In the sea of content on Netflix coming from Asia, “Kang Mak Pee Mak” is certainly one of the most entertaining you can find. The ghost dramedy based on a beloved Thai original (hence the title’s half “Pee Mak”, as a direct reference to Banjong Pisanthanakun‘s film from 2013), and directed by Indonesian helmer Herwin Novianto isn’t short of crazy ideas and cynical commentaries on the country’s history, politics, and local superstitions, and it does the trick with the winning elegance of a movie that doesn’t pretend to be something more than an exciting time-eater. As we know, it is one of the hardest things to pull off, and Novianto knows his trade.
A brief scene introduces us to the highly pregnant Sari (Marsha Timothy) who waits for her beloved husband Makmur (Vino G. Bastian) to return from the war. While he is doing everything possible to stay alive and rejoin his family, Sari succumbs while giving birth. Yet, her ghost remains, and she becomes the terror of the village: the elders are shaking in fear trying to avoid the cottage at all costs, and mothers are hiding their children behind closed doors.
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Unaware of his wife’s passing, Makmur only thinks of his return home. Close friendship with four other infantry soldiers (Tora Susdiro, Rigen Rakelna, Indra Jegel, and Indro Warkop) is what keeps his spirits up. In this place of despair, the men are not only fighting the enemy, but death itself, and humor is their strongest natural weapon. The film’s first 12 minutes show their life in the trenches, giving us an idea about the character of each of Makmur’s friends who will follow him on his journey back home. The given time is packed with charming comedy moments, including a couple of musical interpretations.
Novianto also uses that introduction to comment on his country’s history. “Oh, my unfortunate destiny!/ When I was born I was colonized by the Dutch/ When I was little, I was colonized by the Japanese/ When I grew up, I was sent to war”, sings one of the soldiers and we are not sure to which war he was sent to; our eyes brush past a board marking the military base with “Operasi Kemboja” written on it, but that doesn’t send us to the right historic path. The plot is timeless, and the overall look of the film as well. It is hard to tell when the story takes place, except that it is not in the now. The complete absence of modern technology speaks in favouŕ of it.
The atmosphere switches with Makmur’s return to the village, accompanied by his friends whose journey home gets detoured through their previous arrangements. They are mighty confused by the villagers’ behavior and at the same time consumed by Sari’s beauty until they realize what she is. Marsha Timothy comes with vengeance again after her unforgettable titular role in Mouly Surya’s “Marlina, the Murderer in Four Acts” (2017). Her portrayal of the enamored, clingy ghost ready to destroy anyone who comes too close to her husband or tries to warn him that she isn’t among the living anymore, is convincingly scary.
Regarding the film’s mix of genres, “Kang Mak From Pee Mak” is strongest when it sticks to comedy since its budget evidently didn’t allow a wilder experiment with horror tropes. Luckily, the right dosage of ghost transformation prevents the cringe effect – there is barely any time to question the modesty of visual effects. That said, the wonderful thing about “Kang Mak From Pee Mak” is that over-the-top performance works fantastic and that no dialogue line or grimacing feels superfluous, despite or thanks to the simplicity of their effectiveness. The same can’t be claimed for the increasingly slower pacing, and the film could have profited from better editing.
