25/02/2019 ‘Aruna & Her Palate’ Review: Berlin Film Festival – Variety
FEBRUARY 22, 2019 12:21AM PT HOME > FILM > ASIA Berlin Film Review: ‘Aruna & Her Palate’ Fabulous food and engaging characters surmount tricky tonal issues in an entertaining crowd-pleaser by Indonesian ilmmaker Edwin
By RICHARD KUIPERS
CREDIT: COURTESY OF BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
Director: Edwin With: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Oka Antara, Hannah Al Rashid, Nicholas Saputra
1 hour 47 minutes
When mouthwatering Indonesian cuisine and romance are on the table, “Aruna & Her Palate” is a bouncy crowd- pleaser. Less tasty is the backdrop of a suspected bird lu outbreak that brings a food-loving epidemiologist into contact with her secret crush. Adapted from Laksmi Pamuntjak’s 2014 novel “The Bird Woman’s Palate,” “Aruna” manages to overcome its sometimes awkward ingredients thanks to crisp direction and appealing performances from a top-notch cast. Though unlikely to travel as widely as previous features by talented mononymous ilmmaker Edwin (“Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly,” “Postcards From the Zoo”) “Aruna,” should bene it from exposure in the Culinary Cinema section at Berlin. The ilm received widespread critical support and performed OK at the box o ice following a late September local release.
In breezy opening segments, Aruna (Dian Sastrowardoyo, “Whispering Sands”) establishes a warm and winning relationship with viewers by speaking directly to the camera. The device works splendidly, and it’s only a disappointment when it tapers off as the story proceeds. We discover she’s a happily single, thirtysomething https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/aruna-her-palate-review-1203143664/ 1/3 25/02/2019employee at a Jakarta company supplying p‘Arunaubli c& hHerea Palate’lth se Review:rvice sBerlin. Mo Filmre i mFestivalpor t–a Vnarietyt, she’s also a dedicated foodie who’s planning a culinary road trip with besties Bono (Nicholas Saputra, “Postcards From the Zoo”), a cheery, top-class chef; and Nadezhda (Hannah Al Rashid, “The Night Comes for Us”), a live-wire food writer with a string of unful illing affairs behind her.
The trio’s plan appears doomed when Aruna is dispatched by company boss Burhan (Deddy Mahendra Desta) to investigate reports of bird lu in cities throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Undeterred, she decides to combine work with the pleasure of discovering exciting regional dishes and street food with her pals. Turning the trio into a quartet and adding a nice dash of romantic spice to the tale is Farish (Oka Antana, “Killers”), Aruna’s former work colleague and long-time crush who’s been sent by a rival health services organization to monitor the same case.
Although the company is good and just about every dish they sample looks positively delectable, “Aruna” struggles at irst to balance its fun-and-food aspects with the downbeat reality of a looming heath crisis. Daytime sequences involving sick patients and people in biohazard suits are well executed and shed light on social, religious and cultural issues but don’t sit comfortably with amusing romantic maneuvers and meaningful heart-to-heart conversations between the main players once the working day is done. The reveal about the reasons for the impending crisis take things down a notch and leave the coast clear for audiences to enjoy an entertaining ride toward inevitable yet highly satisfying romantic conclusions.
Titien Wattimena’s screenplay and Edwin’s direction deliver on their mission to please without tipping into sentimentality or cheesiness. There’s real bite in the girl-talk confessionals between Aruna and Nadezhda. Sastrowardoyo is terri ic as the woman whose search for new taste sensations runs neatly in parallel with her discovery of true romance. Al Rashid plays it vampy but never hammy as the man-eater. Saputra and Antana hit just the right note as nice guys who deserve to ind happiness — if only they could get the right words out.
Attractively shot on interesting Indonesian locations in Surabaya, Singkawang, Pontianak and Pamekasan by cinematographer Amalia T.S., “Aruna” zips along to a jazz- lavored score by Ken Jenie and Mar Galo that’s used a little more than necessary but is always easy on the ear. All other technical work is polished.
Berlin Film Review: ‘Aruna & Her Palate’
Reviewed online in Adelaide, Australia, Feb. 20, 2019. (In Berlin Film Festival — Culinary Cinema; also in Macao Film Festival.) Running time: 107 MIN. (Original title: “Aruna & Lidahnya”)
PRODUCTION: (Indonesia) A Palari Films production in association with Go Studio, CJ Entertainment, Phoenix Films, Ideosource Entertainment. (International sales: CJ Entertainment, Seoul.) Producers: Meiske Taurisia, Muhammad Zaidy. Executive producers: April Priscilla, Christopher Smith, Michy Gustavia, Jeong Tae-sung, Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, Nathaniel P. Gunawan, Natalie Balakrishnan, Andi Boediman, Pandu Birantoro, Rahadian Agung. Co-producers: Kwonsik Kim, Yeonu Choi, Justin Kim.
CREW: Director: Edwin. Screenplay: Titien Wattimena, based on the novel “The Bird Woman’s Palate” by Laksmi Pamuntjak. Camera (color, HD): Amalia T.S. Editor: W. Ichwandiar Dono.
WITH: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Oka Antara, Hannah Al Rashid, Nicholas Saputra, Deddy Mahendra Desta, Ayu Azhari, Kunhadi Wasito, Maryam Supraba, Adhy Suhindra Rachman
MUSIC BY: Ken Jenie, Mar Galo
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ARUNA & HER PALATE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL DIAN SASTROWARDOYO EDWIN
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