Review Of The Film Kembang Api: Repeating Travel Looking For Reasons To Life

Kembang Api (Photo: Falcon Pictures)

JAKARTA - The biggest success after adapting a film from South Korea, Miracle in Cell No.7 in 2022 yesterday, Falcon Pictures launched a film called Kembang Api which was adapted from a Japanese film entitled 3ft Ball & Soul.

Produced by Frederica, Kembang Api was worked on by director Herwin Novianto and the script was written by Alim Sudio. This film also features four main characters, namely Donny Damara, Marsha Timothy, Ringgo Agus Rahman and Hanggini. In addition, there are also several names of other actors, such as Vino G Bastian, Imelda Therine, Putri Patricia and Rachel Hawadi.

The film Kembang Api tells the story of how the four main characters, Fahmi alias Langit Mendung (Donny Damara), Sukma alias White Eclipse (Marsha Timothy), Raga alias Black Orchid (Ringgo Agus Rahman) and Anggun (Hanggini) tried to end their lives after feeling deadlocked by the life problems they faced.

Not knowing each other at first, the four people connected through a chat app group and decided to commit suicide together in an unusual way, blowing themselves up with fireworks.

They also gathered in a place far from the crowd. In a room such as a warehouse, Fahmi, Sukma, Raga and Anggun tried to end the problem together.

The film Kembang Api features seven recurring events of Fahmi, Sukma, Raga and Anggun's meeting in the same room as the time loop concept. alternately they returned to the initial moment after blowing themselves up with fireworks.

With a time loop premiere, the ability to display a scene that is not boring is the biggest challenge for director Herwin Novianto. Moreover, throughout the film we only focused on warehouses of 6X4 meters.

Seven repeated meetings were made in such a way as to pay attention to the psychology of the audience who may be bored. However, Yoshio Kato as the original screenwriter, later adapted by Alim Sudio and played by the four actors under the direction of Herwin Novianto, can be said to have succeeded in making each meeting a different story.

With the faster rhythm from one sequence to the next sequence, this film is interesting to watch. The player's ability to show annoyance for failing to die is a comedy situation that is maintained from start to finish.

Big themes about mental health appear without the impression of defamation with the smart dialogues each character conveys. By not explaining everything like mathematical logic, the meaning and message found from the film itself will be wider.

Starting from the rhythm, blood and problems of each repetition can be seen as something new. More than that, the expertise of the four main characters in playing each repetition also needs to be a thumbs up. Both Donny Damara, Marsha Timothy, Ringgo Agus Rahman and Hanggini present different dynamics on each of these repeats.

Urip iku Urup Pengahek in Javanese, urip iku urup which means life is on' is the core sentence to describe the whole story in the film Kembang Api.

Quoting from a scientific journal entitled Filosofy Urip Iku Urup In Javanese Society: The Motivater of the Cohesitivity of the Hermony Strengthening Group of the Housing Community of Kediri Regency written by Nadya Ratu Amala and published in Kronik: Journal of History Education and Historiography, the saying urip iku urup means that life must have benefits for those around you.

Through this saying, Herwin Novianto accurately explained that the focus in the film Kembang Api was not suicide, but mental health problems from the four main characters.

Every suicide attempt carried out by the four characters will carry on a message in which each character, even though it has indirectly become a 'urup' for other characters. More than that, they will also find meaning from the life they live.