Chamber pieces are a strange cinematic genre. As is often the case with one-location films, it might be tempting to say that the genre belongs more in theatre than it does cinema, but when you begin to measure the challenge of making a setting as interesting as the characters inhabiting it, a rather high bar is set. The filmmakers behind “Spaces Underlined” have grappled with that challenge three times over in an anthology of short stories, each a two-hander confined to different types of bedroom: first, a place of childhood tranquility, then a filthy college dormroom, and finally, a luxury hotel room. Does each tale meet the intimate challenge ahead of them? Despite some varying degrees of success, the answer is fortunately yes.
“Spaces Underlined” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The first short (Vania Qanita Damayanti's “The Room Was Shaken By an Earthquake”) sees two childhood friends try to reconnect after their adolescent years split them apart through circumstances both unlucky and tragic; Marni (Indah Rahma Aulia) and Lara (Jasmine Azizah Atmadja) play the melodica, chat, argue and try to unlock memories that are only half-remembered by the two of them. Story #2 (Syady Alif's “Student Film is Dead”) switches the tone and visual approach very fiercely with a found-footage freak-out that sees a toxic relationship between roommates Rama (Michael Reinaldo) and Ndoy (Naml Belagama) explode after Rama begins to take his film studies course a little too seriously. The third and last story (Roufy Nasution's “Awkward Encounters with Female Friends”) blends the sweetness of the first and the discomfort of the second through an off-kilter photoshoot between photography student Willy (Harashta) and old acquaintance Gilda (Rai Ibanezty) that teases romance, terror and existential ennui in increasingly strange ways.
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With three stories across 85 minutes, what does it all say? Is it an ambitious portrait of the internal struggles of Indonesia's youth? Multiple attempts at navigating emotions teenagers shouldn't have to endure? Or is it simply a gauntlet set by three directors to each flex their muscles behind the camera? If one is to be charitable to the big picture, it's all of the above. As an anthology, it makes the unfortunate mistake of repeating itself when some of its developments have already been covered in another short; despite “Awkward Encounters” being a generally stronger piece than “Earthquake”, it's hard to be surprised by one particular narrative reveal when you've seen a very similar story told barely an hour beforehand. There's an overall sense of discoordination between the themes and stories at play that requires a fair amount of adjustment between one tale to the next, and while this can be a strength that lends to some unexpected stylistic moves, it also has a tendency to veer off in circles at points.
When viewed as individual works, they do play stronger. “Earthquake” is the most sentimental of the three stories and telegraphs its final twist very haphazardly, but it's hard not to be at least moved by the heartbreaking emotion at its centre that gets anchored by Aulia and Atmadja's earnest on-screen relationship. “Awkard Encounters” does play out across a similar narrative structure, but also consistently finds new ways of telling another sad story, with a candid visual style comprised of its performers looking directly into the barrel of the camera that creates an eerie intimacy that is broken by some amusing slow-motion flourishes that recall the deadpan cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos. Both of these stories play like the same themes played in major and minor keys respectively, so it stands to reason that the middle chapter of “Spaces Underlined” is its strongest and strangest.
“Student Film is Dead” is a wildly self-deprecating and refreshingly nasty exploration of the acerbic ‘film bro' culture cultivated by online platforms like Letterboxd and Twitter where cinema is so much more accessible and discussions about it are so much easier to dumb down. Its camera is operated by Rama, a first year film student determined to use his trusty camcorder as a “keeper of reality”. He uses the names of Chantal Akerman and Jonas Mekas (a hilarious gag involves him fumbling the title of “As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty” after trying to make an academic point) as a stick to measure his intellect and to beat the long-suffering Ndoy with, and his obsession with creating art out of every mundane moment creates a terrifying nocturnal rift in his meaningless reality. The initial commitment to traditional scrappy found-footage camerawork lays the foundation for Alif to pull of some unsettling changes in perspective as Rama's self-awareness becomes self-aware. As a short, it doesn't outstay its welcome and lets a good amount of the action unfold in a pacey, experimental and pleasingly disorienting fashion. When aligned with its companion pieces, it forms a large peak in the middle of this experiment in time and space that neither Damayanti nor Nasution can surmount.
That is not to say that there's less to say about the others in relation to it. “Awkward Encounters” is particularly intriguing, thanks in large part to Rai Ibanezty's extraordinarily controlled performance. Her uneasy smile and unblinking eyes clue the viewer in to the idea that something isn't quite right, and while she keeps her mannerisms locked in behind a veneer of one-dimensionality, she gives you everything you need to follow the central mystery as it unravels. “Earthquake” is also notable for some endearing animation sequences that flesh out its cutesy world and prepares its denouement for an extra gutpunch where it counts. Moments and touches like these are littered throughout, and, despite the roughness of its micro-budget, it finds some pathos in the occasional glimpses of darkness the overall film reaches for. “Spaces Underlined” is an intriguing work of restraint behind formal constraints by three filmmakers working in tandem to coax out some uncomfortable feelings many of us wouldn't like to admit we recognize and experience ourselves.
