Family and dining table are two related aspects of how we as Indonesians grow-up especially those from family with close ties to traditional culture. Having a family time together during dinner is not a new thing and that’s when each of family member sharing their stories and updates their daily to their family.
Losmen Bu Broto understand this very well, as a film that shows the embodiment of socially conservative family, each cultural aspects in the film, including each character development, is very well-articulated. It is made with precision despite several flaws in the stories.
Losmen Bu Broto tells a story of a family of five on managing their family business, an inn with traditional setup located in Yogyakarta. The film shows how a family taking care of their internal issues while running their tourism business alive by taking care of their both loyal and new guests.
Bu Broto (Maudy Koesnaedy) is the head of the inn, she is the strongest control tower of the family while her husband, Pak Broto (Mathias Muchus) taking a role as her pillar of mental support. They have 3 children, Pur (Putri Marino) who is taking care of kitchen affairs, Sri (Maudy Ayunda) who oversees guest and home affairs, and Tarjo (Baskara Mahendra) who is in charge of entertainment and travel guide.
Dining table become the most important element of this film. Important moments in this film always taking place in the dining table as it also to show a stronger emphasize on the film’s true origin as a family drama film.
Unexpectedly, Losmen Bu Broto open with a lowkey romance sub-plot of Pur and his boyfriend, Anton (Darius Sinanthrya). They are cooking while sweetly flirting with each other until around 5 minutes later when the family is ready to have their dinner, they got news of Anton who passed away due to traffic accident.
It is certainly a kicking opening, as well as the best part of Putri Marino’s acting from the whole film who does nothing beside crying, her performance is just okay but nothing is stellar. Same as Sri and Tarjo. Sri is labelled as the smartest one among family, but she shows nothing of her brilliance.
Both are still weak at showing emotional lines. The event when they had row on dining table when the family questioning Sri’s relationship with his boyfriend, Jarot, are not intense enough. Even the way that Sri brings up Anton was lack of elaboration. Also, her way of articulating his boyfriend arts sounds very empty and scripted.
On the other hand, Bu Broto and Pak Broto shows their stellar performance. Bu Broto successfully shows the embodiment of conservative Javanese mother whom in the younger days was exposed to the strict Dutch culture. Her maiden name was Deborah.
Pak Broto also shows his perfect chemistry with Bu Broto, he knows his character very well that we can see the relationship of the couple. The strongest control tower and her perfect pillar of emotional support. He is the bridge that is loyal to his wife while showing a way for his children to walk on with his wisdom.
Not only for his family. Pak Broto also shows his brightness without hurting his wife when he become a bridge of tradition and modernization. The scene when Sri sing pop-song at their inn is masterly crafted, and how little by little Pak Broto take on that role of a bridge.
The film also articulates culture element very carefully, we can see the tradition injection on almost every aspect from wardrobe, foods, plating, table preparation, dialogue, and characteristic of each role. Except one when the inn welcome Balinese guests who turn out to be vegetarians, it was a LOL moment. A province that is known for their Be Guling or BaGul, showed as vegetarians.
Despite some lacks on some parts, Losmen Bu Broto on overall is a very well-articulated movie with every of its elements, main plot, sub-plot, and character development. They all are well-connected to each other and make us understand of each decision made by the characters.
The film is open with a sweet lowkey-romance, and it ended in a heartwarming note. Even when in the end they finally understand each other and start to open their heart more, but they are still true to their origin. Just like when Bu Broto worried about Sri. It was nice and senseful.
Our Score (7.5/10)
Title : Losmen Bu Broto
Production : Paragon Pictures, Ideosource Entertainment, Fourcolours Film, Ideoworks
Director : Ifa Isfansyah, Eddie Cahyono
Screenwriter : Alim Sudio
Casts : Maudy Koesnaedy, Mathias Muchus, Putri Marino, Maudy Ayunda, Baskara Mahendra
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