Review: Impetigore

Impetigore (Joko Anwar, 2019) begins by introducing us to Maya. By night, Maya works in a toll-booth in Indonesia. By day she runs a clothing boutique with her BFF Dini. The opening scene begins with a lighthearted, self-aware conversation between Maya and a co-worker at the toll-booth. As the conversation progresses, small details are revealed about Maya, our protagonist. As the two chat, a creepy guy in a creepy car, who has recently been stalking Maya at work rolls up. Her friend calls the cops. The creepy guy is about to chop Maya’s head off, when he pauses to reveal a few small details about his motives. The cops show up and blow him away, Maya lives to see another day.

Later on, in a conversation with Dini, some small details about Maya’s past are revealed. Turns out Maya’s history is shrouded in a bit of mystery. Thinking that perhaps Maya is owed a significant inheritance, the two friends travel to the remote village where Maya supposedly grew up. The pair intends to research her origins, and to discover whatever hidden wealth may or may not be waiting for her there. The two pals run a business together, and an influx of some substantial cash could really help them establish their business.

When they finally arrive at the village, the two of them quickly get the sense that all is not right. The village is remote, the citizens act sketchy as fuck, and they get all kinds of weird stares. Lying to the villagers about their reason for being there, the two claim to be university students on a research project. They shack up in the cavernous, yet unoccupied house of Maya’s parents, both deceased, while trying to covertly ascertain whether or not there is any dough waiting for them.

At this point, things for our heroines start sliding into the toilet pretty quickly. The mystery of who Maya is deepens, as more small details are revealed. Eventually, the pair discovers that this village carries a curse, under which all of the infants born to the villagers are born… without skin!

I think that will about do it for the synopsis, as I refuse to reveal any more small details myself. I’m going to just come right out and say that I really enjoyed this movie. It is equal parts mystery and horror. Well, maybe more mystery than horror, but let’s not split heirs about this (see what I did?) The fact is that the film almost immediately sucked me into its mystery, and kept me curious and guessing until the conclusion, while keeping me sated with its horror.

I don’t intend to make any kind of grandiose, pull-quote style claims here. I don’t believe in saying things like “Joko Anwar is the next Alfred Hitchcock.” However, if I were to make a comparison like that, that comparison would not be completely without merit, for similar to something like, oh, let’s say North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959), Impetigore grabbed me by the short hairs from the gun, and didn’t let go until the film was finished with me. My curiosity grew, and I became more engrossed with each salvo of small details that the film delivered. And in the end, without spoiling anything, I was not disappointed.

Writer/director Joko Anwar seems to have pulled equally from his knowledge of film, and his cultural heritage to produce something that is completely Indonesian, yet will resonate with film fans from any part of the world. A fascinating combination of the modern, and the antiquated. This is a movie that manages to merge the supernatural with the natural in a way that I never stopped to question, and in a way that seems completely believable. An ancient curse plagues this hidden village in the jungles of Indonesia, but you can still use your cellphone to call for help.

This film has a lot going for it. Beyond the fantastic performances, fresh writing, and assured direction, the most striking thing about Impetigore is the cinematography. Ical Tanjung is the cinematographer, and his work here is incredible. There were several points in the film where I had to just stop and enjoy his lighting and his composition. I don’t believe that they were going for the kind of style-over-substance visual imagery of something like Sin City (Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller, 2005) or Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018) but they come pretty fuckin’ close without the style becoming ostentatious. The film looks absolutely beautiful.

Looking at his credits, the only other film Tanjung shot that is even on my radar is Anwar’s previous effort, Satan’s Slaves (Anwar, 2017). A film that is now near the top of my list of shit I definitely need to get off my ass and watch. If for whatever reason one were to find elements of Impetigore’s plot difficult to swallow, even the most jaded cinephile would find reason to celebrate Tanjung’s work.

By the end of the film, I was forced to consider the potential subtext. I have no idea what was in Anwar’s head when he wrote this. Nor do I make any claim that the film had hidden meanings. However as it concluded, I couldn’t help but feel like the story I had just been told was a parable about abuse, metaphorically speaking. How abuse pays itself forward. How abuse can do more damage than is visible to the naked eye. That shit is generational. You gotta break the cycle. You got to go through it to do it, taking whatever steps are necessary, regardless of the personal cost the may come at, to break that chain.

If this subtext exists intentionally, then Anwar did a masterful job of not allowing the viewer to realize that is what he was getting at until the very end. Don’t beat me over the head with the lesson. Make me feel like I’ve figured it out on my own, letting it come as a personal revelation at the end. It is in this way that I believe film becomes most effective.

If this subtext doesn’t exist intentionally, then double congratulations to Mr. Anwar. Gotta fake it til you make it.

I really have no complaints about this film. Impetigore was engrossing, creative, refreshing, captivating, and provocative.