Lovely Man
| Lovely Man | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Teddy Soeriaatmadja |
| Produced by | Indra Tamoron Musu |
| Written by | Teddy Soeriaatmadja |
| Starring | Donny Damara Raihaanun Yayu Unru Ari Syarif Lani Sonda |
| Music by | Bobby Surjadi |
| Cinematography | Ical Tanjung |
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Production
company |
Karuna Pictures
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Release date
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Running time
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76 minutes |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Language | Indonesian |
Lovely Man is an Indonesian film written and directed by Teddy Soeriaatmadja (Banyu Biru, Ruma Maida). The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival to positive reviews on the segment "A Window on Asian Cinema". Donny Damara plays the starring role as Syaiful/Ipuy, a transgender in Jakarta. Actress Raihaanun, who is also Soeriaatmadja's wife, plays the female leading role as Cahaya, Syaiful's long-lost 19-year-old daughter who comes to the city to look for him only to find out that her father is a transgender. This is their second film together after 2007 remake of drama .
The film's release generated controversy in its native Indonesia due to rejections from certain religious group but saw overwhelming receptions abroad; screening for various international film festivals.
Lovely Man tells the story of Cahaya, a 19-year-old girl with strong Islamic values, who discovers that her long lost father is a transvestite working on the streets of Jakarta. The story unfolds over that one night as they walk the streets of Jakarta and explains how the encounter changes their lives, as they learn about love, loss and redemption.
Cahaya arrives in Jakarta from what can be assumed is her small town home just as the sun is setting. Armed with a piece of notepaper and a few rupiah, she’s in the city on a search for the father she hasn’t seen since she was four. Asking neighbors and shopkeepers in the area he lives in for Syaiful gets her blank stares in return. When they finally figure out she means Ipuy, they point her in the right direction and say he’s “working” around Taman Lawang (Jakarta's infamous spot for transgender sex workers). Cahaya, naturally, goes looking for an office building or store.
When she locates Ipuy (Damara), she finds a transvestite prostitute plying her trade on the streets. In the initial minutes after encountering each other, both are shocked at the turn of evens. The innocent Cahaya is crushed at her father’s choices; Ipuy is horrified to see the daughter he willfully left behind.
The film is made with very low budget, which director Soeriaatmadja referred to as the "survival technique."
The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival on the segment "A Window on Asian Cinema." The segment also screens Ari Sihasale's Serdadu Kumbang and Salaman Aristo's Jakarta Maghrib.
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