Arisan! (Indonesian) [The Gathering!]

I actually never knew and to be honest, didn't expect to see an Indonesian film with gay characters at its center. The film released almost 19 years back, so I can only imagine what a scandal it must have been to release this in mainstream cinema. Compared to other Asian countries, whose tolerance for LGBTQ members is much higher and accepted, countries like Indonesia and Malaysia are still struggling.

The film is primarily about two best friends. Meimei is a successful working woman married to an equally successful man. But they not having children is starting to cause stress in their relationship. We then meet Sakti, a young charming man, one of the most eligible bachelors in town, her colleague. Sakti has been dealing with his gay feelings and has been seeing a psychiatrist for this. Although he does a good job of portraying himself straight. A grow of successful wealthy housewives have a weekly/monthly gathering where they gossip and Meimei is invited to these gathering. One day she takes Sakti there with him and all women are left charmed with him. One day for work, Sakti mets a client Nino, who outrightly tells Sakti that he is gay. Turns out Nino and Sakti work out in the same gym. Of course there is instant attraction and finally Sakti gives in to his feelings and soon they start a relationship hiding from everyone. Meanwhile Meimei hits rock bottom and her husband leaves her. While she is super depressed at this time, Nino becomes her emotional support and tries to boost her confidence. So Meimei thinks of this as Nino being interested in her and she also starts falling for him. Util one day she finds Nino and Sakti kissing. She is heartbroken and can't understand why Sakti would hide such an important thing from her. Eventually Sakti also comes out to his mother who is very supportive of him. There is a side story of a fourth woman Andien, who is a devoted wife to an older husband and two kids but is lonely.

Even though the title refers to the frequent gatherings that this group does (what I think its rather odd title for this film), but clearly the prime focus is on these three people. Yes, the film digresses at any points focusing on many side characters and stretches the length to almost 2 hours long, but I was particularly interested in these core three. In addition to the gay love story, the film does touch upon the topics of adultery and social pressure to have kids. It tries to tackle too many things relevant in Indonesian society. The film would have been ordinary if not for the well-written script which shows wit, intelligent, and honesty. This is a work from the heart. Sakti and Nino chapter is handled with respect and dignity, Their love story starts organically and Nino who is publicly out plays a very supportive boyfriend to Sakti who still needs more time to be comfortable with who he is. Sakti's mother and an uninvited guest in the house eventually become a big part in making Sakti feel self confident and accept who he really is. Nino and Sakti even share a kiss. The film does have a soap opera feel to it, maybe because it's a bit dated, but thankfully the wit of the film never makes it heavy and still ends up being a decent watch. I wish someone could nicely edit the film to remove al the unnecessary fluff that is in this film and make a crisp one hour long very focussed movie. (5/10)