Photocopier

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Photocopier
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Photocopier is an Indonesian drama about wealth and power and corrupt institutions and how they affect a few innocent college students. The story illustrates how the rich and powerful can get away with abuse, violence, even rape, and poor victims won't be supported in their quests for justice. Here an earnest college student loses her scholarship and reputation. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "damn," "ass," "t-t," "pr--k," "piss," "bastard," "bitch," and "hell." Teenagers smoke cigarettes, smoke marijuana, take unnamed drugs, and drink far too much alcohol. Some students are drugged. A father slaps his daughter. In Indonesian with English subtitles
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What's the Story?
PHOTOCOPIER presents a bright and capable heroine, Sur (Shenina Cinnamon), a scholarship college student in Indonesia. She's innocent, the hardworking daughter of a sympathetic mom who cooks for the family restaurant and a tyrannical and unkind father who demonstrates no respect for his dutiful daughter. She's a tech geek, but for fun she's lent her services to Mata Hari, a university theater group that's funded in part by the wealthy dad of one of its members, Rama (Giulio Parengkuan). He throws a post-performance party and lures Sur, not the partying type, with the promise of a website job with his rich father. Sur's father is skeptical and warns her not to drink alcohol, but the next morning she wakes up hungover, in someone else's shirt and with no memory of the night. Selfies she doesn't remember taking or posting, that show her drunkenness, go viral. The school administration cancels her scholarship and her dad kicks her out. Sad but indignant, she launches into cyber-detective mode, enlisting her friend Amin (Chicco Kurniawan), employee at the campus photocopy shop, to help her access the phones and computers of her theater club members. Still, no amount of evidence she presents restores her scholarship, nor does it prompt the authorities to blame anyone but her for her troubles. As tech fails them, Sur and others who were also abused team up to expose the corruption in a triumphantly analog way.
Is It Any Good?
It takes a while, but Photocopier sucks us into a detective story about a poor girl with no leverage trying to unearth terrible deeds of the rich and powerful. We believe in her sincerity and resourcefulness. But if the film were 40 minutes shorter, the ride would be that much more enjoyable. The plot is already convoluted and lumpy, bursting with seemingly unrelated elements -- a fake Uber driver, municipal Dengue fever fumigation, a flat tire, a rain storm, distinctive birthmarks -- that all eventually add up to crimes. A tighter and more briskly paced rhythm would have tied all the elements together more powerfully. Without spoiling, note that the victims do agree that sending out evidence virally is going to work against them. Yet, basically, they employ a non-tech method to do exactly that in an ending that's overdramatic and unconvincing.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how teens react when they tell the truth and their unsupportive parents don't believe them.
How did you feel when Sur was kicked out of her house by her father? Did you think it was fair? Why or why not?
What picture does this drama paint about attitudes and mores in Indonesian society? Does it seem as if "moral" behavior is required as a standard for women but not required of men in power?
What do you think about the apparent discrepancy between what some authority figures in the movie think about alcohol and partying and actual behaviors of regular people? Do you think such standards should be forced on everyone? Why or why not? Do you think partying and alcohol use fall under the category of immoral behavior?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: January 13, 2022
- Cast: Shenina Cinnamon, Chicco Kuriniawan, Giulio Parengkuan, Jerone Kurina
- Director: Wregas Bhanuteja
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 130 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 28, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
For kids who love international tales
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