Two young Indonesians, Bayu and Jimi, win a 2-week vacation to San Francisco. Yet, as soon as they arrive, their American Dream turns into a nightmare.Two young Indonesians, Bayu and Jimi, win a 2-week vacation to San Francisco. Yet, as soon as they arrive, their American Dream turns into a nightmare.Two young Indonesians, Bayu and Jimi, win a 2-week vacation to San Francisco. Yet, as soon as they arrive, their American Dream turns into a nightmare.
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- SoundtracksHappy Days
Written by Chris Nash and Jon Hayes
Performed by Chris Nash and Jon Hayes
Courtesy of Samadhi Music Inc.
Featured review
Overall an excellent tale
Hello all--for what it's worth, I'm in a doctoral program on Indonesian politics and returned this semester after about a year's fieldwork, most of it in Jakarta.
I'm a big movie fan generally, so I went out as often as I could, and bought tons of local VCDs while I was there. Ironically, it wasn't until yesterday that I saw THIS one. Although I had bought the VCD in Jakarta, I never had time to watch it. Well, it turns out that one of the characters is played by a professor where I'm in school, who speaks Indonesian and who taught the director (a Canadian, I think), to speak Indonesian several years ago.
Anyway, a group of us whose fields relate to Indonesia in one way or another borrowed the DVD from him to watch it, and it was such a good experience that I decided to see what I could find on the web to tell me more about it. One link led to another and I found IMDb, so I figured I may as well comment on all of the Indonesian films I've seen over the last year.
Back to this one--it's not the best (see "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" for the best)--but overall it's a unique blend of humor and drama and comedy (definitely watch until the very, very end).
I've read the other comments here and it seems that you either love or hate this one. I don't understand that. It doesn't seem to me that the film is pretending to be anything other than what it is--a low budget, mass market flick. Even so, there are some great touches of humor that probably only an American would understand, which may explain the somewhat confused comment by the Indonesian student that appears here.
It also looks like there's a debate about the actor who plays "Bayu," one of the main characters. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the plain fact that the guy can't act his way out of a "tas kertas" (paper bag). That's why I rated this a 9 rather than a 10. With all the other acting so good--especially Richard Chang, as others have pointed out--you have to wonder how the Bayu actor got cast. Luckily, although he's a main character, there are many sequences where his role is minimized, and the plot is so wacky that you don't have to dwell on him to enjoy the rest of the film.
The music track is also pretty good, especially for such a low-budget flick.
There's a sequence in the desert that has an haunting vocal accompaniment that's fantastic.
I'm a big movie fan generally, so I went out as often as I could, and bought tons of local VCDs while I was there. Ironically, it wasn't until yesterday that I saw THIS one. Although I had bought the VCD in Jakarta, I never had time to watch it. Well, it turns out that one of the characters is played by a professor where I'm in school, who speaks Indonesian and who taught the director (a Canadian, I think), to speak Indonesian several years ago.
Anyway, a group of us whose fields relate to Indonesia in one way or another borrowed the DVD from him to watch it, and it was such a good experience that I decided to see what I could find on the web to tell me more about it. One link led to another and I found IMDb, so I figured I may as well comment on all of the Indonesian films I've seen over the last year.
Back to this one--it's not the best (see "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" for the best)--but overall it's a unique blend of humor and drama and comedy (definitely watch until the very, very end).
I've read the other comments here and it seems that you either love or hate this one. I don't understand that. It doesn't seem to me that the film is pretending to be anything other than what it is--a low budget, mass market flick. Even so, there are some great touches of humor that probably only an American would understand, which may explain the somewhat confused comment by the Indonesian student that appears here.
It also looks like there's a debate about the actor who plays "Bayu," one of the main characters. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the plain fact that the guy can't act his way out of a "tas kertas" (paper bag). That's why I rated this a 9 rather than a 10. With all the other acting so good--especially Richard Chang, as others have pointed out--you have to wonder how the Bayu actor got cast. Luckily, although he's a main character, there are many sequences where his role is minimized, and the plot is so wacky that you don't have to dwell on him to enjoy the rest of the film.
The music track is also pretty good, especially for such a low-budget flick.
There's a sequence in the desert that has an haunting vocal accompaniment that's fantastic.
helpful•01
- kvnbrghtn
- Oct 21, 2004
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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