Once Upon a Time in Indonesia

Martial arts are a lifelong passion of mine. Growing up in Indonesia, I consumed almost every form of martial arts media I could get my hands on. However, as my experience grew as a filmmaker, I began to notice a trend in most martial arts action films. These films would have amazing action sequences and set pieces, but the experience felt more like a show reel rather than a unified story. In short, the action drove the story and that didn’t sit right with me. It is my belief that the story should drive the action, and that the action should serve as a component of something larger – something that is suitably kinetic and exciting, but enhances the story rather than detract from it. This belief led me to develop my own style of action storytelling – I would build my stories from the ground up with an emphasis on characters and emotion, and make sure that action scenes were spawned from character conflicts and emotional battles, and not just as an empty excuse to include more fight scenes.

The character struggles and emotional conflicts were front and center when it came to creating Once Upon a Time in Indonesia. It was my intention to tell an empathetic human story, one of love and loss and the struggle for a better future, where several characters are on divergent paths with no choice but to eventually collide. The action would be grand, but the need to fight would be grounded, created from their opposing emotional desires. Once Upon a Time in Indonesia tells the story of money – the film looks at the way money travels between good and evil people, touching them all, and forcing them to make tough choices. What are they willing to do to get it? And once they make their choice, what consequences come from their deeds? People can be good or bad – both paths are open to everyone. Should they be judged for one bad deed? Can they still make a life for themselves? What are they willing to do in order to make it in a neighborhood of questionable morals and standards? And how far will they go to protect the people they love?

There are good and bad characters in Once Upon a Time in Indonesia and a little of everything in between. Sometimes the right choice has the wrong consequences, and sometimes good people have to fight to survive, whether they want to or not.

With Once Upon a Time in Indonesia, I feel like I’ve crafted a film that blends drama with action, and action with drama. The action serves the story, but also is a story in itself. I film each action scene with the expressed purpose of engaging the audience mentally and emotionally, and to make them become direct participants in the sequence. Musical arrangements were composed to match the tempo, and the emotional weight of the sequences, and quick cuts were used to amplify the impact of the events onscreen.

The best action films create additional beats, moments away from the action, to allow the audience to breathe and reflect and become invested in the characters on a visceral level. These moments are the calm that makes the storm that much more explosive. With Once Upon a Time in Indonesia, I would like nothing more than for the audience to follow the main character “Max” on his cathartic and bloody journey towards redemption, and leave feeling maybe just a bit inspired to kick some ass.