out to be Basuki. Most audiences and fellow filmmakers might easily regard Basuki’s performance here as a tour-de-force. Even when her Ava Alessandra becomes downright caricatural, Basuki’s talent and versatility remain undeniable. Her Achilles’ heel, however, is whenever she has to bring in the heat, passion, and intensity with someone else. Basuki’s tepid electricity with both Rahadian and Jerikho proves that she, tragically, lacks the necessary “je ne sais quoi” to become a romantic heroine worth rooting for by the audience. Sometimes it is the simplest assignment that can cause a genius to fall to their knees.
In the end, Heartbreak Motel can be allegorised as a five-star lodge. The nooks of the reception lobby and the crannies of the closet are ripped from the glossiest page of Architectural Digest. You could not have asked for more competent and considerate hoteliers to assist you in your needs. And your fellow guests are so enchanting and sexy, this lodge would make for a dreamy backup of the best meet-cute exchange ever. An epitome of perfection, truly. But once you check out from the lodge, it is the superficial that only lingers in your memory. The furniture. The Instagram-able rooftop view. That famous actress that caught your eye in the lobby. The heartbreaking realisation dawns on you on your way home: despite the lodge presenting itself as the dreamy Eden, you actually did not enjoy a peaceful sleep at all.
Photos courtesy of Heartbreak Motel‘s official Instagram page @heartbreakmotelfilm