Arisan

Indonesia 2003

Picture and details imdb

Seen 17 June 2006

A look at the social happenings among the middle and upper middle class Indonesians. The story revolves around Sakti, a successful architect who is still in two minds about his sexual orientation. The story picks up pace when we see him sending his best friend, Mei to an arisan, a meeting of ladies with similar interests. An arisan can be construed as soirees but basically they are meet-ups between like minded individuals and supposedly with a particular theme at each meeting. In this case, the women are ladies of leisure and the topic of conversation almost always revolves around the latest fashion and who is the most successful among them. Mei herself has problems with her husband and is not too keen to join the arisan.
But Mei's friend in this particular arisan, Andien, persuades her to give it a try. Sakti who comes along to fetch Mei later, is also persuaded to join. All these people seem successful but each have their own problem. We see how the director touches the subject involving the three main characters, Sakti, Mei and Andien. The film does not try to delve too deeply into the problems but gives a light touch to each of them.
Good editing, and the fast paced dialogue sometimes necessitates reading the English subtitles. The Indonesian language has evolved into a different direction since those days when the basis was still Bahasa Melayu that nuances are lost to me.