While most in Western culture would associate the idea more in line with a horoscope, the concept of foretelling a person's fortune or future is more related to the concept of Primbon in Javanese society. Although the idea is similar, this section of Indonesia presents the idea as more of a book with details regarding people's fates, whether that be their dates aligning themselves into a blessing or a curse, partners being right for each other in marriage, and other such trivialities. Veteran Indonesian genre director Rudy Soedjarwo crafts this idea to mixed results with his latest film, aptly titled “Primbon,” now streaming on Netflix.
Click on the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
Trying to make a birthday present, Rana (Flavio Zaviera) and her brother Janu (Chicco Kurniawan) head into the local jungle to make a gift for their mom Dini (Happy Salma), but when only Janu returns, everyone else in the family, including her husband Banyu (Nugie), other sister Tari (Azela Putri), and Banyu's sisters Nur (Jajang C Coer), Ning (Seroja Hafiedz), and Sri (Oppie Andaresta) decide to conduct a ritual to honor the believed-dead Rana. When Rana instead shows up at the house a week later, Dini decides to throw herself into consoling her returning daughter but the others aren't convinced and want to prove that it's Rana who returned. Trying to use their belief in the Primbon, a special book that holds details about people's fates, they try to point out that something is wrong with her. Still, it only pushes the disbelieving Dini further away until she's forced to come face-to-face with the dark truth about what happened to her daughter.
For the most part, “Primbon” is pretty solid for what it is. Most of that is due to writer Lele Laila's involved and complex storyline that provides a wholly intriguing attempt at localizing local folklore into a more traditional genre effort. The majority of the work here revolves around the titular book and interpreting the work inside, drawing connections to a person's fate based on the sayings found within the book. Since it requires specific instructions to carry out properly and the family is trying to go against these rituals, it becomes no surprise that Nur, Ning, and Sri are so convinced something is wrong with Rana once she returns. This type of familial conflict where they're so sure that Rana's not who left them earlier which is seen as superstitious nonsense to be written off by others even if the signs might be proven right creates a wholly intriguing setup.
Check also this interview
In addition to this setup, “Primbon” is rather fun when dealing with the supernatural hauntings based on this setup. Since Nur, Ning, and Sri are so convinced that something's wrong, the series of hauntings and encounters here initially are focused on them, as they're the ones who know the truth. With the first scenarios focused on them seeing or believing that something off is happening, these involve worms crawling over objects, maggots erupting from the skin, or other unnatural activity where Rana tends to appear out of nowhere scaring someone with a knowing smirk.
As the superstitions in the village spread and more start to believe the stories about Rana's true state, the build-up to the specific ritual that takes up the finale has some merit. It all comes off quite nicely as a result, where the series of interactions with the family who are trying to put everything right according to their beliefs, even if they don't go with Dini's conviction that Rana is fine this whole time. Once the ceremony starts, the big twist about what's going on makes for a great reveal and for a touching statement on the nature of what the ghost is returning for. This adds a somewhat touching core to what it's doing and all makes for a solid enough feature.
There are a few factors with “Primbon” holding it back. The main issue is the use of a rather banal mother-daughter relationship between Dini and Rana that tries to be the emotional core of the film but feels incredibly flat. Even though there are numerous instances of the fiery nature she has trying to protect her daughter from others and get their relationship back to normal, it feels way too forced as to why Dini's so reluctant to do anything to ensure nothing's wrong with Rana. Regardless of the nature of their protests, the aunts do have valid points about something not being right since the return and to outright ignore it all simply because she's got her daughter back makes the protests feel hollow. As well, the whole point of the book is so important to determine what's going on with Rana, that it's all but ignored throughout here in favor of just being expected to know what it is, which is somewhat unfortunate as it's such a big part of the film.
Featuring quite a lot to like while only having a couple of issues, “Primbon” comes off incredibly well for what it is as a solid ghost movie overall. Those who appreciate this kind of supernatural genre fare or are curious about the setup will have the most to like here.
