Direction: Kamila Andini
Country: Indonesia
The political and emotional observations in Before, Now & Then, in addition to a perfect staging and the floating sense of time of the story, prompt us to consider Kamila Andini a promising contemporary filmmaker. In her debut feature, the 37-year-old Indonesian director and co-writer delivers a sensitive portrait of a woman who, despite living comfortably, suddenly realizes she has not found her place yet. This is set in West Java in the late 1960’s, at the time of Indonesia’s political transition to the New Order of General Suharto.
The feelings are more demonstrated than told, and the film, closed in itself and enveloped in a dreamy aura at an early stage, gradually blossoms into clarity and resolution. The plot centers on Nana (Happy Salma) who, having lost sight of her first husband for 15 years due to political reasons, remarries with a wealthy older man (Arswendy Bening Swara) who cheats on her. Bored with domestic life and with no one to confide her unspoken worries, feelings and unresolved matters, she turns to the last person one could ever imagine: Ino (Laura Basuki), a local market butcher and her husband’s mistress.
Being very cinematic - with excellent cinematography, image composition, production design, and musical score - and smartly structured, the film relies on a storytelling that envelops without stinging or shocking. Even the worst of the betrayals seems natural here, such is the grace of its proceedings. It’s a gentle hymn to friendship and a powerful feminist statement whose politeness and dreamlike intensity allude to Wong Kar-wai’s unforgettable cinema.
Despite an unnecessary coda that contributes nil to the outcome, Before, Now & Then is a lingeringly rich and unsentimental period drama that expresses more with looks and gestures than with words.
