Catatan Harian Si Boy (2011)

Directed by: Putrama Tuta | 93 minutes | drama, comedy, romance | Actors: Carissa Putri, Onky Alexander, Abimana Arya, Abimana Aryasatya, Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Paul Foster, Albert Halim, Roy Marten, Didi Petet, Melanie Ricardo, Poppy Sovia

“A blockbuster in the style of ‘The Fast and the Furious’, for those who love beautiful women and fast cars”. This is how the Indonesian production ‘Catatan harian si boy’ is described by film festival CinemAsia. A reasonable misrepresentation of what is actually shown in the film. Because even though the film starts with a flashy, but rather low-budget filmed car chase scene in which the main character Satrio (Ario Bayu) is passionately driven and the focus is on a group of friends who work in a garage, the film has hardly anything in common with the testosterone-pumping “Furious” street racing movies, in which everything revolves around ripping cars and hip-swaying babes clad in too tight clothes.

The first minutes of the film also raise the wrong expectations in that regard, because not a single race scene comes along in the entire further course of the film. And Natasha (Carissa Putri), the woman everyone is fighting over, is certainly a beautiful sight, but she is not really presented as a sex object. The tone of the film is also very innocent, almost cute. ‘Catatan harian si boy’ is mainly drama, romance, and humor. Anyone looking for an adrenaline rush should look for another movie.

‘Catatan harian si boy’ sometimes seems a bit naive and looks more like a soap than an action movie, but manages to create a surprisingly successful sympathetic, brotherly atmosphere, and (enough) characters that seem believable. One of the best scenes is a conversation, tinkering under a car, between Satrio and his boss Nina (Poppy Sovia) who has had a crush on him for a while, but whom he sees more as a good friend. It is about their troubled childhood and ends in an attempt at romantic overtures. However, Nina has to acknowledge her “superior” in Natasha, for whom Satrio’s heart beats faster, and her pain is sensitively communicated to the viewer. But Satrio is clearly concerned and his struggle(s) and emotions are also credible on the silver screen. In fact, as a viewer, you quickly close the entire group of friends in the garage in your heart, including their comic antics and silly moods. They’re just a likeable couple with infectious demeanor. The actors also all seem to be perfectly chosen for their roles, with the exception perhaps of Paul Foster who doesn’t really come across as a villain and who is not really believable or natural in his acting anyway. But this is actually one of the few flaws of the film.

‘Catatan harian si boy’ does not have much to offer in its story and the ends are very simply tied together again, but that does not matter much if the makers succeed so well in forging a bond between the viewer and this amusing and friendly group of friends. So little real action, but otherwise a great entertaining (youth) film.