Following the excellent “The Sea Calls for Me”, it was evident that Tumpal Tampubolon was ready for a feature debut, which did take, however, some time until it came into fruition. A co-production between Indonesia’s Talamedia (producer Mandy Marahimin), Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures (producers Anthony Chen and Teoh Yi Peng), France’s Acrobates Films (producer Claire Lajoumard) and Poetik Film (producer Christophe Lafont) and Germany’s 2Pilots Filmproduction (producers Harry Flöter and Jörg Siepmann), the movie is definitely an international production, and found its premiere in Toronto.
Crocodile Tears is screening at Toronto International Film Festival
Johan is a 20 years old who lives with his mother in a run down crocodile park, essentially apart from society. His father is nowhere to be seen, but the Mother considers an old and quite big crocodile in the park as Johan’s father, with even him considering that there is some special connection between the two. Although some friction does exist between mother and son, particularly since she does not seem particularly eager to have lots of people visiting the park, their relationship is harmonic and the two seem to love each other very much. Everything changes, however, when Johan meets Arumi, a newcomer in town who works at a karaoke parlor. The two soon come quite close together, with her leading, something that upsets Mother intensely.
In a number of interviews I had throughout the years with female filmmakers shooting family dramas, what I mostly heard about the relationship between mothers and their children, is that the mother-son relationship resembles more one among couples, while the mother-daughter one is one of competition, as if fighting for the same man in a way. This concept finds its apogee in Tampubolon’s debut, which focuses on a relationship between a mother and a son that definitely resembles a romantic one.
The way the filmmaker portrays the fact, through brief but quite impactful scenes, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the movie. The first meeting, the one at the dinner table, the metaphor with the crocodile eggs, and most of all, the ending are essentially the moments the whole narrative revolves around, in a choice that functions excellently for the movie.
The clash of the two women, which happens more through the consequences we saw on Johan than between the two also works quite well, as its subtle fashion avoids almost any kind of fetishization in ‘catfight’ terms, with Tampubolon instead opting to raise the tension through it, instead of presenting it in more physical terms. This tension is another of the movie’s traits, with the presence of the crocodile and the danger they emit, even if subconsciously and not physically once more, and the notion that something supernatural is also taking place, dictating it to a large degree.
Overall, the atmosphere here is one of the best aspects, particularly within the crocodile park, with the romance axis providing a relief that only takes a small part of the narrative though. The combination of realism and the supernatural, which one could say is a characteristic of everyday life in Indonesia in general, also works well, although a bit better handling in that regard could definitely help. For instance, there are moments where the supernatural and horror undertones seem to be here more to ride the wave that ASEAN productions are on at the moment, occasionally appearing forced into a story that initially aimed to be more grounded to realism. As such, there are moments that this dualities (realism and the supernatural, family drama and horror) clash with each other instead of completing or adding to each other, in an aspect that, in the end, harms the film.
This, however, does not mean that the sum is negative, since the positive qualities of the movie are definitely many, even beyond what we already mentioned. In that regard, the acting and casting is on a very high level. Yusuf Mahardika highlights his timid nature, which essentially has the women in his life dictating it, quite convincingly, with him being calm under every instance. Zulfa Maharani as the apple of discord Arumi is also quite good, being convincing in both her sensitive and her ‘harder’ moments. The one who steals the show, though, is Marissa Anita in the role of the mother, who plays the ‘unwilling villain’ (the sinister mother-in-law if you prefer) to perfection.
Teck Siang Lim’s cinematography captures the setting of the park in a style that adds to the ominousness that permeates the movie, with the scenes with the crocodile eyes in particular definitely staying on mind. The idyllic scenes involving the couple and the ones that are utterly grounded in reality, as in the documentary-like crocodile exhibition are also excellently presented, in an overall rather competent job. Jasmine Kin Kia Ng and Kelvin Nugroho’s editing results in a fitting, slow to mid-tempo, although some pacing issues, particularly regarding the romance of the two, could have been handled better.
As mentioned above, there are some issues with “Crocodile Tears”, mostly having to do with some choices in the story and its progression. Considering, though, that this is a debut, and the majority of the other elements of the movie are on a rather high level, the result can only be described as competent by a director who is bound to ‘keep us busy” in the future.
