An emerging director in the Indonesian scene, Teddy Soeriaatmadja has so far made the focus of his career since “Blue Banyu” as a man focused on a realistic take on social taboos, especially the Trilogy of Intimacy that started with Lovely Man in 2011 and ended with “About a Woman” in 2015. With such a profound series of subtle family portraits to his credit, it might be a shock to see him veer quite a ways away from the genre into a full-throttled horror effort such as his newest piece “Affliction,” but those who check the film out during the Horror Nights selection at the 2022 Five Flavours Film Festival will find something not far removed from his main field of interest, even with this being a departure from his previous style.
Affliction is screening at Five Flavours
Attempting to move up the corporate ladder, Hasan (Ibnu Jamil) and his wife Nina (Raihaanun Soeriaatmadja) are trying to find time to raise their children Tasya (Tasya Putri) and Ryan (Abiyya Barakbah) around his grueling work schedule. When Narsih (Dea Panendra) arrives at the house one day informing them that his mother's condition is getting worse and there may not be a lot of time left, they decide to travel to the other side of the country to visit his mother Ibu (Tutie Kirana).in her house but the more they stay the more they experience strange and unusual incidents. As the events continue, she begins looking into the source of the events and uncovers a startling mystery that ties together their history and forces her to race to solve the mystery and save her family.
Overall, “Affliction” features quite a lot to enjoy. Among the better elements here is the strong central setup from writer/director Soeriaatmadja that offers a fine storyline to play with, which follows up his past films quite nicely. The first half supports the idea of Hasan's work life taking up an extreme amount of time in their relationship and the kids needing time for themselves as well as makes for a grounded family drama. Furthering this is the arrival of Narsih who has claims of his mother's ill-falling health and their need to visit which provides the catalyst to uncovering the relationship at the heart of the film, involving Nina and Ibu. There's a fantastic job created here as to whether or not the reason for Ibu's hostility towards her is because she's naturally that way or under the influence of something sinister living in the house which is milked to perfection. With the relationship strained at the start and Hasan and Nina's marriage being tested by the revelations brought about, these events are woven together into a fantastic drama that's exceptionally enjoyable and carries a lot of the positive factors experienced.
This setup manages to provide the framework for “Affliction” to launch into some terrifying moments. The incidents here start off rather innocently, with the claim of not knowing Narsih which is to be expected, before the turn into more genuine supernatural haunts. With Ryan showing signs of making an imaginary friend at the house no one else sees, the jump-scares of seeing figures standing behind them unnoticed, or odd behavioral outbursts, there are the barest of hints that something is going on but not knowing what. As time goes on and the family spends more time at the house, the revelations about the ghost following them around and the connection involving the family becomes far more involved and chilling. These keep piling on nicely to the rest of the experiences they've encountered, to generate the kind of action here that's unexpected from what came before. This all gives everything a fine touch that's quite chilling and has a lot to like about it.
There are some minor issues keeping “Affliction” down. The main drawback is the more dramatic approach present that never really kicks the pacing into a higher gear. Despite a slew of revelations and mysteries surrounding what's going on, there's never a sense that the stakes are all that high and threatening. This ends up making for a slightly less thrilling time with the majority of the incidents not being all that malicious. With an atmosphere based on seeing things that aren't there and not knowing that the ghost is standing around them unknowingly, it's chilling enough to work but does need more of an emphasis on actual activity to feel even more impactful. That doesn't come about until the finale which is a bit of a wait until the movie really turns into a genre-focused effort which can be a turn-off for some. As well, there are some obvious cliches present in the setup that undermine some of the action here, with the husband not listening to the wife, the children being disrespectful for no reason than to prolong the plot, and the childhood tragedy at the center of everything that leaves this one slightly problematic with these issues.
A likable and enjoyable genre effort, “Affliction” maintains a lot of positives here with the solid setup and enjoyable supernatural action that makes it good enough to overcome the drama-heavy approach. Viewers who can appreciate this style or are general fans of Asian Horror will be the main target here.
