After the previous article where we translated VIVA JKT48 reviews from fans and non-fans alike, this time I would like to dedicate this article as our own team reviews towards the movie. All the reviews on this page is entitled to each and every authors reviewing the movie without representing JKT48Stuff as a whole.

Review By Angga

Prelude

I’m not a movie addict nor a movie hipster -or whatever you call it-. I’m just your regular, run-of-the-mill viewer who refer The Room and Birdemic as a masterpiece. Oh, and Sharknado too!

I don’t think I need to tell much of the synopsis here since there’s load of synopsis everywhere around the internet.

Viewers Count

Watched it today (Sunday, June 8th) in an almost empty theater in an upper class mall with a total of 20 or less viewers. We are a group of 12 people in total, so yeah, I hope that pretty much explained the situation of this movie. I guess this certain mall is a good sample to see how the movie fares to an area alien to your general fans.

Well..to be honest, I’m also an alien to this kind of upper class mall. This is my second time there in my whole life and I always got lost navigating the extremely huge mall with two different wings.

And that being said, it was not easy to escape from prejudice when we queued for the tickets. Got some giggle and laugh by people queuing behind and beside us when they know we queued for VIVA JKT48 through the screen. But we don’t care and proceed to buy the tickets.

Story

The base of the story itself is your generic fiction of teen idols trying to save themselves from being disbanded for real but with an addition of cartoon-like antagonist. Although as generic as can be, story-wise, this is a breath of fresh air from all those biopic sprinkled with love drama (BLAH!) from musical groups that currently saturated the local market.

The script is not as bad as I thought it would be, but yeah, just your generic cliche soap-opera sprinkled with a fairytale-like storytelling as well as plot holes larger than Bayou Corne sinkhole.

My kudos to the inclusion of the fans trio story though, a very refreshing take of how to depict fans on a big screen.

Editing

This is the weakest link where I almost decided to walk out of the cinema. If you really wonder how bad the editing is, just imagine a simple robbery attempt scene that should take just less than a minute of screen time. And instead of that, they went a whole 5+ minutes for only THAT scene. They should really just cut that scene to a simple one note scene rather than focusing to the needless and NOT FUNNY slapstick from the actor playing the robber.

Not to tell you about the jumpy editing as well. One scene the girls are in a panic and the next shot is them having some fun sliding from f(X) upper floor…

Acting

Atrocious, really. I can forgive some of the girls acting although they went far below the par, but Yupi and Kinal are both in a dire need of the most basic acting class. Watching them delivering their lines is like watching an instructional video from the 90’s. Heck, even Iko Uwais, a former telco delivery man, did it much better in his stoic debut in Merantau.

Ve really shows her acting background although her screen time was small with a few lines of dialog. But she did it quite well, not a pro-actress level but quite good. So does Nabilah with her acting capability. Still not a pro-actress level too but yes, just like Ve, quite good.

While Melody, although she does have some background as a promotional video actress, doesn’t really deliver with her performance in some scene that ended up with her sounded like how a presidential candidates delivering their speech. It was like a roller coaster with Melody, sometimes she nailed it, sometimes she’s not.

I have a mixed reaction too to both Rona and Shania’s acting. Just like Melody, sometimes they nailed it, sometimes they’re not. Shania is a tad over-the-top with her expression but she’s quite good in delivering her line.

Rona, she did quite well in a scene involving a pick-up truck and vegetables when she doesn’t say a single line at all, but then she falters when it comes to delivering her line.

Well, thanks to this, at least now we know when they are being honest or acting in front of the camera.

And the weakest link (for me) in terms of acting goes to…the henchman. For God sake, whenever he delivers his line, I cringe. Whenever he did something, I cringe. He is just that bad. You won’t believe that he got chosen for his role here.

But wait, that is just me went on a rant with the acting, but is there any saving grace? Rest assured because Yes, the fans trio is just top notch with their acting here. They are cartoon-y as well but they deliver it with class. And if this is what a subtle slapstick comedy meant to be, they nailed it and define it very well with their lines and gesture.

Comedy

Ms. Kejora and her henchman failed to generate any single laugh from me. They are just over-the-top that what should’ve been a comedy becomes a nightmare test of how long can you keep your ass from leaving the cinema.

The girls, while they aren’t that good in delivering comedy in the movie, are shining when creating comical situation in the outtakes at credit title. Yes, the outtakes. Pretty ironic as you’ll have to wait for more than an hour to see where they really shine, and that, after the movie ends.

General audiences don’t have to worry though as there are lots of comedic moment that they will understand too aside from the internal jokes such as the golden rules joke.

In general, this movie delivers in the comedic front thanks to the fans trio.

Directing

Awi Suryadi delivers in creating a lush and lucid screen environment although I’m not really a fan of it. There’s not much of unique camera angle here to savor for those cinema technique maniac.

What he doesn’t deliver in terms of directing the antagonist and some of the members, he delivers well in directing the fans trio as a subtle counterpart of the antagonist but having a much more impact to the general movie experience overall.

He knows very well what he is doing though, and due to that, I really can’t categorize this movie as a “so bad it’s good” one like The Room or Birdemic.

End Words

While failing to delivers some of its potential, this movie does well in terms of family friendly comedy (There are some strong words though, parental guidance needed). I don’t know how to rate a movie fairly, so I’ll just end it with:

Go watch it if you have some free time and you’d like to support the movie industry as well as JKT48

or

Rent the DVD or Bluray once it’s out with buying as an option if you are a fan of JKT48.

Omake

Selfie!

Credits to Rendy for the Selfie.

Review by Pitra

I watched Viva JKT48 with Angga and other 12 fans. We all sat on the D row, while there were all empty seats around us. I thought I only see 4 other persons watching the movie yesterday (June 8th 2014). I think the only way the movie theater would be full of audiences is only when there are members watching together.

I didn’t expect too much about the movie. I heard what other fans have said. I also knew the movie’s constrictions. The production time was less than 2 weeks (without weekends). So, yeah, I wasn’t expecting it to be a high budget movie. Since I lower my expectation, then I see that this movie wasn’t too bad at all. The production quality was actually great. Even better than Azrax (hahaha… you should have seen this cult movie last year).

The movie plot’s was similar to any regular Disney home movies’. It’s simple. Too simple, perhaps. Avoid that bureaucracy complexity within JOT company, and make it a simple takeover of JOT by Ms. Kejora within a day, then you have a plot that require no logic at all. If you watched the movie, don’t think too much about this. Just imagine that JKT48 was a local theater group with one manager that can handle all things. Just imagine that the local theater group was supported by the members themselves, who write all songs, choreographs, blockings, etc. Make it simple in your mind, then the movie would go without flaw in logic.

In the movie story, there were 3 fans that helped 8 exiled JKT48 members to attain their own theater back again. The best of the movies were not the members. These fans’ acting, while not superior, helped make the movie reach better quality. I love the idea they portray these fans. They’re geek, otaku, who lives in the same apartment. I believe you fans would feel and express the same way if there are JKT48 members happen to live and visit your home.

What I hate most about the movie was Ms. Kejora and her henchman’s acting. The director seems to follow Disney’s home movies trend, creating an annoying antagonist with her stupid big body henchman. Ms. Kejora’s character was too annoying, too over-the-top with her high pitch tone voice. Well if you want to make Ms. Kejora as the next Cruella de Vil, it’s not happening.

The members were portrayed as themselves. They’re acting was not too great, but I believed I see Shania and Melody’s potential in the movie. Shania’s expression during the whole movie was the best among members, while Melody just being Melody, who can fluently speak easily.

The most lovable part in the movie was the bloopers in the final scene. So please be sure not to miss them.

Review by RHKilis

Viva JKT48 was supposed to be a coming out party for fans of JKT48. Indeed it was, but only for a handful of screenings where fans were joined by several JKT48 members. The film opened in 83 theaters across the country, each screening the film as many as five times a day. Out of the 415 daily screenings, only a few of these could truly be considered a party. Viva JKT48 only survived for one week in Cinema 21 theaters around Jakarta. I was lucky to still be able to watch the film during a business trip to Surabaya after the Jakarta screenings were discontinued. I expected a small attendance, but I was surprised to find that I was the only one to watch the film during that particular screening.

Although not a groundbreaking film by any means, Viva JKT48 succeeds in capturing the social perception of JKT48 and its fandom. It also cleverly inserts many of the jokes that have been thrown at JKT48 and its fans. In one particular scene in the opening act, costumes worn by the lead JKT48 cast members are ridiculed as if they are made from a combination of curtains and tablecloths. While fans may find this insulting, it represents the truth of how outside viewers see JKT48. Everything about the group, not just its idol concepts, is foreign to the average Indonesian.

The film also reveals a social disconnect between what appears to be the target market of JKT48 and its actual fan base. The heroes of the film, whom I equate to the Three Stooges, are seemingly portrayed as middle class Jakartans living in a luxurious high-rise apartment complex, yet there are no indications as to their employment (or non-employment) status that allows them to live in such pristine conditions. Perhaps this is the market that JKT48 management truly wants—the middle class who have funds to spend on simple entertainment. In reality, what they have are an abundance of youths who are dependent on allowances from their families.

Viva JKT48 largely detaches JKT48 from its Japanese origins. There is no mention of its Japanese sister groups, or even about the Japanese idol concept. The only Japanese link the film has is actor Nobuyuki Suzuki, who plays a supporting role as JKT48’s general manager, but even his character’s nationality is not indicated outright. This move is likely intentional in order to further localize JKT48 as an Indonesian idol group rather than as a branch of a supermassive Japanese idol group.

If Maxima Pictures produced this film as one that is targeted as fans, it may be considered as a mild success. On the contrary, if it was intended to introduce the general public to JKT48, it largely fails, as even the concept of “idols you can meet every day” is not explained in proper.