The Boy With Moving Image, a local film by Roufy Nasution. The big story about a director who accompanied a suicidal woman in her last days was wasted because the execution was too long-winded and sometimes seemed confused about where the story was taken.
The Boy With Moving Image itself is told from the perspective of a young director, Vaiyang (Hafidz Auilia), who is looking for a shooting location for his latest film. Armed with a friend’s recommendation, Vaiyang’s search leads to a visit to an old house inhabited by a young woman named Ning (Nithalie Louisza).
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Vaiyang and Ning’s first encounter was unique. It was fine, Vaiyang already greeted Ning with a knife in his grasp. Not the small knife that is used to grease jam, but the kitchen knife that is used in slasher films. Ning reasoned that he lived alone and there were many cases of theft in his place so that he could not help but always carry a knife when receiving guests, whoever it was.
From being greeted with knives, Vaiyang and Ning’s meeting progressed in unexpected directions. When Vaiyang asked if he could use Ning’s house for the shooting location, he allowed it on condition: Vaiyang had to accompany him to death. Not dying together, but accompanying Ning until he died. Ning didn’t want to die alone.
Vaiyang initially doubted the request and took it as a joke. However, seeing Ning was serious about his request, plus he was curious about Ning’s background, Vaiyang agreed to the request.
The Boy with Moving Image has actually opened in an interesting way. At the beginning of the film, the audience is shown a series of scenes of Ning preparing for death, from cleaning the house (for later he will leave) to trying to strangle himself. This was reinforced by Ning’s statement to Vaiyang that he was sure he would die soon and he himself felt that he had no purpose in living anymore. However, from there, the quality of this film slowly drops to the point of being difficult to enjoy.
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One of the triggers is a weak script or dialogue. When watching The Boy With Moving Image, director Roufy Nasution seems to try to include existentialism discussions in Vaiyang and Ning’s conversations a la My Dinner With Andre. Unfortunately, the dialogue is too wordy and often loses focus. As a result, it’s hard to feel engaging with the conversation between Vaiyang and Ning, which is the film’s main selling point.
For example, in the first half of the film, after the audience hooked up with Vaiyang and Ning’s bargaining, it was followed by vlogging scenes and conversations about each other’s favorite films that were out of place.
Talking about idiosyncratic, it is the part that feels quirky that occasionally saves this film from its problems. The scene of Ning trying to do dialogue repetition in different styles is one of them. This scene shows that Ning’s character can be both attractive and depressive at the same time. Unfortunately, things like that rarely appear and mostly only appear in the second half. Top Movie
It took a struggle to watch The Boy With Moving Image to the point where it feels as unique as its premise. By the time that point is reached, the audience is likely bored to finish it. Maybe this film needs a different cut, which is shorter and denser.