‘Affliction: Pulang’: Movie Review
Psychologically unsettling, but overall so-so
If you want an in-a-nutshell of the overall Indonesian horror genre, look nowhere than Netflix’s 2021 Affliction: Pulang. The title, meaning ‘Affliction: Go Home’, is the core of the story: a man wed to a woman goes home to take care of his dying mother, whom he rarely visits. The woman begins seeing gruesome discoveries that uncover the truth of his husband.
This is the first horror movie by Teddy Soeriaatmadja, obviously. It feels experimental as if he is trying to figure what would come next. But mostly, it feels experimental as if he is trying to redefine the Indonesian horror genre. The tone of the movie is a big proof. It is significantly slow, suspenseful, and anticipating; a great introduction to psychological horror. A big relief from most Indonesian movies who rely excessively on jumpscares/surreal gore, and fast, scattered storylines. Affliction is self-conscious in a good way.
Soeriaatmadja definitely knows what he’s doing, so he perfectly adapts his screenplay to a motion picture with the production design, cinematography, performances, and score. It is all well-executed — I love the organic set and visuals, the performances from all cast are marvellous, and the score really embraces the tone — until it isn’t. It is not long later that I start to feel confused, and not in a good way. Earlier, they introduced a character that is forgettable and made to be forgettable. But it is later vitally introduced, and now I’ve lost all thoughts about the character, mildly reacting. Soeriaatmadja is just playing with the horror genre here and fails to dive deeper into it, to the point where it may not even feel like horror entirely; there’s a hint of thriller moist, which as a self-described “horror” is, to be honest, a red flag.
Affliction proves Soeriaatmadja to be capable of making movies where creativity is vital. And as a potential person to scare me in my dreams, I present to him this honest, critical, brief feedback.
GENRE: Horror-thriller
DURATION: 1 hour 30 minutes
WATCHED ON: Netflix
AGE RATING: 14+
LANGUAGE: Indonesian, Javanese
