Of Love and Eggs - Post Reaction

I have just recently finished watching Of Love and Eggs, a foreign film from Indonesia. Below is my personal reflections on the production and the plot of this movie.

One of the storylines is about a little boy named Bimo who lives with his brother and father in the Jakarta community which the movie takes place in. It seems as though his mother had sadly passed away, and Bimo spends the majority of his days printing stamps on eggs which are to be sold by the family business. He meets a beautiful young woman, gets emotionally connected with her, and even calls her "mother". This is much to her dissaproval. Bimo is heartbroken, however he quickly gets over himself and continues his previous ways. A totally different storyline of the film is the relationship that develops between the young woman and Bimo's older brother. They seem to get along well together, and that's all we're left with. In another scene, a short-haired young woman is furious with her father for not talking to her. She's obviously angered by her relationship with her dad, therefore they must mend overcome their differences. Despite all these stories happening, all the meanwhile the community needs a new decoration for the roof of their place of worship. In the end, this essentiality is delivered and the community members are delighted and grateful.

After watching any film, I develop a personal opinion on my overall viewing experience. To be completely honest, Of Love and Eggs was simply "mediocre" in my eyes. I would not consider the movie bad (it takes a lot for me to hate a movie), however I was not satisfied with the foreign production. The plot was quite slow, uninteresting, and difficult to follow at most times due to the many inter-weaving storylines that were happening continuously. I know that I don't speak for every viewer, however I did notice that when I glanced around the classroom that most students were "dozing off" or staring blankly at the screen with their heads on their hands. Perhaps the problem is not the movie, but simply our inability to connect and relate to Indonesian cinemetography. This is when the cultural differences begin to arise. Indonesian media arts are so different from our "normality" that we can't find correlations which in effect would gather our interest.

In conclusion, Of Love and Eggs was not a great movie and I wouldn't recommend it (unless you're in a tired, calm, and patient mood). This analysis does not reflect the intentions of the director. I believe the movie is really meant to be uplifting and bright, therefore I have respect for that effort and task. On a high note, the plot did not lack humor and there were some well-done scenes. In particular, the scenes with the deaf child were touching. She's attempting to sing, unfortunately she can't hear herself; these were sad scenes. I look forward to enjoying more notable foreign films in my upcoming classes. There is a good lineup of movies coming up, and I will be sure to continue uploading my synopsis of those on this blog.