Movie Review Janji Joni (2005)

 

Janji Joni | 2005 | 1h 23m
Genre: Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Romance | Country: Indonesia
Director: Joko Anwar | Writers: Joko Anwar
Cast: Nicholas Saputra, Mariana Renata, Rachel Maryam Sayidina
IMDB: 7.6
My Rate: 9/10

Joni promises to deliver film reels on time to meet a girl he met at the cinema, but unexpected events arise and create difficulties for Joni to fulfill his promise.

 

Warning:

Contains scenes of violence, smoking, and strong language.

 

Synopsis:

Joni (Nicholas Saputra) is a film reel delivery guy at a cinema. His job is quite important because it affects the film's screening time at the cinema. He has a good track record and has never been late with deliveries.

One day, Joni accidentally meets Angelique (Mariana Renata) who wants to watch a movie with her boyfriend. Joni is attracted to her and tries to get to know her. But Angelique gives him a condition, that she will tell him her name if Joni can make sure the film they're watching doesn't get interrupted. Joni tries hard to stay on time with his delivery.

It turns out that event after event hinders Joni from delivering the last reel to the cinema where Angelique is watching. Joni has to experience his motorcycle being stolen, help deliver the wife of the taxi driver he's riding in, become a background actor in a film, and even his film reels get stolen by Voni and her friend. Joni has to fight to get his film reels back.

Will Joni succeed in keeping his promise to Angelique?

 

Review:

Janji Joni is Joko Anwar's directorial debut. This film has a pretty interesting idea and unique presentation. This film, with a duration of less than 90 minutes, manages to present a compact story full of unexpected things for just one time frame. It also features several well-known actors as supporting actors/cameos, which isn't easy.

The acting of the actors, especially Nicholas Saputra as the main character, is truly dedicated. The acting of the supporting actors is no less good. Each character plays their role well and isn't stiff. You can also see that the chemistry between each actor is created beautifully.

The development of the story's foundation is done very well through the narration of the main character. The conflict that arises with all its intrigue is also a pretty interesting presentation. The ups and downs experienced by the main character make this film not boring. The story resolution is also done very well, simple but quite impressive.

The storyline is presented systematically and flows. The choice of songs and music in each scene is also appropriate and supports the atmosphere. Uniquely, each character in the film turns out to be connected to each other in a way that viewers might not guess. The advantage is that the development of this connection doesn't feel forced or strange. It even becomes a unique and interesting side.

Presenting a variety of stories within one time frame (the same day) isn't easy. Usually, stories in films tell the characters' stories over several periods of time, so they can show many stories. But Joko Anwar successfully completes his task by presenting simple, short, and compact events.

Although Joko Anwar manages to show an interesting storyline and events, there is a small gap in logic regarding the story. At the beginning of the film, the logic regarding the delivery of film reels is explained, where each film consists of 6 film reels. 2 film reels will be played at each cinema, while Joni will bring the other 2 film reels to be exchanged and ensure they are received on time at each cinema so that the film doesn't get interrupted.

A weakness that might not have been considered, although the names of the 2 cinemas are given, Metropole and Cinema 41. But, it doesn't explain the exact location of each place and the travel time between them. Even though this is actually an important element for the logic of the story.

Logically, for example, a film with a duration of 120 minutes divided into 6 reels, where each reel has a duration of 20 minutes. This means that while 2 film reels are playing at Metropole Cinema, Joni only has 40 minutes to pick up the other 2 reels at Cinema 41 and then return to Metropole Cinema so that the film currently playing doesn't get interrupted. But, with all the events he experiences on the way, it doesn't make sense.

The alignment of the timeline is a little blurry. There's no alignment between travel time and screening time at the cinema. Especially since the distance between the cinemas doesn't seem close, because it has to be traveled by taxi, running, and so on.

Setting that aside, this film is still worth watching because of the interesting story and captivating acting. It can be one of those entertaining films to watch and never gets boring to watch multiple times.

 

Memorable Scene:

Joni talks to Angelique about the history of his family's work, related to delivery. In this conversation, we can see that a simple job related to the delivery world can be seen from a different perspective. It turns out that the job has a pretty deep philosophy.

From this scene, the message we can take is that every job has its own role in society. So, it's not right to judge and look down on certain jobs.

 

Memorable Dialogue:

"The best job is a job where you can enjoy it."

 

Ending:

Happy Ending

 

Recommendation:

Must Watch

 

(Aluna)