The Year of Living Vicariously (2005)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Amir Muhammad

Writer:

Amir Muhammad (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Behind the scenes of a nation.

Plot:

This split-screen documentary by a Malaysian director chronicles the shooting of the Indonesian film Gie (2005) in the middle of 2004...

Cast

Henidar Amru	...	Herself
Timur Angin
Indra Birowo	...	Himself
Edwin	...	Himself
Wulan Guritno	...	Herself
Muhammad Ichsan	...	Himself
Agastya Kandou	...	Himself
Gino Korompis	...	Himself
Mira Lesmana	...	Herself
Amanda Marahimin	...	Herself
John Maxwell	...	Himself
Jonathan Mulia	...	Himself
Thomas Nawilis	...	Himself
Sita Nursanti RSD	...	Herself (as Indah Sita)
Rako Prijanto	...	Himself
Mulyohadi Purnomo	...	Himself
Riri Riza	...	Himself
Soultan Saladin	...	Himself
Danny Saputra
Nicholas Saputra	...	Himself
Surya Saputra	...	Himself
Lukman Sardi	...	Himself
Wyan Sonatha	...	Himself
Didin Syamsudin	...	Himself
Robby Tumewu	...	Himself
Titien Wattimena	...	Herself

Runtime:

63 min | Argentina:63 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) | Canada:74 min (Vancouver International Film Festival)

Country:

Indonesia | Malaysia

Language:

Indonesian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Jakarta, Indonesia

Company:

Miles Films

Movie Connections:

Features Gie (2005)

A Nutshell Review: The Year of Living Vicariously

What strikes you when watching the documentary, is the split screen technique used. Amir Muhammad had taken a rare opportunity to follow an Indonesian film crew on their set of the movie Gie, a story set in the tumultuous transition of power between Presidents Sukarno and Suharto. What more, the movie was made in times of political uncertainty in Indonesia in the new millennium too.

The split screen used wasn't a strict 50-50 split, but the sizes changed quite frequently from scene to scene. At times you see certain events with time juxtaposed between the screens, or events totally off tangent from one another. There are plenty of things to see and it served to be quite difficult to absorb fully the sights and sounds in just one sitting. Amir revealed that it was the first time he visited Indonesia, and so through the shoot and editing, he wanted to reflect that sensory overload in a country totally new to him. Also, they had a record number of tapes shot for this documentary, hence through the technique, enabled him to squeeze as much as he could within the run time constraint.

The Year of Living Vicariously contained numerous interviews with cast and crew of Gie, be they the main leads, director, or even the cameo casts. The topics covered practically everything under the sun, but predominantly focused on current affairs and politics, in the earlier days of Sukarno/Suharto, and in the current political climate. There are quite a number of candid opinionated remarks which make you go hmm, or laugh out loud, or just poignant.

And you could see shades of the style which will evolve into The Last Communist, with the song singing bits in overdrive in TLC. Probably one of the best parts about Vicariously, is the frequent interjections of folks telling Indonesian folk tales. I'm sure almost everyone in the audience love to hear stories of old, and stories spun from our neighbours' rich history.

All in all, an enjoyable movie, and after watching this and The Last Communist, I couldn't wait for Village Radio