Tersanjung the Movie
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Unlucky daughter must fix parents' wrongs; attempted rape.
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Tersanjung the Movie
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What's the Story?
In TERSANJUNG THE MOVIE, Yura (Clara Bernadeth) is an attractive college student who lives with her father Gerry (Nugi), a once-famous singer fallen on hard times. He remarried a seemingly evil stepmother after the death of Yura's mother. The stepmom, not happy that her once-famous husband has lost his clout and money, has run up enormous debts with a smarmy wealthy family. Now she's offering Yura as a young wife to that family's entitled son. At their first meeting, he gets her alone and tries to rape her, calling her nothing more than "collateral" for the debt her family owes his family. Yura's best friends, Tian (Giorgino Abraham) and Oka (Kevin Ardilova), step in to save her. Both have quietly loved her all along and, in the face of the debt, they start a noodle café to make money and cheer her up. What will happen to Yura?
Is It Any Good?
Tersanjung the Movie has sweet moments, but lack of directing and writing skills, as well as bad lighting, slow plotting, and one-dimensional villains, often makes this feel like a cheap soap opera. (Turns out this was loosely adapted from a 1998 Indonesian TV soap opera.) Hats off to the actors who seem to be trying hard to salvage the project. Irrelevant scenes and unnecessary tangents are given long minutes of screen time without adding to the film's narrative at all. Halfway through the action, the lead actress pulls out a guitar and sings beautifully before an audience, her talent never having been mentioned before. Although her voice is lovely, the music plays no vital role in the plot. In a highly questionable choice, the director ends the movie with a brief and surprising scene in which an absent character makes a shocking reappearance. Rather than providing closure to one of the film's mysteries, the development poses a slew of unanswered questions as the credits roll. Will there be a sequel explaining it all?
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the difficulty of growing up with an unloving stepparent. How convincing is the movie about changes in Yura's relationship with her stepmom?
Kids are often required to pay for the mistakes of parents. In what ways was Yura forced to make up for her stepmom's failings?
How does the movie illustrate difficulties women face that men don't?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: April 1, 2021
- Cast: Clara Bernadeth, Giorgino Abraham, Kevin Ardilova, Nugi
- Directors: Pandu Adjisurya, Hanung Bramantyo, Nur Jihat Hisyam
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 114 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 17, 2023
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